Please join me in http://irc.ev1.net/ceo/ on Thursday, October 26th from 9:00 to 10:00AM, Central Time (GMT -6). I’ll be there to report on the progress of our merger, as well as continue the dialogue we started with our chat back in August.
I look forward to talking with you then.
Full Version: Reminder: CEO Chat on Thursday, October 26th
*works out the time* 3-4am?
Actually it would be 3 to 4 PM....hehe
Well ... FINE.. *stomps away* thats me told :o 
That came across more harsh than I intended, I am taking it up with him personally instead of in this forum.
Dave
Dave
Here is a log of this morning's chat for those of you who may have missed it:
good morning everybody
thanks for taking time out of your busy day to join me
we have been very busy here at the planet/ev1 for the last 3 months
trying to merge these two great companies...take the best practices from each and spread them across the entity
we've also spent a lot of time talking to customers...earlier this month I assigned 5 to 6 customers to each one of my top 20 execs
and asked them to call...and talk about several items
for example...
our service...our network...our data centers...our sales organization
and at the same time we asked a lot of questions about their businesses and how we can support them better
i got the 20 execs together 2 weeks after we announced the program and shared all the results with the group
what a great wealth of knowledge we gained
I am pleased to hear overall that they're happy with our support data centers and networks
but it was not all good news...there are areas that we need to focus on and continue to improve
we not only spent time talking to our customers...but for the new executives who have joined the planet/ev1 we spent a lot of time studying our competition and their offerings
this meant hours of searching the web...talking to prospects that we lost who went with other people...all in the spirit to better understand the environment
a lot of the changes that we are making...the unbundling of pricing...the lowering of component prices...and in some cases...raising a few
all come from the research we've done
we also have studied support...although we get high marks here there are a lot more things we're going to start doing...not everybody is going to want to pay for these new services...but it is essential for our future direction to begin to offer semi-managed and fully managed support
we are in the process of figuring out just how to deliver the same level of support in the two cities...so that the current customers doing business in both cities and future customers doing business in both cities will find the same level of support and services
enough of my rambling...let me see if there are some questions out there
The room is moderated for ease of use, please message your questions to jeff-ev1 or Patrick-EV1.
Doug, thank you for taking my question. I have been an TP customer now for 5 years and while my experience has been great but I have 2 issues. The first one is that I feel we are always at the mercy of the technicians.Your company no longer does ghost copies of hard drives and this forces us to use one of the overpriced NAS or disksync backup services, which don't do a true backup, only account backups. Why has this changed? I'd be glad to sign a waiver that doesn't hold you responsible.
first off to my knowledge we have never offered ghost copying of hard drives as a service...if this was done it was one-off and as a courtesy, but we do not and will not do this
one of the things our customers did ask for was an array of backup services...we are going to start offering many flavors...in fact we have one customer today who is taking advantage of the fact that he does most of business in Dallas with us and for security reasons has decided to offload his backup to our Houston offices...we see more and more possibilities with this capability
Secondly, the reboots take way to long, on average 20-30 minutes, when we were promised reboot ports.I understand that the ports were to expensive, but this process needs to be improved up to 5 min. I think these things are way more important than the network you guys are building that was already powerful enough.
great question...you are right...reboots are taking too long...some of that is due to inappropriate escalation procedures on our part which we are in the process of fixing...it is also a function of some of the hardware we've bought in the past that requires us to manually reboot them...in the future all servers purchased by us will be IPMI compliant giving you and us the ability to reboot remotely...technology only fixes part of this...we will fix the rest
Why do your servers continue to offer measly 80gb hard drives when your competition is already at 160gb or higher with guaranteed reboot ports?
not any longer...have you seen our web site in the last 48 hours? we offer hard drives up to 750GB on almost every server we sell...this came out loud and clear talking to our customers and searching the web sites of our competitors...we fell behind in staying with your needs...i hope the new marketing and product line organizations we are building will never let that happen again...we want to be leading the industry again...not following
i appreciate the price changes on the bigger boxes, but now I cannot order the same box i have without an increased cost on top of the 25$ setup fee. If i want a Celeron or P4 its going to cost more than the exact config I pay for now. Can you explain this?
you're right...we did raise the price on a few repeat on a few items...what we haven't charged you for is the incredible investment we are making in our current and new data centers to be N+1 and tier 2 or tier 3 rated...this gives us some of the best data centers in the industry...we have also plowed additional money into our already powerful and redundant network...we are duplicating redundancy in Houston and Dallas as well as linking them
Since the buy-out we have noticed the quality of support has gone down, those that managed to hold on to their jobs through the buy-out are doing their very best to keep up with the load but it seem you have less support people then EV1 used to?
