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  1. #1

    Virpus.com has turned into a terrible provider.

    I'm tired of writing support tickets, and writing to management@myvirpus.com, IM'ing Ken ('virpusken' @ AIM) and just getting summarily ingored. So I'm trying to quit Virpus... you wouldn't believe how hard even that is!

    Virpus.com's support has been progressively getting worse since I joined in November 2008. I finally had enough when I could not reboot my system via the new VDS panel and technical support booted my VPS but ignored my request to fix the inability to reboot issue. When I pointed out the problem again, the issue was sent to a senior support tech and I never heard another word about the issue. Though, what really got me to say goodbye to Virpus was when I realized that iptables was not running and it was because the VPS host OS did not have the iptables modules loaded, and therefore NO VPS on that host OS had iptables running! No one cared. No one replied. Another "We're sending this to a senior technician".

    Sorry Virpus, I cannot run a website on a Linux host without iptables. Adios.

    So I close my account, and delete all of my files from the VPS. Nothing. I get no receipt of closure, nothing but email after e-mail "Sorry to see you leave, let us know what your issues are and we'll be happy to fix it for you." Sorry, Virpus, I just tried that and got no where. So then, I get a bill. I hit reply, which goes to support@myvirpus.com, and tell them my account is closed. Someone at that e-mail address tells me that this should go to sales. So I open a sales ticket. Nothing. I send another request to support, "How about you forward this to sales for me?". I get a reply, "We are not authorized to forward tickets to sales".

    Today I get another bill from Virpus, with the thread of a late fee.

    << removed by request >>

    This happens so often. I hope my new provider can earn a better reputation.
    Last edited by writespeak; 07-09-2009 at 12:14 PM. Reason: Edited by request

  2. #2
    Closed 8 days ago and I'm still getting invoices
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails virpus_closed.png  

  3. #3
    Do they have your credit card on file? If not you can just ignore them as they shouldn't be able to bill you.
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    6,884
    If Ken can give us the other side of the story it will be better.

    @OP. I was just about to tell you to send a PM to Ken. But as you have not reached the five post mark to get your PM enabled, you won't be able to do that. And I saw your post in their offer thread with a ticket ID.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    The World Wide Net
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    25
    One thing that i saw in the screenshot is with minimal yet experiance with the WHMCS client billing portal that only sends a request for your cancellation. If you havn't received an email stating that your account "WAS" cancelled by a member of staff you can't be sure.

    Although that fact is you want it cancelled and have asked you will be able to argeu that point as long as you keep that screenshot as evidence. Some hosts can be pains if they're small and don't want to lose customers they'll do anything to get you to stay.
    Last edited by Harrywilliams; 07-08-2009 at 08:39 AM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    New York
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    2,883
    Wow, it definitely sounds like it's time for you to head over to a new provider
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
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    25
    Theres some good offers on the advertising forums on here that could suit you. So its eay to just search around and make sure you have a chat with them before you go into anything again which should make an easier go.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Atlanta
    Posts
    12
    Unfortunate part of picking a provider straight by costs. The way they go so low is by dropping other services.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Tampa, Florida
    Posts
    185
    definitely want to check out other hosts and see what you can find as far as real hosts who are available via instant messenger, live support, email, tickets too.
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  10. #10
    So after posting this and sending a few more tickets/e-mails, I got reply from Ken. He thanked me for bringing the issue to his attention and told me he would expedite my request to close the account.

    I do appreciate that. Though, it does not change my mind regarding the critical nature of the iptables issue and how I believe that anything more than a few hours of delay in at least giving a comprehensive response for such a problem is unacceptable. I refuse to run my site where I cannot have iptables. Were I still with Virpus, my site would still be down.

    Please note the sequence of events and at what point I decided to post here, and that it was not the product of instant irritation or off-the-cut remarks. I have open tickets going back to April. While trying to resolve these issues through proper channels with support tickets I did not post here. Once I gave up on Virpus on June 30, I stopped submitting tickets and quietly moved my data to a new provider and cancelled my PayPal agreement with Virpus, still no posting. I received a subsequent bill and sent a polite message asking again for my account to be canceled along with the bill. I submitted a ticket asking for the invoice to be canclled. It was not until I received another invoice with the threat of late fees that I posted here.

    As for there being an "other side" of the story, perhaps there is. WebHostingTalk is like the BBB for Web Hosting, so, I am not unaware that webhostingtalk.com can be abused and really put a crimp in an otherwise good hoster's business. While some may shoot their mouths off after the smallest infraction, I have come to the point where I feel it is fair to share my experiences. I, too, would be glad to hear Ken's "other side" and am not looking to argue over it. I am more than willing to hear where anyone from Virpus believes I have been less than honestly attemping to be objective in my posting. To be clear, I do not think Ken or Virpus in general are evil host providers or are looking to pull one over for a fast buck. My guess is that they are having some technical or personnel issues. I can understand that. I enjoy long term relationships with people I do business with so I am willing to weather bad times... as long as I can keep getting consistent feed back.

