Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!


Review of SEFLOW - DOMFLOW vps: announced disaster, lost all data on a burnt server
New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.

All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.

Review of SEFLOW - DOMFLOW vps: announced disaster, lost all data on a burnt server

saxmaxsaxmax Member
edited September 2019 in Reviews

I wanted to share my experience with SEFLOW - DOMFLOW, a company which sells vps, located in Italy.

Recently they experienced what they declared to be a fire on a server (really!?! in 2019 proprely mantained servers can really go on fire?!?), which caused the total loss of my virtual machine.
I had files and database backup, hopefully, but no image of the whole disk, due to the fact that their complete partitition backup tool never worked as expected, or at all.
In any case, who would expect to see a complete fail/disaster on a modern and supposedly solid provider company?

So i lost a lot of time in restoring my site (on another provider, of course), and asked what i assumed was a normal request, in this case: the termination of the contract and a partial refund for the time still left of the service, due to fault of the server not imputable to user fault.
They rejected the request, and never made any apology for the inconvenient. They say that this kind of disaster it's quite common, and it's my fault i did not buy extra disaster recovery service (paid, of course, not free).

Luckily my paid time with them was almost over, and the loss, in economic terms, if we consider only the cost of the service, is no big deal.

But seeing companies like this, which hide behind contracts to avoid admitting they made a mistake, which don't even have the education to make their excuses for such a big inconvenience, is incredible.
So i thought i should have warned other potential clients about their attitude, in hope they choose where to host their precious work in a safer and better place than me.

If someone is searching for a VPS, stay far away from SEFLOW - DOMFLOW.

If someone with direct experience in maintenance of physical servers read this, may i ask a question? Do servers really can take fire, if well mantained? Is it really a common occurrence?

Thanked by 1kkrajk

Comments

  • damn, I'm sorry to hear that :(

  • I once had my server flooded by the sprinkler system lol. It sucks but it happens.

    And yeah I even backup O365 and Google Mail, I don't trust nobody.

    Thanked by 1kkrajk
  • Dear @saxmax ,
    i'm sorry that you was a victim of Node34 IT of mycore. I fully understand your anger and we want apologise for the inconvenience you had.

    Unfortunately we was victim by a motherboard electric failure that broke NVMe disks directly attached on it. As we wrote in our TAC all configuration was on SSD disks (that are on separate HDD bay) and they was saved, but vm data was lost because are on NVMe.

    Is first time that this happen (and not common as you said), but honestly we not have a way to avoid that risk keeping that prices. We have a total disaster tool, based on Acronis cloud backup that start from 3.99€/month. Most of the customer had this tool and restored their vm within few minutes.

    I read this:

    But seeing companies like this, which hide behind contracts to avoid admitting they made a mistake, which don't even have the education to make their excuses for such a big inconvenience, is incredible

    We not want hide behind a contract, but if you not trust on what happened i can't say you anything else, because this is what happened. A power motherboard failure caused damage on both NVMe disks that are directly attached on it. Both disks are not detected anymore, we also tried to plug on different server, but they still not detected.

    If someone with direct experience in maintenance of physical servers read this, may i ask a question? Do servers really can take fire, if well mantained? Is it really a common occurrence?

    Please don't think high flames on all datacenter. We just found the chassis cover "black, server powered off and motherboard, power supply and nvme disks totally dead.

    They rejected the request, and never made any apology for the inconvenient.

    We're not only are apologizing, but are extending all contracts for free as compensation of the damage.

    I will happy to assist you

    Kind Regards

    Thanked by 3ehab sebkehl XiNiX
  • Thanked by 1uptime
  • drserverdrserver Member, Host Rep

    Sounds more like bad cable from the thread where you had discussion with @Clouvider

    Sorry @SeFlow_Ele I had to, this was too good to pass ;)

  • @SeFlow_Ele said:
    We have a total disaster tool, based on Acronis cloud backup that start from 3.99€/month. Most of the customer had this tool and restored their vm within few minutes.

    I highly doubt that, tbh.

  • @saxmax

    In the future, it's best to quote any announcements and correspondence in your first post. You say no apologies or compensation and the provider says they did both. You both can't be right and hurts the credibility of whomever is wrong.

    It sounds like the server received a surge. That's obvious with blackened case and fried mobo, PSU and NVMe. I'd want to know what its power source was.

