HostSolutions.ro Credit Advice

lentrolentro Hosting Provider
edited June 2021 in General

The HostSolutions.ro ship is sinking. Assuming that the Ryzen offers (https://secure.hostsolutions.ro/cart.php?gid=75) started off with 1000 stock each, then cociu has sold a grand total of... wait for it... 26 services. That's pretty much one (or two maybe) host node(s). That's a really depressing situation.

But, I have a bunch of credits. What should I do with them?

Would it be entertaining to read through a review of random HostSolutions services before HostSolutions dies? Say, shared hosting services? Perhaps LXC containers? Ryzens? Compare SSD vs NVMe SSD VPS plans? Dedicated servers? Install some random stuff and write a few tutorials -- k8s, Ceph, etc?

Or, would anyone want to donate money to a charity for free VPSes that might stop any time?

Thanks!

Comments

  • Useless thread. All we can really do is understand that we took a gamble, and hope for the best. Best to merge this with the other HS thread if you ask me.

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  • I also have credit with him
    As I was checking the OGF only storage nodes are down . NVME still up as is my NVME VPS , NVME node has got uptime of 100% since last 2 months
    Did cociu deliberately do this with only storage nodes to do whatever with all that storage or actually there was failure in some with getting new drives costing double is the question
    But storage VPS subscribers have been left in lurch with no communication which can happen with other users too
    Someone did post that his dedicated was also down

    But then why email Ryzen offers ? To derive maximum out from the sinking ship or still trying to run only SSD/NVME nodes ??

  • cybertechcybertech OGBenchmark King
    edited June 2021

    I'm also concerned. the NVMe is solid performer so far and I do like it, it does look like he got proper tech support for this 2680v4, 5gbps strong, but given his business model it's not gonna be forever which I'm ok, using it as a private seedbox only. it's ok to go down and then up with some credits compensation but this major HDD blooper may send the credit ponzi spiralling down more quickly than expected.

    if he decides to let go of HDD or can't save it anymore and still wishes to retain SSD/NVMe line, then it's better to be clear about it to prevent PayPal exodus.

    I still harbour hopes that he somehow buys over a HDD brand and sets up factory in .RO though.

    I bench YABS 24/7/365 unless it's a leap year.

  • edited June 2021

    @cybertech said:
    I'm also concerned. the NVMe is solid performer so far and I do like it, it does look like he got proper tech support for this 2680v4, 5gbps strong, but given his business model it's not gonna be forever which I'm ok, using it as a private seedbox only. it's ok to go down and then up with some credits compensation but this major HDD blooper may send the credit ponzi spiralling down more quickly than expected.

    if he decides to let go of HDD or can't save it anymore and still wishes to retain SSD/NVMe line, then it's better to be clear about it to prevent PayPal exodus.

    I still harbour hopes that he somehow buys over a HDD brand and sets up factory in .RO though.

    But if lets say he doing Chia or has given/sold max HDDs for chia so after even refunding all , then also he will good money . All cheap deals/sales are out . All HDD nodes are clear to sell again for another usage which could be anything .....Chia
    The profits may be even 10 times after refunding . :o

  • @lentro said:
    But, I have a bunch of credits. What should I do with them?
    (...)
    Or, would anyone want to donate money to a charity for free VPSes that might stop any time?

    Somewhat of a charity thing: if you're ready to let go. consider renting a dedi (or a dedicated CPU VPS) and running Folding at Home: https://talk.lowendspirit.com/discussion/comment/41104/#Comment_41104
    (NOTE: the wget link in the post above is already outdated, newest version: https://download.foldingathome.org/releases/public/release/fahclient/debian-stable-64bit/v7.6/fahclient_7.6.21_amd64.deb )

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  • The idea of HS flipping its HDD's to Chia farming is funny as hell, so it became kind of a meme, but it doesn't seem plausible. HDD's saw a small upwards price tick but not a huge one. I still see them in stores here for a little bit more than before. How can things be that much worse in RO? It's nothing like the 2008(?) Thailand flood. There's not a serious shortage, just some models sold out and others available. So I have no idea what is going on with Cociu. I hope things work out for him. I just wouldn't bet the farm on it.

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  • Then did actually so many HDDs crash out ? as other nodes seem fine

  • I have opened a ticket and said that I want a refund - it is over 3 weeks of downtime without any resolution.
    I don't want to chargeback (but I could) and want to give @cociu a chance, but he is not giving any feedback. His silence has consequences and at some point his actions will either create the downfall or extend the life of Hostsolutions. The companies reputation is really poor and will only get worse.

