Forum: Rants
Topic: Superb Internet Corporation
started by: cr0bar

Posted by cr0bar on May 18 2000,11:10
How do I feel about Superb? Simply put, I paid them money I DON'T have to host a site that is VERY important to me, and not only were they SLOWER than advertised, they ERASED all of my files and e-mail without warning, and then haven't done anything to correct it. If it was my company making the mistake, I would be giving out a big refund. All they've done is send this to someone e-mailing on my behalf:

To: NAS@Unix.Support.SUPERB.NET
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 12:31 AM
Subject: detonate.net


Give crobar his files.

do it


A little context never hurts when writing messages.

Regards,
--
Mark Downton - Technical Support, Superb Internet Corp.
MDownton@SUPERB.NET
Please regard the below as context.

>From Detonate.net

Lost Files Posted Monday, May 15, 2000, 8:00 PM by cr0bar All of my news as well as the comments were lost when the good folks at Superb Internet Corporation term'd my account. Don't complain to me--complain to them. I am trying to get them to give me my files from the nightly backups they say that they take, but they told me that the backup server was being "serviced". I've got a mind to do some "servicing" myself. Good news, though....I will be adding the UBB this weekend hopefully.

Downtime Posted Monday, May 15, 2000, 7:56 PM by cr0bar The recent server downtime was due to the web host terminating my account. Without warning. Well after I had paid for an extra month of service.


While I remember the login name I don't remember the circumstances but I will say this. If someone has their account terminated it is because they either violated their service agreement or used fraudulent means to pay for their account. In either case we simply delete the account and that is the end of our relationship with this individual. Rather than asking for backups of their files they should be asking themselves about their own methods.

Regards,
--
Mark Downton - Technical Support, Superb Internet Corp.
MDownton@SUPERB.NET

Stunning, eh? I'd love to pull a "Safe-Audit" and get hundreds of people sending e-mail to Superb....

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"Everyone's favorite implement for any task"
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Posted by stupid on May 18 2000,14:02
Yes, they do sound similar to safe audit. I was just wondering though. If they cut you off early, can't you get a refund? I mean, it wouldn't make up for your lost files, but it would help.
Posted by TiresiasX on May 18 2000,21:57
Hahaha cr0bar, I have to say, these guys are grabbing at straws now. This guy knows his company's screwed up, and he's desperately trying to do some damage control.

I'm having to rant at DPT (http://www.dpt.com) myself, a company very few people here have to deal with. To make a long story short, the firmware for their hardware has traditionally sucked ass in many ways. I've sent them furious e-mails berating their screw-ups. When they try to ignore me, I shamelessly leverage support from my employer to demand action. I think they've gotten to know and fear me quite well by now...

At least these Superb fuckers are doing everything they can to get back on your good side. For anyone who says you're hiding behind your fans, I say you've got the right to play every card you've got. You're one man facing down an entire company here.

Good luck getting your files back.

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"Welcome to my Neon Dream."


Posted by Hellraiser on May 18 2000,23:54
At last, the "Superb Internet" rant. I think they're all out to screw you, no matter who you sign up with. It's the same thing with free website hosting I've found, but then there's no money involved so the sting is less.
Posted by eng_man on May 18 2000,23:59
That's it!

cr0: You need to move everything over to geocities and have them host it.

Hellraiser is a genius. =)

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< www.slapmahfro.net >
ya know ya wanna slap it ...


Posted by cr0bar on May 19 2000,00:19
I don't think they are doing everything they can to help me. I think they wish I would go away.

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"Everyone's favorite implement for any task"
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Posted by lu on May 19 2000,01:32
I know I am sticking my head in dangerous water here but what the hell, I will present my side of the story and see where that takes me. I had to register with detonate to post this:

Yes, someone on our end screwed up. Detonate.net site expired on April 12. Cr0bar extended it for another month. Someone indicated to Cr0bar that the new expiry date was May 25. However, that same person did not do the same on the billing record but added one month to April 12 to make it May 12 as the new expiry date.
So the account was mistakenly closed on May 12.

