Dear !@#$%*&!!

Dear #!@*&%$#!
Throwing a Verbal Folding Chair into the Right Field Stands of Life
9/18/2004
PAGE 2

He comes back.

"The site has been deleted."

Huh?

"It's for security reasons," he says.

Geez. I didn't know disconnected phone number equals terrorist or sinister hacker.

"You'll have to reload your site. Do you have a backup on your computer?"

This is where I lost it.

"What?!?! Of course, dumbshit. Where do you think I built the thing?" I growled . "I'm on a phone line. It'll take hours to reload!"

Silence.

"I want my money back."

"I'll look into it," he replied.

Then I don't know what I said. The expletives were audible in Los Angeles. Three phone numbers and they call the one that is plainly marked "not good until next week." The "conversation" ends with a "FUCK-OFF and a slammed phone.

I calmed down after a 5 mile stroll around Curtis Park. Yes, I'm not exaggerating. 5 miles.

I registered a domain with godaddy.com (no one paid me to say this) and set up hosting and email. All in all, I lost at least six hours thanks to the 0catch morons.

But later that night, I got some salt in the wound in the form of an email from 0catch:

Thank you for your recent order to upgrade your site basiljoe.0catch.com. Your site has been successfully upgraded to a Bronze account. Your credit card was charged $8.21. HOSTING SOLUTIONS (the 0catch parent company) will show up as the company that charged your credit card. Please take a moment to make note of this to avoid problems later if you do not recognize the transaction on your credit card statement.

Your account has been set up for monthly billing. Your current payment will last until Fri Oct 1 00:00:00 2004. You will be billed on the first of each month thereafter until you wish to cancel your account. If you have ANY questions at all please email back or feel free to call our support directly at (801) 765-9400. As a paid user you are entitled to phone support.

We are happy to help you with any problems relating directly to our service. We are unable to help directly with HTML questions or with page building software questions as this is outside the scope of our hosting services. However, if you have any questions regarding your hosting package or problems using our service please give us a call. If in the future if you find that you need to cancel your account with us you may do so online in the USER MANAGER section of the site or by calling (801) 765-9400.

We appreciate your business and are happy to serve you with your hosting needs.

HOSTING SOLUTIONS

Then, an hour later:

We recently received your request to delete your site basiljoe.0catch.com. Your site has been deleted and your credit card has been credited $8.21.

0catch

So, I responded in not-so kind:

Hey you rubes:

There was no request to delete from me. You did it on your own.. When a guy gives you three phone numbers, don't just call one, get a disconnect, and assume the guy and the guy's site are a danger to your server, your employees, and maybe even democracy. Try the other two numbers first, and you'll probably get a good God-fearin' American on the other end who needs his site functioning so he can get some work.

Thanks for screwing up my site you incompetent boobs! I may have lost some contract jobs thanks to you.. not to mention six hours finding a new host then reloading my site..

My cheap billing scale is $30/hr, so I figure you guys owe me $180, and hell, throw on another $500 for punitive damages for almost giving my somewhat healthy 40 yr old body an epileptic fit.. So you philistines owe me $680.. and that's cheap cheap cheap..

You guys need to learn to do business. When a customer pays you good hard-earned American dollars, you don't go shutting down his site because he gave you one bad phone number. Give capitalism a chance you socialist morons.. Oh.. I notice 801 is Utah.. Hmm.. I feel some puns coming on..Nah..

Thanks for wasting my time. Please circulate this email among your fellow trogs..

Best Wishes..in pissing off all your other customers..

Joe Mitchell
A guy who just wanted to be your customer...

Sure. What I did was offside. But hopefully, my message was heard loud and clear: I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it any more. I hope that for every ten people who shrug off institutional stupidity as part of life, there is at least one person who gives a little lecture in the virtues of commerce, capitalism, order, and just ordinary pride in one's job. I'm no longer going to let fear of confrontation allow Western Civilization to collapse under the weight of malignant indifference. I hope I have some support in this battle, and that we're all a little more calm and articulate than I was with the 0catch guys.

