Inception Hosting Review

ralf · December 2024

@jsg said:

@ralf said:

@Nelgin said:

In your own quote:

Services will remain active and free of charge from now until 15th January 2025

You even quoted it. It's not the provider's fault if you don't read things properly.

... which does not mean that customer has to stay onboard and make use of that (granted, good) offer.

Sure, but it does mean that if they don't stay onboard, they've already been told the refund would be pro-rata'd from "now" because they were told that "from now until ..." it was going to be free.

Maybe there's another way of interpreting that to reach a different outcome, but I wouldn't say it'd be an obvious interpretation. "Oh, the service from now on is free and you'll get a pro-rata'd, but if you cancel early then we'll charge you for it" doesn't jibe with any of the tone of the e-mail.

Honestly, I'd have done the whole thing differently (and probably cheaper for Clouvider) it'd been me - just left the services alone, said they were no longer renewable and let them lapse whenever they did. Maybe occasionally moving people to different nodes so they can shut some off as they empty out, maybe even just temporarily upgrading people to faster shinier CPUs in the background if they really wanted to ditch the old machines early.

I think it was clear from the e-mail that their intention was trying to do the right thing - look out for people, and let people catch BF deals and migrate off early if they wanted, while giving a long grace period for that process. I can't imagine any other provider seeing how this has played out trying to be nice in the future. Wouldn't be surprised if they realise the "screw you, no more deals from now on, oh you've missed BF, sucks for you" route is easier.

Clouvider · December 2024

@Saragoldfarb said:
The service isn't free. He payed for it mate.

I don't think you stated before the refund would be calculated from the day of the notice. Hence OPs confusion.

Anyway, still doesn't excuse you from not responding to a ticket for 14 days.

I see a lot of excuses.

Truth is... Op buys a services... You have issues... You breach the contract. Stop blaming the victim.

The company is shutting down. Inception Hosting, a separate company is shutting down. No contract has been broken and the service continues to be provided.

uhu · December 2024

@Clouvider said:

@Saragoldfarb said:
Total shit show from a pr perspective.

Any host not responding for 14 days is to blame for whatever happens next.

I get chargebacks are lame but learn to communicate with your clients. 14 days in insane, no matter what industry.

Inception Hosting is a company in the process of being shutdown in an ordinary manner. It’s not a normal business that provides normal hosting services as of 12/11/2024.

More gaslighting. You bought the company in 2021. You've known for 3 years that you would eventually be shutting the business down at some point. Instead of planning ahead you gave 2 months notice to customers, and are blaming the customer for not fully understanding the email that you sent explaining that you couldn't be bothered trying to continue supporting services that weren't making you enough money.

You've now joined my "never use" list of providers. Congrats!

Clouvider · December 2024

@Saragoldfarb said:

@Clouvider said:

@Saragoldfarb said:
Total shit show from a pr perspective.

Any host not responding for 14 days is to blame for whatever happens next.

I get chargebacks are lame but learn to communicate with your clients. 14 days in insane, no matter what industry.

Inception Hosting is a company in the process of being shutdown in an ordinary manner. It’s not a normal business that provides normal hosting services as of 12/11/2024.

You make that your clients problem, in reality it's yours. Something you should deal with.

And we are, as per the email and contractual notice the OP has received. The OP had chosen to open a chargeback instead, not us.

Inception did right by the Customers - offered plenty of notice and a free service until 15/01/0225 from 12/11/2024 so they can move to other providers with both refund AND a free service with a care taken to ensure notice is sent out as soon as possible before the Black Friday to give the Customer options.

Clouvider · December 2024

@uhu said:

@Clouvider said:

@Saragoldfarb said:
Total shit show from a pr perspective.

Any host not responding for 14 days is to blame for whatever happens next.

I get chargebacks are lame but learn to communicate with your clients. 14 days in insane, no matter what industry.

Inception Hosting is a company in the process of being shutdown in an ordinary manner. It’s not a normal business that provides normal hosting services as of 12/11/2024.

