January 8, 1997
Dear Diary:
Weather today -- sunny but cold
Mood today -- HAPPY!
Fly count for yesterday -- 0
HF Today -- 81%
Gee, you drop the words 'Better Business Bureau' and 'lawsuit' and suddenly you're Ms. Popularity. I rated a personal phone call from Fishnet's Systems Administrator, Keith Kelley, and an email (yes, a REAL EMAIL) from the owner, Ronald Prague. Keith is concerned about his reputation. Ron is trying to trade on goodwill that was used up long ago. Check this letter out:
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 01:12:25 -0800
To: Elly Jordaan
From: Ronald Prague
Subject: Re: BBB complaint
Hey Elaine;
Do you remember the person who did your FIRST graphics for your
page when you were a complete neophyte? Do you remember photoshop
work that was done for your first page? Do you remember the guy that
sat with you in the fishnet office and explained the basics of web
design?
That was me.
I sincerely appreciate your kind manner during a business crisis
we were having. Be careful, the hacker is attacking jetlink
now, you might lost your $70,000.00 site from there too. *laugh*
Anyhow, I'll be attaching and mailing your ENTIRE site to email
tomorrow. Hmm... Since you had 5M of space on the server, and your
site took well over 18M, I wonder if I should charge you for all
the overuse. Nah, I wasn't worried about it, but you need to relax
woman.
Have a nice life,
Ron
My reply:
Date: Wed, 08 Jan 1997 03:31:44
To: Ronald Prague
From: "Elaine M. Jordaan"
Subject: Re: BBB complaint
I specifically asked that my three accounts, author, mjjord and emjord be
combined to give me 15 megs of server space and was assured that was no
problem whatsoever. And my site was NEVER 18 megs. The largest it was
at any time was 9 megs, which I whittled down to 7 just before your hacker
friend took over.
And yes, I do remember your personalized assistance back in the beginning.
And believe me, I've sung Fishnet's praises all over the place. I've
referred I don't know how many people to you. I don't know if you're
expanding too fast or what the problem is, but suddenly the feeling that I
could count on y'all vanished, to be replaced by the feeling that anything I
did or said fell on deaf ears. Except for Adam Charron. That man is worth
his weight in gold. I hope you realize what an asset you have in him.
Please don't waste your time or my disk space sending me my site from
December 8th. I've spent the last couple weeks reconstructing it and I'm
currently in the process of moving into my new domain (yes, I did actually
get a domain name and 100 megs of server space... that wasn't hot air). I'm
not stupid enough not to keep backups. The *point* is that I was averaging
something like 200 hits a day to my site, which is rather significant for a
personal homepage. The *point* is that all those listings on all those
search engines are now useless. The *point* is that people who visited my
site every single day to read my diary and use the other resources available
there now cannot find me.
Keith Kelley assured me, via a telephone call late yesterday afternoon,
that your security measures have been improved. I hope for your clients'
sakes that's true. But that's even beside the point. What I am pissed
about, and it's valid, believe me, is that NO ONE bothered to communicate
with me. I could have dealt with the destruction of my site. I could have
dealt with you or anyone else telling me, 'we got hacked, now let's fix it.'
I could have done my best to work with you rather than against you. But NO
ONE would return a frigging email! And when I did finally get hold of you,
YOU hung up on me. Hey, if that's how clients are treated, then this client
will take her business elsewhere.
If half the stuff Mr. Kelley told me on the phone yesterday had been
communicated early on... if I felt like I was respected enough to be
communicated with AT ALL, I'd still be there and you'd be the ISP behind my
domain. It ALL, every single complaint I have, comes down to communication.
I'm not all that upset that you were hacked... it happens. Mr. Kelley said
it's believed to be an ex-employee doing the hacking and that does make me
wonder why there would be such a grievance on an ex-employee's part, but
that's not really an issue. I've managed offices and I know that sometimes
a boss has to fire someone and then there can be hell to pay. I understand
all of that. I do not understand why email after email went unanswered, why
the party line was, "We lost some files" instead of the truth, etc.
I have worked in the service industry all my life. I *know* how difficult
it is to keep all one's clients happy. But the key word here, Ron, is
"service." I hired you and by extrapolation, your staff to perform a
service. You (that's a collective you) were unable to do so. Bottom line
is, I had to find someone who could do what they were hired for.
Elaine M. Jordaan
elly@dreamdweller.com
Elly's Slice of Cyberpie
http://www.dreamdweller.com/
Gotta love the last minutes scramble to cover their tushes, eh? Here's the letter that went to the Better Business Bureau:
Tri-Counties Better Business Bureau
Post Office Box 129
Santa Barbara, CA 93102
January 7, 1997
To Whom It May Concern:
I would like to file a grievance against Fishnet Internet Services, 5960
Valentine Road, Ventura, CA 93003. Their phone number is (805) 650-1844.
The owner's name is Ronald Prague and their Systems Administrator is Keith
Kelley.
Unfortunately, the documentation in the matter which I've amassed would
probably not make a great deal of sense to you in light of the fact that
your organization is not currently on the Internet. However, if someone in
your office has access to the Internet, all documentation can be seen on
http://www.jetlink.net/~elly/fishnet.htm
The jist of the story is that Fishnet Internet Services, through negligence
and the inability to protect its clients from hacking (a term used to
describe someone who maliciously gains access to electronic accounts and
databases in an illegal manner) lost my entire directory on their server.
It was hacked to smithereens. I spent months designing this website, and
had I paid a professional website design company to do it for me, it would
have cost approximately $70,000. My website was one of the most respected
on the net, and indeed, has won many prestigious awards for design and
content. Fishnet lost it all.
In addition, they have consistantly, in the two years or so I was a client
there, refused to return either phone calls or email messages to me. It was
apparent that my business wasn't important to them, but I let it slide and
communicated by telephone with one of their employees, Adam Charron, who
*does* actually care about their clients. After all this destruction to my
website took place, Ronald Prague, the owner, hung up on me when I was
finally able to reach him by telephone.
I am planning to sue Fishnet Internet Services for both the cost of my pages
in terms of design and hours spent working on them, as well as for damages
for emotional stress, etc. I have physician's documentation concerning
this, and am, in fact, seeing both an internist and a psychiatrist to assist
me in dealing with this horrendous loss.
Fishnet does not care about its clients. Ronald Prague was quite happy to
take my money when I set up accounts there, but when there were problems, he
didn't have time to reply to my inquiries. He personally set up my third of
three accounts with Fishnet Internet Services, and he was just delighted to
be of assistance when it came time for me to fork over some bucks. His
positive attitude ended the second I walked out the door, however.
I am sending cc:s of this letter to several interested parties via
electronic mail. I will print this out and send you that hardcopy, as you
have no account on the Internet at this time. Thank you in advance for any
time and assistance you can lend me.
Elaine M. Jordaan
[home address and phone number withheld]
Elaine M. Jordaan
elly@jetlink.net
Elly's Slice of Cyberpie
http://www.jetlink.net/~elly/elly.htm
Next Entry | Pervious Entry | Return to Diary Index | Return to Elly's Slice of Cyberpie
This page last updated June 21, 1997