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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    47

    LayeredTech - Not so "Rapid Deploy"

    So, I wanted to move from LiquidWeb (who seriously rock!) to LayeredTech (whose sales and deployment had been slow in the past, but I haven't had any issues with them since), as their network provides better latency for APNIC customers, and their prices are better for an unmanaged server, and I don't need management.

    I made an order for two of their so-called "Rapid Deploy" dual Opteron servers 4 days ago. Since then, I've only received one email, telling me that my order has been received, and the server should be up in 24 hours.

    The advertisied turn-around time on these "Rapid Deploy" servers is 1-6 hours. It's why I ordered these servers in the first place: I needed to migrate before my next billing date. Now, this seems unlikely, as I've not heard from LayeredTech at all.

    After a few days, I sent an email asking what the status of my order was, and received no reply. I waited two days, and sent another email direct to the salesperson I was dealing with asking for a status update, and received no reply.

    I don't mind that it's taking so long, though they should really stop advertising these servers as "rapid deploy." (Others on their forum are still waiting for their rapid deploy servers, too.)

    What I do mind is having no status updates on what's going on with the order. I would have thought it was a good idea to keep your customers informed about any delays, especially if you're selling a product based on how "rapidly" you could deploy it. The customer shouldn't have to hassle the salesperson to find out what's going on.

    So, here's my LayeredTech rating:

    Network: 10/10 (Fast. Low latency. Unsaturated.)
    Price: 10/10 (You can't beat it. And the reseller pricing rocks.)
    Tech Support: 10/10 (Never had issues with this. Prompt.)
    Sales (Pre-order): 7/10 (Slow responses. But they still respond.)
    Sales (Post-order): 0/10 (HELLO?! IS ANYONE THERE?!)

    Update: Woo, I just received my invoice. Except, uh, I've been charged for one dual Opteron and one P4... hmmm. I don't remember ordering that P4. Sigh.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    1,834
    Behave yourself and be a good little customer .

    Pssssst. Little secret. When you buy the cheapest thing on the market, you should expect this; am I right?

    They have fantastic prices, stick with them. You'll get your machine.

    I think they should get a 15/10 on pricing. Don't complain.
    Ray Womack @ atOmicVPS LTD
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    1,822
    Have you tried submitting post on their forum?
    Imagination is more important than knowledge.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    UK, England
    Posts
    133
    Maybe they dont actualy have the servers to sell lol...i know a few hosts sell before they get...very silly way to run but hey

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    265
    I support patrick.barnes.

    Lower price does not mean worse service. if layeredtech never addresses rapid deploy within 24 hours, that's fine. however, they does address rapid deploy within 24 hours, I think they should follow their own words. am i right?

  6. #6
    Originally posted by PSFServers
    Behave yourself and be a good little customer .

    Pssssst. Little secret. When you buy the cheapest thing on the market, you should expect this; am I right?

    They have fantastic prices, stick with them. You'll get your machine.

    I think they should get a 15/10 on pricing. Don't complain.
    Behave? The customer is right, most of the time. But they should have responded to his emails.... And held up the 24 hour thing...

  7. #7

    Question 15/10 on pricing ?

    Originally posted by PSFServers
    ... When you buy the cheapest thing on the market, you should expect this; am I right?

    They have fantastic prices, stick with them. ...

    I think they should get a 15/10 on pricing...
    It doesn't look like their pricing is THAT good. For example, the TotalControl servers at The Planet have better configurations at the same price points. Is there something I am missing?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Your Screen
    Posts
    3,999
    Patrick, that really is unusual for the Rapid Deploy servers... did you make any changes/modifications to the configuration when you ordered? Like adding a hard drive or RAM? Doing so would un-Rapid it and put it in the regular deployment queue.

    There are two ways to go about this, and I actually recommend doing both:

    1. Register at the helpdesk at https://support.layeredtech.com -- use the same e-mail address as you used to purchase the server. You will then be able to see your server orders and can update the set-up tickets directly. Ask them why it's taking so long, in the tickets.