    For what its worth, I regret my "jump ship" comments and I wish I could edit them out. That was certainly not "objective" and admittedly has only everything to do with my level of frustration. I have no desire to see Virpus fail in any way.


    (btw - yeah I do only have 3 posts... this is WEIRD. I should have at least 20 some-odd posts. I've been on WHT for well over a year... The only posts I see are the ones from this recent issue)
    Last edited by chrismon; 07-08-2009 at 12:37 PM.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    6,884
    From your part of the story I could not see any thing wrong you have done. The community is only against those complaints which are sometimes base less and too speedy. When ever there is a problem even before the host get time to resolve some one come here and put a bad review. You have shared the experience not in such a manner I feel. Any way feel sorry for your troubles. Once again if Ken or virpus can provide the other side of the story we all will be able to know what happened exactly with OP. Hopefully Ken may help you to resolve this issue of billing.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    2,580
    chrismon,

    I am sorry to hear about your trouble. Cancellation requests are processed within 7 busienss days of being submitted. You officially submitted your request on the first of July.

    Also, the late fee is applied automatically, but essentially any invoices that are outstanding at the time of cancellation will be canceled, which they have.

    I have no idea where you come up with 'we'll take your data and run' as nothing that was done on our end would even bring that to mind. We have been in business for over 3 years now and have no intentions of going anywhere. I will say however there was a delay in reaching your first ticket submitted regarding canceling, however after that you opened two more tickets eight hours ago which were addressed once our offices opened.

    Anyways, your account was canceled per my reply to your ticket, and I do wish you the best with your new host.

    Let me know if there is anything that I can ever do for you.

    EDIT: As far as I can see, on the node that you are on, iptables are in fact enabled. I'll have to review your ticket history to find out more details of the situation, and address our staff regarding it.
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  13. #13
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    6,884
    Thanks for expressing your part Ken. There is more clarification for the story now. Reading all I feel it resulted from a miscommunication.

  14. #14
    Again, I am glad this is now in the past and the billing/cancellation issue is resolved. Thanks, Ken.

    Matt, this is not merely a product of miscommunication. Since April I've had tickets put on hold, or closed because they expired as I got tired of replying, going around in circles to get my tickets resolved. Its a slow change in support behavior patterns I've see since I signed up in Nov 2008, at which time support service was impeccable.

    As for the iptables issue, a number of times I tried to instantiate iptables, only to be told by the program that the kernel modules were not available (of which I have no control over being on a VPS). If the iptables binary's assessment of the situation is correct, then no one on that VPS host would have iptables. Of course, there is the possibility that my VPS was incorrectly configured and was alone in being unable to access the iptables kernel modules... but... that just makes no sense... well, at least to me. For my own edification, I'd appreciate knowing what you (Ken) find in regards to this issue.

    Lastly, as I said earlier, I regret my "jump ship" comments and have reported my own post to the WHT admins asking them to edit that out of my original post.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Indiana, USA
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    19,196
    Quote Originally Posted by chrismon View Post
    As for the iptables issue, a number of times I tried to instantiate iptables, only to be told by the program that the kernel modules were not available (of which I have no control over being on a VPS). If the iptables binary's assessment of the situation is correct, then no one on that VPS host would have iptables. Of course, there is the possibility that my VPS was incorrectly configured and was alone in being unable to access the iptables kernel modules... but... that just makes no sense... well, at least to me. For my own edification, I'd appreciate knowing what you (Ken) find in regards to this issue.
    Not only does the node need properly configured but there are some commands that need issued inside of the VPS container and then the container needs restarted if memory serves correctly. You could have looked these commands up on Google - or posting here in the VPS section may have yielded the answer. I'm not saying that you could have gotten it working on your own for sure and your provider should have helped you with this but I think this is all water under the bridge at this point.

    << removed >>
    Last edited by writespeak; 07-09-2009 at 12:18 PM.
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  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    45
    Well, it's true that the support and sales of Virpus has been very slow for the past 3 months. They started very impressive for me 8 months ago.

  17. #17
    This company itself appears to be on a slow decline. I've tried this provider before and the experience ended badly and this time has not been any better. I understand that setups can be delayed for up to 24 hours for genuine backlog but I didn't truly expect for my setup to take the full term. That wasn't enough to detour me though...

    My first support ticket was regarding this hold in the setup process. I had received notification that the order was accepted and payment was approved but then I received no communication as to the initial setup. Before I received any sort of reply, 12 hours later my system was initialized. I later closed this ticket but a day later I began to get annoyed with the now aggressive warnings in my WHM telling me I had a trial license.