i'm sorry to hear that is your feeling...on the contrary through talking to many customers in the last several months they see a huge improvement
i don't know who you've talked to about "managing to hold onto their job" because we have gone out of our way to make sure we are building the best team in the industry...
i happen to know who you are...and your relationship to an employee who is no longer with us...the issues behind why that person is no longer here had nothing to do with the merger of our two companies
we are understaffed...no question...we are trying to hire additional QUALIFIED technicians as we speak...you are correct in stating that those that are working in our data centers today are carrying a huge load...we know that...p.s. another opportunity for a paid advertisement...anybody out there looking for a career in helping us build the premier hosting infrastructure companies...we have plenty of jobs...send your resume to us...jobs@theplanet.com
QUOTE (Doug-CEO)
Doug I am really sorry you felt that you had to attack a loyal customer of over 6 years before addressing the failing support issue. I also do not know to whom you refer I have a relationship with and I am on some kind on campaign for, I asked the question because I have experienced it myself as well as watched frustrated customers everyday as I am there in the trenchs on irc watching what goes on and helping when I can.
Personally I believe you own me a Public Apology, but I am sure you will hide behind your Corporate Office door and Not Own up to your Mistake.
Regards,
Scott Drake
Former Proud Customer of RackShack/EV1
Now a Disappointed Customer of EV1
I have to agree with Scott. There are alot of us that have been around for awhile and see support has got to pretty much a guy with a manual trying to figure it out. I will site a few personal experiences. 1) 6+ hours on a priority restore...I did not HAVE to restore the box at that time but I did because it was only supposed to take an hour. But they had to wait because they could not get me a control panel licensel...so why did they even bother to restore it if they could not finish it. Thats the most recent. Two not really sure why you attacked a customer like this. Yes some of do know the techs...and it is a good thing... especially when the some of us that do are probally the ones who point out a good section of the larger issues such as cups being installed on a webserver. We are also the ones they help support the other clients where ev1 does not in there unmanaged servers. Which is good for you because some people who otherwise would not keep the servers because of lack technical expertise. So in my eyes and I am just guessing but you have thumbed your nose at the long time ev1 customers. With poor support and attacking a good long term customer once he brought it up. I will be moving my admin'ed accounts else where. I am assuming others will do the same.
I just love this part from the chat this morning:
Since the buy-out we have noticed the quality of support has gone down, those that managed to hold on to their jobs through the buy-out are doing their very best to keep up with the load but it seem you have less support people then EV1 used to?
i'm sorry to hear that is your feeling...on the contrary through talking to many customers in the last several months they see a huge improvement
I've been around here since 2002 and never in my 4 years here have I experienced such bad customer support.
QUOTE
I've been around here since 2002 and never in my 4 years here have I experienced such bad customer support.
QUOTE (datona)
I've been around here since 2002 and never in my 4 years here have I experienced such bad customer support.
Only goes to prove my point that the CEO hasn't been talking to the right people. Of course it is better to see things with Rose color glasses then reality! I have seen complaints even from Big EV1 clients, one that I know had almost 100 servers at onetime, but due to poor support and over priced servers he has all but left EV1. You would think they would have kissed his ___ to keep a customer like that, but they didn't so do you really think they care too much about us little people?
Regards,
Scott Drake
Former Proud Customer of RackShack/EV1
Now a Disappointed Customer of EV1
They keep talking about their network and redundancy and how stable things are.
In the past month, I've seen both Ev1 Datacenters suffer major problems causing servers to be offline for an hour each time... plus unplanned reboots of servers at DC2 without so much as a ticket opened from Tech or an email being sent to explain why a server with a 290 day uptime was suddenly taken offline then rebooted, essentially keeping the server down for some 25 minutes while everything "came back up".
If there was network redundancy, a port servicing would not bring down an entire Datacenter... there would not be massive complaints about servers being unreachable for 45+ minutes... the last I checked, when someone claims Network Redundancy, that means that when one thing goes wrong, something else comes up immediately to catch the load and prevent downtime.
If we're paying top dollar to keep our servers online, then shouldn't that be happening? Prior to the merger, we suffered one outage in the year and a half that we had servers with Ev1... since the merger, we're averaging 2 per month. Not the best track record for paying for redundancy.
Redundancy: The duplication of information or hardware equipment components to ensure that should a primary resource fail, a secondary resource can take over its function.
If this is what people are paying for, and the reasoning behind high prices, then shouldn't downtime be nonexistant?
In the past month, I've seen both Ev1 Datacenters suffer major problems causing servers to be offline for an hour each time... plus unplanned reboots of servers at DC2 without so much as a ticket opened from Tech or an email being sent to explain why a server with a 290 day uptime was suddenly taken offline then rebooted, essentially keeping the server down for some 25 minutes while everything "came back up".
