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Site Update
Some more features grave the site navigation, and some slight code tweeks too...
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Royal Armouries
Web Site Construction Project
I've been contracted to work on the new website for the Royal Armouries [http://www.armouries.org.uk for the existing site]. While Arms and Armour don't really fit with a lot of my personal beliefs, I've taken on board the project because it should present an interesting challenge in representing their collection on-line : it's not just brochure-ware, or a walk through of the museum. Rather the intention is to create a way of navigating the collections which takes advantage of the nature of the web [in it's current guise]
We hope the new site will be up early 2003.
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dvdrtools
Utility for writing DVDr Disks
A step on from what I wrote in my article regarding dvd burning on linux, Bernhard Rosenkraenzer has taken the patch written by Nicolae Mihalache that I mentioned and branched the cdrtools tree into dvdrtools.
You can visit the project home page here http://www.freesoftware.fsf.org/dvdrtools/
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Autechre EP7
Fixing Old work
http://www.warprecords.com/ography/WAPEP7/
I just fixed and uploaded the java applet I wrote for Autechre EP7 as part of the microsite I created for the release.
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Warp Records
Some of the time
I'm currently working 1 day a week at Warp Records optimising and maintaining their website [which I built before I left Kleber].
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CDRecord ProDVD
Jörg Schilling writes...
A followup to my article regarding DVD writing under Linux.
I received this email yesterday:
I just found this page from you:http://www.dorianmoore.com/index.php?ti_id=33
and I am not happy with it!
The text does not reflect reallity, see:
ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/unix/cdrecord/ProDVD/
Also please keep in mind that the patch you mention is not actively maintained.
While cdrecord is constantly improving, people like the author of the mentioned
patch usually di a quick shot. The patch appeared about a week after the first
cdrecord-ProDVD version that did work with activation keys and thus could allow
tests has been published. AS I did not disable the -V SCSI Debug option, and
the patch is only ~ 150 lines, it is obvious that this patch is created by
rreverse engineeering cdrecord.Also note that this patch has problems with the fact that the drive writes CDs
and DVDsJörg
This was my response. I'm waiting to hear back from him.
Hi Jörg,Knowledge is free, I merely wrote what I found out, to help other people. I'm sorry if it offended you.
As it happens, I contacted you about cdrecord ProDVD at the time and you told me, rather bluntly, that all the information about it was on your website. I looked at EVERY page, and it wasn't there. I also looked at your ftp server, and couldn't find it there. What is said to send you money, it doesn't say where to, or how [I'm not sending $100 cash in the post] and it doesn't promise to provide any guarantees as to what I would get for my money.
It seems that you have updated your site since then.
ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/unix/cdrecord/ProDVD/README
********** NEW: On March 9th, we are celebrating 4 years of cdrecord-ProDVDOf course, that will be the 9th of march in which year? 2002 I assume, as it wasn't there when I looked in January.
As you will see from my page quoted below it was written on 19/01/2002 [19th of January 2002]. I am, like you I'm sure, very busy. I said when I found out about availability of you software I would update my site, and I haven't found out until now, because the solution I had has worked find for my purposes.
As I see from your text referenced about you have produced a key which will time out on the 17th of June [this year?]. Then we have to request a new key. Will we have to keep on doing this? For how long?
I have a lot of things to do and don't want to be forced into upgrade paths or time limited software. I do appreciate the time you have put into creating the software. I'm happy to pay a reasonable price for a license to reflect this. I'm happy to change the text on my site as well. If you can provide me with a clear license and guide to how to pay you, and what we can expect for our money. Otherwise it seems that your information is no clearer than Micro$ofts I'm afraid to say.
This seemed to be the point of view of several people who have contacted me thanking me for my text, and who haven't been able to work out where to go on your site or how to proceed using it. I'm sorry to say it, but it's very hard to tell what information is what on your site.