More gaslighting. You bought the company in 2021. You've known for 3 years that you would eventually be shutting the business down at some point. Instead of planning ahead you gave 2 months notice to customers, and are blaming the customer for not fully understanding the email that you sent explaining that you couldn't be bothered trying to continue supporting services that weren't making you enough money.

You've now joined my "never use" list of providers. Congrats!

Nah, we didn’t know until we were surprised by the circumstances outside of our control around the time of the notice and then having the contractual notices to us broken.

Clouvider intended to offer services under Inception brand and move the Customer into Clouvider up until that point.

mbjones · December 2024

@Clouvider said:

@jsg said:

@Clouvider said:
Pretty much what @Razza says.
After the end of year we will automate the process of calculation and before the 15th everyone will be offered the a pro-rated refund. Until then - all services are provided.

Sorry, no. That's your sides calculation, but there's also the concerned customers' side. In my case I don't care, I just use the VPS I have till Jan. 15 and then forget about it (although I really liked that VPS, it was a very nice deal). But there of course also are customers who don't let you dictate when to leave and/or switch product or provider.
To say "Thanks OK" after your announcement and to leave straight away is a perfectly valid and reasonable reaction and in no way somehow evil.
Also: To not pay InceptionHosting or you, as their "successor" any longer for a product not used and cancelled properly is just normal. The fact that you stop providing a service on Jan 15 does not mean that a customer has stay onboard till Jan 15!

Finally and probably most importantly, Why didn't you simply send @Nelgin a short mail/message along the lines of "We will refund you counting from the date of cancellation but please kindly understand that the refunding will happen only shortly after Jan 15 2025 for various reasons. Please kindly be patient"?

The problem wasn't him opening a dispute; the problem and cause was that you seem to simply have ignored him and basically drove him into doing what he saw as his only remedy.

Now with the milk spilled all over the floor, please inform us all whether Clouvider really puts Nelgin on Fraud Record and Maxmind! In case he really does I guess Clouvider will end up on many LET users' blacklist, incl. on mine.

Inception hosting will refund (unlike any shutting down hosting here) for the period from the moment the notice is issued to whatever time the Inception Customer has paid for.

The service in the interim is provided, at no cost to the Customer.

Customer was not ignored, ticket was escalated by a junior staff member that was thrown into dealing with this shutdown.

Inception was pretty much a one man band with support once it was acquired, if you remember, and we are doing what we can to do our best for Inception Customers.

Once we decided, or were pretty much forced to, to shut Inception Hosting down, a very, very long notice was provided to all Customers. All services, including that of an OP, extended until 15th January. Notice especially sent before Black Friday to give everyone options on top of massive recurring discount on our own services. A confirmation that refund will be issued has also been provided in that very email.

The OP was informed he will be refunded and his service will be free from the day of the notice.

OP had no right to issue a chargeback while the service was still being provided.

Who cares what or how other hosts have shut down in this particular moment? That sort of deflection and minimization of your own response is unhelpful and basically makes people like me in the market for services distrustful of what you provide. "At least we aren't as bad as those other guys" just isn't ever helpful (or the look I wanna see).
Customer was clearly ignored. Otherwise they would have had a response. Imagine even just sending a "sorry we need to escalate this, hold tight a few more days" notice to them via the ticket. they've made it clear in this thread that that would have been acceptable. Instead they got silence. Honestly this escalation sounds more like "cover our butts" talk then anything else. I'd likely be empathetic your direction if it was less than 72hrs that they waited to escalate but it wasn't - it was 10 days.
The customer mentions the notice, mentions having questions about it, mentions that the notice says to make a ticket if there were questions, which they did and got silence.

I'm no one, and whether or not I go with you won't ever matter to you - sounds like you've got lots of customers. I comment because public perception does matter and I thought it worth mentioning how statements like this are perceived by people like me.

jsg · December 2024

@Clouvider said:

@jsg said:

@Clouvider said:
Pretty much what @Razza says.
After the end of year we will automate the process of calculation and before the 15th everyone will be offered the a pro-rated refund. Until then - all services are provided.

