weberz vs matrixreseller

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Posted by DaveGraney, 07-13-2004, 01:54 AM
Hi All, I have been researching and researchg and trying to find a decent Windows reseller with MS SQL available for under $50 / month all year. After going through nearly every relevant thread I could find here and elsewhere, all I have learnt is that the 99.9% on these resellers sites generally means 99.9% dis-reputable. Reseller hosting must have the most crooks out of any industry in the world! Anyway, that's my rant. Now my question: Could people give me feedback regarding any experiences (including details of how long you've been with them) with Weberz and Matrixreseller. To be honest my common sense tells me they are the same as all the rest but their costs are pretty good so I may take the large risk and try one out once I get some more info on them: Please, if you own or work for the business or any of their related websites and subsiduries do not bother to insert your comments. Thanks! Once I sign in with one I'll come in and update this thread from time to time
Posted by Vortech, 07-13-2004, 08:25 AM
Hey now Weberz and Matrix ( Us ) are both far from crooks. I have known Weberz for some time and I can almost say 100% that Weberz is not crook and I know we are not. But I know what you mean there are some bad ones out there. Never answer your tickets, close up shop after offering a supper deal, things like that. I do wish you luck in finding the host that works for you in the long term and that you can be happy with. A good idea is to email there sales and maybe support and see how long it takes to answer you, if the host has forum read over it the best you can to see what issues may have been going on or things to come good or bad.. Just some ideas and trust me I know how you feel about crooks..
Posted by EthicalEpi, 07-13-2004, 09:41 AM
I can't really compare matrix to weberz because I haven't used their service, but we've been with matrix for a year and a few months now. We liked their service enough to sign up for a second year. They have a growing network with new servers being added regularly. There have been very few problems (I can count on one hand the number of support tickets I've needed to put in over the last year), and on the odd occassion where there has been a problem, by the time I've put in a request in the majority of cases someone already knows about it, there's a post in their forum about the problem with status updates, and someone is working on it. There's a nice community atmosphere in their customer forums, lots of helpful resellers there to help each other out, and their support and technical people, and the owners themselves are very active in the forum aswell. My only gripe wasn't really anything to do with matrix directly, but the uggly looking (but functionally very good) control panel (hsphere) but even that is sorted out now with the new version which looks great and has some great new features. I'm not really using our account like a typical reseller (just hosting our own and a few client sites on it) but so far we have been very happy with our account and if the service continues the way it has been over the last year and a bit, we won't be moving anywhere else in a hurry.
Posted by DaveGraney, 07-14-2004, 02:35 PM
I'm tempted to say something about MR but for the sake of fairness I will hold off...
Posted by submenu, 07-14-2004, 08:47 PM
Tracy runs a tight ship over at Weberz. I never had any complaints about his service. Ticket responses are right on the money and quick. I still have a reseller plan with them. I honestly can't remember how long I've had it, at least a year I would guess. Make sure you compare the fees for both companies before you choose however. H-sphere has the ability to set fees for almost every little feature possible. So if you are used to all-inclusive cpanel reseller accounts, you will be surprised at how a H-sphere reseller monthly cost can swell with all the little extra fees. They usually include: per account fee, mssql fee, cold fusion fee, email virus scanning fee, spam blocking fee. Also, H-sphere counts disk usage as the amount you alot to your customers, not the amount used. So database space fees will quickly add up.
Posted by DaveGraney, 07-14-2004, 11:27 PM
Are weberz and MR two completely separate companies with no interelated connections whatsoever?
Posted by radv, 07-15-2004, 12:06 AM
Yes they are two different companies.
Posted by DaveGraney, 07-15-2004, 02:31 AM
Are you sure they are two very independant entities? How do you know?
Posted by IHSL, 07-15-2004, 02:51 AM
VortechHosting are the parent(?)/sister company of MatrixReseller.com Weberz is indeed a completely seperate outfit. Simon
Posted by EthicalEpi, 07-15-2004, 07:07 AM
The only extra you're charged for at matrix (as far as I'm aware) is the cost per additional customer control panel account (after you've used up all the free accounts on your plan), or if you want to use Urchin stats rather than the free stats (Webalizer / Modlogan (linux) or AWStats). Virus scanning, spam blocking is free as far as I'm aware. Your database usage is taken from your regular disk space allocation now I think, and the disk space itself is now based on usage rather than what you allocate per customer (unless you specify otherwise). As is bandwidth. I think you're correct that it can be set up to charge and work in the way you mention, but just posting my own view of how it seems to be set up at matrix. Dave would be best to double check with them if he's thinking of going with them though (although I'm almost particular that's the way things are set up, I'm not 100% on every point as we aren't using a lot of database space at the moment). It seems that he's not keen though (for some reason he doesn't want to mention?).