    2. Register @ the Layered Tech forums http://layer0.layeredtech.com and post about it. Quote your ticket numbers. LT has folks on the forums all the time and that will get their attention.

    HTH!

    Bailey
    Let's Connect on Twitter! @thatsmsgeek2u || Fighting mediocrity one thread at a time.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    1,822
    Would be interesting to hear the story from the other side.
    Imagination is more important than knowledge.

  10. #10
    I have bad experience and customer service with them.. I would go with server4sale

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    787
    Patrick,

    Would you be able to tell me your email address or anything you ordered the host with or something I can use to identify your orders. I can not find anything listed under '*barnes*' in our system related to rapid deploys or recent orders. I can look into the delay around this deploy once I can figure out who you are.

    Thanks,

    Jeremy

  12. #12
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    610
    The only area with LT falls down in is deployment, everything else is amazing and i will defened LT in any thread here that says they are bad. Support times etc are all brill and you can get a hold of them anytime.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    New York, NY
    Posts
    10,710
    Whoa, that's a major downgrade from moving to LT from LW. No offense to LT, it's a sold company. But, you're comparing a company with their own data center, offering full management, and 24x7 TOLL FREE tech support to a company offering low-end pricing which attracts most web hosting startups. I am in no way associated with LW or LT, but why did you move? Did you have a bad experience with LW or were you looking to cut down your bill?

    Thanks,
    MediaLayer, LLC - www.medialayer.com Learn how we can make your website load faster, translating to better conversion rates for your business!
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  14. #14
    hi there. al_bickers said that The Planets servers have better configurations at better price points. The thing is that for the lower-end servers LT have excellent pricing. I don't actually have any servers with them yet, but they have a great reputation on here (as do liquidweb). I'd be interested in knowing why you are moving from Liquidweb

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Zurich, Switzerland
    Posts
    774
    I don't exactly understand this low price thingie of the OP, I mean I took the dual Opteron rapid deploy server on Layeredtech and when I upgraded the options a bit to make it sense to have that CPU power (with the default config, it's more like driving a car with handbrake pulled in), I actually came to the Liquidweb *managed* price, resp. slightly above it (a couple of percents). Did I miss something?

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    US
    Posts
    597
    I ordered a rapid deploy server from LT a few weeks ago. The order was made on Saturday and I got the server on Sunday. I have 2 servers with them right now, and I'm happy with the services

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    47
    Originally posted by bithost(NET)
    Patrick, that really is unusual for the Rapid Deploy servers... did you make any changes/modifications to the configuration when you ordered? Like adding a hard drive or RAM? Doing so would un-Rapid it and put it in the regular deployment queue.

    There are two ways to go about this, and I actually recommend doing both:

    1. Register at the helpdesk at https://support.layeredtech.com -- use the same e-mail address as you used to purchase the server. You will then be able to see your server orders and can update the set-up tickets directly. Ask them why it's taking so long, in the tickets.
    Oh, I had already done this. I did ask them why it's taking so long in the tickets! And why they gave me a P4 instead of a dual Opteron... No replies yet, though.

    2. Register @ the Layered Tech forums http://layer0.layeredtech.com and post about it. Quote your ticket numbers. LT has folks on the forums all the time and that will get their attention.

    HTH!

    Bailey
    I'd done this too, but I thought the support tickets were a better option. I'm sure that ltadmin will clear things up when I get in touch with him.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    47
    Originally posted by LTADMIN
    Patrick,

    Would you be able to tell me your email address or anything you ordered the host with or something I can use to identify your orders. I can not find anything listed under '*barnes*' in our system related to rapid deploys or recent orders. I can look into the delay around this deploy once I can figure out who you are.

    Thanks,

    Jeremy
    I've PMed you through the LayeredTech forum.

    Thanks for your help.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    787
    Patrick,

    Your order for the rapid deploy had custom disk layouts and other settings. Requesting modifications like this during the order process voids the 'Rapid Deploy' as we have to reload the pre-loaded OS and redo the setup. This turns your order into a 'Custom Order' which is completed in a est 72 hours after payment details have been received and verified.