If there was network redundancy, a port servicing would not bring down an entire Datacenter... there would not be massive complaints about servers being unreachable for 45+ minutes... the last I checked, when someone claims Network Redundancy, that means that when one thing goes wrong, something else comes up immediately to catch the load and prevent downtime.
If we're paying top dollar to keep our servers online, then shouldn't that be happening? Prior to the merger, we suffered one outage in the year and a half that we had servers with Ev1... since the merger, we're averaging 2 per month. Not the best track record for paying for redundancy.
Redundancy: The duplication of information or hardware equipment components to ensure that should a primary resource fail, a secondary resource can take over its function.
If this is what people are paying for, and the reasoning behind high prices, then shouldn't downtime be nonexistant?
Too bad I missed the chat this morning :/ anyway thanks to Doug for posting the logs.
I would agree it was not appropriate to 'attack' Scott in that way. Even if Scott new some of the techies that used to work for you it should not be brought up this way and Im sure it's not affecting his judgement. I understand you have been discussing with some of your clients and you have good feedback from them. However, I would like to point out that I have never in my 3 or 4 years at ev1 seen so many unhappy customers posting in these forums. I personally have not felt the service going downhill so bad, but one of the reasons propably is that I do know some techies / sales ppl and can contact them directly if I need to get something done.
Im happy to hear you are looking for QUALIFIED techs and hopefully will find plenty of them so we can see some positive feedback in the forums once again. Too many times there has been a techie who doesnt even know how to read a ticket..
I would agree it was not appropriate to 'attack' Scott in that way. Even if Scott new some of the techies that used to work for you it should not be brought up this way and Im sure it's not affecting his judgement. I understand you have been discussing with some of your clients and you have good feedback from them. However, I would like to point out that I have never in my 3 or 4 years at ev1 seen so many unhappy customers posting in these forums. I personally have not felt the service going downhill so bad, but one of the reasons propably is that I do know some techies / sales ppl and can contact them directly if I need to get something done.
Im happy to hear you are looking for QUALIFIED techs and hopefully will find plenty of them so we can see some positive feedback in the forums once again. Too many times there has been a techie who doesnt even know how to read a ticket..
QUOTE (Doug-CEO)
Now I wonder why I see more negative posts in the forums and few people "jump in" to say that the service has been better.
I'm almost sure the network blackouts have been because of the changes in the supervisors.
Finally, I did have to part EV1, although I really liked my server, I have a far better box with almost double everything for the same money, but if tomorrow EV1/TP offered better plans and I need to change servers again I would switch back again very happy.
After leaveing with my personal and business servers under my two accounts to another hosing provider I find myself back with EV1. I've picked up a client who has 10 servers in private racks here.
So having sat in the chat today (there were more people in #ev1regulars then in #ceo for the chat) a few comments:
1. Doug's reply to Scott (Scanner2) was out of line -- "I happen to know who you are" and all.
2. After sitting and reading that chat I'm convinced that for whatever reason the clients chosen are not indicitive of the real world situation in the datacenters, DC2 especially.
3. The sheer lack of customers (there were at least 7-8 EV1 people out of 19-24 at one point) in the chat IMHO is indicitvate of either a) apathy toward EV1 or b) the effect of customers leaving
4. The EV1 network might be great (I'm sure that's debatable by some) but let me compare uptime at EV1 vs uptime at a competitor. This competitor has gone thru both an outage and DDOS in the last month yet the uptime is higher in the competitor's DC because of the excessive delays and outages getting reboots. (Those automatic reboot strips don't work for jack most of the time.)
Doug - I don't know you from a hill of beans, but let me say this: I'm not impressed. You took over a combined company without any experience in the industry, changed a significant portion of upper management, watched as many employees and former execs have left, and yet you seem to think everything is fine. ("through talking to many customers in the last several months they see a huge improvement [in support]")
You should know that any significant change in mangement/ownership of a company almost always has a trickle down effect, a decrease in morale, and people leave. That's your problem, everything else stems from that. If you want to save this ship, put the bucked down for a second and plug the hole.
So having sat in the chat today (there were more people in #ev1regulars then in #ceo for the chat) a few comments:
1. Doug's reply to Scott (Scanner2) was out of line -- "I happen to know who you are" and all.
2. After sitting and reading that chat I'm convinced that for whatever reason the clients chosen are not indicitive of the real world situation in the datacenters, DC2 especially.
