Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : EV1 - SERVERMATRIX - From Best to Worst!

[infoagemarket]

I am not sure if anyone else has experienced an 180 degree turn with the level of service with EV1 and ThePlanet. They've dropped from best on my list to worst on my list.

I just can not believe two equally excellent run companies can become that bad after the merge, just horrific!

I've noticed the following and thus pretty much making them one of the worst dedicated server providers

1. It's an absolute hell to cancel server(s), not only they will ignore your requests unless you call them, when you do call, I've put on hold for 20min with no one answering the phone, maybe lunch time since I called around 12:30pm, but that's still no excuse.

2. Reboot requsts used to take 5 min max (to start the process), now it take 20min, or 15min if you are lucky

3. We requested server monitoring and it took the techie 1 full to set it up, it seems they are not intested in solving problems, but instead doing a "who can answer ticket fastest". His lame excuse was "they can not log into the server", even though the password is correct, he just can just walk to the console, but instead try to force us to take down the firewall. So for the whole week, he failed to access the server even though he has the perfectly fine login/password and the server is with them!


4. with server matrix you could talk to a tech before, now you get some third level newbie with no access to the server

5. Ram problem, One of our server had problem with ram and keeps on crashing every 1-2 hrs, so filed a investigation ticket. and guess what they come up with?
they stated that it's "kernal panic", even though from the very start I asked them to check the hardware as it seems to be a ram problem.
so it went on for 3 more days of rebooting every 1-2 hrs. After pesting them again they agreed to check the hardware, and guess what's the problem? One of the ram is faulty!

I am not sure if you guys have simlar problems with the new merged company, but they are surely losing my business faster they can say what the hell!

When from 20+ servers to now 5, and still moving away as fast as I can!

I guess the best way to protest is to vote with money! But I still can not believe two great companies can turn up like this after change of CEO.


ps. I'm writing this while waiting on the phone to cancel one of my server.... and still waiting for someone to pick up the phone.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[HNLV]

I cant talk about ThePlanet before the merger but EV1 was one of the best dedicated server providers I've ever worked with.

Its really sad to hear EV1 getting such a bad name, it was such a good company while it was under Robert Marsh (aka Headsurfer) .

[bsh]

Yeah, I can't say I've heard anyone have such as a bad experience to the extent you've listed in your post. Perhaps it's time to start looking for another provider then?

[Scott.Mc]

Agreed the ev1 private rack support was nothing but excellent infact on IRC you would ask for someone to look into your ticket and within a few minutes they would, now you ask and 20 minutes later someone will respond and it will either be moved to someone you can't speak to or they don't know.

The entire merger is nothing but horrible and which is why I can't see us lasting at ev1/theplanet beyond aug. Infact I am almost 90% sure we will be gone by then as they cannot be trusted anymore.

It's quite clear that the time we are going to need them, they simply wont be there.

[infoagemarket]

Oh Yeah,

I finnally manged to get a human being, but his response, "If you cancel the server now, it will be terminated right away, we can not postbone the termination"

So, let's get this right. Their policies:

1. 7 day notice for cancellation
2. You must call to cancel after file an online ticket within 48 hours,
3. After you call, they will pull the server immediately (same day).

So, what they infact is saying is: we will openly and unshamfully rob you of money you paid for and will deny your right to use your server during that time.

I paid for the server until 20th, and with their 7 day cancel requirement, and immediate pulling of the server, I'm deprived the right to use something I paid for for a whole 25% of the time.

After talking with the customer service guy for 5min, he's only solution? He will cancel the cancellation ticket, and make a note. I will then have to call back on 18th to cancel. If I dont call back by 18th, they will charge my card automatically for aotnehr month.

Either way I'm deprived of 2 days server that I've paid for!

So, now I've figured out ev1 & the planet merge. They take on board worst of both!
* Ev1 had that disconnect server on the day of cancellation policy
* ThePlanet had the 7 day notice policy

You combine Ev1 and the Planet you get 7 day and instant disconnection! what a great merge! The outcome, losing 90% of their customers in 6 months!

[HNLV]

Originally Posted by infoagemarket

You combine Ev1 and the Planet you get 7 day and instant disconnection! what a great merge! The outcome, losing 90% of their customers in 6 months!

May be, but you also have to know that those other 10% are probably are their BIG customers who spend on the note of $XXX,XXX per month for their services. Which may account for 90% of their revenue, just may be.

If thats really the case, then they dont really care if they lose their smaller customers, in fact they might think of it as getting rid of pests and divert more resources toward their high paying customers, no offense

[jjungling]

They need to be careful about big vs small customers, I’m a small customer with 3 servers but I manage 160+ customer servers who they bill directly.

I too am a long time customer of ThePlanet, 3.5 years and this is a nightmare. We expect that these servers are unmanaged and as such have standby servers at other providers. In the last three weeks I’ve been forced to use more standby server hours in total than during the past 3 years, mainly due to slow support times for failing equipment or remote support requests.

They had a switch failure a few days ago and it took 14 hours to diagnose and swap it.

I had a simple memory failure for a customer that took 9 hours to replace.

It took 6 hours to press the reset button for one of our customer’s servers.

