I've been with Rackspace for 2 years and have been mostly happy, until recently.
I recently setup a new dedicated server for a client, the IP was in a fairly large block that is on Spews.org blacklist. After some fair attempts to resolve the issue from the server side, we realized that approach wouldn't work at all and the IP needed to be changed. I wouldn't normally have a problem with this, except it took them 2+ weeks to diagnose and 3 'resolved' tickets. Being who they are and what they do, they should have well-established procedures for handling spews.org issues, but this made me feel like a guinea pig. AND, after they moved the server to the new IP they forgot to switch the DNS (which was right there on the service request) so i was down for 2 more days because of this silly oversight. I have been unable to get them to give me any sort of refund because of my or my clients frustration.
That was just the first problem...
I also setup a new server with them for shared hosting, this new box was not configured properly and also went through multiple 'resolved' support tickets before the problem was actually taken care of. The server was basically unusable for a full month while they stumbled around fixing the DNS issues. One of the things that really frustrated me about the situation was that i was told on numerous occasions that i would receive a call back by so-and-so at such-and-such a time, only to have to call them myself to try to get answers, that happened no less than 4 times. I was told i would receive credit for that first month, but that credit has not shown up on my online billing statements yet.
Don't use the online support system, they hardly pay attention to those requests (taking days sometimes to acknowledge them). The only way i get things done is to call and speak with a level 3 tech, we then work through the issues directly.
last year they had a nasty problem with a misconfigured router that was hanging requests coming in over one providers link, i had problems reaching my server for 2 days - though it wasn't an 'outage' it sure did cause me and my clients some major frustration... but to their credit it was fixed at the exact time they said it would be.
I just don't feel like i was getting anything close to 'fanatical customer service' like they claim. If i had been, i wouldn't be writing this.
Despite all this, they are STILL better than any other managed host or colo i've ever had (quite a few). I want to really like them like i did 6 months ago, but all these recent problems have put a damper on my enthusiasm.
Harry is known for pulling obnoxious stunts for publicity. I wouldn't be surprised AT ALL if he in fact did NOT see the movie he has proported to review.
He claims to get personal showings of features from Hollywood executives that fly him all over the world. These are vivid dreams he has... In reality he's just an obese loser from Texas that will do most anything possible for attention, he's got serious problems. I actually asked one of those executives myself if it was true, he laughed out loud NO WAY, then that quickly turned into anger over Harry's ability to get away with this stuff. It's always amazed me that so many people believe the mindless blather he spews.
I worked for a company years ago that sued Harry, it ended up not going anywhere for a variety of reasons. But when we were all done the FACTS WERE CLEAR, Harry Knowles simply FABRICATES his own hysteria because he thrives on the attention. This fact has been backed up numerous times over the years by many friends in the industry, including a very influential industry email-list administrator. He has absolutely zero respect within the industry. Aint It Cool is more like a house of cards, it will all come down sometime (the sooner the better).
Last year I visited JPL while they were having their Open House. It was a very cool day that included some great behind-the-scenes stuff, and many of the 2001 FIRST competitors robots were on display as well. I shot some video and posted it to Reality Feed, check it out.
Slashdot Mirror
I've been with Rackspace for 2 years and have been mostly happy, until recently.
I recently setup a new dedicated server for a client, the IP was in a fairly large block that is on Spews.org blacklist. After some fair attempts to resolve the issue from the server side, we realized that approach wouldn't work at all and the IP needed to be changed. I wouldn't normally have a problem with this, except it took them 2+ weeks to diagnose and 3 'resolved' tickets. Being who they are and what they do, they should have well-established procedures for handling spews.org issues, but this made me feel like a guinea pig. AND, after they moved the server to the new IP they forgot to switch the DNS (which was right there on the service request) so i was down for 2 more days because of this silly oversight. I have been unable to get them to give me any sort of refund because of my or my clients frustration.
That was just the first problem...
I also setup a new server with them for shared hosting, this new box was not configured properly and also went through multiple 'resolved' support tickets before the problem was actually taken care of. The server was basically unusable for a full month while they stumbled around fixing the DNS issues. One of the things that really frustrated me about the situation was that i was told on numerous occasions that i would receive a call back by so-and-so at such-and-such a time, only to have to call them myself to try to get answers, that happened no less than 4 times.
I was told i would receive credit for that first month, but that credit has not shown up on my online billing statements yet.
Don't use the online support system, they hardly pay attention to those requests (taking days sometimes to acknowledge them). The only way i get things done is to call and speak with a level 3 tech, we then work through the issues directly.
last year they had a nasty problem with a misconfigured router that was hanging requests coming in over one providers link, i had problems reaching my server for 2 days - though it wasn't an 'outage' it sure did cause me and my clients some major frustration... but to their credit it was fixed at the exact time they said it would be.
I just don't feel like i was getting anything close to 'fanatical customer service' like they claim. If i had been, i wouldn't be writing this.
Despite all this, they are STILL better than any other managed host or colo i've ever had (quite a few). I want to really like them like i did 6 months ago, but all these recent problems have put a damper on my enthusiasm.
Harry is known for pulling obnoxious stunts for publicity. I wouldn't be surprised AT ALL if he in fact did NOT see the movie he has proported to review.
He claims to get personal showings of features from Hollywood executives that fly him all over the world. These are vivid dreams he has... In reality he's just an obese loser from Texas that will do most anything possible for attention, he's got serious problems. I actually asked one of those executives myself if it was true, he laughed out loud NO WAY, then that quickly turned into anger over Harry's ability to get away with this stuff. It's always amazed me that so many people believe the mindless blather he spews.
I worked for a company years ago that sued Harry, it ended up not going anywhere for a variety of reasons. But when we were all done the FACTS WERE CLEAR, Harry Knowles simply FABRICATES his own hysteria because he thrives on the attention. This fact has been backed up numerous times over the years by many friends in the industry, including a very influential industry email-list administrator. He has absolutely zero respect within the industry. Aint It Cool is more like a house of cards, it will all come down sometime (the sooner the better).
Last year I visited JPL while they were having their Open House. It was a very cool day that included some great behind-the-scenes stuff, and many of the 2001 FIRST competitors robots were on display as well. I shot some video and posted it to Reality Feed, check it out.