Avoid Serverbeach at all cost!!!

**Fearless** · 07-01-2003, 06:30 PM

Stay away from Serverbeach. I made the mistake of signing up with these idiots.

June 5, with no notice, they shut off 2 of my 3 servers. I thought they had network problems. After logging in I noticed my servers were shut off for AUP violations. They said they received 7 spamcop.net complaints, so they shut down my servers. After screaming at the salesman that I don't spam, they sent me the complaints. I own 2,500 domain names. A spammer included a few of my domain names in the content. 2 hours later they said they would turn my servers back on if I disabled the 4 domain names found in the spamcop.net complaints.

I wrote the following to Spamcop.net:

I own 2,500 domain names. I assume a competitor has figured out how to use you to cause damage to me. Today my ISP shut off one of my servers without any warning. That server generates $1,200-$1,500 in revenue each day. It contains ecommerce sites like Snaps.com.

Now after 2 hours of being down and screaming on the telephone, the ISP has turned the server back on but with stipulations:

I will turn your server back on, but the following domains MUST be
removed from your ServerBeach server within the next 24 hours:

83.com
poe.com
4j.com
www.milled.com

Spamcop replied:

Hi Greg. I'm ccing serverbeach. They made a bad call on this one, I think. I can certainly understand how distressing this must be, and I appreciate the relatively restrained complaint. For my part, I appologize for the misdirected complaints. They are the result of a new spammer trick which fools spamcop into going after the wrong site. Note this tricky HTML from one of the enclosed spams:

Now fast forward to today July 1. I received 3 emails that looked like this:

We are receiving complaints of UCE/SPAM email associated to your
server with IP address:

66.139.76.93

This is clearly in violation of our ToS and AUP and is grounds for
termination of service without refund.

We expect detailed explaination and course of action in resolving this
issue ASAP to ensure no disruption of current service..

Meanwhile, future violations we result in SERVICE DISRUPTION WITHOUT
NOTICE.

- ServerBeach Network Abuse Department

- SpamCop V1.3.3 -
This message is brief for your comfort. Please follow links for
details.

http://spamcop.net/w3m?i=z302988983...ab159d9ead93c3z
Spamvertised website: http://carleton.com
> http://carleton.com is 66.139.76.93; Fri, 20 Jun 2003 19:32:55 GMT

I replied with:

I don't spam but I think I will now. I'm going spam as many people as I can and put Serverbeach.com in the content of the spam. Are you going to shut your site down as result? Do you see how stupid your actions are?

They immediately shut off all of my servers and sent this:

Your server(s) have been taken offline due to non-compliance.

UCE/SPAM is not tolerated here.

- ServerBeach Network Abuse Department

Tomorrow I'll be paying a visit to my attorney. They have effectively burned down several of my businesses and my businesses have been permanently harmed by this.

I want to make sure as many people as possible are made aware of this so they won't encounter the same idiocy. Anyone know of other forums I should post this, please let me know.

**lotsofissues** · 07-01-2003, 07:36 PM

Greg got screwed over!

**Fearless** · 07-01-2003, 07:38 PM

Originally posted by .
Greg got screwed over!

Not the first time and won't be the last time.

**TopNames.com** · 07-01-2003, 07:52 PM

shit...I have snaps on snaps.com...this bites!

**TopNames.com** · 07-01-2003, 08:00 PM

Greg...do you have a recent backup?

Are the snaps I had in place still valid or did they free up? I can't remember which ones I had on your site

**Fearless** · 07-01-2003, 08:02 PM

Originally posted by TopNames.com
Greg...do you have a recent backup?

Are the snaps I had in place still valid or did they free up? I can't remember which ones I had on your site

All snap data is kept at Snapnames. We just reflect what they have.

**TopNames.com** · 07-01-2003, 08:05 PM

whew!

I am sorry to hear what happened...if it was me, I would be stabbing people in the face with a pencil.

Good luck...I hope it works out for you.

**GeorgeK** · 07-01-2003, 08:26 PM

That's *very* poor service by ServerBeach. I had some SpamCop complaints too for my server (I was an innocent bystander as well, someone was putting one of my domains in the "From" field in one case, and the second time the person who made the complaint didn't even get the domain right, as I wasn't involved in any way).

The company I go with (4webspace.com) emailed me the SpamCop complaint, and asked that I respond to it, but they never shut my box (after they saw my reply, case closed). For a webhosting company to do anything other than that is a joke.

**moxsum** · 07-01-2003, 08:42 PM

Who are you gonna go with now? I suggest Rack Shack. Do you personally maintain your servers? And finally, did this result in the loss of any data?

**Manu** · 07-01-2003, 08:54 PM

If you need temp space give me a shout!

**Fearless** · 07-01-2003, 10:30 PM

Any of my Snaps.com customers can help me out by calling 1-800-741-9939 (Serverbeach Sales) and voice your displeasure for not being able to access Snaps.com.

**Rocket2Uranus** · 07-02-2003, 12:29 AM

unbelievable. good luck.

**JMJ** · 07-02-2003, 02:18 AM

I have plenty of room on one of my servers greg if you need a temporary place to setup shop.

**Fearless** · 07-02-2003, 03:09 PM

Status Update: Serverbeach is refusing to turn my servers back on so I can retrieve my data because of the posts I made on WHT.
My lawyer is on the case.

**moxsum** · 07-02-2003, 03:37 PM

Get some rack shack Dual Xeons!

**Rocket2Uranus** · 07-02-2003, 04:59 PM

Originally posted by Gregr
Status Update: Serverbeach is refusing to turn my servers back on so I can retrieve my data because of the posts I made on WHT.
My lawyer is on the case.

do you not do nightly offsite backups?

**Fearless** · 07-02-2003, 09:33 PM

Originally posted by FrontRow

do you not do nightly offsite backups?

I have 3 servers with Serverbeach. Each server backs up onto the other two servers a few times a day. I didn't factor in Serverbeach=Assholes. My mistake. The servers also contain a year's worth of custom programming by 4 programmers.

That's why my lawyer is involved. I'm going to recover my losses. The losses are going to be huge and they're increasing by the minute.

**Rocket2Uranus** · 07-02-2003, 09:44 PM

good luck. every morning my entire server downloads to an office computer that exists for no other purpose. your experience convinces me that was the way to go.

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