3. The sheer lack of customers (there were at least 7-8 EV1 people out of 19-24 at one point) in the chat IMHO is indicitvate of either a) apathy toward EV1 or b) the effect of customers leaving
4. The EV1 network might be great (I'm sure that's debatable by some) but let me compare uptime at EV1 vs uptime at a competitor. This competitor has gone thru both an outage and DDOS in the last month yet the uptime is higher in the competitor's DC because of the excessive delays and outages getting reboots. (Those automatic reboot strips don't work for jack most of the time.)
Doug - I don't know you from a hill of beans, but let me say this: I'm not impressed. You took over a combined company without any experience in the industry, changed a significant portion of upper management, watched as many employees and former execs have left, and yet you seem to think everything is fine. ("through talking to many customers in the last several months they see a huge improvement [in support]")
You should know that any significant change in mangement/ownership of a company almost always has a trickle down effect, a decrease in morale, and people leave. That's your problem, everything else stems from that. If you want to save this ship, put the bucked down for a second and plug the hole.
I mean this with zero disrespect but I think a serious reality check is in order here.
People have many serious concerns about EV1 these days, support HAS worsened since the merger - just listen to your own staff in your own IRC channel who have agreed countless times about that.
Everytime serious concerns such as lack of support and pricing increases are raised - its met with "we are investing blah blah". But there is much more to it.
Support has got worse, prices have generally gone up or stayed the same. Your competition are leaving you behind.
EV1 built its success as it pioneered the $99 server... there is a LOT more competition out there now and you guys need to really think hard to turn it around.
People have many serious concerns about EV1 these days, support HAS worsened since the merger - just listen to your own staff in your own IRC channel who have agreed countless times about that.
Everytime serious concerns such as lack of support and pricing increases are raised - its met with "we are investing blah blah". But there is much more to it.
Support has got worse, prices have generally gone up or stayed the same. Your competition are leaving you behind.
EV1 built its success as it pioneered the $99 server... there is a LOT more competition out there now and you guys need to really think hard to turn it around.
QUOTE (jca)
Now I wonder why I see more negative posts in the forums and few people "jump in" to say that the service has been better.
Well if you take a look at the following thread, you will see that at this time, just over 60% of the people state they will go elsewhere for their next server.
So I guess that is why we so many negative feedback about EV1 and The Planet!
For me tech support was amazing up until about 2 weeks ago. Then tickets went unlooked at and the system doesnt even notify us of change in status to our tickets. Once I posted on the forum 3 days ago, bam, done. Sad, but true.
I am sure things will improve.... in fact, they will improve... they arent morons. Things may slip, but with technology like this forum where people can express their feelings... it will change.
I do think prices for backup solutions should be lowered (knock 25% off of it) along with their celeron line up (knock $10 off).
Frank
I am sure things will improve.... in fact, they will improve... they arent morons. Things may slip, but with technology like this forum where people can express their feelings... it will change.
I do think prices for backup solutions should be lowered (knock 25% off of it) along with their celeron line up (knock $10 off).
Frank
QUOTE (datona)
Well if you take a look at the following thread, you will see that at this time, just over 60% of the people state they will go elsewhere for their next server.
So I guess that is why we so many negative feedback about EV1 and The Planet!
So I guess that is why we so many negative feedback about EV1 and The Planet!
I think that was JCA's point, made via a sarcastic question. Unfortunately sarcasm doesn't translate into html too well.
On another note, while I have concerns about the reported problems with service, like Frank I believe they will improve. It is a "for profit" corporation and they are motivated to consistently achieve profit expectations (unless Freddo is right and the merger/buyout was a short term capital gain investment). Customer dissatisfaction negatively impacts profitability.
The "rose colored glasses", aka positive spin, is to be expected from large corporations and is usually external only. It is extremely unlikely that internally they are naive to the problems.
One thing we were accustomed to from Robert and team was an openess about problems and what was being done to solve them. Corporations are usually tight lipped about problems except in their board meetings and annual reports. Externally, they put a positive spin on everything - positives are accented and negatives minimalized.
Another factor becoming increasingly evident is the difference in the personalities of Robert and Doug. In my opinion, and as unoffensively as I can say it, the CEO chats haven't been productive, perhaps even counter productive. Perhaps it would be more productive for Doug to post a monthly blog on the forum instead. Real time, on the record, public discussion with customer's isn't always a CEO's best skill (no offense intended, personally I am much more effective in writing than I am in live interaction).
In the blog Doug could announce new things, address important issues that customers have brought up during the month and give updates regarding ongoing projects/issues (i.e. progress on getting support staffing up to level). It should be as positive as possible, yet realistically and respectfully address customer concerns, remembering that most of the customers are business people and experts in their own fields.
Just my 2 cents.
QUOTE (fkatzenb)
For me tech support was amazing up until about 2 weeks ago. Then tickets went unlooked at and the system doesnt even notify us of change in status to our tickets. Once I posted on the forum 3 days ago, bam, done. Sad, but true.