Backup: Believe or not, we spent somewhere between 60 to 70 grants on Unisol software and Cybernetics backup system and we couldn't get them to work. We had already sent back the tape tower system and received a new one. Now they want us to pay big money for them to come to our NOC and install the thing. We will end up having to do that. Backups are really critical for us and we are learning a lot of hard lessons why.
What else can I say? I apologize once again on behalf of Superb Internet for the mistake. If you would like credit for the month that you extended, e-mail me and let me know the form you would like (post back to your credit card ?).

Sincerely,
Lu
lvo@superb.net

[This message has been edited by lu (edited May 18, 2000).]


Posted by cr0bar on May 19 2000,02:15
CHEERS to Lu Vo for posting his side here.

I can come across more abraisive than I actually am. Being cantankerous is part of my image sometimes...it has served me well at times.

But....sounds like Superb is having their share of problems too. I'm more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, especially since lu took the time to come here and say his piece.

It will be disappointing for those of you who like to hear me get up and rant, but:

No hard feelings. I would like a credit for the 13 or so days that got cut short, however!

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"Everyone's favorite implement for any task"
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Posted by veistran on May 19 2000,02:47
I say we give Lu a round of applause for not being a jackass like the safe audit guy(whatever his name is).

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Veistran

I have no room to park my tanks.


Posted by Anztac on May 19 2000,03:03
[clapping vigourously]

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~Anztac (formerly kriegman)

"I am easily driven into a flying rage by blithering idiots"
-cr0bar [The god of this domain]


Posted by Epoxy on May 19 2000,03:59
More clapping

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Cheers
--Rob


Posted by Anztac on May 19 2000,05:38
Ha They're blaming YOU hahaha. This is Safe Audit all over again!!! hilarious stuff!!! Soon this guy will be acusing you of hacking there system for more disk space and then he'll cut you off and you'll get a better service! What is it cr0? Something about all the acusations people send to the people who have screwed cr0? I think they start out nice everyone e-mails them, they get pissed, start acusing cr0 off hiding behind his viewers. Then they start hiding behind they're company and get all anal when they're dick size is diminishing.

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~Anztac
(formerly kriegman)


"I am easily driven into a flying rage by blithering idiots"
-cr0bar [The god of this domain]


"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."
-"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", Douglas Adams


Posted by Hellraiser on May 19 2000,07:10
Yeah, congrats to Lu for taking the time to explain their side of the situation, and not hiding behind a corporate shield. I know I lit into Superb in my previous post here, but if Lu is any indication, they might not be such a bad company, merely one with a few problems they are attempting to irradicate. 'Twas a brave thing ya did there, Lu, my respect for you has gone way up.
Posted by eng_man on May 19 2000,07:42
While this makes it understandable what happened, it is NOT acceptable.

If you claim you have 99.99\% uptime and daily-backups, you better darn well have them. I don't care what it costs, if those are features you offer, offer them for christ's sake.

These sound like problems that should have been worked out BEFORE you began offering hosting services.

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< www.slapmahfro.net >
ya know ya wanna slap it ...


Posted by jim on May 19 2000,07:57
Thank god eng!!!

I was reading everyone's applause for Lu and all that shit. While apologies are nice, they don't fix fuck ups!!

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jim
< Brews and Cues >


Posted by The Only on May 19 2000,09:36
quote:
Originally posted by jim:
Thank god eng!!!

I was reading everyone's applause for Lu and all that shit. While apologies are nice, they don't fix fuck ups!!


Yeah, give cr0bar double his money back, or we'll hax0r your site. :-P~~~~~~

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quote:

Think about how stupid the average human being is, and then realize half of them are dumber than that.
George Carlin

I only know of 2 infinite things, the universe and human stupidity, I'm not certainabout ther universe though.
Albert Einstien


[This message has been edited by The Only (edited May 19, 2000).]


Posted by Ansible on May 19 2000,09:46
Give cr0bar a million bizzilion dollars. Or you will cause me to pingflood you with my 1337 22.4kbps upload.
Posted by TiresiasX on May 19 2000,10:42
I gotta agree with eng on this one; this was a serious screw-up on Superb's part. It's nice that they're willing to fess up to it and offer fair compensation, but they could do even more than that. They could actually provide what they're selling and will hopefully learn from this mistake.

Truly fair compensation would be to calculate a lower rate based on NOT having a weekly backup, calculate the difference over time, and pay that off to cr0 and all their other customers, then also redeem cr0 his one month bill. That's the least these clowns could do.