Posted by DaveGraney, 07-15-2004, 07:28 AM
Hi Ethical, Could you let me know your experiences with MR and how long you have been there? BTW, Matrix reseller (Vortech) charge $60 for backup recovery and $25 for component installs and of course additional usage charges from what I have found out so far. I can't mention my impressions about either company at the moment as I require more time for assessment of both to give a fair comment. Although I will say there is some dirt to dig up about MRs past regarding server reliability and various other client complaints. In all fairness though, most recent comments (from the past year) appear to be positive regarding them. So maybe they have tuned their services to better meet customer requirements? I haven't found much if any negative comments regarding Weberz. ...yet :-)
Posted by Vortech, 07-15-2004, 08:17 AM
Hello Dave, Yes we charge for component installs, reason is we may have to reboot the server for some installs, tech time to install it and tech time to review the DLL, just helps cover our time for something custom, but we do have a huge list of DLL's pre installed as well. As for backups we do charge again to help recovery tech time, we are thinking about lowering that backup fee as well a little. As for our past, we really can't keep everyone happy but we try, we have been improving our customer service and trying to find new things and ways to make things better for the customers. Also we are no way linked to weberz they are not even in the same state as far as I know and not in the same DC as us. As for server reliability, unix has been very good now for about a year since we hired in 2 great head unix techs, windows has also been good or as good as to be expected with all the windows updates as of late that make you reboot..
Posted by EthicalEpi, 07-15-2004, 08:30 AM
I posted above about it (read up towards the top of this thread). Basically we are a few months into our second year. We were happy enough after our first year to sign up for the next full year, so that in itself will give you an indication that we feel things are going to be OK with them in the future. Although the service and features there were quite good to begin with for us, they've continued to improve over the last year offering software upgrades, new hardware (added regularly) and adding lots more space/bandwidth to their accounts (which were also passed on to their existing customers at no extra charge). I have to admit, I wasn't aware of the backup recovery charge, but then we keep regular backups ourselves so wouldn't really need it. I guess it's to be expected bearing in mind the price they charge for their packages (particularly ours) that they need to charge a little extra for things like that. As far as I'm aware there'll generally be an installation cost for component installs at most hosts (they already have a good collection of components preinstalled so if you need a certain component check it isn't already on the list - it may already be there). Discounting the odd few minutes/half hour here and there where scheduled maintenance/upgrades have taken place and servers have needed to be rebooted or taken down to migrate data to new hardware, in the time that we've been with them there has only been one major downtime I'm aware of (and even that wasn't as bad as some of the horror stories I've read about other hosts where things are down and out of contact for days). This lasted a few hours in total and was to do with a hardware failure but they worked hard to resolve the problem as quickly as possible, hardware was replaced (along with measures to ensure it didn't happen again), and they offered customers compensation for the problem (account credits) though we didn't bother to take them up on it as the odd problem is to be expected and we were happy with how they dealt with it. One of their mail servers that we used was a bit temporamental to begin with for a while not long after we signed up (mail1) and I know some people were unhappy about that, but they acknowledged the problem, upgraded it (or replaced it completely- can't remember which), and now it works great. I can only really talk about the time we've been with them, but within this time where problems have arisen they appear to have worked hard to deal with them, and have taken a proactive approach to avoid potential problems (as evidenced by the extensive testing of the latest release of hsphere before they installed it for their customers for example). I was aware at the time that we signed up that they had a bit of a reputation here (WHT) for being rude to customers, but it seemed in the cases that I read up about in detail, that that was a two way thing and in most cases the thing that sparked it off was TOS violations or a case of customers being rude then being shocked when their staff were'nt prepared to put up with it. I actually like this approach because it means that they aren't wasting their time bending over backwards trying to help awkward customers and have more time to help people who are prepared to work with them in an adult and civilised manner when there are genuine problems to be addressed. From our own perspective, they've been nothing but polite and helpful, and the small number of tickets we have needed to put in have been dealt with promptly and professionally. I get the impression that if you treat their staff with respect and understanding, they'll repay you in kind. We are only using their smallest reseller package and are still treat well despite not being a major customer. As I say, this is only my personal experience with them so I can't speak for everyone, and we've only been with them for a year and a bit, but within that time I've been very happy. As I say, there's a nice atmosphere in their customer forums, and a lot of people in there seem very happy aswell. If you are thinking of going with them, why not sign up for a month to begin with and give them a trial run with a test site. I think it's only $35 or something so if you weren't happy it's not a lot to loose.
