On March 2nd, 2007 I posted on WHT (The post being here (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=588077">http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=588077</a><!-- m -->)) that I was looking for a Qmail Expert who:will be willing to work on my QMAIL mail server for roughly 1 - 4 hours a month. I need someone to edit filters and keep spam down to a minimum.My thread was responded to in roughly three hours by firmbIT. He basically said to email him and him would check into it more. I then repsonded a few times back and forth with firmbIT about the work and he accepted the job for $60.00 to setup spamassissin filters, and to cut down our spam.On March 7th at 2:52P.M I paid $60.00 via 2CO to FirmbIT for the spamassissin work. At 6:39P.M I emailed the server information to FirmbIT. I was told at this time the work would take only a few hours, which I agreed to.The morning of March 8th I came into work and sent out an early Email around 8:00A.M asking for an update on spamassissin as we were getting slammed with spam. I waited until 2:00pm until I sent another email asking for updated information. Still no answer by 4:00p.m when I sent another email and finally got a reply.Chad from firmbIT said that ClamAV, SpamAsissin, and MailScanner were all installed and that SpamAssissin was further customized. So I was jazzed and emailed him back at 4:15 asking them to add a single email address to the whitelist, which Chad did reply back quite quickly at 4:36. I then asked him how to edit the filters and where he installed the whitelist, which again he replied quickly.All was good and I asked him for a testimonial link as I was quite happy with the work, which he kindly emailed me back. The next day after I submitted my testimonial for his work is when it all went down the toilet.On March 11th I noticed all spam emails were coming in again. We were getting just slammed by spam and it was causing problems among the administration and sales force in our company. Enough where I was getting people calling me up going crazy over the spam. So I emailed Chad at 2:45pm and requested him to further check into the spam problem has his filters were not stopping the spam, it was actually worse.I didn't get a responce from him until March 12th at 7:36pm. saying, "Ok I modified SpamAssassin a bit. Let me know if you see a difference." Which I then immediately said no, its still really bad. At 9:56pm he emailed me back and said he will look into it futher.I get into work on March 13th and see we are still getting spammed out of our mind. At this time the owner of the company is going ballistic about the spam problem. I reassure him he have an "expert" working on it now and he should be fixing it soon. I email Chad at 9:23am and ask him what is going on with the spam as he said he would look at it soon, and how long it would take to get it fixed... again.At 11:34P.M I get a reply from Chad stating, "A few hours. I am going to modify Qmail and the way it delivers emails by rejecting SMTP connections at the network level from hosts with bad DNS. I'll let you know when I'm done."At 1:04P.M when I try to check my email I get an error, Qmail is down. I wait 30 minutes.. Qmail is down. I fire off an email to Chad from my Gmail.com account telling him Qmail is down whatever you did isn't working. I wait an hour, no reply. I wait another hour, no reply. I then wait another hour, another hour, another hour. I wait nearly 12 hours before I get a reply to my gmail account stating, "test". But ofcourse I don't get anything at my work email.I then email him back, and ofcourse no reply. This goes on for another day.... no reply. At this time, as you can tell, the salesforce is going insane, the owners are pulling their hair out.. and Chad from firmbIT is no where to be found. And ofcourse just my luck (not that I knew email would be down 1 1/2 days) we were suppose to be getting some real estate leads costing us anywhere from $10.00 - $75.00 per lead. Which ofcourse since our email was down... we lost. Spending up into the thousands on a website to produce leads, that we could never receive as our email was down.After 1 1/2 days of email down time *remember this was suppose to be a 1-2 hour job to setup better spamassissin filters* I had to go elsewhere. I finally hired Scott from AdminGeekz which he was awesome and really bailed us out. Here is what he had to say about the previous work:We had to install several missing perl modules, correct the socket, correct the permissions on all of the directorys, run the queue fixer, reconfigure spamassassin several times, fix syntax errors aswell as casing errors in the spamassassin rules, correct the spamd socket(was pointing to the wrong location).He then said there several other errors that he could go back and email me if I needed him to. I forgot to mention Scott contacted me at least every 15 minutes during this project. I was kept up to date all the time.So flash forward to now.. i'm in the process with 2CO in getting a $60.00 refund with firmbIT. Its been a pain as it appears that firmbIT isn't contacting 2CO back about the refund. So i'm having to call 2CO up and keep asking how the investigation is going. I have emailed 2CO all of the email logs, so I know we will get the refund. But its funny in a way how firmbIt kept us in the dark nearly the whole time except for small email replies and now a refund is started.. once again no replies.So it would be under my opinion to not use services by firmbIT. From my experience it was handled unprofessionally and we weren't happy whatsoever. I would find it interesting if firmbIT replies to this and gives his side of the story. I am curious what he would have to say. Please respond as I want people to know the whole story and i'd like to hear what happend... as i'm just shocked.To be honest I don't really see the point of this thread - basically what you're asking is for someone to publicly argue with you about work that wasn't done right. That's not going to go anywhere..I agree, what you described is a very bad thing - but I'm sure you've learnt for the next occassion:- For something as important as that, don't have someone work on it if you don't know the person (or have the person on contract so he can't just bail out)- When applying changes to a configuration, use a test setup firstThe point of the thread is for him to tell people about his experience with the said workgroup.It's like a review /=Thanks, and now i know....I think it's good that RealtorHost setup this thread...