I am sure things will improve.... in fact, they will improve... they arent morons. Things may slip, but with technology like this forum where people can express their feelings... it will change.
I do think prices for backup solutions should be lowered (knock 25% off of it) along with their celeron line up (knock $10 off).
Frank
I am sure things will improve.... in fact, they will improve... they arent morons. Things may slip, but with technology like this forum where people can express their feelings... it will change.
I do think prices for backup solutions should be lowered (knock 25% off of it) along with their celeron line up (knock $10 off).
Frank
I may be wrong. But how many tickets do you put in on average. And typically what are they. I typically have to put tickets in for things like restores. Improperly imaged servers etc.. etc.. and half the time it is like pulling teeth to get someone competent enough to fix it that is actually at work. If it happens between 9 - 5 m/f it is usally ok gets done in decent time. Not top quality co-located box time, but in a reasonable amount of time compared to what the servers cost. If I have an issue on sat - sun or after 9 - 5...or on a holiday...you can forget. I can pretty much promise that it is going to get screwed. And take a min of 6 - 12 hours to resolve usally causing mass downtime. Due to a mistake or something stupid a tech did. Or the best one we can not finish the restore we started there is not anyone here who can install a control panel licene. Anyway thats just my two cents.
Some things to say:
1. Dear CEO: The world cannot be eaten in one bite. No one would like to be on your shoes right now when everyone points you as guilty of all the changes since the merge. All Ev1/TP customers expect the best of you and your team, don't disappoint us
2. Prices, prices & prices! Other companies offer dedicated solutions as low as $49 USD/mo. but who trust them? What it's true is that hardware pieces are cheaper every day, so if a server used to cost $99 USD/mo. 2 years ago, now it should cost the same or less, am I right? where is the lovely $1 setup fee?
3. Competitors are glad to see EV1/TP is having issues since the merge and they will take advantage of it. What's the next step? We all need a big step ASAP.
4. We all know EV1 and TP are the "same" now but, how does a new customer thinks when he reaches EV1's site and see a lot of options and picks a "Value Xtreme" server and after thinking for a while reads at the bottom "Please note that ValueXtreme servers are sold and supported by Server Matrix/The Planet. Click here to read about the merger between EV1Servers and The Planet". IMHO, if EV1 and TP are the "same" why you have 2 different sites? which is the real identity of EV1 and TP?
my 4 cents
1. Dear CEO: The world cannot be eaten in one bite. No one would like to be on your shoes right now when everyone points you as guilty of all the changes since the merge. All Ev1/TP customers expect the best of you and your team, don't disappoint us
2. Prices, prices & prices! Other companies offer dedicated solutions as low as $49 USD/mo. but who trust them? What it's true is that hardware pieces are cheaper every day, so if a server used to cost $99 USD/mo. 2 years ago, now it should cost the same or less, am I right? where is the lovely $1 setup fee?
3. Competitors are glad to see EV1/TP is having issues since the merge and they will take advantage of it. What's the next step? We all need a big step ASAP.
4. We all know EV1 and TP are the "same" now but, how does a new customer thinks when he reaches EV1's site and see a lot of options and picks a "Value Xtreme" server and after thinking for a while reads at the bottom "Please note that ValueXtreme servers are sold and supported by Server Matrix/The Planet. Click here to read about the merger between EV1Servers and The Planet". IMHO, if EV1 and TP are the "same" why you have 2 different sites? which is the real identity of EV1 and TP?
my 4 cents
QUOTE (agruetz)
I may be wrong. But how many tickets do you put in on average. And typically what are they. I typically have to put tickets in for things like restores. Improperly imaged servers etc.. etc.. and half the time it is like pulling teeth to get someone competent enough to fix it that is actually at work. If it happens between 9 - 5 m/f it is usally ok gets done in decent time. Not top quality co-located box time, but in a reasonable amount of time compared to what the servers cost. If I have an issue on sat - sun or after 9 - 5...or on a holiday...you can forget. I can pretty much promise that it is going to get screwed. And take a min of 6 - 12 hours to resolve usally causing mass downtime. Due to a mistake or something stupid a tech did. Or the best one we can not finish the restore we started there is not anyone here who can install a control panel licene. Anyway thats just my two cents.
These are my troubletickets.... I annotated the first bit to show whats going on. I have not had a tech screw up on me, or anything else like that. Granted they havent been devistating, but still my experience overall. Would I buy another Ev1 server? Only if they are cheaper. The grass is always greener ONLY when you are still on this side... with a few exceptions, and I havent found one yet in terms of hosting. Granted I have been getting a crash course in being a system admin lately because of hackers that should burn in a fire.
