Dial-up: Cyberconnectics
Cyberconnectics
by hawksfan - 2/12/07 9:55 AMI have been with Cyberconnectics, a dial-up ISP located in Wilsonville, Oregon, for a few years now. They appear to be down with no advance notice. Calls to them result in a busy signal. They did take my money for the month of February though.
Anyone else out there with the same problem?
Looks like they are gone
by espeefan - 2/15/07 5:16 PM In reply to: Cyberconnectics by hawksfanYes I was having many problems also. I guess they closed their doors with no warning. I called Integra telecom and they were able to get me connected in a hurry. Dave was a lot of help (503) 793-2172
Some people more affected than others
by hawksfan - 2/16/07 10:54 AM In reply to: Looks like they are gone by espeefanThanks for the feedback. Fortunately, I only had a dial-up account with them. Others I have talked to had alot more invested, such as business web sites that Cyberconnectics hosted. I guess that the abreviation they used "Cyb con" should have clued me in a long time ago.
Also, I was amazed at the lack of information online about the business apparently shutting down. Thanks to CNET for letting me vent off some steam.
Bruce
conflicting information
by iggy07 - 2/18/07 12:43 AM In reply to: Cyberconnectics by hawksfan~ Feb 7 -- E-mail not working; website not available; phone line busy (quick busy as if out of service). I drove by the Wilsonville location (10 miles each way) after one day offline. I was second in line, and another woman was coming in behind me to ask the same questions. They said the reason the phone wasn't working was that it was voip, and when their server was down, their phone was down as well. They said to call the Salem number and press #4 for tech support, and it would go through.
As I said to the woman before me, "What's wrong with this picture when you can't communicate with your ISP by phone, by e-mail, or via their website, and you have to drive 10 miles to talk to them? This is a PROVIDER in the information age . . . !"
The Salem phone worked for a few more days. On Sat Feb 10 I got through to tech support. They said their server was down; they were moving physically to a new location, and service should be back by Monday. Of course, this would be about 10 days w/o service, with no notices, and no explanations. Along the way, calling the Salem number passed me through from #1 (sales), #2 (customer service), #3 (accounting), and #4 (technical support) -->> all went to voice mail for tech support. Another day or so later this mailbox message said it was unable to take messages because the mailbox was full. Yet another day or so, and this number gave a quick busy signal (apparently out of service).
Neither Verizon or AT&T could find any record of that number, and were unable to check on its viability, or even who the service provider might be in Salem. So now, without physically driving to Salem (35 miles!), it is not even possible to talk to them . . .
I had already obtained FIOS from Verizon, but kept with cybcon as an ISP because of my previous excellent service, and my longstanding e-mail address. So it was easy to activate my verizon mailbox and make the switch.
It sure would be nice if they had provided a voice message with some sort of explanation, wouldn't it? In the meantime, don't hold your breath for a resumption of service . . . ?!
More cyb-con stuff, not sure how helpful it is...
by rzezula - 2/21/07 9:15 AM In reply to: conflicting information by iggy07I had postings on craigslist for a while trying to get some communication going, but they were reported by users and removed (thanks, people). Our money is still being taken and I know others' are too. We have been told with an auto debit we have to cancel with the provider - fat chance of that. I am hopeful that if enough people put public pressure on the new (former?) owners they will at least stop taking people's money. Even if they manage to re-open there is no way I'd use them again!
Following are the people who I have emailed in connection with the cybcon problem so far - to try and get the info. to customers who just don't know what to do to find more info.:
consumer.hotline@doj.state.or.us
ckipp@eaglenewspapers.com
hstern@wweek.com
njaquiss@wweek.com
idemsky@wweek.com
toddmurphy@portlandtribune.com
jimredden@portlandtribune.com
jenniferanderson@portlandtribune.com
nickbudnick@portlandtribune.com
peterkorn@portlandtribune.com
jacobsanders@portlandtribune.com
jgianola@koin.com
kday@koin.com
jhogan@koin.com
newstips@kgw.com
koindesk@koin.com
thedesk@katu.com
The more people they hear from the more likely they will be to run a story or investigate.