More of these con-artists need to be exposed...
Apoc - you need to relax, people do these types of threads all the time and it has saved a lot of people the grief that RealtorHost has already had to endure.
Thanks RealtorHost!
Cheers!
/bin/falseI wanted to shed light of my experience and want to make sure other people do not have the same problems. I simply said at the end of the thread that if fimbIT wishes to give his side of the story, I would be very happy to read it. Because as of today I haven't received a reply from him although he is all over WHT replying to threads about admin work. So go figure...- For something as important as that, don't have someone work on it if you don't know the person (or have the person on contract so he can't just bail out)- When applying changes to a configuration, use a test setup firstThose are both good points and I have learned from my experience. I do have faith in finding admins on WHT, as I said Scott from AdminGeekz was an absolute professional.From 2CO:Thank you for contacting 2checkout.com. I apologize for any delayed response to your inquiry. We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience this matter has caused. Due to your inconvenience and the number of attempts you have made to resolve this situation, I have arranged for a refund of your order.Seems this is getting resolved. Sad the firmbIT couldn't of been more up front.Yes, it's a kind of review of a company and there is nothing wrong.. in fact it is great from RealtorHost's side because he is giving a chance to fimbIT to clear their side.Well, let's wait for their side if they really have something.RealtorHost, did you try calling them for updates?I've emailed them 5 times, Instant Message a few times, and submitted another support ticket... never got a reply. At that point I wanted to go through 2CO for a refund, as I felt doing anything else would be counter productive. I just wanted our money back as we had to pay 10 times the amount for another company to fix their problems.It seems that qmail is a PITA trying to get good people to work on it.RealtorHost, although you make some good points, I have to wonder if you checked on the Credentials of firmbIT and got a list of previous Clients; whom you contacted regarding work done? I would think that for such an important site and potential income through upcoming eMail leads from Advertising, one would not take the first person who replies to your post.It is a shame that things turned out the way they initially did but fortunately, you did find someone who could do the job you wanted even if the price was a bit higher. You also might want to hang on to the contact information for AdminGeekz as -- it sounds like -- you now have reliable help when you next need some ServerAdmin work done. Sometimes the price we pay in dollars is far cheaper than the cost of frustation and lost income. And finding reliable help through a Forum post ... priceless.I am surprised they have not responded to this thread as they do post here quite often.I am surprised they have not responded to this thread as they do post here quite often.
Me too, he seems to still be posting on WHT also.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?p=4438226#post4438226I've">http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthrea ... 438226I've</a><!-- m --> emailed them 5 times, Instant Message a few times, and submitted another support ticket... never got a reply.
Hes online here now so I would try a PM here
Last Activity: Today 07:29 PM
Viewing Forum Managed Hosting @ 07:29 PMI have been waiting to see what there response is also. There are a couple more threads on this as well. Here is one <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=589974">http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=589974</a><!-- m -->. Maybe they have no more responses because it does not look good when you use the same excuses over and over again. I have changed my root password and not told them. I am very close to not renewing my services with them. I gave them the benefit of the doubt when I signed on with then hoping that all the bad posts on WHT were just a couple of users that had problems and hoping that was a minority, but I have not been happy so far with things. If you want to read my post then you can read the thread I posted above.It seems that qmail is a PITA trying to get good people to work on it.
I'd agree. Qmail is annoying to use and people who think they're Qmail experts tend not to be. I gave up on Qmail about 6 years ago, switched everything to postfix, never looked back and never missed it. Its a heck of a lot easier to deal with, it has real config files!It seems that qmail is a PITA trying to get good people to work on it.
Qmail isn't the problem, it's people who INSIST on using such an antequated, out of date system.
The last time I dealt with QMail was 5 years ago, back on my own home network/linux system. Even THEN it was spouting compile errors left and right. I can only imagine what it's doing now.