Perhaps, to this end, I can suggest something to our mutual benefit: How about you email me a copy of the cd-record website, and I clean it up and make it more useable for people, in return for a license for cdRecord-proDVD. This way my skills [web designer, usability, web programmer] complement your skills [software development] and we can make cdRecord easier to access, license, and use, by making the information about it better managed. I'd imagine that this would be a very cost effective solution for you, as my time is aorund £30/hour [1], and I'd imagine sorting out the CD-Record site would take me a couple of days. I probably wouldn't be able to do it for a couple of weeks.
Otherwise, simply tell me what it is you would like me to change about my site and I will change it. I know the patch is unsupported, and I am providing no guarantees. I feel that at the moment it reflects a balanced point of view on where the ground lay at the time of writing. I think Cdrecord is a great piece of software and you deserve whatever support you can for developing it.
Kind regards
_d._
[1] Oooh, typo : that should say £60/hour *grin*
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Flash Bugs...
A note to macromedia's forum.
I've saved this here because I've known messages like this to 'dissapear' from official company forums. It's not hugely damning, but I was venting a bit.
Hi,
I've been building a project which should work as a standalong projector on the Mac OS and Windows to load in XML data from an intranet web server and display it. This works find on Widnows, and in theory works find on the Macintosh in that it works in the .swf file. It even works when I load the .swf file into the Flash Player. But it fails when I make the project a stand alone projector.
I've found this technote [L=http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/macprojloadvar.htm
]http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/macprojloadvar.htm
[/L] which informs me of a bug reported last april which means that loadVariables does not work from projectors on the macintosh.Does this bug affect the xmlData.load() function as well, or is there something wrong with my code?
If it is a bug, why haven't macromedia endevoured to fix it yet?
Is it Macromedias intention to fix this bug before the next major release of Flash?
If not why do macromedia sell a product with such a major bug and yet no mention of it in the documentation for the product?I fell dismayed and ripped off that I pay for a product which is meant to work as a cross platform authoring environment, and then find that one platform is left in a stagnant position for so long. It seems that a lot of software companies are happy to espouse the new features of software yet unable to maintain the same comitment to solving problems once the product is on the shelf and sold to the end user.
And pray, what news of Flash 6? I've heard production companies in London saying they are allready working with Flash 6, though not a peep on Macromedia's site....
I look forward to your response.
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Linux / Pioneer DVD-R/RW A03
Getting files on the disk as either ISO9660 or ext2 format for system backup.
Introduction
Writing DVD's under Linux doesn't seem to be something that has much consistent documentation. At the moment their don't seem to be any tools which support writing DVD's to play in a domestic player, but that's not why I have a DVD-R/RW in my Linux box. I'm using it as a backup device, as CDR/RW is just to small.DVD-R/RW vs Tape
Why not use DDS/AIT/DLT etc? I've had bad experiences with DDS tapes [they never have restored on me, and they feel slow and cumbersome to use]. AIT/DLT are expensive, and I've not used them much under Linux. DVD ROM drives are now very cheap and easy to install and work under Linux, thus you should find it quite easy to read your disk elsewhere once you've backed up data to it.My DVD-R/RW
The Pioneer A03 DVD/RW drive [IDE interface] cost me just under �450, which is a bit cheaper than a DAT drive [and doesn't need a SCSI card]. It doesn't store as much data obviously, as a DVD-R or DVD-RW disk only holds 4.7GB, but that was plenty for my needs... and if the data set goes up in size then I can split it across disks.Basic How To
The Linux CD Writing HowTo discusses all of the basic principles for writing to CD Rom, and i've been using the tools and principles to write to my Plexwriter 24/10/40A before.First up I tried using the same basic principles to write a CD to the Pioneer drive [yep, it also writes CD-R and CD-RW] and everything when perfectly. Next step was to try and write a larger ISO image to the DVD portion. This wasn't as straightforward as it seems, as cdrecord 1.10 didn't want to burn anything that large to a disk, despite the referals to DVD's in the documentation.
