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 Beware of AIT,
Advanced Internet Technologies
Hosting Scam Artists,
Inept Staff, Hi-Jacked Domains
& Bogus Spoofs of your sites
Spoofs of my sites included the nykamp.com, nykampconsulting.com
& vtackle.com domain names, spoofing my sneadsferry.biz shopping mall.
Notice the highlighted area in the image above, verification of the location at AIT Web hosting. This is but one of dozens of scams, spoofs and fraudulent practices engaged by the unscrupulous, dishonest, anal retentive, money grubbing, wieners at AIT, Advanced Internet Technologies, located in Fayetteville , North Carolina.
We made the un-fortunate mistake of moving our sites there on August 7 of 2003, believing that they would provide the service they indicate on their web site, for the price that they list in their web site. Boy, were we ever WRONG! What was advertised to have cost $120.00 to $135.00 for all of our domains cost us in excess of $700.00, our reputation, and several of our clients.
Day one; August 7, 2003
In order to "set-up the Accounts" we had to sign a "Letter of Acceptance", stating that the work had been completed to our satisfaction, Prior to AIT Ever starting. Without the signed "Letter of Acceptance" they would not be able to start. The Stated $100.00, was One charge on my card, followed immediately by another charge of $595.60, and and a bill from AIT for an additional $400.00 that "would not clear on my debit card".
At this point I noticed that the domains were, one by one, dying, all the FrontPage elements were ceasing to function, navigation, themes, forms, borders etc. Since I had supplied AIT with the FrontPage usernames and passcodes for each and every domain, so the domains could be properly published from the old location to the new AIT location. I called to find out what the problem was. The technician informed me that he had decided to use his WS_FTP tool to make the transfers, since FrontPage would take so long. At this point he also informed me that "he was now four hours into the transfer", expected to take between 60 to 80 minutes publishing with FrontPage, and "should be done in three or four more hours. We could make the few corrections pretty soon".
The transfer time I had calculated a few days earlier by personally publishing each and every domain to a Back-up server in Jacksonville, North Carolina, via "Road-Runner". Total transfer time for a full copy of every file, in every domain published with FrontPage took a total of 75 Minutes. It should have been quicker at AIT since they claimed to be on a fiber optic link. I would think a fiber optic line would be somewhat faster that any cable system, including road-runner, which was only supplying a 256 k link.
Attempts to access the new locations with FrontPage were unsuccessful and technical support was a joke. Phone calls to support informed me that in order to resolve the issue I "would have to file a 'Trouble Ticket' via the 'Ticket system' available in my control panel before they would be able to look into the problem". Filing these "Trouble Tickets" proved to be a complete and total waste of time and effort. My "Emergency Service" request for my sites not functioning, not having access to them with FrontPage and the Server Extensions not functioning, only resulted in a three day wait to be informed that my "Trouble Ticket has been Escalated to management for resolution." I wonder how long it would take to get a reply for "Routine Issues" and just what the resolution for them might be, since my "Emergency Service" took three days to be sloughed off on another department.
Day Two; August 8, 2003
The second day, August 8, 2003, into this "Fiasco" was no less frustrating than the first, and the "Money Back Guarantee" turned out to be as big of a joke as the technical support. I spent over an hour on the phone requesting my money be returned, my order cancelled, and any of my data they did have to be deleted. Repeated requests were ignored, when I would ask for my order to be cancelled and my money returned, I would be asked "What is the problem?". Well, #1. My sites Did Not Work, #2. I can Not Access Them with FrontPage, #3. support Did Not Respond, #4. I was vastly Overcharged, #5. I was not getting the system I was supposed to be getting, Windows Server 2003 & IIS 6, I was getting Windows 2000 & IIS 5, #6. My information was transferred and trounced with an FTP tool #7 AIT was attempting to withdrawal even More Money from my bank, they already had five times, $695.60, what they were authorized to get, $100.00 for the transfer, and they wanted another $400.00.
After repeatedly calling, support, billing, sales and the representative of AIT who we spoke with initially, and telling each and every one of them to "Cancel our order, Return our money, and delete our data from their servers", all we could get was shuffled from one department to the other until we would be disconnected. During some of the conversations, that we occurred between my wife and the billing department, she would have to repeat things over and over and over, due to the individual at AIT billing department requesting she "repeat that, I was talking to someone else while you were saying that."! Six hours into the second day, the VP of Customer Service, Beau Garcia called, wanting to know "What our problem was, and what could he do to fix it?" I specifically told him to "Return my money to my bank, Cancel my order and delete any data belonging to us from AIT's servers, period.", to which he replied that the problem "Could be worked out, he would personally fix our problems with the domains, finish the transfers, and refund the overages". None of which ever occurred.
Day Three; August 9, 2003
In Process - More on this story coming as time
permits!
Never the less - If you are considering a hosting
company, by all means skip AIT - Advanced Internet Technology. they are only
interested in one thing, Getting access to your credit card or bank account
and once they have it, the way to prevent AIT from draining your account is
to close it or cancel your card. I had to report mine as stolen, on the
advice of my bank, to stop AIT from continually charging my account with
bogus charges.
It Never Ends; March 26, 2004
Even after having left AIT the 30th of January they are still calling and attempting to collect for 100% Bogus charges. On the 27th of March, 2004, the billing department called to collect for February and March 2004. Seems my last payment was listed to my account on January 13th, although AIT withdrew the funds from my bank on the second of January, without permission or authorization! We even had to go as far as reporting our card "Stolen", on the advice of our bank, to prevent the continued unauthorized access to our bank account by AIT!!