Sorry, no. That's your sides calculation, but there's also the concerned customers' side. In my case I don't care, I just use the VPS I have till Jan. 15 and then forget about it (although I really liked that VPS, it was a very nice deal). But there of course also are customers who don't let you dictate when to leave and/or switch product or provider.
To say "Thanks OK" after your announcement and to leave straight away is a perfectly valid and reasonable reaction and in no way somehow evil.
Also: To not pay InceptionHosting or you, as their "successor" any longer for a product not used and cancelled properly is just normal. The fact that you stop providing a service on Jan 15 does not mean that a customer has stay onboard till Jan 15!

Finally and probably most importantly, Why didn't you simply send @Nelgin a short mail/message along the lines of "We will refund you counting from the date of cancellation but please kindly understand that the refunding will happen only shortly after Jan 15 2025 for various reasons. Please kindly be patient"?

The problem wasn't him opening a dispute; the problem and cause was that you seem to simply have ignored him and basically drove him into doing what he saw as his only remedy.

Now with the milk spilled all over the floor, please inform us all whether Clouvider really puts Nelgin on Fraud Record and Maxmind! In case he really does I guess Clouvider will end up on many LET users' blacklist, incl. on mine.

Inception hosting will refund (unlike any shutting down hosting here) for the period from the moment the notice is issued to whatever time the Inception Customer has paid for.

The service in the interim is provided, at no cost to the Customer.

Customer was not ignored, ticket was escalated by a junior staff member that was thrown into dealing with this shutdown.

Inception was pretty much a one man band with support once it was acquired, if you remember, and we are doing what we can to do our best for Inception Customers.

Once we decided, or were pretty much forced to, to shut Inception Hosting down, a very, very long notice was provided to all Customers. All services, including that of an OP, extended until 15th January. Notice especially sent before Black Friday to give everyone options on top of massive recurring discount on our own services. A confirmation that refund will be issued has also been provided in that very email.

The OP was informed he will be refunded and his service will be free from the day of the notice.

OP had no right to issue a chargeback while the service was still being provided.

Most of that sounds nice and well and fitting the positive image of Clouvider I had so far (and hope stays alive and valid), but

it's not customer's / @Nelgin's fault if a rookie staff member fucks up
unless Nelgin is grossly spreading lies, you did NOT react properly (in style and time) but left him feeling ignored (not baselessly it seems)
your logic that a free service can not be cancelled is plain wrong.
customer just recently had paid for a year in advance iirc. That makes a big difference. In my case for example I had paid, also yearly in advance, maybe 5 months or so ago. Had I just recently paid only to learn a few weeks later that you'll stop my service I as well might have been pissed off and completely cancel everything, 1 month or two of free service or not.

From what I see, your side fucked up, be it a rookie and/or be it being a bit overwhelmed or whatever, the result is that you fucked up.
But maybe you really did not ignore him. If so, please provide a time-line from your POV and evidence. Without that it's very very hard to believe that a former customer who was happy and content for years suddenly turn hostile and publicly spreads lies about you.

Also, as you might have seen in between the lines, I do see that that whole InceptionHosting thing might be a bit much for you and your team (in terms of small detail stuff) and may have come a bit surprising for you too. As a result, no matter how hard you tried to do everything fair and well, even generous, you occasionally fucked up, that's normal.
But you also need to see and understand that Nelgin also is "only human" and felt badly enough treated and ignored to start a dispute and this thread.

My main question is: are you fair and decent enough to not put him on "black lists" like FraudRecord, or are you not and stubborn?

The way this thing evolved so far, one of you will "win" - but at ugly costs and wounded in one way or another. So, I suggest you (as the stronger party) rethink your approach and offer a fair solution.