In those 4-5 years, qmail has not been updated at all. The world around qmail has (compilers, environments, etc), however qmail remains the same, refusing to adapt or adjust.
A bit of advice: Use a system that actually WORKS out of the box and updates itself. QMail used to be great, but any more it's a mess trying to install, setup and get running again, and when you DO, it's very typical that it doesn't run permamently, and stops running for various reasons.
It sounds like you've got someone that will complete the job, good luck there. I'd still advise getting rid of the antequated QMAIL system and using something more professional and up to date.Qmail isn't the problem, it's people who INSIST on using such an antequated, out of date system.
I wasn't gonna make that point, but you are 100% correct.
I gave up on qmail.I hear ya about Qmail, and it wasn't by decision. Our company hired a 3rd party company to setup our colocated servers and they installed qmail by default. We didn't know about it until the work was done. Its a very long story but after spending quite a few thousand for everything, we couldn't afford to wait for them to get ride of qmail and install something else.Looking back I wish I was more involved in that process, but it is what it is....Out of 8 people I contacted being "so-called" QMail experts, I only found 1 good person.More of these con-artists need to be exposed...
How is this person a con-artist.
He was happy with his work.
All was good and I asked him for a testimonial link as I was quite happy with the work, which he kindly emailed me back.
There is no way to totally fight spam besides not using email. It is not firmbIT fault that the spam found its way around the filters.
I have emailed 2CO all of the email logs, so I know we will get the refund
Did you tell them how the work was done and you were happy, but due to the service done, that there is no way to fight it. I have my guess.It is not firmbIT fault that the spam found its way around the filters.
NO, but it IS firmbit's fault that they did not support what they advertised and installed. If you can't support it, you have no right advertising it, or even selling it.How is this person a con-artist.He was happy with his work.There is no way to totally fight spam besides not using email. It is not firmbIT fault that the spam found its way around the filters.Did you tell them how the work was done and you were happy, but due to the service done, that there is no way to fight it. I have my guess.Ok, lets get back to what I said....Yes, I was happy with the work until it completely crashed our mail server. I was happy with his work until he stopped contacting me.You can't advertise to fix something (install filters) then have those filters crash the entire service then except everything to be ok.damier if you would of read all my posts and the entire thread, you would of known I paid him to install spam filters, not to crash our email server.I 100% got my 2CO refund, and 2CO went a step further and opened an investigation.. as this isn't the first time (not even close) firmbIT has done this to someone just in the last few months.What I did was email 2CO how the person never contacted me back, crashed our mail server, we lost a lot of money.. and this guy is lucky we don't sue him into the next century.So.. please.. give me a break....
More of these con-artists need to be exposed...
Apoc - you need to relax, people do these types of threads all the time and it has saved a lot of people the grief that RealtorHost has already had to endure.
Thanks RealtorHost!
Cheers!
/bin/falseI wanted to shed light of my experience and want to make sure other people do not have the same problems. I simply said at the end of the thread that if fimbIT wishes to give his side of the story, I would be very happy to read it. Because as of today I haven't received a reply from him although he is all over WHT replying to threads about admin work. So go figure...- For something as important as that, don't have someone work on it if you don't know the person (or have the person on contract so he can't just bail out)- When applying changes to a configuration, use a test setup firstThose are both good points and I have learned from my experience. I do have faith in finding admins on WHT, as I said Scott from AdminGeekz was an absolute professional.From 2CO:Thank you for contacting 2checkout.com. I apologize for any delayed response to your inquiry. We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience this matter has caused. Due to your inconvenience and the number of attempts you have made to resolve this situation, I have arranged for a refund of your order.Seems this is getting resolved. Sad the firmbIT couldn't of been more up front.Yes, it's a kind of review of a company and there is nothing wrong.. in fact it is great from RealtorHost's side because he is giving a chance to fimbIT to clear their side.Well, let's wait for their side if they really have something.RealtorHost, did you try calling them for updates?I've emailed them 5 times, Instant Message a few times, and submitted another support ticket... never got a reply. At that point I wanted to go through 2CO for a refund, as I felt doing anything else would be counter productive. I just wanted our money back as we had to pay 10 times the amount for another company to fix their problems.It seems that qmail is a PITA trying to get good people to work on it.RealtorHost, although you make some good points, I have to wonder if you checked on the Credentials of firmbIT and got a list of previous Clients; whom you contacted regarding work done? I would think that for such an important site and potential income through upcoming eMail leads from Advertising, one would not take the first person who replies to your post.It is a shame that things turned out the way they initially did but fortunately, you did find someone who could do the job you wanted even if the price was a bit higher. You also might want to hang on to the contact information for AdminGeekz as -- it sounds like -- you now have reliable help when you next need some ServerAdmin work done. Sometimes the price we pay in dollars is far cheaper than the cost of frustation and lost income. And finding reliable help through a Forum post ... priceless.