DVD Writing Software
Perplexed I went and had a dig around Joerg Schilling's site for his cdrecord/cdtools. A quick look brought me up cdrecord-ProDVD which are binaries to be downloaded. I brought down the appropriate versions and they seem to work fine, but you can only cut up to 1 Gigabyte to a disk, or emulate a larger write. Why is this? It seems that Joerg would like us to buy the software, which seems reasonable. But he doesn't really explain how to get the money to him... and when I emailed him he just said 'send me $100' ... when I manage to find out what I get for the $100 and so on I'll update the site. In the meantime there is another solution. He did tell me that you also need to patch the kernel on your system for extended ISO9660 support. This is included in kernel 2.4.13 and later.Note from J�rg Schilling Please read
After much searching I found Nicolae Mihalache had created a free patch for cdrecord to make it cut DVD's. I actually downloaded his distribution version of cdtools 1.11a08 with the patches applied, compiled them first time [I'm running a pretty standard install of RedHat Linux 7.2, with a customised compile of Kernel 2.4.17]. I did a make install and let them install in their own place, to keep them seperate from the original cdrecord/cdtools set I was using and which works very well, and I don't want to start interfering with... yet.
Also check out DVDRTools Talked about here
Using this version of cdrecord, I've been able to cut DVD's with ISO + RockRidge file extensions on them, or an ext2 partition created using a loopback device. The later is a prefered method for me as I use rsync to bring the data into the ext2 partition, and then just burn when ready.
The steps to success : ISO 9660 DVD Recording
To make an ISO image for DVD [for data backup, not general usage mind... if you want general usage check out the CD-Writing how to about ISO limitations]:
mkisofs \
-o iso.img \ # output file
-iso-level 3 \ # force unstrict ISO compatability
-R \ # use rockridge extension
directory/ # source directoryTo mount the ISO image for testing [will require loopback devices to be installed into your kernel or to be availabel as a module]
mount \
-t iso9660 \ # disk format
-o ro,loop=/dev/loop0 \ # mount read only, use loopback device
iso.img \ # file to mount
/mnt/iso #�mount pointTo burn the ISO image to a DVD-R disk
cdrecord \
-v \ # verbose output, help see what's going on
speed=2 \ # cut at double speed
dev=0,1,0 \ # device [see CD Writing HowTo]
-dao \ # DVD's must be written in Disk At Once mode
-data dao.img # file to write to diskOnce the DVD is written you can mount it as you usally would [though, I've found I had to eject then re-insert the disk]
mount \
-t iso9660 \ # disk format, this isn't necessary.
/dev/scd1 \ # device name,
/mnt/scd1 # mount pointext2 DVD Recording
ext2 is a format which is used for Linux hard disks. Using it to cut a DVD means that you can store exactly the same information as used on the original system. For me this is useful as I hold a mirror of my webserver on my development server. This mirror is synchronized every night using rsync [as people upload data to my web server on a regular basis]. To keep this all intact I copy it into a file which is mounted as a loopback device, in a similar way to how I mounted the iso9660 image above.It's worth reading this before you do a burn.
Firstly I created an empty file to be the filesystem
dd \
if=/dev/zero \ # read input for file from /dev/zero
of="ext2_file" \ #�output file
bs=1024k \ # file has block size of 1024k [1 Megabyte]
count=4096 # file has 4096 blocks [4 Gigabytes]Then I make an ext2 filesystem on it
mke2fs \
-b 1024 \ # block size
-F \ # Force [I shouldn't have to use this, but I do]
ext2_file # input fileThen I mount the ext2 filesystem
mount \
-t ext2 \ # device format type
-o rw,loop=/dev/loop0 \ # mount read/write using loopback device
ext2_file \ # device/file name
/mnt/ext2 # mount pointI then write to /mnt/ext2/ like it is a normal disk. Once it is set up as I need it with all the appropriate data I execute the command
cdrecord \
-v \ # verbose output, help see what's going on
speed=2 \ # cut at double speed
dev=0,1,0 \ # device
-dao \ # DVD's must be written in Disk At Once mode
-data ext2_file # file to write to diskAnd away she goes!