Clouvider · December 2024

@mbjones said:

@Clouvider said:

@jsg said:

@Clouvider said:
Pretty much what @Razza says.
After the end of year we will automate the process of calculation and before the 15th everyone will be offered the a pro-rated refund. Until then - all services are provided.

Sorry, no. That's your sides calculation, but there's also the concerned customers' side. In my case I don't care, I just use the VPS I have till Jan. 15 and then forget about it (although I really liked that VPS, it was a very nice deal). But there of course also are customers who don't let you dictate when to leave and/or switch product or provider.
To say "Thanks OK" after your announcement and to leave straight away is a perfectly valid and reasonable reaction and in no way somehow evil.
Also: To not pay InceptionHosting or you, as their "successor" any longer for a product not used and cancelled properly is just normal. The fact that you stop providing a service on Jan 15 does not mean that a customer has stay onboard till Jan 15!

Finally and probably most importantly, Why didn't you simply send @Nelgin a short mail/message along the lines of "We will refund you counting from the date of cancellation but please kindly understand that the refunding will happen only shortly after Jan 15 2025 for various reasons. Please kindly be patient"?

The problem wasn't him opening a dispute; the problem and cause was that you seem to simply have ignored him and basically drove him into doing what he saw as his only remedy.

Now with the milk spilled all over the floor, please inform us all whether Clouvider really puts Nelgin on Fraud Record and Maxmind! In case he really does I guess Clouvider will end up on many LET users' blacklist, incl. on mine.

Inception hosting will refund (unlike any shutting down hosting here) for the period from the moment the notice is issued to whatever time the Inception Customer has paid for.

The service in the interim is provided, at no cost to the Customer.

Customer was not ignored, ticket was escalated by a junior staff member that was thrown into dealing with this shutdown.

Inception was pretty much a one man band with support once it was acquired, if you remember, and we are doing what we can to do our best for Inception Customers.

Once we decided, or were pretty much forced to, to shut Inception Hosting down, a very, very long notice was provided to all Customers. All services, including that of an OP, extended until 15th January. Notice especially sent before Black Friday to give everyone options on top of massive recurring discount on our own services. A confirmation that refund will be issued has also been provided in that very email.

The OP was informed he will be refunded and his service will be free from the day of the notice.

OP had no right to issue a chargeback while the service was still being provided.

Who cares what or how other hosts have shut down in this particular moment? That sort of deflection and minimization of your own response is unhelpful and basically makes people like me in the market for services distrustful of what you provide. "At least we aren't as bad as those other guys" just isn't ever helpful (or the look I wanna see).

Customer was clearly ignored. Otherwise they would have had a response. Imagine even just sending a "sorry we need to escalate this, hold tight a few more days" notice to them via the ticket. they've made it clear in this thread that that would have been acceptable. Instead they got silence. Honestly this escalation sounds more like "cover our butts" talk then anything else. I'd likely be empathetic your direction if it was less than 72hrs that they waited to escalate but it wasn't - it was 10 days.

The customer mentions the notice, mentions having questions about it, mentions that the notice says to make a ticket if there were questions, which they did and got silence.

I'm no one, and whether or not I go with you won't ever matter to you - sounds like you've got lots of customers. I comment because public perception does matter and I thought it worth mentioning how statements like this are perceived by people like me.

The company is defunct and providing free service as per the notice.

In any case, if you send a complaint to somebody, it would not be unreasonable to give up to 30 days for a response.

While follow up communication could have been better, you must remember the company is shutting down and running minimum staff. The OP has been enjoying a free service, has received a notice will all the information within it, and will be refunded when the time comes, minus any chargeback fees from PayPal of course.

muffin · December 2024

Bunch of miscommunication it seems. I might be missing something, but I still don’t understand why @Clouvider keeps insisting that OP received free service - didn’t he clearly pay for it, very recently, until next year?

