Watching out for Rackspace hard sell

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Posted by I, Brian, 11-21-2006, 08:02 AM
A few weeks back myself and a client approached Rackspace for a quote. The machine specs were the same, but the quotes were wildly difference: Sort of confirms my suspicions as to why they don't include pricing on their website - should have been a warning that they are looking to force the biggest profit margin they think they can get away with. Bottom line is - don't even tell Rackspace a budget figure, and refuse to accept any quote. Also, feel free to tell the salesperson when they are talking crap.
Posted by eDedi, 11-21-2006, 08:47 AM
Why do you think Rackspace dont have costs on there site? so they can over-charge buisness that have no clue in what they are getting. Some of the big guys on there site are paying over £1,000/month for a box.
Posted by Jame$, 11-21-2006, 08:56 AM
I just don't trust them
Posted by Latin_Carrier, 11-21-2006, 01:51 PM

Posted by reiteration, 11-21-2006, 03:55 PM
Rackspace is good but the sales side really is terrible.
Posted by Apolo, 11-21-2006, 04:29 PM
Yes, that's always been the case with them. The *good* thing is that once you know their game, you can always try and try to get the lowest pricing from them. Sometimes it works, depending what kind of deal you're asking for.
Posted by CaroNet-Hesham, 11-21-2006, 06:20 PM
not everyone is experienced in the server market, so some can easily fall for an over priced deal not knowing any better
Posted by NameHero, 11-21-2006, 07:51 PM
I agree completely. We requested a few machines two years ago and they did the same thing. Tried to charge us outrageous amounts for a small server with very limited bandwidth. The company does value support and their customers, but trust me YOU pay for it!
Posted by marak, 11-27-2006, 07:12 PM
I guess haggling with Rackspace is like a used car lot, or even an Arabian bazaar, except it's impossible to get them to lower their price, right? I honestly have never had the guts to bluntly denounce a price except with cars and antiques. If you did denounce a price, how much would they go down? (assuming you started to hang up the phone)
Posted by OnlineRack, 11-27-2006, 11:44 PM
what is the best deal you got with Rack Space for a dedicated server I wonder? Lets see how we differ
Posted by HostTitan, 11-28-2006, 03:05 PM
Dedicated server management for an investment bank would be a lot different than, say, a popular web forum. They focus largely on management, so how can they come up with an appropriate price without knowing more about your management needs? The server specs and bandwidth are not really what you're paying for at all...
Posted by WickedShark, 11-30-2006, 05:33 PM
They told me like 500.00 a month for a simple P4 box. Then they said that they do not manage Cpanel servers at all so the management aspect went out the window but the price would not change. Horrible so I went somewhere else. Cannot complain about there tactics to much though. If you could get someone to pay you 100.00 a month for a 500MB hosting plan would you take it? What ever works I guess but I chose to go somewhere else and I had some problems so if some cases you pay for what you get but you do not need to over pay to get really good service.
Posted by John Stevens, 12-01-2006, 02:29 PM
Rackspace support Plesk and not Cpanel. I've used both and think Plesk is much better.
Posted by bwb, 12-04-2006, 07:29 AM
I agree, they are not a budget host, you are paying for the peace of mind of knowing that if your server goes down they will fix it without you having to do it or be there to prod them. How much is that worth? Companies that make 20k a month and need to be up are willing to pay for that.
Posted by rudal, 12-24-2006, 07:50 AM
Yep I agree on this one, you are paying for good night sleeps and peace of mind. I have never experienced any services with Rackspace but if they are charging that much for a dedicated server, probably alot of its revenue goes to their engineers.
Posted by peruviantalk, 12-24-2006, 08:39 AM
They are already lying about their uptime so get a clue.
Posted by Mitra, 12-24-2006, 05:50 PM
What are you talking about? Any proof? I'm a Rackspace customer, have been for about two years. I'm not in the UK (which I think is where this thread started) though so perhaps it's different in Europe. Rackspace US has not had a network outage in more than five years. As to pricing differences, Rackspace has a lot of variance in price for a reason. So does any other company that sells a service first. If you compare Rackspace to hardware-focused companies you will get a lower price with the other guys. I've done that, and I'm with Rackspace because I appreciate their support, respect the 100% uptime, and know that they can fix problems if they arise. Face it... there are hundreds of hosting companies out there. Shop based on what is important to you. If price is it, Rackspace is not the place to go. If you don't like what you experience somewhere else, just remember that you get what you pay for.
Posted by Mitra, 12-24-2006, 05:52 PM
A simple P4 box..." So that's all you're looking for? Rackspace offers service, not hardware. Go with GoDaddy or Amazon if you want low cost servers. Simple enough, right?
Posted by layer0, 12-24-2006, 05:56 PM
In the case outlined above, however, there is no "service" as the management is voided as soon as cPanel hits the system.