Posted by DaveGraney, 07-15-2004, 08:49 AM
Thanks Ethical, sounds like they've been good for you. I must disagree with what you say about staff treating customers rudely. I work in a service industry and in no circumstances is this acceptable. If I hear of any business treating their customers rudely I will walk a very wide angle away as this show un-professionalism. If unprofessionalism occurs at this level you can bet your boots is occurs at other levels also. It is the typical thing you hear about in the hosting industry. There is a right way and a wrong way to deal with troublesome clients and I don't believe being rude back, particularly in a service industry is an option. << My Opinion! Thanks for clearing the Weberz link theory up there Vortech and your own input. Although I didn't want this thread to turn into a sales or support blurb for your companies; while you're here: Upon reading your agreement I see you don't allow porn sites, I think this is a good thing for business clients. Most do not want to sit on the same server as a porn website due to ethical reasons. But your reason for doing this states it is because they draw too much traffic. What happens if someone hosts a standard business site that draws a lot of traffic, does this mean that you could potentially cut their account because their clients are drawing a lot of traffic or add another clause to your fairly lengthy agreement? Also, do your accounts include unlimited Shared SSL domains? ...or how much do these and/or dedicated domains / IPs cost? I also noticed you only allow 7 days for a reseller refund, I don't believe this would allow a reseller enough time to actually migrate out of there if they are unhappy. << My two cents worth on that one!
Posted by EthicalEpi, 07-15-2004, 09:05 AM
As I say, it was over a year ago when I researched this so their approach might be completely different now (if you've been researching them here you are likely to have come across some of these posts so I mention it to give the other side of the story as someone who hasn't had any of those problems). If you're running a service with a TOS and a customer breaks that then responds to the action you take about that (an action they have agreed to before signing up) with aggression and personal insults then I feel that they should be treat with a firm hand myself. I respect business owners who do that myself because if they don't then they are doing a disservice to their more reasonable customers who abide by their terms. Even in those cases I'm talking about the end result seemed entirely reasonable to me (with refunds being given when they weren't really necessary). Although this is perhaps a bit counterintuitive with the general consensus being 'the customer is always right' ( ) this was one of the reasons that I decided to go with matrix. I didn't want a host that was lax in terms of enforcing TOS or allowed content that me or my clients wouldn't be comfortable with. As for occurring at other levels, I really don't think this is the case in this instance. As I say, any problems that we've had (which admittedly have been few and far between) have been dealt with promptly, politely and professionally). On the other hand, whenever we've had a problem we've reported it politely and professionally ourselves rather than with a string of personal insults (this is something I wouldn't be prepared to put up with myself, so I don't see why anyone else should). I can say this from my own personal experience with them over the last year, and I'm not affiliated with them in any way (apart from being a satisfied customer). Last edited by EthicalEpi; 07-15-2004 at 09:08 AM.
Posted by Vortech, 07-15-2004, 09:39 AM
Hello Dave, Yea we don't want to turn it in to support / sales I hate doing that here.. You can always PM or email me if you like as well I don't mind. But to answer your questions. As for the porn thing NO we do not allow it on our reseller network not only because of bandwidth, but also for the reason you said above a business site does not want to be next to joe porn guy or his IP. We have never cut anyones account for bandwidth or going over what we give free unless they are some how being abusive by that I mean 25% + CPU usage or 50+ MB of memory, but even then we try to email the reseller and let them know that there customer is causing a small issue and see if they can fix it. If its at the point of it taking down the server we do stop a site to keep a server up.. But the bandwidth thing is there only for adult we can't and would not apply that to a "real" site. As for the 7 days we use to offer 30 but found that we can end up spending SO much time on the phone getting them setup becuase H-Sphere is not the most simple CP to use because of all the control it gives you. We also offer free setup of the reseller CP or will even walk you though the full setup right on the phone. We have a step by step on the site for setting up the reseller account but some users just don't like to read that much.. You have to remember what we are charging as well just something to think about. If you get a $35 per month plan and call support for help setting up your reseller CP and spend an hour on the phone with them thats about $20 right there in there time. They will make sure you are up to the point of adding accounts or as far as they can get you. At some point you have to be able to take control. We get a LOT of users that have never hosted before and those are the ones that really get in to issues because they are jumping right in to the hardest CP on the market because if offers so much.. We have been working hard with psoft to try and fix some of these issues and I hope to see something here soon. If they are able to at least make the setup of a reseller accounts more simple we do plan to up that 7 day refund policy as well.. An last but not least.. unlimited Shared SSL domains. No we don't offer shared SSL becuase of how H-Sphere sets these up and how it works with in the system. Just never liked its setup plus real SSL certs are as cheap as $25 now days, not as much of a need any more. As for IP address, each plan offers a few of them free and if you go above that they are $1 each if you need them.. If you need anything else you can PM or email me. But as EthicalEpi said since both weberz and us are so keep you could signup test out support and systems and see who fits you best. I can't say anything about tracy and weberz he is a great guy. Never hosted with him, but I know he does work very hard.