    To review my purchased setup, I did ask for both a cPanel and Fantastico license and was billed accordingly. This prompted me to open yet another support ticket requesting the activation of my purchased licenses. The WHM trial license was one thing but when I went to install Fantastico I was told that my system had no active license at all. Now approaching 24 hours later and I still don't have a reply. At the very least a staff member could offer a canned (hollow) response to let me know they care but there is nothing.

    I have opted to forgo yet another sub-par experience and just cancel my services while I can still at least get my money back. Seeing as how I am still within my initial seven days I should be entitled but how this will go I am not at all sure.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Karachi, Pakistan
    Posts
    1,359
    Quote Originally Posted by chrismon View Post
    I'm tired of writing support tickets, and writing to management@myvirpus.com, IM'ing Ken ('virpusken' @ AIM) and just getting summarily ingored. So I'm trying to quit Virpus... you wouldn't believe how hard even that is!

    Virpus.com's support has been progressively getting worse since I joined in November 2008. I finally had enough when I could not reboot my system via the new VDS panel and technical support booted my VPS but ignored my request to fix the inability to reboot issue. When I pointed out the problem again, the issue was sent to a senior support tech and I never heard another word about the issue. Though, what really got me to say goodbye to Virpus was when I realized that iptables was not running and it was because the VPS host OS did not have the iptables modules loaded, and therefore NO VPS on that host OS had iptables running! No one cared. No one replied. Another "We're sending this to a senior technician".

    Sorry Virpus, I cannot run a website on a Linux host without iptables. Adios.

    So I close my account, and delete all of my files from the VPS. Nothing. I get no receipt of closure, nothing but email after e-mail "Sorry to see you leave, let us know what your issues are and we'll be happy to fix it for you." Sorry, Virpus, I just tried that and got no where. So then, I get a bill. I hit reply, which goes to support@myvirpus.com, and tell them my account is closed. Someone at that e-mail address tells me that this should go to sales. So I open a sales ticket. Nothing. I send another request to support, "How about you forward this to sales for me?". I get a reply, "We are not authorized to forward tickets to sales".

    Today I get another bill from Virpus, with the thread of a late fee.

    << removed by request >>

    This happens so often. I hope my new provider can earn a better reputation.
    LOL I canceled my VPS with them and I still get "credit card payment failed" emails everyday. Good thing my debit card has to be preactivated for online use. It seems standard practice for american hosts to charge customers without even providing service. Why should I pay for a month of hosting I don't want and didn't get? The reason given is some ******** in the TOS about giving them 6 months notice before cancellation. The only reason they can do this is because american consumers don't care about being ripped off. Its become industry standard practice now.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Indiana, USA
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    I don't see anywhere in their Terms of Service that says you have to submit a 6 month notice...
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  20. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by MikeDVB View Post
    I don't see anywhere in their Terms of Service that says you have to submit a 6 month notice...
    I was being sarcastic

  21. #21
    Change your CC details to 4111-1111-1111-1111 12/10. I'm of course still waiting for my cancellation but in the process I don't want to be charged for future billing periods...

  22. #22
    Figured I share updates on my issue although it's not resolved yet. My services were finally canceled on 7/20, but I am still awaiting a refund as per their "Money Back Guarantee". I submitted a ticket immediately after I submitted my cancellation request and when they finally responded on 7/22 I received:
    Please submit a cancellation request within myVirpus.com. This is the only form of cancellation acceptable.

    Warm Regards,

    Kenneth Odem
    Virpus Networks, Inc.
    AIM: VirpusKen
    ".

    Mind you, I had already done so and in this ticket I fully explained my intentions.
    I am already highly displeased with the level of services rendered. I am writing to ask for cancellation and my money back since I am still within my initial seven days.
    As per 7/25 (Today) I am updating that ticket again with no up-to-date responses from Virpus.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    10,629
    I was being sarcastic
    Being sarcastic is not going to help you.

    Figured I share updates on my issue although it's not resolved yet. My services were finally canceled on 7/20, but I am still awaiting a refund as per their "Money Back Guarantee". I submitted a ticket immediately after I submitted my cancellation request and when they finally responded on 7/22 I received:
    Did you actually submit a cancellation via their MyVirpus.com client area, Rather than stating it in a Ticket?
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  24. #24
    Yes... I did both. The ticket was meant to address the Money Back Guarantee.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    Indiana, USA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Website themes View Post
    I was being sarcastic
    Ah, well being that this is all text and no real emphasis or emotion can be expressed (easily) it is easy to understand how one might believe what you were saying. I could see them telling you that even though it wasn't actually in their Terms of Service for example.

    Quote Originally Posted by UnitedNet View Post
    Yes... I did both. The ticket was meant to address the Money Back Guarantee.
    What did you send exactly (just curious at this point). Good luck.
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