Documentation available, contact us if you would like to see it!!!
Check out these forums and message boards
http://www.webhostingratings.com/plans/Server_2_AIT.html
http://aitsucks.com/
http://www.webhostingratings.com/plans/AIT-Reviews.html
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=876
http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss-list@opensrs.org/msg17646.html
There are many, many more simply do a search on your favorite search engine for "AIT Hosting Problems" and you will find enough complaints from people who have been burned by AIT, Lied to by Beau Garcia and over billed, some by several thousand dollars, to keep you busy for days.
Add your experiences with AIT's Certifiable Scam centre
Masquerading as a Hosting Company
Comments/Complaints
CLASS ACTION Lawsuit - Complete the
form here to be added to the lawsuit.
August 2010 Update
And it never ends, we were contacted by a representative of AIT requesting that we remove this section, (AIT Issues/problems), claiming it was all out of date and not relevant. I asked him to provide some, any, evidence that the policies, practices, personal had indeed changed and to provide some/any verification through a third party. It has been a month and I still do not have a reply, this leads me to believe that nothing has changed!. . .
So here we are nearing the end of 2010 and we must once again issue an "Advocate's Warning - Beware of AIT, Advanced Internet Technologies, located in Fayetteville , North Carolina".
Copies of the email, received Aug 4, 2010, from AIT and our reply follow . . .
Mr. Noblot,
I’m writing you to request that you remove the URL below from your site.
http://www.soundtrax.net/bogus_spoofs.htm
This page posts information about AIT on it that I’ve found through a search engine, and I’m asking that it be removed for the following reasons. First, and my main concern, the information is dated. It’s from an interaction that you had with our company in 2003 and 2004. Our policies, solutions, and products have changed DRASTICALLY since that time. We host tons of businesses, and have VERY satisfied customers today. I understand that you had a bad experience, and if there is something I can do to rectify that, I’d be willing to work with you to do so.
Second, the page talks of ‘spoofs’, which doesn’t appear to be an accurate representation of the problem you elaborate on and the experience you had with us. The domains you referenced (nykamp.com, nykampconsulting.com, etc) appear to now be owned by other entities and have nothing to do with AIT. This is a fraudulent statement. To say that we have anything to do with those domains is inaccurate. I’ve put a screen shot below for you to review. I would hope that you would agree.
Lastly, I would hope that you would remove the page simply based upon the information above, but if you would like to speak further on the issue, please contact me directly. My direct phone and email are below.
Thanks,
Michael
----
Sincerely,
Michael J. Roberts
CIO & Vice President of Operations
AIT, Inc.
mroberts@AIT.com
http://www.AIT.com
877 209-5186 (Voice)
910 222-4473 (Voice over IP Phone)
910 321-1308 (Fax)
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This message is for the named person(s) use only. It may contain confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistransmission. If you receive this message in error, please immediately delete it and all copies of it from your system, destroy any hard copies of it and notify the sender. You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print, or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended recipient. AIT, Inc. and each of its subsidiaries each reserve the right to monitor all e-mail communications through its networks. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the message states otherwise and
the sender is authorized to state them to be the views of any such entity. Unless otherwise stated, any pricing information given in this message is indicative only, is subject to change and does not constitute an offer to deal at any price quoted. Any reference to the terms of executed transactions should be treated as preliminary only and subject to our formal written confirmation.
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To which we replied, on August 4, 2010 . . .
Greetings,
After withdrawing in excess of a thousand dollars for a $175, fee, months of being lied to repeatedly by one Beau Garcia, my refund being “AIT Credit posted to your account”, Not getting the server, service or transfers that I was quoted, my FrontPage transfer being “ftp” to the extend that none of them operated at all beyond the basic index page. Then add the multitude of bogus email names being sold to spammers, by the AIT team, of which I still get thousands of spam attempts, to the point that I had to alias the web domain and disable the mail service for.
I am afraid I am going to need a LOT MORE than your request; I am willing to look at more evidence and to hear from you what you consider to be fair testament to your new practices.
Has the staff changed, specifically Beau Garcia – He repeatedly outright lied to me, day after day after day??
Have the individuals whom posted the following; been replaced, reprimanded or even acknowledged??
Posting to our database, although not made public, the data exists; “and was repeatedly entered into the database every few days for weeks . . . .
Database entries by AIT Staff members, removed by the advocate . . .
these entries only prove moronic ramblings and may have been entered by a few rather than the majority of the staff. It does however show a lack of control by the senior staff, whither entered by subordinates or by the senior staff themselves.
Always willing to accept and acknowledge positive change, I am willing to hear you out and if convinced, publish such with the same vigor as with problems.
Thank You - Gerry Noblot
Pres/Owner, Sound Trax Technologies - www.soundtrax.net
Consumer Advocate - www.soundtrax.net/advocate/
Webmaster, Ova Yonda Travel Centre/Hotel Reservation Network - www.ovayonda.com
Registered Microsoft Partner, Member Microsoft Developers Network - msdn.microsoft.com
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And here we are, Labor day, September 6, 2010, still waiting for a response. Keep you posted . . .
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Last Revised: October 28, 2010 04:38 PM. |
