Endore Collapse Sparks Internet Ire

• By theWHIR.com , February 13, 2004

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Endore Collapse Sparks Internet Ire

Karen Snider, theWHIR.com

February 13, 2004 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY

REVIEW) -- What began on WebHosting Talk as a typical complaint about

poor customer service, exploded into a thread full of angry hosts

looking for lost data, money, and the man who seemed to have vanished

with it all.

The first post was made about Ohio-based Endore

on January 24. Over the next week complaints poured in about downed

services and inaccessible emails and Web sites. Users said Endore's

support was not answering. The next weekend, Endore briefly posted an

"out of business" notice on its site.

Forums like WebHosting Talk, Webmaster Key, and even one for Japanese pop music

were flooded with angry posts. By late last week, there had been more

than 12,200 views and more than 275 replies to the Endore thread on

WebHosting Talk. About 260 more people responded to a similar thread at

WebMaster Key. Hosts were scrambling to retrieve lost data, secure

domain names and get their sites back up.

In addition to Endore going offline, its

owner, Ivan Rainbolt, seemed to disappear. Some customers used the

forums to beg for Rainbolt's help. "As there was no prior warning to

the shutting down of Endore, we risk being put out of business to and

are due to be sued for thousands and thousands of pounds unless we can

recover our files from your servers," wrote Joseph Cozens.

Cozens had stored his data, but viruses

and a hacker forced him to Fdisk his computers and start again. "We

were not worried at the time as we were planning to simply download it

all again from Endore."

Among the contracts Cozens lost was an

E-commerce account worth £10,000. The customer paid up-front for the

site that was supposed to be launched this week. Cozens said he had to

sell his car to repay the money. Most of his other losses involved

sites for charity organizations.

It is unclear how many customers Endore

had, but forum users urged them to lodge complaints with Ohio's Better

Business Bureau. More than 100 people called the BBB, 27 of them making

written complaints. The BBB has no enforcement authority but passed the

complaints onto local police, who said Rainbolt had not filed for

bankruptcy. Police continue to investigate to determine whether a crime

has been committed, or if this is just a case of a breach of a civil

contract, which would have to be dealt with in civil court. Police

haven't been able to contact Rainbolt.

After nearly a week, several customers

said they had spoken with Rainbolt. "I spoke to Ivan personally Friday

evening several times," one user wrote. "He did not run off with

anyone's money. He is broke, he put every single penny he had into the

company. One server died, the other was hacked very badly. Basically,

from what I gathered, the company had sunk so low that he wasn't able

to pull it afloat."

The Endore site was put back online,

stating the company was "out of business." The site indicates Endore is

working with Tucows and Key Systems to retrieve domains, and offers

links to other hosts who will take on stranded Endore customers. Many

of these hosts have also logged onto the forums to offer "refugee"

discounts.

More than a week later, the Endore

situation is just starting to lose its legs in the forums. With its

demise, Endore managed to break almost every one of the principles

driven home on these very forums concerning payment plans, quality

hosting, and disappearing hosts.

Rainbolt encouraged customers to pay for

one year up-front, and failed to deliver the service. His support

diminished. Endore did not explain why sites were going down and, one

week later, still hasn't offered any explanation. And during the worst

of it, say clients, he could not be reached.

There is no doubt that Endore's customers will be more cautious when choosing their next host. A recent thread

on Web Hosting Talk summed up the things customers should look out for:

do not pay up front, try to avoid young or inexperienced hosts, test

customer service and, simply, do your research. But, as one ex-Endore

customer writes, sometimes "it really doesn't matter. Endore had been

in business six years, had no complaints, and was highly regarded by at

least five of my close friends. I still got screwed over."

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