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Don't trust MediaTemple.net with your information
Krop Creative Tech Jobs: Their marketing department should be using this to find new roles.
I've just received a marketing email from MediaTemple. To my mobile phone. Twice. The email address for my phone is private, because I use it for paging me server warnings.
What's so bad about this? Well - I asked them to remove that email from their list , twice before, when they did the same thing. And was assured it had been. It's a pager address, which was put into their account manager to allow for notification of urgent issues ONLY. The last time I got SPAMmed at 3am, and got out of bed expecting a server to be down. This was when I had an account with them. I terminated SHOWstudio's account with MediaTemple last year due to their extortionate costs and decreasing quality of service. At the time I requested my account details be deleted from their databases, especially marketing databases.
OK, so this stuff happens all the time. However the service the provide is one of trust. It's not that they are selling newspapers, or Viagra, but I entrusted them with servers that contain thousands and thousands of peoples contact details ... might have even considered passing credit card details through a server hosted with them. And this is how they repay me? By not honoring opt-out requests and re-introducing old data back into their marketing databases!
Their opt out email address even bounced - not a good advert for an apparently savy tech company (though I have heard many complaints about them loosing email) :
Hi. This is the qmail-send program at dao.hosteverything.net. I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.marketing.email.optout@mediatemple.net: User and password not set, continuing without authentication. 64.207.129.38 does not like recipient. Remote host said: 550 5.1.1 marketing.email.optout@mediatemple.net: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in local recipient table Giving up on 64.207.129.38.And via a different mail server too:
Hi. This is the qmail-send program at tcs1.showstudio.com. I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.marketing.email.optout@mediatemple.net: 64.207.129.38 does not like recipient. Remote host said: 550 5.1.1 marketing.email.optout@mediatemple.net: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in local recipient table Giving up on 64.207.129.38.The implication, to me is, basically: you can't trust this: http://www.mediatemple.net/company/legal/privacy.php
And therefore, you can't trust them with your details. MediaTemplate have some clever branding going on, but underneath my experience proves they aren't all that they say.My worry is this: if they are unscrupulous enough to mine their administration databases for email accounts they can send unsolicited marketing emails to then where will it end? Would they use all the email addresses that are passed through their primary mail servers? Would they start greping backups stored on their servers (or even your hosted box) for email lists? Probably not. But I don't even want those questions raised in my mind about a server which is located on the other side of the world from me.
My other big concern: if an ISP acts like this then what chance have we of them acting against other people sending unsolicited email from their network?
My advice? If you have your servers hosted with MediaTemple then move them to The Planet... their service has been excellent, they are helpful and responsive, trustworthy and they don't send SPAM. And they are considerably cheaper. Win-win if you ask me.
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2007.05.29 08:14 GMT
that is pretty whack. I had to fumble around with a site hosted on media temple a few months ago, so the guy organising the project put my email into the alert system (I was the only person really working on the site). I still get spam off them, even though I removed my email after the project was done.
Kinda sucks that they spammed your "emergency only" point of contact.
2009.01.13 15:00 GMT
Sorry to hear you two have had such a bad time with MT. I've been using them for years with no such issues. In fact, I've moved all of my other hosting accounts over to them - for two main reasons, they've always offered excellent 24/7 support and (more importantly) they all speak English.
I've had too many experiences of setting up hosting through a US office, but then every time I call support I'm either in India or the Philippians. Ironically, they all say their name is Bob. 1&1 is famous for that. Would never suggest those folks for any of my clients.
Another point of reference. When I did have an issue with MT (more of a concern about features of their DV boxes) it was suggested to me by their support department (again, excellent service as always) to send an email directly to their CEO explaining my issues and, here's the important part, that the CEO DOES ACTUALLY READ THEM. Less than a week later (hey, he's the CEO, he's surely busy) I got an email back from him. We've had numerous discussions since and he's shared things with me that apparently haven't been properly documented within their online knowledge base articles (of which has since been remedied).
So again, as far as hosting goes - at least if your interested in staying in the US and speaking to someone that actually is from the US - I wouldn't look any further than MediaTemple.
2009.01.14 14:51 GMT
Well, anyonymous, thanks for your comments. A bit too gushing, and rather late for my liking. After all, their CEO never responded to the emails I sent them.
I've since had friends have many problems with MediaTemlples Grid service, their Virtual Servers, and their support being terrible, so I'll stick to their point of view. They are also still terribly over-priced - like MT have some kind of badge of coolness that appeals to Designers.
I'll stick with The Planet - US Based company, US Based Support, and good and reliable. In the UK you wouldn't do badly to check out PoundHost who also do a very good job for me. That said both these companies are providing dedidcated and co-located servers for me, not virtual hosting, so may not be everyone's bag.
2009.03.01 16:55 GMT
Some people in life are realistic and some people in life just aren't happy unless they have something to complain about.This guy stands out as the latter.This is the real world my friend, if we all split hairs over every company's service we dealt with in life we would have no time for anything else. They used you mobiles email so what? Unless your on the run from the FBI? Then I guess you have good reason to hide it.
2009.05.03 15:46 GMT
Um, sorry anonymous, but that doesn't make sense. They used my details in a way they didn't have permission to, repeatedly, and then did not act upon my requests.
How you can jump from the fact that I am complaining because I am unhappy to I am only happy if I have something to complain about I don't know. There is no logic in that.
MediaTemple have failed to deliver on their promises to me serveral times, and acted in a way which I feel is in appropriate for an ISP, so I am writing about it. I'm not 'splitting hairs', just stating it as it is.
You are right, it is the real world, and people, companies and governments (amongst others) fail. We all have a right to complain when that happens. If a private complaint leads to inaction, if the recipient of the complaint ignores or carrys on with the inaction then we have a right to complain publicly. Again this is what I am doing.
And whilst I have no reason to hide my email, that doesn't mean that all and sundry have permission to use it however they see fit. There is, again, no logic in your argument. You are just wasting space in an attempt to discredit my opinion, and failing quite badly, without any attempt to reason or apply any intelligence to your point of view.