Other than being told they'll "be back up tomorrow" repeatedly, I have heard nothing new and everything still seems to be shot. The new owner whose cell and home numbers I had is no longer answering the phone and is obviously not returning calls.
I received some input from a few craigslist people that I am posting below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From what I could determine, their up-stream provider (Electric Lightwave) had cut their connections. All of them, including DSL and telephone. Cybcon told me they were switching to another provider. I was watching their domain registration and did see one nameserver moved to a live connection, but the content didn't change - still pointing to an address block owned by Electric Ligthwave.
I suspect that moving to a new provider is beyond their competence. Moving from one address block to another is a big task - even if you have time to plan it all out. Doing it on the fly must be a real nightmare, even if you know what you are doing!
...the prospects of it coming back - very low to nil...referred me to a provider (Infinity)...they called and are setting up my DSL to them right now.
...For those people hosting stuff ...I just hope they all have good backups of the content on those Cybcon servers, because I doubt that they will ever get access to them again.
...expects them to go bankrupt -- that was why I decided to move. It really is a shame ...Cybcon was a VERY good ISP, and the customer base was stable ... it has all been destroyed in less than a week ...
So, I suggest that you loom around for another provider. Cybcon is never going to be the same again, even if it ever does come back.
...Domains can be moved without servers being available, that is a different operation, and is hosted by much more reliable international organizations. Cybcon not responding should not be a problem, even if the domains are locked ... a lot depends on how they were set up - since 99.99% will have been set up by Eldon, they will have been done right.
...For those who have paid in advance, quite honestly I think their money is gone...but it may be worth finding a lawyer willing to represent all of these people and initiate legal action. Even if it went live again tomorrow, I would write off my money and move anyway!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I just got a response from the Better Business Bureau and they have
opened a case for my complaint and forwarded it to the Seattle division for investigation.
I would suggest that as many people affected by Cyberconnectics actions file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. It is relatively easy to do. http://www.bbb.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was suggested to me to contact Tucows about this. They may take a long time responding (days) because they don't like to deal with end users, just resellers. But it's something, and they have authority to do something once you have identified yourself as the owner of your site(s) and can verify who you are.
Email: compliance@opensrs.org . Also, go to: http://tucows.com/contact and call the toll free #. I called "Customer Service" on Friday 2/9/07 and was on-hold for 105 minutes before they answered and gave me the email for Compliance. If you call, and select "compliance" you'll just get a voicemail giving the above email address. They're in Toronto. In your email you must explain the details of the situation, i.e.: your website, emails, etc.
Here is a sample of what I sent to Tucows:
" I have some domains hosted by: CYBERCONNECTICS aka: CYBCON (www.cybcon.com) that I want to transfer. The domains are: __________________________. Their President is Scott Lee. They're located at: 30240 SW Parkway #10 Wilsonville, OR 97070. They're down and I can't reach them by email, phone or fax. Normally I would use your website but I can't send from my Cyberconnectics email address(s) Please tell me how to proceed with this.
I thank you in advance for your attention to this matter."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My brief two cents about the BBB idea is that if the new owners are closing-down shop, they won't care what their rating is and that's about the extent of the BBB's authority. I am hoping for a mass appeal to the Attorney General before they disappear for good...
More cyb-con stuff, not sure how helpful it is...
by jill122 - 2/21/07 11:22 AM In reply to: More cyb-con stuff, not sure how helpful it is... by rzezulaI'm sorry for your troubles. Unfortunately, I cannot help you with the technical stuff but I do have a suggestion for ON-GOING CHARGES TO YOUR CREDIT CARD.
1) You can call the credit card company and tell them it's an illegal charge or a disputed charge and you want them to send you the "disputed charge" form. It's something you must fill out and return to the credit card company in order for them to follow up. AND the charge must already appear on your credit card. Know the relevant numbers on your credit card statement, you will need them for reference.
2) If that doesn't work, tell the credit card company that you have lost your credit card and you need a new one.
a) you will not be able to make any new charges until you receive your new card.
b) any on-going charges (such as your ISP) will not have access to the new number -- and their on-going charges will not be able to go through, even though they have your name and address they will not have access to your new card.