Posted by cr0bar on May 19 2000,11:09
I would also like a harem. May I have a harem please?

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"Everyone's favorite implement for any task"
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Posted by iso9k on May 19 2000,11:32
Mark Downton was still as ass. One good apple does not make the rotten ones sweeter.
Posted by lu on May 19 2000,11:42
Ouch! I knew I would get a bashing wandering into this neighborhood.
We are also at the whims of others. Before it was terrible backbone providers now it is backup system manufacturers.

Cr0, as I write this, credit of ษ = 1 month is being posted back to your credit card. While this does nothing to recover your data, it shows we are sincere.

Well, after reading your forum, I've acquired the experience to write effective letters to whomever in order to get our backup system working.
Thanks.

Lu
lvo@superb.net

[This message has been edited by lu (edited May 19, 2000).]


Posted by UID-0 on May 19 2000,12:04
Well, I do have to give lu credit for coming into these waters - it certainly shows guts on his part to face the music (wrath?) of detnet users.

This doesn't excuse thm selling services they cant follow up on. I had a similar situation with affinity.net hosting - Tjeir billing system fucked up, deleted my account (without warning), then I called and they fixed it, and I asked for backups to be restored - and umm, oops, they dont ummm, have them. Sorry! (&*\%(&((*(* - ok, Im done now. Just be careful who you host with and always go for the Tier 1 provider. (is Superb Tier 1?)

BTW: cr0bar is the man and first posters can blow me.

;-)

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Congrats - yo have been blssed by Matt.


Posted by Proteun on May 19 2000,12:24
Props To Lu, from me.
I mean, come on guys, what do you want him to do. You can get mad at Superb, but you can't fight with the poor fellow. It's not his fault that his stuff sucks, he's done the best he can, Are any of you gusy smart enough to think of yourself in his shoes? What can you do? You have a hax0r robot army against you, All that Mr. Lu can do is offer the refund. I say that Lu's the Man, someday one of you might be in a situation similar, and all you will be able to say to yourself is, "What woud Lu Do?" So I reiterate my props to Lu, and offer Props also to Cr0bar for being the Super Spice Boss in dealing with the situation.

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Like a flash I'm out-
-Proteus


Posted by eng_man on May 19 2000,12:29
quote:
Originally posted by lu:
Ouch! I knew I would get a bashing wandering into this neighborhood.

Damn right you're gonna get bashed. You screwed up, plain and simple. While it's nice to know what/how things went wrong it doesn't excuse you. If your new big fancy backups didn't work you should have had something in it's place. You should always upgrade BEFORE you absolutely have to.

You have no one to blame but yourselfs and our wraith is warrented.

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< www.slapmahfro.net >
ya know ya wanna slap it ...


Posted by Lizzy on May 19 2000,12:39
He seems nice enough! Get off his back!
Posted by iso9k on May 19 2000,13:05
Yes, get off his back.

He is at least trying to apologize. Let him.

He is not an idiot. ISP work is tough. Sometimes people mess up. Sometimes configurations are wrong. And yes, sometimes IT guys can be assholes...imagine that.

Cr0 already gives them no more money. That is the worst thing that could happen to them. They lost a customer...for good.

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fillin ditches with snitches
http://www.khnemu.com


Posted by Bob_Cannibal on May 19 2000,15:05
good lord eng_ settle down!
have an oreo.



Posted by eng_man on May 19 2000,16:37
That reminds me ...

of a < Penny Arcade > cartoon

"I will click you and claim my prize" ... LOL

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< www.slapmahfro.net >
ya know ya wanna slap it ...


Posted by esoteric on May 20 2000,01:51

Posted by esoteric on May 20 2000,01:53
What the hell...it just arbitrarily posted a blank message...blast.

Kyle
in the DAMN...INTERNET...THINGY War of the Amino Acids
Lysine


Posted by kiddeo on May 20 2000,03:24
flame those bastards.
Posted by Hellraiser on May 20 2000,05:10
Yeah, give him a break, he admitted they were wrong which is more than some would do. Besides, he probably doesn't have the power to do more than get a refund. You can rant and rave all you want at the damn company, but the representative that goes out on a limb to apologize and do what he can to make things right is not the one who should bear the brunt ouf our wrath.
Posted by ThaDragon on May 20 2000,05:10
Although I agree that ISP's that offer backups SHOULD have backup systems in place, I can sympathize with both sides in this incident. First off, its not like Lu wanted CrObars account to disappear, and he seems genuinely sorry.. How many corporate drones do you know that would even admit it was thier screwup in the first place?