  • I got my $ back via PayPal dispute. Open it, give it three business days and then escalate to PayPal and let them handle it.

    Anyone thinking this ship isn't heading to Davy Jones' Locker has stockholm syndrome.

  • alwyzonalwyzon Hosting Provider
    edited June 2021

    @willie said:
    HDD's saw a small upwards price tick but not a huge one. I still see them in stores here for a little bit more than before.

    Small sized consumer ones, yes, as they aren‘t suitable for Chia farming. But you shouldn‘t use those in a datacenter environment either.

    Large scale, durable, CMR disks nearly tripled in price. The WD UltraStar Helio-Seal series was ~250€ in February and is now still at ~700€ (excl. VAT). Even SSDs were hit (bulk price of some Samsung SAS SSD series went from 299€ to 409€ at one of the larger European Samsung distributors).

    — Michael

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  • edited June 2021

    @kuduku said:
    Then did actually so many HDDs crash out ? as other nodes seem fine

    The conclusion here seems to be that this story doesn't really add up
    https://talk.lowendspirit.com/discussion/2925/cociu-hostsolutions-ro-netsilvania-bankruptcy-dead-pool/p4

    @msatt said:
    I have opened a ticket and said that I want a refund - it is over 3 weeks of downtime without any resolution.
    I don't want to chargeback (but I could) and want to give @cociu a chance, but he is not giving any feedback. His silence has consequences and at some point his actions will either create the downfall or extend the life of Hostsolutions. The companies reputation is really poor and will only get worse.

    I think it's about time to do the same for me as well lol, please keep us posted on how it goes!

    @mikewazar said:
    I got my $ back via PayPal dispute. Open it, give it three business days and then escalate to PayPal and let them handle it.

    Nice! But hmmmm, this is a thread about credit..
    I've yet to make my first chargeback, so I can't speak from experience, but I'm guessing that, contrary to a VPS or other kind of server, you can't do that in this case, because you can't prove that what's on the invoice hasn't been delivered/isn't working as advertised (because well, your credits are displayed in the control panel -_-') - and perhaps this is why @lentro started this thread...?

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  • williewillie OG
    edited June 2021

    @alwyzon said: The WD UltraStar Helio-Seal series was ~250€ in February and is now still at ~700€

    I'm not familiar with that model but my local store has 16TB WD gold enterprise drives for 600 USD. I don't know if it's higher than before but it's definitely not double or triple.

    Also here is an 18TB Ultrastar Helioseal for $689: https://www.newegg.com/p/9SIA2W0CVT6705

    Again I'm certain that drive was not 250EUR in Febrary. It might have been a few percent less than now, but nobody was selling high end enterprise drives for 14 euro per TB.

  • alwyzonalwyzon Hosting Provider
    edited June 2021

    @willie said:
    Again I'm certain that drive was not 250EUR in Febrary. It might have been a few percent less than now, but nobody was selling high end enterprise drives for 14 euro per TB.

    Geizhals is EU-focused and retail only, but you can still use it to easily compare price history on the retail market. As you can see there, the model you linked was 293 € per piece in retail (pre-VAT); now the cheapest seller wants 667,50 €. And, these are retail prices; sadly, bulk prices are usually custom quotes and I wouldn't be aware of an easy way of comparing history on those.

    — Michael

    (Chart shows prices including Austrian VAT, thus the 20% higher prices.)

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  • @alwyzon said: the model you linked was 293 € per piece in retail

    I'd be interested in seeing an ad from February at that price. It is astonishingly low. They were never anywhere that low over here, I'm pretty sure.

  • edited June 2021

    @chimichurri said:

    I'm guessing that, contrary to a VPS or other kind of server, you can't do that in this case, because you can't prove that what's on the invoice hasn't been delivered/isn't working as advertised (because well, your credits are displayed in the control panel -_-') - and perhaps this is why @lentro started this thread...?

    I took advantage of the credit top-up promos and paid via PayPal, my services all went down and I was left with $$$ in credit, I described the situation to PayPal and they contacted HS for more information, HS never replied so PayPal found the 4 (four) disputes in my favour.

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  • alwyzonalwyzon Hosting Provider
    edited June 2021

    @willie said:
    I'd be interested in seeing an ad from February at that price. It is astonishingly low. They were never anywhere that low over here, I'm pretty sure.