Asking when to expect a refund seems to be totally reasonable - not a single response for 10 / 14 days is not. Disputes are last result, and honestly, when you can’t get in touch with anyone at all, in my eyes it’s really the only option - look at how fast they ended up responding. OP waited much longer than the typical MJJs. https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/200777/hostsailor-vps-basic-guarantees-are-not-available-did-i-buy-air/p1

Clouvider · December 2024

@muffin said:
Bunch of miscommunication it seems. I might be missing something, but I still don’t understand why @Clouvider keeps insisting that OP received free service - didn’t he clearly pay for it, very recently, until next year?

As per the notice, service is free from the moment the notice was issued until 15/01/2025.

The notice has been very clear.

JabJab · December 2024

JFC @Clouvider just say "sorry, we will clarify the situation in next e-mail reminder" and manually calculate the refund and just issue it.

You wasted much more time trying to convince everyone that you are right (yes and no) rather than just close this topic within 3 minutes of work.

ralf · December 2024

I just re-read the e-mail I received (my italics):

Thank you again for being a part of Inception Hosting. If you have questions, please reach out via support tickets—though response times may be delayed due to anticipated volume.

gsea4 · December 2024

Did the email mentioned that support will be limited and response time might be up to 30 days?

plumberg · December 2024

Tldr, there is no pleasing LET members.

Providers Deadpool, sad and anger

Vs

Provider gives notice, sad and more anger and entitlements

@crunchbits decided to stop, their yearly offers and now @Clouvider

Botb provided Ample time and notice, but yes, LET needs more 🍿 so let's shit on the providers

I am seriously surprised seeing so many folks coming out and writing the said providers in their banned books, just cause some random stranger makes a post.

Wow, just wow.

But hey, it's 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿 time

Saragoldfarb · December 2024

@Clouvider said:

@Saragoldfarb said:

@jsg said:

@ralf said:

@Nelgin said:

In your own quote:

Services will remain active and free of charge from now until 15th January 2025

You even quoted it. It's not the provider's fault if you don't read things properly.

... which does not mean that customer has to stay onboard and make use of that (granted, good) offer.
Besides, having been a content customer for a long time (years) does suggest that @Nelgin was not bellicose or ill-willed.

Yeah, it's nuggets style client support. Sad to see this from a provider I use a lot.

Excuse me?

Inception Hosting has provided free service from 12/11/2024 until 15/01/2025 and will provide pro-rated refund.

Think for 1s before you write something.

Exactly why whoever is behind the account currently shouldn't be providing public facing support/respons.

I think the thread title is a bit harsh, but you definitely dropped the ball in communication.

Notice could have been clearer.

Response time... Well... There was no response. Should have been better

Then you threat to report a long time customer to FR.

No Bueno.

Clouvider · December 2024

@jsg said:

Most of that sounds nice and well and fitting the positive image of Clouvider I had so far (and hope stays alive and valid), but

it's not customer's / @Nelgin's fault if a rookie staff member fucks up

unless Nelgin is grossly spreading lies, you did NOT react properly (in style and time) but left him feeling ignored (not baselessly it seems)

your logic that a free service can not be cancelled is plain wrong.

customer just recently had paid for a year in advance iirc. That makes a big difference. In my case for example I had paid, also yearly in advance, maybe 5 months or so ago. Had I just recently paid only to learn a few weeks later that you'll stop my service I as well might have been pissed off and completely cancel everything, 1 month or two of free service or not.

From what I see, your side fucked up, be it a rookie and/or be it being a bit overwhelmed or whatever, the result is that you fucked up.
But maybe you really did not ignore him. If so, please provide a time-line from your POV and evidence. Without that it's very very hard to believe that a former customer who was happy and content for years suddenly turn hostile and publicly spreads lies about you.

Also, as you might have seen in between the lines, I do see that that whole InceptionHosting thing might be a bit much for you and your team (in terms of small detail stuff) and may have come a bit surprising for you too. As a result, no matter how hard you tried to do everything fair and well, even generous, you occasionally fucked up, that's normal.
But you also need to see and understand that Nelgin also is "only human" and felt badly enough treated and ignored to start a dispute and this thread.