10/14/2006 - 2:49:50 PM FTP - 10/23/2006, Sad but fixed.
10/3/2006 - 6:17:42 PM Blocked by Another ISP - 10/4/2006 , 10/6/2006 long, but due to questions and actions asked of me... I was on travel.9/21/2006 - 6:07:55 AM Plesk Control Panel Errors - 4 hrs or so.
9/19/2006 - 10:40:14 PM Customer Requested Restore - 9/20/2006 (7 updates to what stage or any questions they had... 12hrs total. I specified the wrong version of plesk, they fixed it free of charge.)9/19/2006 - 1:54:41 PM Additional IPs - No brainer... 20 minutes
9/18/2006 - 6:49:59 PM Investigating - 24hrs, longer then normal, but they were investigating the attacks/hacks on my server.9/18/2006 - 6:39:51 PM Fireslayer Filter Enabled - Auto.
9/17/2006 - 11:07:40 PM AUP Violations - Investigating - I had been hacked/chrootkit and sending out attacks... lots of bandwidth eaten!
9/7/2006 - 8:14:28 PM Applications Not Responding - 12hrs with 2 responses in there.8/31/2006 - 10:21:00 PM Reboot - 20mintues
8/31/2006 - 9:50:27 PM Reboot - 20mintues
6/24/2006 - 9:14:15 AM Other
6/8/2006 - 11:36:13 PM Credit Card Change
4/26/2006 - 6:20:04 AM Other
4/24/2006 - 5:54:02 AM Email
4/19/2006 - 7:43:38 AM DNS - Add Record
4/18/2006 - 4:58:46 PM Other
4/18/2006 - 6:00:59 AM Plesk Control Panel Errors
4/8/2006 - 8:56:05 AM Bandwidth Monitoring
2/12/2006 - 6:05:05 AM Applications Not Responding
2/6/2006 - 8:52:33 PM Additional IPs
1/31/2006 - 10:08:34 AM Remote Console
1/30/2006 - 7:12:49 PM Email
1/10/2006 - 8:14:44 AM Permission Problems
1/9/2006 - 6:44:52 AM Email
1/5/2006 - 8:45:33 AM Permission Problems
1/3/2006 - 8:09:44 PM Other
12/22/2005 - 1:53:36 PM Backup Solutions
12/18/2005 - 8:03:41 AM Backup Solutions
12/11/2005 - 12:50:20 PM Welcome Note [67.15.226.33]
12/11/2005 - 12:50:17 PM Confirm
QUOTE (GraphicsGuy)
I think that was JCA's point, made via a sarcastic question. Unfortunately sarcasm doesn't translate into html too well.
On another note, while I have concerns about the reported problems with service, like Frank I believe they will improve. It is a "for profit" corporation and they are motivated to consistently achieve profit expectations (unless Freddo is right and the merger/buyout was a short term capital gain investment). Customer dissatisfaction negatively impacts profitability.
The "rose colored glasses", aka positive spin, is to be expected from large corporations and is usually external only. It is extremely unlikely that internally they are naive to the problems.
One thing we were accustomed to from Robert and team was an openess about problems and what was being done to solve them. Corporations are usually tight lipped about problems except in their board meetings and annual reports. Externally, they put a positive spin on everything - positives are accented and negatives minimalized.
Another factor becoming increasingly evident is the difference in the personalities of Robert and Doug. In my opinion, and as unoffensively as I can say it, the CEO chats haven't been productive, perhaps even counter productive. Perhaps it would be more productive for Doug to post a monthly blog on the forum instead. Real time, on the record, public discussion with customer's isn't always a CEO's best skill (no offense intended, personally I am much more effective in writing than I am in live interaction).
In the blog Doug could announce new things, address important issues that customers have brought up during the month and give updates regarding ongoing projects/issues (i.e. progress on getting support staffing up to level). It should be as positive as possible, yet realistically and respectfully address customer concerns, remembering that most of the customers are business people and experts in their own fields.
Just my 2 cents.
On another note, while I have concerns about the reported problems with service, like Frank I believe they will improve. It is a "for profit" corporation and they are motivated to consistently achieve profit expectations (unless Freddo is right and the merger/buyout was a short term capital gain investment). Customer dissatisfaction negatively impacts profitability.
The "rose colored glasses", aka positive spin, is to be expected from large corporations and is usually external only. It is extremely unlikely that internally they are naive to the problems.
One thing we were accustomed to from Robert and team was an openess about problems and what was being done to solve them. Corporations are usually tight lipped about problems except in their board meetings and annual reports. Externally, they put a positive spin on everything - positives are accented and negatives minimalized.
