I have been using Virtuoso Net Solutions for over two years. My initial experience with the company was when I former client of mine was looking for a dedicated server. The first issue was that I thought the server was supposed to be set up in a few hours. After four hours and no email, I submitted a support ticket. I received a reply that dedicated servers can take up to 24 hours to set up. The email also had a snotty comment that if I would have read the website I would know that.
I didn't pay any mind to the remark. A few months down the road, I purchased a shared hosting account for my personal website. Everything worked out pretty well for two years. The major complaint was unannounced downtime. I would notice that my website would be inaccessible (not via web, ftp, or email). Every time it would be the same issue. I would submit a support ticket and I would get a response that they are upgrading the servers.
I am the technical type. I understand that servers need to be often upgraded because of bugs in the software or security issues.in the past though, hosting companies I would go with would email the customers at least 24-48 hours in advance. The only instances of abrupt or short notices I encountered with past hosts was major security vulnerability. However, at least customers would be notified.
Finally, I got fed up with it. I submitted a support ticket, as usual, about the website being inaccessible. As usual, they tell me it's an upgrade. This time, I asked them why they never contacted the customers about these issues. I received the following response:
"We do not email people out.instead, we work on the problem right away. Sending out emails is not going to solve the problem at all."
This is truly the sign of incompetence. Virtuoso Net Solutions uses ModernBill for their billing software. It is very easy for them to type up a short message telling customers about the downtime. The software would allow them to send that message to all of their customers. There is no excuse for them to not contact customers.
I started to have technical issues with a script I installed. The company that made the script stated that I should check with my hosting provider about their server settings. As usual, Virtuoso says it's not their problem. They do not support third-party scripts.
The final straw with support was when I checked the headers of outgoing email. I noticed that in the headers, all of the emails accounts for my domain that I check are sent with every email. The header is X-PopBeforeSMTPSenders. I contacted support about this. I consider this a security issue as all of your email addresses are being sent to everyone you send an email to. What if you want to keep some of your email addresses private.
The purpose of the X-PopBeforeSMTPSenders is supposed to help combat spam. It actually does not help combat spam in the least bit.in my opinion it only promotes spam because spammers can easily get your active email addresses now. I contacted support and this is the response I got:
"Your supposed to login to smtp first. We will not modify the spam settings. The headers are important and we have literally over 52,000 domains hosted with no complaints about this system.
I have no idea how you expect to hide your "valid email accounts". Headers are there by default and you cannot just remove certain portions. They are obviously there for a reason and your research should make that clear why every hosts uses them."
Firstly, this company has a pattern of making people look stupid or insulting their intelligence. For a company that does this, they might want to learn 2nd grade grammar. It's supposed to be "You're" not "Your"
Now, on to the technical explanation. They claim that I am supposed to login to SMTP first. Well, I'm no idiot nor am I a newbie to hosting. I do login.in fact, if you don't login (using SMTP authentication in Outlook Express) then I couldn't even send emails. Their servers reject any email where the user has not been authenticated. Therefore, if one is authenticated they have been validated.in which, it makes the X-PopBeforeSMTPSenders header useless.
Next they say they will not modify the spam settings. Fine. They're the ones that are putting their customer's information all over and don't care about security. After that is the comment that they cannot remove certain portions. That is so true! What I was getting at when I contacted them was to disable that feature. I have found another hosting company.in my search I have asked if they use those headers. The hosting company stated they do not use the X-PopBeforeSMTPSenders because they are useless, especially when the user is already verified via SMTP authentication.
They boast that they have 52,000 domains hosted and have no complaints. Well, I'm willing to bet money that 98% of their customers don't even check the headers, more or less analyze them.
Of course, you can't have a support ticket from Virtuoso Net Solutions without them putting theirself on a pedestal. They have to try and insult my intelligence by saying that if I read I will know why they are there. Well, if they would read, they would see that in the initial support request I told them that I knew the purpose was to allegedly help track/deter spam.
In addition, they mentioned, "I have no idea how you expect to hide your "valid email accounts"." Umm. It's pretty easy, disable the useless X-PopBeforeSMTPSenders headers and that would do the trick. For a company that likes to demeanor others intelligence, they are not too bright themselves.
Yesterday they suspended my hosting account for non-payment. Sure, I have the money, but I'm not giving it to them. For the heck of it, I contacted Chad and asked if he would let me login long enough to backup my files. His response was:
"You are responsible for the invoice due. That is not an option.
Truly Yours,
Chad A."
I didn't think he was going to be nice and let me. I replied asking him, "So in other words you won't work with me at all?" The initial response was less than 5 minutes. When I responded to confirm he wasn't going to help any, he never responded. So, I'll send him one last email letting him know about this post. I guess he'll come here and accuse me of being a drunk or whatever derogatory lie comes to his mind.
I have another hosting provider I will be going with. I have noticed there are two other complaints about the company on usacomplaints.com.in one complaint, Chad (owner and probably the only person in the one-man operation), accuses the person filing the complaint as being a drunk. You can read the report here:
Http://usacomplaints.com/reports/0/142/RipOff0142559.htm
Is that the best he can do? If you read on Virtuoso Net Solutions website, you will see that they, he, whom or whatever owns the company follows "Christian virtues." On the front page of the website, it is stated, "Ethics are based on true Christian principles."
This is a crock! Chad nor any member of that company follows such virtues. He (Chad) only has that on the website to make it look like such a wonderful company.in reality, Chad is an arrogant, egotistical, rude, and snotty spoiled brat that cancels and suspends people's account when they complain or don't let Chad get his way. You don't have to take my word for it. Search the Internet for hosting reviews for Virtuoso Net Solutions. Check out the WebHostingTalk Forums (great place to read reviews on hosting providers).
All over the Internet are personal stories of people that have been treated like dirt by Chad and his alleged staff. Why do I say alleged? Use Google Earth and type in the address for the company. If not, here's a direct link to the Google Maps image (ROR removed because of security purposes)
As you can see, this is a suburban area. It looks to me like Chad is running this business how of his home. Anyone can run a hosting business out of their house.
My advice to you is to pass this unethical and immoral company up. The company is a ripoff.
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