Posted by Mitra, 12-25-2006, 08:53 PM
Not quite... Management of a server is never voided. A very important point here. It's semantics, wording, whatever. They are still a managed hosting provider and manage the box. They just won't manage CPanel. (a personal note, CPanel is a friggin security nightmare. I considered it before going with Plesk). If a problem arises they will help resolve it. If the problem turns out to be related to CPanel (or any other application not included with the original build they provded) Rackspace may or may not charge an hourly rate. What makes them charge an hourly rate? Most providers charge for support eventually, it's a matter of how difficult the remedy was. Frankly, I think it depends on how nice are you to them while on the phone. ;-)
Posted by layer0, 12-25-2006, 08:57 PM
I don't think what you described above is the case, as from my previous experience once you modify the configuatuon they are reluctant to do much for you. I agree, I don't use cPanel . . .
Posted by clarason, 01-03-2007, 07:43 AM
We've been leasing a server from Rackspace since 1999 and in 2004 they took the Raid card out of our server and didn't bother to tell us that they took it out. And proceeded to keep charging us the same amount for those 2 years. Then on the 1st the disk crashed and their response to me was: "You've lost everything you had on your server and btw you have no Raid" They claim one of our techs requested them to take out the Raid card and they failed to make a ticket for it because it was a verbal request. Managed hosting my ***!
Posted by whmcsguru, 01-03-2007, 08:59 AM
I'd suggest contacting the CC company because that is most definitely fraudulent. Incorrect When you talk about control panels and the damage they can do to the system, of course, this would void the "management" unless the individual company installs CPanel and states that they support it. There's a TON of difference between cpanel and plesk which they actually DO support. Unfortunately, they're not going to support CPanel, security risk or not. These types of rackspace fraud threads are starting to pop up everywhere. I'm surprised they're still in business if they've gone down the hill THIS much over the years (they never were that good to begin with).
Posted by eDedi, 01-03-2007, 08:59 AM
verbal request should still be recorded.. i would look into that some more
Posted by BillyT, 01-03-2007, 07:14 PM
These types of rackspace fraud threads are starting to pop up everywhere." LOLs really? like where? Sites like this full of sharks trying to discredit popular hosts while displaying their own hosting company in their signatures? I'm new to rackspace, moved to them 150 days ago. So far i have had 100% uptime. I haven't raised a call with them in over a month for help with some apps but the last two days installed vbseo which resulted in me raising 8 calls to them, all answered right away.. they did things for me such as installing Zend, tweaking my http.conf, tweaking some performance settings, doing some firewall changes etc.. all actioned right away and this was 3am their time. So forgive me if I take a couple of small time hosting outfits slamming rackspace with a grain of salt.
Posted by whmcsguru, 01-03-2007, 07:49 PM
Do your research before you actually try to discredit people 100% uptime is theoretically impossible. No site will ever be reached 100% of the time. While it's true, there ARE individuals here trying to "discredit popular hosts", for the most part, what is shared here is experience. Just because that doesn't match YOUR experience doesn't mean it's not true! Again, do your research. Firstly, "small time hosting outfits" can't afford Rackspace pricing, there's no way that could happen. Secondly, again, YOUR experiences are not the "norm". Sure, there are people that will blindly trust Rackspace, but the rest of the world actually modifies and updates things when necessary. Rackspace does not. So what if you got someone to do a 5 minute http edit at 3am, or a 5 minute firewall edit at 3am. Those are simple things that any basic rookie administrator can do. Does this warrant paying them extravagant fees? Clearly not.
Posted by Lightwave, 01-04-2007, 03:01 AM
I think at this point, you're beating a dead horse. Granted, I like to do that also sometimes. Those that understand your point got it long ago... those that clearly don't probably never will... or will choose to just argue otherwise anyways.
Posted by John Stevens, 01-04-2007, 05:19 AM
Um? So that means that the minority of uses who post bad experiences about Rackspace to this forum the norm? Please remember that you do not represent their entire customer base.
Posted by eDedi, 01-04-2007, 06:04 AM
I think you will find that no datacenter will hire a rookie administrator and the rackspace fee's are "normal". The datacenter we use charges $100/hour for tech time. I would look into what they provide before you start making comments about extravagant fees.
Posted by whmcsguru, 01-04-2007, 06:23 AM
Being a "customer" of theirs many years ago, I know precisely what they provide. $500 for a low end POS server is "normal"? Hardly. Yes, the work they do is that of a rookie. I didn't say the other side was the "norm" either. I simply stated that one person's experience is not, that's all.
Posted by eDedi, 01-04-2007, 09:38 AM
Actually, I think they do a very good job for the managed customers that I have direct contact with. Last edited by eDedi; 01-04-2007 at 09:44 AM.
Posted by Jame$, 01-04-2007, 10:12 AM
Rackspace is one of the most reputable in the business, calling the work they do "rookie" is quite a rookie thing to do itself in my view.