Another factor becoming increasingly evident is the difference in the personalities of Robert and Doug. In my opinion, and as unoffensively as I can say it, the CEO chats haven't been productive, perhaps even counter productive. Perhaps it would be more productive for Doug to post a monthly blog on the forum instead. Real time, on the record, public discussion with customer's isn't always a CEO's best skill (no offense intended, personally I am much more effective in writing than I am in live interaction).
In the blog Doug could announce new things, address important issues that customers have brought up during the month and give updates regarding ongoing projects/issues (i.e. progress on getting support staffing up to level). It should be as positive as possible, yet realistically and respectfully address customer concerns, remembering that most of the customers are business people and experts in their own fields.
Just my 2 cents.
Agreed
QUOTE (xUx)
Some things to say:
1. Dear CEO: The world cannot be eaten in one bite. No one would like to be on your shoes right now when everyone points you as guilty of all the changes since the merge. All Ev1/TP customers expect the best of you and your team, don't disappoint us
2. Prices, prices & prices! Other companies offer dedicated solutions as low as $49 USD/mo. but who trust them? What it's true is that hardware pieces are cheaper every day, so if a server used to cost $99 USD/mo. 2 years ago, now it should cost the same or less, am I right? where is the lovely $1 setup fee?
3. Competitors are glad to see EV1/TP is having issues since the merge and they will take advantage of it. What's the next step? We all need a big step ASAP.
4. We all know EV1 and TP are the "same" now but, how does a new customer thinks when he reaches EV1's site and see a lot of options and picks a "Value Xtreme" server and after thinking for a while reads at the bottom "Please note that ValueXtreme servers are sold and supported by Server Matrix/The Planet. Click here to read about the merger between EV1Servers and The Planet". IMHO, if EV1 and TP are the "same" why you have 2 different sites? which is the real identity of EV1 and TP?
my 4 cents
1. Dear CEO: The world cannot be eaten in one bite. No one would like to be on your shoes right now when everyone points you as guilty of all the changes since the merge. All Ev1/TP customers expect the best of you and your team, don't disappoint us
2. Prices, prices & prices! Other companies offer dedicated solutions as low as $49 USD/mo. but who trust them? What it's true is that hardware pieces are cheaper every day, so if a server used to cost $99 USD/mo. 2 years ago, now it should cost the same or less, am I right? where is the lovely $1 setup fee?
3. Competitors are glad to see EV1/TP is having issues since the merge and they will take advantage of it. What's the next step? We all need a big step ASAP.
4. We all know EV1 and TP are the "same" now but, how does a new customer thinks when he reaches EV1's site and see a lot of options and picks a "Value Xtreme" server and after thinking for a while reads at the bottom "Please note that ValueXtreme servers are sold and supported by Server Matrix/The Planet. Click here to read about the merger between EV1Servers and The Planet". IMHO, if EV1 and TP are the "same" why you have 2 different sites? which is the real identity of EV1 and TP?
my 4 cents
Agreed!
Okay, you bring together the best team in the business and yet you release the most difficult to use, awful design on your planet range of sites possible...
With all your resources the first thing I would do is find a way to merge TP/EV1 sites with one nice looking, easy to use design with all the information clearly available. The current TotalControl and ServerMatrix sites look terrible...EV1's site looks good but wouldn't work with all the different company divisions like TC, SM and I365 so build on that...
With all your resources the first thing I would do is find a way to merge TP/EV1 sites with one nice looking, easy to use design with all the information clearly available. The current TotalControl and ServerMatrix sites look terrible...EV1's site looks good but wouldn't work with all the different company divisions like TC, SM and I365 so build on that...
Im sure they are working on the branding and sites... It looks like the current changes to the range of sites is just a short term stepping stone.
QUOTE (fkatzenb)
These are my troubletickets.... I annotated the first bit to show whats going on. I have not had a tech screw up on me, or anything else like that. Granted they havent been devistating, but still my experience overall. Would I buy another Ev1 server? Only if they are cheaper. The grass is always greener ONLY when you are still on this side... with a few exceptions, and I havent found one yet in terms of hosting. Granted I have been getting a crash course in being a system admin lately because of hackers that should burn in a fire.
10/14/2006 - 2:49:50 PM FTP - 10/23/2006, Sad but fixed.
10/3/2006 - 6:17:42 PM Blocked by Another ISP - 10/4/2006 , 10/6/2006 long, but due to questions and actions asked of me... I was on travel.9/21/2006 - 6:07:55 AM Plesk Control Panel Errors - 4 hrs or so.