    In terms of fire, I was opening a server that was full of dust. An unused Molex connector had burn marks against the bottom of the case. I hadn't seen that before so I Googled it and found a page showing many failed Molex connectors that failed and caught fire. Apparently, this does happen often.

    Lastly, an off-site image backup is not the right kind of backup for a VPS, especially if you want to move your data to another provider.

    Thanked by 1uptime
  • @TimboJones , forgive me but i couldn't resist not to ask.

    have you ever considered playing a Didgeridoo ?

    Thanked by 2uptime reikuzan
  • SplitIceSplitIce Member, Host Rep

    While I'm not a real fan of seflow a one of off electrical issue is not really their fault.

    Even the most well maintained server can have a power supply short, or surge etc which MAY result in an electrical fire. It's statistically unlikely, but possible. It's just bad luck. If it happens again, then you can accuse them.

    This is why you backup your data.

  • @ehab said:
    @TimboJones , forgive me but i couldn't resist not to ask.

    have you ever considered playing a Didgeridoo ?

    No. Now I have to ask, what's the price of tea in China?

  • TimboJones said: Lastly, an off-site image backup is not the right kind of backup for a VPS, especially if you want to move your data to another provider.

    I think you mean

    an off-site image backup is not the right kind of backup for a VPS, especially if you want to move your data to another provider.

  • @rchurch said:

    TimboJones said: Lastly, an off-site image backup is not the right kind of backup for a VPS, especially if you want to move your data to another provider.

    I think you mean

    an off-site image backup is not the right kind of backup for a VPS, especially if you want to move your data to another provider.

    Which providers could you do an image restoration to a VPS? Different IP's, different hardware, disk layout, etc. Bare metal, any provider, but specifically a VPS? So much extra data being backed up and restored that eats into recovery time, increases storage and bandwidth requirements, and may or may not also support file only restoration. A lot of fixing things up using noVNC, ain't got no time for that.

    So please, provide use case and methods for why and how you do image restorations to a VPS.

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    So they literally moved your VPS to a real cloud, that’s a first.

    I remember when their nameservers “cluster” also went up in smoke, they told me they had no time to restore it due to religious commitments.

    I think it’s a bit harsh blaming them for an unavoidable incident though when you are not paying them for support or backups.

    Thanked by 1deank
  • @AnthonySmith said:
    So they literally moved your VPS to a real cloud, that’s a first.

    :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

  • Next summer: Sharks in your Datacenter.

    Seriously, have a thorough backup plan.
    Cheap vps ♥️ forever!

    Thanked by 1uptime
  • I will happy to assist you

    Assistance has altready been discussed vith Mr. Bramè, which was very clear about what is an acceptable "refund" for our huge problem.

    Calculating the extent of the down caused by the accident, and giving an equal amount of time as an extension of our contract in compensation for this (saying that by contract they have no obligation to do it, by the way)..

    Really an inspiring and appealing offer, i must say.. :wink: :smiley:
    Surely i will continue putting my work on such a great and safe network..
    Or.. Better not?!? :smiley:

    Look, i don't need any more assistance. I had enough, if it's all like this.
    We asked a refund, only for the time still left of the contract. Not the whole contract.
    Seemed to me a reasonable way to keep a customer satisfied, even on such a terrible circumstance.
    You guys declined in such an unpleasant way, saying that these things happen all the time, and giving all the blame on the client. Yeah. Like i should always think you'll fry my VPS.. :neutral:

    So i felt forced to warn other eventual clients about your attitude.

    This is a reminder for the future, i hope.

    Keeping a customer satisfied is always a worthy objective.
    Hiding behind a "the contract does not allow a refund" after all this damage, is not what a good company would say in a case like this, and serves as a warning for all potential customers.
    Bad reviews are bad for business.

    You have already amassed a lot of them.
    I did not believe them, before this happened.
    I'll be more cautious in the future, and i hope anyone reading this will, too.

    Thanked by 1dosai
  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    Ok thanks.

  • Stick with clouds. They're made of water and can't catch fire.

    Thanked by 2uptime ITLabs
  • @AnthonySmith said:
    I remember when their nameservers “cluster” also went up in smoke, they told me they had no time to restore it due to religious commitments.

    Damn christians.

  • @TimboJones said:

    @ehab said:
    @TimboJones , forgive me but i couldn't resist not to ask.

    have you ever considered playing a Didgeridoo ?

    No. Now I have to ask, what's the price of tea in China?

    Really low!

Sign In or Register to comment.