Posted by tracphil, 07-18-2004, 12:07 AM
DaveGraney, Nice thread you have going. Let me add for the record that Brad and I are totally seperate. I colocate my servers at Inflow (in Nashville) and I think Brad uses a DC in Atlanta or Orlando, perhaps both. I can also say that I think we target two totally different markets. MatrixReseller/Vortech targets resellers that wish to be webhosts, where as I target developers that wish to put clients websites on an incredibly stable network (not to say that Brad's isn't). If you will notice there are not a lot of posts here on WHT about Weberz, this is due to the fact that my clients get there reseller account and go on about their regular business and do not return to WHT... at least that is what I have determined over time. I host very few resellers that are into reselling for being a web hosting companies sake. I do however have a lot of developers that are "resellers". Maybe if you answer the basic question of what you are trying to accomplish, this little insight that I have provided will help you choose between the two. If you go with Weberz, FANTASTIC! If you go with MatrixReseller, more power to you. I do not seriously think you are going to make a wrong choice either way.
Posted by amitabh, 07-18-2004, 01:44 AM
Hi I cannot provide a comparison between the two as I have never used the services of MR, but I surely can say about Weberz, where I have been for around 10 months now. I am not a dedicated web-reseller as such, but a developer providing the hosting as an added feature to my customers. As such, a trouble free hosting service allows me dedicate myself towards servicing my customers. I can very well say that I have received nothing short of a great service from him all the time. The best thing I have seen in his service is the personal attention that he provides to his customers/ resellers. Infact, as of today, I talk to him more on a terms of a friend rather than in a traditional professional service provider/customer basis. This is not to say that his anyway unprofessional, but more as a pointer to the level of service he provides. With regards Amitabh Kant
Posted by DaveGraney, 07-19-2004, 01:04 PM
I think in summary I can feel comfortable saying that either of these hosts are a safe bet! Thanks for your input there Tracy, interesting to see your differing markets with MR.
Posted by cbarone, 07-19-2004, 04:49 PM
Does Weberz offer reseller windows accounts? I didnt see them on their site? http://www.weberz.com/ is this the correct URL? Thanks, Chris B Dynamic Vision Web Hosting
Posted by IHSL, 07-19-2004, 05:15 PM
Click the partners link Simon
Posted by Vortech, 07-19-2004, 05:18 PM
Kind of an odd place for it I think.. LoL But thats the right link..
Posted by tracphil, 07-19-2004, 06:15 PM
I agree For the new website that is being developed, it has reseller prominatly up at the top. When I first got into hosting, hosting resellers was not my intentions (thus the non prominate link), but for some reason that is what we have seemted to become known for so that is what we cater to now.
Posted by DaveGraney, 07-22-2004, 03:07 PM
I wish I had of gone with Weberz...
Posted by Vortech, 07-22-2004, 05:21 PM
DaveGraney, whats wrong Dave? Your not having issues are you? If so let me know I can see what I can do.
Posted by DaveGraney, 07-22-2004, 10:55 PM
So many issues in the last week, it has not been funny but I don't want to air this publicly. I will keep fingers crossed and pray and let the dust settle. Then will make more comments when I am a little calmer in a few weeks; if I am still reselling...
Posted by Vortech, 07-23-2004, 08:00 AM
Dave, thanks. If you want please PM or email me. I know there was a few issues this week, I think most have been all worked out. Been a bad week it seems and very sorry for a bad first imperssion. But I am sure you will be happy at least I hope so.
Posted by DaveGraney, 07-23-2004, 02:09 PM
OKAY, here's my final comments on this thread, that I initially started to find out which of these businesses I should sway towards: I chose Matrix Reseller / Vortech. And after a tulmultuous first week with this company, all I can say is that I can not recommend them to anyone! I am stuck there for a year as they refused to release my funds, so if my opinion ever changes during this time; for the worse (that's doubtful but possible) or for the better (here's hoping) I will come back and ammend what I have said.