I am surprised they have not responded to this thread as they do post here quite often.I am surprised they have not responded to this thread as they do post here quite often.Me too, he seems to still be posting on WHT also.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?p=4438226#post4438226I've">http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthrea ... 438226I've</a><!-- m --> emailed them 5 times, Instant Message a few times, and submitted another support ticket... never got a reply.
Hes online here now so I would try a PM here
Last Activity: Today 07:29 PM
Viewing Forum Managed Hosting @ 07:29 PMI have been waiting to see what there response is also. There are a couple more threads on this as well. Here is one <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=589974">http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=589974</a><!-- m -->. Maybe they have no more responses because it does not look good when you use the same excuses over and over again. I have changed my root password and not told them. I am very close to not renewing my services with them. I gave them the benefit of the doubt when I signed on with then hoping that all the bad posts on WHT were just a couple of users that had problems and hoping that was a minority, but I have not been happy so far with things. If you want to read my post then you can read the thread I posted above.It seems that qmail is a PITA trying to get good people to work on it.
I'd agree. Qmail is annoying to use and people who think they're Qmail experts tend not to be. I gave up on Qmail about 6 years ago, switched everything to postfix, never looked back and never missed it. Its a heck of a lot easier to deal with, it has real config files!
It seems that qmail is a PITA trying to get good people to work on it.Qmail isn't the problem, it's people who INSIST on using such an antequated, out of date system.
The last time I dealt with QMail was 5 years ago, back on my own home network/linux system. Even THEN it was spouting compile errors left and right. I can only imagine what it's doing now.
In those 4-5 years, qmail has not been updated at all. The world around qmail has (compilers, environments, etc), however qmail remains the same, refusing to adapt or adjust.
A bit of advice: Use a system that actually WORKS out of the box and updates itself. QMail used to be great, but any more it's a mess trying to install, setup and get running again, and when you DO, it's very typical that it doesn't run permamently, and stops running for various reasons.
It sounds like you've got someone that will complete the job, good luck there. I'd still advise getting rid of the antequated QMAIL system and using something more professional and up to date.Qmail isn't the problem, it's people who INSIST on using such an antequated, out of date system.
I wasn't gonna make that point, but you are 100% correct.
I gave up on qmail.I hear ya about Qmail, and it wasn't by decision. Our company hired a 3rd party company to setup our colocated servers and they installed qmail by default. We didn't know about it until the work was done. Its a very long story but after spending quite a few thousand for everything, we couldn't afford to wait for them to get ride of qmail and install something else.Looking back I wish I was more involved in that process, but it is what it is....Out of 8 people I contacted being "so-called" QMail experts, I only found 1 good person.More of these con-artists need to be exposed...
How is this person a con-artist.
He was happy with his work.
All was good and I asked him for a testimonial link as I was quite happy with the work, which he kindly emailed me back.
There is no way to totally fight spam besides not using email. It is not firmbIT fault that the spam found its way around the filters.
I have emailed 2CO all of the email logs, so I know we will get the refund
Did you tell them how the work was done and you were happy, but due to the service done, that there is no way to fight it. I have my guess.
It is not firmbIT fault that the spam found its way around the filters.NO, but it IS firmbit's fault that they did not support what they advertised and installed. If you can't support it, you have no right advertising it, or even selling it.How is this person a con-artist.He was happy with his work.There is no way to totally fight spam besides not using email. It is not firmbIT fault that the spam found its way around the filters.Did you tell them how the work was done and you were happy, but due to the service done, that there is no way to fight it. I have my guess.
Ok, lets get back to what I said....Yes, I was happy with the work until it completely crashed our mail server. I was happy with his work until he stopped contacting me.You can't advertise to fix something (install filters) then have those filters crash the entire service then except everything to be ok.damier if you would of read all my posts and the entire thread, you would of known I paid him to install spam filters, not to crash our email server.I 100% got my 2CO refund, and 2CO went a step further and opened an investigation.. as this isn't the first time (not even close) firmbIT has done this to someone just in the last few months.What I did was email 2CO how the person never contacted me back, crashed our mail server, we lost a lot of money.. and this guy is lucky we don't sue him into the next century.So.. please.. give me a break....