I will apologize for the form of expression, but not the expression.

*RANT*
	*Dear #!@&%$#! Throwing a Verbal Folding Chair into the Right Field Stands of Life 9/18/2004 PAGE 2** He comes back. "The site has been deleted." Huh? "It's for security reasons," he says. Geez. I didn't know disconnected phone number equals terrorist or sinister hacker. "You'll have to reload your site. Do you have a backup on your computer?" This is where I lost it. "What?!?! Of course, dumbshit. Where do you think I built the thing?" I growled . "I'm on a phone line. It'll take hours to reload!" Silence. "I want my money back." "I'll look into it," he replied. Then I don't know what I said. The expletives were audible in Los Angeles. Three phone numbers and they call the one that is plainly marked "not good until next week." The "conversation" ends with a "FUCK-OFF and a slammed phone. I calmed down after a 5 mile stroll around Curtis Park. Yes, I'm not exaggerating. 5 miles. I registered a domain with godaddy.com (no one paid me to say this) and set up hosting and email. All in all, I lost at least six hours thanks to the 0catch morons. But later that night, I got some salt in the wound in the form of an email from 0catch: Thank you for your recent order to upgrade your site basiljoe.0catch.com. Your site has been successfully upgraded to a Bronze account. Your credit card was charged $8.21. HOSTING SOLUTIONS (the 0catch parent company) will show up as the company that charged your credit card. Please take a moment to make note of this to avoid problems later if you do not recognize the transaction on your credit card statement. Your account has been set up for monthly billing. Your current payment will last until Fri Oct 1 00:00:00 2004. You will be billed on the first of each month thereafter until you wish to cancel your account. If you have ANY questions at all please email back or feel free to call our support directly at (801) 765-9400. As a paid user you are entitled to phone support. We are happy to help you with any problems relating directly to our service. We are unable to help directly with HTML questions or with page building software questions as this is outside the scope of our hosting services. However, if you have any questions regarding your hosting package or problems using our service please give us a call. If in the future if you find that you need to cancel your account with us you may do so online in the USER MANAGER section of the site or by calling (801) 765-9400. We appreciate your business and are happy to serve you with your hosting needs. HOSTING SOLUTIONS Then, an hour later: We recently received your request to delete your site basiljoe.0catch.com. Your site has been deleted and your credit card has been credited $8.21. 0catch So, I responded in not-so kind: Hey you rubes: There was no request to delete from me. You did it on your own.. When a guy gives you three phone numbers, don't just call one, get a disconnect, and assume the guy and the guy's site are a danger to your server, your employees, and maybe even democracy. Try the other two numbers first, and you'll probably get a good God-fearin' American on the other end who needs his site functioning so he can get some work. Thanks for screwing up my site you incompetent boobs! I may have lost some contract jobs thanks to you.. not to mention six hours finding a new host then reloading my site.. My cheap billing scale is $30/hr, so I figure you guys owe me $180, and hell, throw on another $500 for punitive damages for almost giving my somewhat healthy 40 yr old body an epileptic fit.. So you philistines owe me $680.. and that's cheap cheap cheap.. You guys need to learn to do business. When a customer pays you good hard-earned American dollars, you don't go shutting down his site because he gave you one bad phone number. Give capitalism a chance you socialist morons.. Oh.. I notice 801 is Utah.. Hmm.. I feel some puns coming on..Nah.. Thanks for wasting my time. Please circulate this email among your fellow trogs.. Best Wishes..in pissing off all your other customers.. Joe Mitchell A guy who just wanted to be your customer... Sure. What I did was offside. But hopefully, my message was heard loud and clear: I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it any more. I hope that for every ten people who shrug off institutional stupidity as part of life, there is at least one person who gives a little lecture in the virtues of commerce, capitalism, order, and just ordinary pride in one's job. I'm no longer going to let fear of confrontation allow Western Civilization to collapse under the weight of malignant indifference. I hope I have some support in this battle, and that we're all a little more calm and articulate than I was with the 0catch guys. I will apologize for the form of expression, but not the expression. JM