Dinix and Sorts

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Posted by alaria, 03-31-2005, 05:57 PM
Well after reviewing all my notes and info from this past week - I find it hard to believe that WHP is completely without fault here. It was WHP staff that lied to us several times. It was WHP that was not updating the Call Center nor allowing the call center to reach them. Our servers are with WHP at this point and not Dinix. During this process WHP could not even handle support for their won clients instead everyone got shafted to Call Centers unless...oh yes...the trouble ticket which most were unanswered and remain that way. I have phone recordings and email which show plenty. In addition I find that the service and quality elements from either company are yet to be seen. It was stated from a senior staff member from WHP that WHP is not yet "in charge" of our accounts or servers until the migration is complete. Then why on earth would they turn their own phones over to a call center?? Not provide support for their own clients? In addition we have heard that Dinix in their infinite wisdom packed an ungodly amount of compressed accounts onto 1 machine and thus created a whirlwind of problems. I am still waiting on my server to come online. I have been lied to so many times and ignored so many times that I am numb and angry. I am not sure who really cares about the buisnesses which have been destroyed. Thus a class action lawsuit is at hand. I already have interested parties and if you would like to be included please notify me off forum via MSN Messenger: ID: ceo@alariait.com
Posted by HenryJ, 03-31-2005, 06:41 PM
count me in!
Posted by BigBison, 03-31-2005, 09:26 PM
Well, I'm already under fire in this forum today for this post: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...84#post2984384 I'm sure I came across a bit smug with my review in your thread of my provider's VPS migration last week, so I may as well be the bearer of bad tidings in this thread. Please, people, don't give your hard-earned money to an attorney on a dead-end lawsuit like this. Their side will use the arguments I'm about to describe. I've made similar posts in this forum and caught plenty of flak for it, too. Here I go again. Hate me if you must, but please consider: First off, you have to sue for real monetary damages incurred -- lost business. In addition, you can opt to sue for punitive damages -- lost image. Dinix/WHP's attorney will cynically ask you why you didn't have your own offsite backups and secondary nameservers. They will manipulate the jury to include only people who have a computer and/or e-mail account. These people will be easy to convince, if they don't already know, of the value of a backup. The catchphrase he will repeat again and again is "Custom and Practice". The evidence the jury will be given to consider will be the best-practices sections of the RFP's for e-mail, DNS and webhosting. Witnesses will explain how a server going down doesn't affect some reputable, small webhosting companies like yours. It won't be hard to convince a jury that your lack of backup isn't your provider's fault, especially when they review a copy of the provider's TOS that indemnifies them against the very thing you're considering suing them for. The lawyer for the defense will ask, "Do you mean to tell me that, against all custom and practice, you failed to maintain an offsite backup of your customers' data? The very data whose loss you are trying to recover as damages in this case?" "Could you not have contracted for VPS service from a competing provider and restored accounts from your backup within hours, without downtime?" Cynical? You betcha. But that won't keep it from being effective. They'll introduce all of Lauren's posts into evidence. Lauren, we've certainly had our differences, but you deserve an attagirl for escaping this unscathed and sharing how you did it. Even if she isn't called as an actual witness, the cost to the defense of hiring an expert witness to drub this point home to the jury is much less than it will cost them to lose the case. Before anyone gives any money to any attorney anywhere, please ask him how he intends to counter this basic legal defense, because the guys you're up against don't look like the type to settle up without a fight. Your efforts should be focused on getting out of there with as many customers as possible intact, learning from this and moving forward. Sorry.
Posted by alaria, 03-31-2005, 09:31 PM
Let them try - I have more than 12 recorded phone conversations which are legal as I stated they were being recorded and in addition I have lie after lie after lie - Not only that I have proof of damage and now Dinix/WHP has uploaded OLD info and emails etc onto our account and clients are pulling down email that is infected with viruses and in addition they are receiving inaccurate info from our comapny from 2003!!!!!! Give me the judge and jury baby cause I am out for blood at this point and I have located an atty that "wants" this case!
Posted by Shiboning, 04-02-2005, 06:58 PM
So far there are only 12 votes. Too few! Where have the rest of the guys gone?
Posted by alaria, 04-02-2005, 08:08 PM
I will have a forum online shortly for the class action.
Posted by CeriPlex, 04-02-2005, 08:30 PM
Well, Unfortunetly.. seeing as I'm pretty new to these forums. I'm not really "clued up" as to what your talking about. However, if your considering a class law action. then its obviously serious. What I will say however is this, If your looking to take this company to court.. I would highly suggest following every other angle first and have proof of doing so. Else stuff like this is generally frowned upon, Also.. I don't beleive recorded phone-calls are actually viable evidence without either a warrant or written / verbal permission from the person being recorded.. Call centers for example, by continueing the call after notification is your verbal contract Good luck either way.
Posted by robster69, 04-03-2005, 03:17 AM
BigBison, you are correct that you must have actual monetary damages, and then you can seek punitive on top of that. You can't sue for just any old amount. Actual costs would be overtime paid, costs to acquire/switch secondary backup system to primary system, etc. outside of anticipated losses to maintain status quo. Even those of us who had backup systems were caught off guard with a 48 hour notice (which some did not receive). Nonetheless, we made decisions based on company announcements outlining the potential impact. Much of the information, official and unofficial (such as calling the center to hear that they were bringing up the servers, come to find out the truck had not even arrived) was misleading. There is a basis to sue businesses on their neglect - whether willful & malicious or not - if their negligence causes real (meaning quantifiable) harm. And it would be fairly compelling to a jury if several small business owners come forward as the "victim". Juries typically tend to be anti-corporate, especially when the end result is harm to the "small" guy. The largest payouts have been punitive damages against corporations with "shady" backgrounds (see other posts about this). From another post, I saw there is another class action group gathering at dinixdisaster@lawyer.com I am half awake when posting this, so apologies for any typos or incorrect grammar. Long week!
Posted by bithost(NET), 04-03-2005, 05:03 AM
The Laci Peterson trial and President Clinton's impeachment both pretty well threw this requirement out the window... ??? My understanding of civil and criminal trials is that admission of recorded calls pretty well goes on a case-by-case basis. Bailey
Posted by BigBison, 04-03-2005, 07:00 AM
I'm with you on that one, and it's good to hear some rational thinking in this thread from a victim of this mess. I still say, the type of attorney who chases this sort of class-action is not they type who will give you the kind of devil's advocacy I provide, and you'd better have some idea if he's competent to handle the hard questions which will be in the jury's mind, and the defense attorney's mouth. The cost of losing focus now, and incurring further losses, could outweigh anything you'd likely see (years in the future) from a court victory or out-of-court settlement which will take away more of your time and resources to pursue. Don't make a decision to pursue legal action when you're too angry to even consider the "cut your losses and move on" advice.
Posted by alaria, 04-03-2005, 09:19 PM
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...hreadid=391021
Posted by MacMadame, 04-04-2005, 06:13 PM
Class action suits make lawyers rich but the rewards to the individuals involved are few. This is because there are so many people in the suit and any award has to be split between them. They are good for people who are having trouble quantifying their damages or whose damages are too small to interest a lawyer. However, IMO anyone who has suffered real quantifiable damages, such as the company who paid thousands of dollars in overtime to get all their accounts out of Dinix within the 48 hour window of opportunity, would be better off suing WHP directly and not getting involved in a class action suit.
Posted by alaria, 04-06-2005, 04:55 PM
Here is where we are gathing people interested in joining a class action - www.dinixclassaction.com If your interested stop by... We wish everyone who has been effected by this merger all the best whether they join us, fight them alone or just walk away and try to salvage their businesses!