Love this one, Hard drive failed for a customer and in their ticket they said it would cost $75 for an operating system reload. We cancelled the box and provisioned a new box instead but it took 3 days before we recieved credentials.
If we didn't have a standby box the customer would have been down for 5 full days on a hard drive crash instead of 1.

Personally I’ve spent 4.5 hours dealing with a simple double billing error on their part which they admitted on my first call. I still don’t have it resolved and trying to call ThePlanet is a nightmare, hold times are greater than an hour or you get either “All circuits are busy or the accounting department is closed” I even tried using chat and they said the only solution is to call the 866 number. The ticket system my guess isn’t even being read, I open a ticket wait 24 hours then phone.

There is one trick using the voicemail system, choose sales and they answer right away and sometimes they will transfer you to a direct extension but most of the time it’s been to dead air.

I love ThePlanets network and hardware, it’s been top notch but if I can’t get a simple accounting ticket served it’s time to move on. I finally made the decision after the last 10 minute chat:

"How can I reach accounting, your phone system is either all circuits are busy or your message is you are closed???"
** You are now speaking with Jose F., Tech Support. **
[12:12:39] Jose F. : Hello AngryJohn, how can we assist you today?
[12:12:50] AngryJohn : Read the topic
[12:19:38] Jose F. : ok
[12:19:40] Jose F. : please hold
** Please hold while being transferred to John R, Sales Support. **
** You are now speaking with John R, Sales Support. **
[12:20:49] John R : Hello AngryJohn how may I help you?
[12:21:02] AngryJohn : Topic says it all
[12:21:25] John R : not sure you can through chat
[12:21:38] AngryJohn : That is not the question
[12:22:01] AngryJohn : The question IS "How can I reach your accounting department?"
[12:22:40] John R : i understand sir im just saying i dont think you can reach them through chat
[12:22:48] John R : the only way i knw is to call


I’m moving $40,000+ per month out of ThePlanet, Maybe losing $1/2 million a year might say something or maybe that's what they really want?

John

[HNLV]

Hmmm...thats very sad to hear. Since you have only 3 servers with them and since your business is so mission critical then you should brace up for the agony of moving all the data and change your hosts before something *really* bad happend, I mean with the situation as it is now, ANYTHING can happen.

[jjungling]

Originally Posted by Anantha

Hmmm...thats very sad to hear. Since you have only 3 servers with them and since your business is so mission critical then you should brace up for the agony of moving all the data and change your hosts before something *really* bad happend, I mean with the situation as it is now, ANYTHING can happen.

You are right, anything can happen and that is why we have standby servers on different providers, equipment fails, hackers, extreme traffic, human mistakes and providers do fail, it happens.

The agony isn't moving the servers, I have systems in place for that, its dealing with my customers explaining why we are leaving and instilling trust about our new provider selection that's the issue. (As well as dealing with cancellation issues with our customers AP departments ;-)

John

[pinball]

I have been a ServerMatrix customer since about December 2004 and only have one server. If I recall the 7 day cancellation was always there when cancelling, but I am the type of person that likes to read things and forget them -- is this normal behavior for people who have servers?

There have been some issues with their network since last August that involved an increase in latency for several hours on an AT&T route. This usually goes away but I imagine it causes some cause for concern for other customers. (This usually happens around the Dallas network before it switches over, so it could actually be AT&T that has the saturated network.)

Since August I have only had a few support tickets and have noticed no deterioration in their support, although none of these support tickets were for anything major.

I am sure my low post count doesn't help my statement either. My server is also a low end server that isn't really used for much.

- pinball

[thalaric]

Originally Posted by infoagemarket

Oh Yeah,
I finnally manged to get a human being, but his response, "If you cancel the server now, it will be terminated right away, we can not postbone the termination"

This is absolutely false. Whoever you talked to is misinformed (or deliberately lying). I just dealt with a ThePlanet cancellation. They do not disconnect the server until your billing date. In fact, I tried to get them to disconnect it right away so I could be done with them and they refused.

Btw, if you check the forums EVERYONE is having problems with The Planet, not just you.

[WireNine]

ThePlanet was good a few years back when I used them, but I've always hated Ev1 for their poor support. I guess the mixture of the two did not benefit the customers.

[Defcon|Rich]

Don't worry, A few months from now everyone will forget and they will be the toast of the town again until something like this comes back.. It's the nature of the business. One minute your the best thing ever and the next people throw rocks at you.. None of the recent posts involving the planet are exactly surprising or unique.. Every few months they take a dive and a bunch of posts spring up about it then one of their people come on and promise everything's going to be better and you stooges fall for it until the bottom falls out again..

Pavlovs dog?

[TMX]

Originally Posted by thalaric

This is absolutely false. Whoever you talked to is misinformed (or deliberately lying). I just dealt with a ThePlanet cancellation. They do not disconnect the server until your billing date. In fact, I tried to get them to disconnect it right away so I could be done with them and they refused.

Apparently it's only former EV1 clients, not current/former tp/servermatrix clients, who get the immediate disconnection but still have to provide 24-48 hours notice. I just went through the same thing, it's pretty strange.

-B

[mdrussell]

I blogged about this recently...

When owned by the likes of GI Partners, figures do the talking and less so customer service. Doug Erwin has completely rebranded the two largest dedicated server providers within 12 months of becoming CEO as well as drastically changing a succesful business model. I watch with interest.