My main question is: are you fair and decent enough to not put him one "black lists" like FraudRecord, or are you not and stubborn?

With all due respect but you are not entitled to this information.

The way this thing evolved so far, one of you will "win" - but at ugly costs and wounded in one way or another. So, I suggest you (as the stronger party) rethink your approach and offer a fair solution.

The OP can close the chargeback and process via a normal manner, we will then not charge any fees to the OP. If the OP continues and we win - the OP will receive a refund minus the fees. It’s up to the OP. Inception continues to provide service until this very day.

The notice the OP has received was clear, precise, and with the best intentions possible.

The OP was clearly informed his service is free from the time the notice was issued by Inception until 15/01/2025.

uhu · December 2024

@Clouvider said:
The OP has been enjoying a free service,

I can't work out if you are not reading what people are telling you, or just don't understand, so I'll type this slowly...

The customer paid for the service. Paid in advance. The service is therefore NOT free, until they receive a refund. A refund they asked for and were then ignored on.

Clouvider · December 2024

@JabJab said:
JFC @Clouvider just say "sorry, we will clarify the situation in next e-mail reminder" and manually calculate the refund and just issue it.

You wasted much more time trying to convince everyone that you are right (yes and no) rather than just close this topic within 3 minutes of work.

Absolutely not. Allowing the OPs public intimidation to expedite a refund ahead of everyone else that patiently waited is definitely not the way to go and not fair to thousands of other Customers.

Saragoldfarb · December 2024

"any case, if you send a complaint to somebody, it would not be unreasonable to give up to 30 days for a response."

Wtf?

Dazzle · December 2024

This is a high-quality drama. We have veterans on both sides.

Saragoldfarb · December 2024

You're an UK business right? Did you seriously just state that?

uhu · December 2024

@Saragoldfarb said:
"any case, if you send a complaint to somebody, it would not be unreasonable to give up to 30 days for a response."

Wtf?

I'm framing that one!

Saragoldfarb · December 2024

You're an UK business right? Did you seriously just state that?> @uhu said:

@Saragoldfarb said:
"any case, if you send a complaint to somebody, it would not be unreasonable to give up to 30 days for a response."

Wtf?

I'm framing that one!

So should everyone else... Again... Wtf?

JabJab · December 2024

@Saragoldfarb said: You're an UK business right? Did you seriously just state that?

That business is "closing", what you gonna do? :-D

Clouvider · December 2024

@uhu said:

@Clouvider said:
The OP has been enjoying a free service,

I can't work out if you are not reading what people are telling you, or just don't understand, so I'll type this slowly...

The customer paid for the service. Paid in advance. The service is therefore NOT free, until they receive a refund. A refund they asked for and were then ignored on.

The service is free from 12/11/2024 until 15/01/2025. We do not treat Customers that paid and didn’t pay differently.

Saragoldfarb · December 2024

@JabJab said:

@Saragoldfarb said: You're an UK business right? Did you seriously just state that?

That business is "closing", what you gonna do? :-D

But @Clouvider isn't. And appaythey think it's ok to ignore a customer up to 30 days

Clouvider · December 2024

@Saragoldfarb said:
"any case, if you send a complaint to somebody, it would not be unreasonable to give up to 30 days for a response."

Wtf?

Certainly. Give it a try in a real life.

Saragoldfarb · December 2024

@Clouvider said:

@Saragoldfarb said:
"any case, if you send a complaint to somebody, it would not be unreasonable to give up to 30 days for a response."

Wtf?

Certainly. Give it a try in a real life.

Again, wtf is happening here??¿¿??????

Clouvider · December 2024

@Saragoldfarb said:
You're an UK business right? Did you seriously just state that?

Inception Hosting is in a process of originally shutdown after issuing notice of ceasing operations.

Saragoldfarb · December 2024

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