    Geizhals is a well-known company in the German speaking area and around since ~1996 according to their German Wikipedia page. Don't think they would have any motivation for forging prices or allowing fake sellers there. On the other hand, I've seen obvious fake offers on Amazon, so who knows. However, last time I ordered similar UltraStars in bulk they were around 250€ (in February). So, selling them to retail at 300€ wouldn't seem impossible, if you ask me.

    — Michael

    Alwyzon - Virtual Servers in Austria starting at 4,49 €/month (excl. VAT)

  • @willie said: I'd be interested in seeing an ad from February at that price. It is astonishingly low. They were never anywhere that low over here, I'm pretty sure.

    If you look at CamelCamelCamel or some other price-history websites, the situation in the US looks not too different from what @alwyzon described:

  • lentrolentro Hosting Provider

    @chimichurri said: Folding at Home

    Thanks! Remember hearing about it some time ago. Something actually relevant to the post hehe :)

  • mikhomikho AdministratorOG

    @chimichurri said:

    @mikewazar said:
    I got my $ back via PayPal dispute. Open it, give it three business days and then escalate to PayPal and let them handle it.

    Nice! But hmmmm, this is a thread about credit..
    I've yet to make my first chargeback, so I can't speak from experience, but I'm guessing that, contrary to a VPS or other kind of server, you can't do that in this case, because you can't prove that what's on the invoice hasn't been delivered/isn't working as advertised (because well, your credits are displayed in the control panel -_-') - and perhaps this is why @lentro started this thread...?

    Not sure that PayPal cares or even gives a f**k.
    PayPal can rule either way, not that long ago I provided enough proof in a dispute that I was 100% certain that I would win it.
    PayPal replied after 4 days, in favor of the customer. Which hadn't provided any proof at all.

    “Technology is best when it brings people together.” – Matt Mullenweg

  • I suggest we hold a competition to see who holds the most HS credit.

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  • williewillie OG
    edited June 2021

    @Unixfy said: If you look at CamelCamelCamel or some other price-history websites, the situation in the US looks not too different from what @alwyzon described

    That graph shows the 14TB drive going from $400 to the current $615. First of all that's a 54% jump but not double or triple. Second $615 for 14TB is a steep even today: that drive is $475 locally around here right now. Third I'm really surprised that the 14TB was ever as low as $400 though I guess it's possible that I missed it. As a storage junkie I used to follow that kind of thing. I have to wonder how legit that offer was, from an unknown third party amazon dealer. Maybe I'll look at r/datahoarder posts from february or so to see if I can spot any newegg etc. offers from then. Anyway this is interesting.

  • @Unixfy said: CamelCamelCamel

    Does that one work outside the US ?

  • @Rahul said: Does that one work outside the US ?

    It works for almost all countries that Amazon supports. There's a bunch of links in the footer for different countries.

  • According to OGF he started selling IP blocks, you better run fast.
    Sadly, the auction is behind walls, you can't just look at it, you need a verified account + sign a NDA.

    If someone at least can post a censored screenshot would be nice.

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  • @Neoon said:
    According to OGF he started selling IP blocks, you better run fast.
    Sadly, the auction is behind walls, you can't just look at it, you need a verified account + sign a NDA.

    If someone at least can post a censored screenshot would be nice.

    could be he's been taken down by police again, maybe even personally involved and therefore involucrated behind bars or whatever.

    could be disks or more assets seized, who knows how all of this works, maybe he really needs money or someone else got access and is dissolving parts to cover for whatever. maybe there some kind of mafia around and he coudln't pay up... there is so much room for wild speculations.

    "you better run fast."

  • Try buying a new storage vps. They're in stock.

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  • @Unixfy said:

    @Rahul said: Does that one work outside the US ?

    It works for almost all countries that Amazon supports. There's a bunch of links in the footer for different countries.

    Tried it, but found that just a handful of countries.

    @vyas what's your take on the HDD prices in India vs outside now, as of the current situation ?

  • @msatt said:
    I have opened a ticket and said that I want a refund - it is over 3 weeks of downtime without any resolution.
    I don't want to chargeback (but I could) and want to give @cociu a chance, but he is not giving any feedback. His silence has consequences and at some point his actions will either create the downfall or extend the life of Hostsolutions. The companies reputation is really poor and will only get worse.

    Just opened (reluctantly) a PayPal dispute.
    No response to tickets - offline for 26 days. @cociu has not handled this properly and I don't see why my money should support him when he has not supported us.

  • @msatt said: I don't see why my money should support him when he has not supported us.

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