    Your server is in our build queues now being processed and will be deployed likely in the next 24 hours.

    Thanks,

    Jeremy

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    47
    Originally posted by LTADMIN
    Patrick,

    Your order for the rapid deploy had custom disk layouts and other settings. Requesting modifications like this during the order process voids the 'Rapid Deploy' as we have to reload the pre-loaded OS and redo the setup. This turns your order into a 'Custom Order' which is completed in a est 72 hours after payment details have been received and verified.

    Your server is in our build queues now being processed and will be deployed likely in the next 24 hours.

    Thanks,

    Jeremy
    Thanks Jeremy,

    Perhaps this should be included somewhere on the website: this isn't clear from the current literature about Rapid Deploy systems.

    The configuration options for the Rapid Deploy systems are very limited, so I presumed this kept them within the "Rapid Deploy" timeframe.

    I'll keep this in mind in the future.

    Out of curiousity, what *can* you change and still maintain the "Rapid Deploy"ability of these servers?

    Regards

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    787
    Hello,

    The text explaining this is part of our FAQ listed with all sales details.

    Some other Frequently Asked Questions:

    Q: Can I change the OS or other OS options on a "Rapid Deploy!" host.
    A: NO. All hosts are pre-loaded with a configuration that many users
    find to work great for all types of hosting platforms. ANY changes to
    the OS will change the order to a 'Custom Order' and have a 72 hour turn
    around time.

    Q: Can you install a control panel on a rapid deploy host.
    A: Yes. Depending on the OS support for the control panel. This will
    delay the deployment time a few hours to allow for installation of the
    control panel software and licensing.

    We will get your order processed and deployed to you ASAP.

    Thanks,

    Jeremy

  22. #22
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Sydney Australia
    Posts
    81
    Perhaps this should be included somewhere on the website: this isn't clear from the current literature about Rapid Deploy systems.
    It just so happens I ordered a RD server from LayeredTech 2 weeks ago, and it was out and running in about 4 hours. I did notice in the literature that RD packages reverted to custom orders if I deviated from the standard make up. I thought it was pretty clear.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Toronto
    Posts
    1,110
    My experience with LT has been positive so far... unfortunately, it may not be be as pleasant as it's been, in the near future. We're being forced to move the Savvis data centre from The Planet. Apparently, Theplanet is kicking LT out of the building as they've ran out of racks.

    The majority of the downtime that I have haerd of from LT has been on the Savvis network, so I'm not really looking forward to the move to Savvis. Hopefully, everything works out.

  24. #24
    Originally posted by elix
    Whoa, that's a major downgrade from moving to LT from LW. No offense to LT, it's a sold company. But, you're comparing a company with their own data center, offering full management, and 24x7 TOLL FREE tech support to a company offering low-end pricing which attracts most web hosting startups. I am in no way associated with LW or LT, but why did you move? Did you have a bad experience with LW or were you looking to cut down your bill?

    Thanks,
    Considering their target customers (start-up, cheap, i suppose), would they really want to have a pre-pubescent boy calling them at 2am, and then suddenly hanging up when his parents find him? Probably not. But also, LT does seem to be managed some of the time... I mean, they do a lot of things that other "unmanaged" companies would not. LW and LT are both great companies, but the lack of technical phone support really doesn't make a huge difference between them.

  25. #25
    Originally posted by aingaran
    My experience with LT has been positive so far... unfortunately, it may not be be as pleasant as it's been, in the near future. We're being forced to move the Savvis data centre from The Planet. Apparently, Theplanet is kicking LT out of the building as they've ran out of racks.

    The majority of the downtime that I have haerd of from LT has been on the Savvis network, so I'm not really looking forward to the move to Savvis. Hopefully, everything works out.
    I prefer Savvis to The Planet. I've never had any issues at all in the months I have been on the Savvis network.

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