Posted by Vortech, 07-23-2004, 02:17 PM
Dave, as I said before all you had to do was PM or email so I could look in to your issue(s). You never PMed or emailed me. Why? The only issue I can get out of your post is you paid for a year up front, I am not sure what issues you have or had as you have been very unclear for me and everyone. But I am sure a lot of people will agree with me here but when starting with a new company why jump in for a year. Even though we like the money I don't want to see unhappy customer(s) sutck here for a year and be unhappy if we can help it, thats for sure. Not sure if you are having H-Sphere issues or you got cought up in the bad batch of hard drives we got ( that are all being replaced to day from a new batch ). I just want to find out the issue. I want to help but not emailing me or pming but then saying we suck is just kind of wrong.
Posted by DaveGraney, 07-23-2004, 02:30 PM
Vortech, who are you??? I emailed your manager several times, got nothing back. I telephoned him from half way across the world twice, and got nothing back. Why is it I get a reply here? Please don't take this personally, my reponse was honest and moderated and in the theme of this thread. ...and as I said before if this was just a bad week I will be very happy to come back here and ammend what I've said. FYI: My problems occured throughout most areas you would judge a host. ...except... I will say that the strangest thing about MR is that I read terrible things about your support department and that is the one area I have no problems with.
Posted by Vortech, 07-23-2004, 02:33 PM
I am the owner of Vortech Inc. MatrixReseller, RapidColo and all sister companies. PM me your name I have no info about your account my self or who you are. So I really can't help much. We don't call out side the US so that might be why sales or why ever left the message with did not call back. You can email sales@vortechhosting.com, support@vortechhosting.com or any address on our site ask for Craig or Brad we will be glad to give you and see if we can't fix your issues.
Posted by Shaw Networks, 07-24-2004, 12:59 PM
Yes, they are seperate companies
Posted by paulrpayne, 08-07-2004, 05:54 AM
Dave, this is a fascinating thread. I was initially with Vortech with some reseller accounts but found after several months that their network was just too flaky. I really liked the costs and how easy things were to set up (I even recommended them to 4 separate friends who started hosting there as well), but their mailservers, in certain were up and down and their hsphere system was buggy. Their network itself seemed to lose connectivity periodically. I was getting more and more embarrassed since I had nothing to say to my clients. Anyway, I decided to buy my own box and host it on Vortechs racks, thinking this would solve all the bugs and leave things in my control more. That worked fine for a little over 6 months, but then they moved to another room at their facility and, in the process, disconnected my server and corrupted my hard drive. My box was then out of action for the next 3 days as I tried to get someone at Vortech to fix it. At that point, I left Vortech permanantly even though I had to pay the remaining 5 months on my contract. Since then, it sounds like they have got their act together in quite a few ways. I've been hearing quite a bit of positive things here on WHT. Specifically, I've been hearing people experiencing good reliability with their network and *gulp* good customer service. This last one is a stretch for me since I have never experienced such unprofessional service from anyone anywhere like I did from Vortech. The actual technicians (ie Craig) were extremely friendly and helpful, but Brad and especially billing (Lindsey and Kim) were just unbelievably insulting and rude. In fact, 3 of the 4 people I recommended there had similar independent experiences with support and left Vortech. In any case, I was just thinking that maybe Vortech was turning the corner, and then I read this thread. It will be interesting to see if you have a run in with Lindsey or Kim in billing who are notoriously unprofessional.
Posted by DaveGraney, 08-07-2004, 06:29 AM
Hi Paul, Is too early for me to comment on server, email uptimes although I think/hope I have joined in a rough patch as this has not been good since I joined... ..I do believe they are making improvements to this department all the time and hope that over the next couple of months I can come back on and quote the times they quote for uptime on their website - fingers crossed... Support is top class, they must have done some major fixing there since your time, I am impressed with this! As far as costs and services offered they are very good also!! Billing, in certain were one of the main reasons I tried to leave and get out of my contract - they are unbelieveable. ..I don't think I'll change my mind on that one as I've had a few issues and I don't like the way they handled any of them and they wasted hours and hours of my crucial time- so it's a thumbs down for sure for their billing department. ...overall though I am staying positive and looking to an improving and hopefully lengthy business with them, although I don't really have any choice in that anyway... :-) ...but have had to keep my options open for mission critical clients to move them quickly if I have to (although money has stopped me with the 1 year contract I have with vortex) as they would be furious with things so far.
Posted by paulrpayne, 08-07-2004, 02:59 PM
Well... I wish you best of luck.

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