If he bought hardware from a manufacturer for the purpose of backups, and that hardware didn't work, I'm sure that he would be getting in touch with them. Crobar's site or anyone elses site isn't going to make the big companies work any faster on solving a non-peering ISP's backup issues. Hell its hard enough to get big companies on site for installation of an entire network let alone a simple backup tower.

Cr0bar's not being backed up was simply victimization by circumstance... so that leaves us in the place of where the wrongdoing was. It was in the account deletion... its that simple.. And Cr0bar has been refunded for the days that he was down because of that deletion. Given that I think Lu did the right thing, and I respect him for that.

I think these days, in general, a lot of people are out with the rope to lynch, but don't have the slightest clues about the reasons for the circumstances that transpired. And about 80\% of that same lot of lynch-mob wouldn't have a clue what most of those reasons meant even if they did know them.

Perhaps those of you who are so willing to lynch Lu in this form should attempt to setup a real ISP. Then maybe you would understand the dynamic required to run one, not to mention understand the level of catastrophe that most of them go through at least weekly.

He isn't even in a decent position to hold his own. He's caught between peering providers and users who are JUST AS RESPONSIBLE for keeping thier own backups of thier sites as the provider is. Don't kid yourselves. If you want to be sure your data is completely safe, the only way to do it is to back it up yourself.


Posted by iso9k on May 20 2000,05:29
I do think some of the original responses were out of line. Basically they did imply that Cr0 was doing wrong or otherwise. THat it was indeed his fault and not their own.

Instead of saying "we apologize and are looking into it."
we get the following:
"While I remember the login name I don't remember the circumstances but I will say this. If someone has their account terminated it is because they either violated their service agreement or used fraudulent means to pay for their account. In either case we simply delete the account and that is the end of our relationship with this individual. Rather than asking for backups of their files they should be asking themselves about their own methods."

That, by itself, tells me they did not care too much until emails came through.

However making the amends does help. Offering to take Cr0 back with 6 months free service would be better. A better way to get a customer back for sure. A way to see if the relationship can be salvaged. But they gave him is $$ and said sorry. "read: now you cant sue for services not rendered. Dont come back, hear?"

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The day will come when Thor will rub the 1000 years of sleep from his eyes, lift his hammer, and crush the Gothic Cathedrals.
www.khnemu.com


Posted by LinkDJ on May 20 2000,13:58
Superb Sucks. Lu is like what Lizzy was talking about in the T-Shirt forum, He's the one good guy in a company of bad ones.

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My computer is made by the Slinky company, is that a bad thing?


Posted by Lizzy on May 20 2000,14:04
Superb isn't necessarily bad. But at least Lu (who I'm going to assume is high on the corporate ladder there) admitted there were problems. And as a few people posted, it sure as hell isn't easy to run an ISP (half of you probably can't even keep your computers from crashing, uncluding myself). If you're *really* mad at anyone, it should be whoever messed up the account payment database, and not Lu.
Posted by aventari on May 20 2000,15:11
Lu is a good guy to come here as tell us exactly what happened. i think we should applaud Lu, and remember to never use Superb ISP. it's that simple

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aventari
"witty one-liner"


Posted by Hellraiser on May 20 2000,16:50
Exactly.
Posted by incubus on May 22 2000,00:14
Or are we gonna do a mini-slashdot effect on their servers with the mails/visiting their sites to fill in comment forms?

If their server went down, would the site be "detonated"?

Mini-me, stop humping the "laser" !

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-- incubus
As I chase the leaves like the words I never find ...


Posted by Anztac on May 22 2000,14:16
I wonder if this problem was like "well I made at least 3 back-ups of the site, but the program to recover the back-ups was on that disk array, and it's screwed"

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~Anztac - The guy who had the really long sig (formerly Kriegman)

"I am easily driven into a flying rage by blithering idiots"
-cr0bar [The god of this domain]


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