9/19/2006 - 10:40:14 PM Customer Requested Restore - 9/20/2006 (7 updates to what stage or any questions they had... 12hrs total. I specified the wrong version of plesk, they fixed it free of charge.)9/19/2006 - 1:54:41 PM Additional IPs - No brainer... 20 minutes
9/18/2006 - 6:49:59 PM Investigating - 24hrs, longer then normal, but they were investigating the attacks/hacks on my server.9/18/2006 - 6:39:51 PM Fireslayer Filter Enabled - Auto.
9/17/2006 - 11:07:40 PM AUP Violations - Investigating - I had been hacked/chrootkit and sending out attacks... lots of bandwidth eaten!
9/7/2006 - 8:14:28 PM Applications Not Responding - 12hrs with 2 responses in there.8/31/2006 - 10:21:00 PM Reboot - 20mintues
8/31/2006 - 9:50:27 PM Reboot - 20mintues
6/24/2006 - 9:14:15 AM Other
6/8/2006 - 11:36:13 PM Credit Card Change
4/26/2006 - 6:20:04 AM Other
4/24/2006 - 5:54:02 AM Email
4/19/2006 - 7:43:38 AM DNS - Add Record
4/18/2006 - 4:58:46 PM Other
4/18/2006 - 6:00:59 AM Plesk Control Panel Errors
4/8/2006 - 8:56:05 AM Bandwidth Monitoring
2/12/2006 - 6:05:05 AM Applications Not Responding
2/6/2006 - 8:52:33 PM Additional IPs
1/31/2006 - 10:08:34 AM Remote Console
1/30/2006 - 7:12:49 PM Email
1/10/2006 - 8:14:44 AM Permission Problems
1/9/2006 - 6:44:52 AM Email
1/5/2006 - 8:45:33 AM Permission Problems
1/3/2006 - 8:09:44 PM Other
12/22/2005 - 1:53:36 PM Backup Solutions
12/18/2005 - 8:03:41 AM Backup Solutions
12/11/2005 - 12:50:20 PM Welcome Note [67.15.226.33]
12/11/2005 - 12:50:17 PM Confirm
10/14/2006 - 2:49:50 PM FTP - 10/23/2006, Sad but fixed.
10/3/2006 - 6:17:42 PM Blocked by Another ISP - 10/4/2006 , 10/6/2006 long, but due to questions and actions asked of me... I was on travel.9/21/2006 - 6:07:55 AM Plesk Control Panel Errors - 4 hrs or so.
9/19/2006 - 10:40:14 PM Customer Requested Restore - 9/20/2006 (7 updates to what stage or any questions they had... 12hrs total. I specified the wrong version of plesk, they fixed it free of charge.)9/19/2006 - 1:54:41 PM Additional IPs - No brainer... 20 minutes
9/18/2006 - 6:49:59 PM Investigating - 24hrs, longer then normal, but they were investigating the attacks/hacks on my server.9/18/2006 - 6:39:51 PM Fireslayer Filter Enabled - Auto.
9/17/2006 - 11:07:40 PM AUP Violations - Investigating - I had been hacked/chrootkit and sending out attacks... lots of bandwidth eaten!
9/7/2006 - 8:14:28 PM Applications Not Responding - 12hrs with 2 responses in there.8/31/2006 - 10:21:00 PM Reboot - 20mintues
8/31/2006 - 9:50:27 PM Reboot - 20mintues
6/24/2006 - 9:14:15 AM Other
6/8/2006 - 11:36:13 PM Credit Card Change
4/26/2006 - 6:20:04 AM Other
4/24/2006 - 5:54:02 AM Email
4/19/2006 - 7:43:38 AM DNS - Add Record
4/18/2006 - 4:58:46 PM Other
4/18/2006 - 6:00:59 AM Plesk Control Panel Errors
4/8/2006 - 8:56:05 AM Bandwidth Monitoring
2/12/2006 - 6:05:05 AM Applications Not Responding
2/6/2006 - 8:52:33 PM Additional IPs
1/31/2006 - 10:08:34 AM Remote Console
1/30/2006 - 7:12:49 PM Email
1/10/2006 - 8:14:44 AM Permission Problems
1/9/2006 - 6:44:52 AM Email
1/5/2006 - 8:45:33 AM Permission Problems
1/3/2006 - 8:09:44 PM Other
12/22/2005 - 1:53:36 PM Backup Solutions
12/18/2005 - 8:03:41 AM Backup Solutions
12/11/2005 - 12:50:20 PM Welcome Note [67.15.226.33]
12/11/2005 - 12:50:17 PM Confirm
It is funny that you speak of hackers lately. I was a customer of the planet with multiple servers but my servers were constantly being hacked. I had to have rebuilds multiple times. I switched to EV1 and never had another problem with the hacking. Now they have merged and you say that you are having hacking issues. Hmmmmmmmmm.
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