3) You may not want to do this until you see whether they are going to charge your March account?? (more money down the drain since they charged you for February and you lost service before February ended.)
I hope this helps.
Helpful
by Hopper2 - 2/21/07 7:23 PM In reply to: More cyb-con stuff, not sure how helpful it is... by rzezulaI spoke to the Owner and Scott Lee is not the President he is their VP. I learned everything was coming up and he I could see my Web Site was backup.
Contact
by ghostrider51 - 2/26/07 7:32 PM In reply to: Helpful by Hopper2Could you please tell us who to contact at Cyberconnectics and a phone
number. We don't live locally and 411 has been unsuccessful. We desperately need to get ahold of somebody. Thanks!
Cybcerconnectics contact info
by catbus99 - 2/27/07 9:44 PM In reply to: Contact by ghostrider51I don't think it would be proper protocol to post e-mail addresses or phone numbers here in the forum, but the local company that bought out Cyberconnectics is Technicall and you can find their address and contact info on this page (at least as of tonight): http://www.technicallnetworks.com/corporate_info.html. These are the people I wound up contacting when my DSL went down in December.
Good luck,
Ric
Sorry - info is useless
by iggy07 - 2/27/07 10:49 PM In reply to: Cybcerconnectics contact info by catbus99I don't want to appear ungrateful for the suggestion, but why on earth would you think your contact information from December 2006 would be at all useful in late Feb 2007? The whole point here is that this information has become useless!!
I will admit that I was surprised to find a viable (?) web site at the URL provided. However the phone numbers DON'T WORK! (Surprise, surprise.) The 503- number provides a rapid busy signal (out of service?), and the 800- number provides a recorded message saying the number is not available . . . I haven't tried the fax number or the e-mails yet, but I'm not holding my breath . .
It is particularly disturbing that the VoIP offering through e-Bay and Pay Pal still seems to be operational!! Click on the 'Sign Up' link and see for yourself. I certainly did not follow through and order this service, but the links all appear to be current and dated today, Feb 27, 2007.
Something seems to be terribly wrong with this picture . . .
Your right
by Hopper2 - 2/27/07 11:12 PM In reply to: Sorry - info is useless by iggy07FYI I use the VoIP service and thats how I was able to contact them... I agree with a lot of what your saying. Interesting you mention December.. I still had my email so I curious what was your experience in Dec?
Cyber
by Hopper2 - 2/27/07 11:19 PM In reply to: More cyb-con stuff, not sure how helpful it is... by rzezulaI can tell Tucows will do nothing as I learned that one of the wonderful thing that happened is the Cyber Servers where attacked by Hackers and even changed the Cyber.com domains and transfered theres to someone else. Even the former Owner had to get involved to try and resolve domain ownership. Did you get your domains back?
Cyber ???
by hawksfan - 2/28/07 6:58 AM In reply to: Cyber by Hopper2A correction for you as to the url we are talking about. www.cyberconnectics.com or www. cybcon.com not www.cyber.com
I am sure that the original owner and current owner of cyberconnectics have hard copies of their former customers address and phone numbers. There is a phone number on the check they cashed for instance. I have not received a phone call. Or any form of contact from them.
Customer Contact Information
by tcallnet - 4/4/07 2:55 PM In reply to: Cyber ??? by hawksfanWhen we acquired CyberConnectics all of the accounting system was already in place by the previous owners. There were no hard copies of any contact information kept. The only information kept was the user ID and the amount paid and on what date that payment was made. This applied to both payments made by check and credit card.
Scott Lee
Vice President, Marketing
CyberWorld, Inc
Dba CyberConnectics
GREAT JOB GUYS!!! Let's not let it drop, though
by rzezula - 4/10/07 8:45 AM In reply to: More cyb-con stuff, not sure how helpful it is... by rzezulaEven if you think your lost email, website, $19.99, whatever isn't "that much" of a loss - consider the future consumers who could be taken advantage of and decide whether it might be worth your time to file a complaint with the Attorney General online. If you get your refund, you can always let the AG know and drop your own complaint. No harm done then. The larger harm is in not doing anything to help fellow consumers avoid future loss by holding this guy accountable for his actions now.
Thanks to everyone who got Channel 2 moving on the story!!!
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