Anyway, I've just written all this as I reckon someone else out there may be trying to do this, and one of these bits might just help you sort it out a bit quicker than I did. It's not hugely complex, provided you are happy playing around. A good idea is to try everything then run the cdrecord command with the -dummy option in before the -data option, which will do a test burn.
Update 2008/10/11: DB Writes
I am writing in regards to the instructions, given on the following
pages, for burning an ext2 DVD in linux,http://www.dorianmoore.com/works/33
http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~anthony/info/misc/cdrom.hintsFirst, I'd like to thank you for the information; it would have taken
me eons to figure this out by myself!Second, FYI, I had to use a larger block size. The following is how it
worked for me:dd if=/dev/zero of=ext2_dvd bs=4096 count=1024k
mke2fs -b 4096 ext2_dvd
mount -t ext2 -o rw,loop=/dev/loop0 ext2_dvd /mnt/ext2 #as root
# cp evthg I want into /mnt/ext2, and then use k3b to burn ext2_dvd
# as if it was an iso.Using 1024 or 2048 as the block size caused any subsequent mounts of
the burnt dvd disc to fail: syslog would echo
EXT2-fs: blocksize too small for device.
and I could not find any block-size option for 'mount'.leave a comment
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Why not to use XO Communications
Don't go near them, their service is terrible.
XO communications., network outages, lack of contact, and the ability not to understand what the customer wants, and giving false information about quality of service.
This is a bit of a rant, but it's also being placed here in the hope that anybody who is contemplating using XO communications as their ISP doesn't. I'm a small customer, but that doesn't mean they can treat me like shit.
Here are my issues:
The service I was sold is not what I requested. I asked for a service where I was provided with a transfer or 20GB/month, on a connection which could burst up to 10Mbps for people on fast connections, as I was providing streaming media. What I got was a 128Kbps rate-limited system, which allowed for about 3 seconds of bursting. This is not suitable for multiple streams, or [for instance] supporting responses to email shots, where server activity is high for a short response period. If I had wanted a 128k line I would not have co-located a server...
When I complained about this issue and told them that the rate limiting was affecting users they said they would see if they could find a suitable solution, but I would have to pay. They did not act on the complaint, they just tried to sell me more. They offered me a 256kbps connection with the same level of bursting, which makes next to no difference for users on fast connections. [The faster connection only allows the same amount of burst, and because of the bit bucket XO are using, once the bucket is emptied, I have to wait for a quiet period before the burst is available again... but of course, I don't need the burst then]
Their sales people refused to try and work out any further arrangement, or be adaptable at all, but also weren't able to accept that the solutions they had offered were not suitable to fulfill my requirements. The sales person also told me that a competing ISP's service was not up to theirs, even though I had installed a system at the competitions and tested it.
Further, during the time I have been with them they have failed to report several network outages, and when they have reported them details have been week or missed out. One outage was failed to be reported to me during a conversation when I was trying to find out why my server had shutdown at an unusual time : it appears they had cut the power to the server... it took 16 hours for them to report an outage, and a further 4 days until I got an explanation of what the outage was. All this meant I spent time looking for a security compromise on my server.
They're technical people have failed to contact me, and the staff I have spoken to have limited knowledge of networking or service other than that of simple M$ style coursework.
I've been told that they have tried to contact me via phone but that my phone number was no longer in service. It's a mobile, it's always on, and there is voicemail. My Telephone company confirmed no faults each time XO technicians have tried to contact me, and there we're no attempted calls.
They're routing has failed on several occasions : when I informed them of this, and sent them traceroute information, they told me that my firewall was blocking ICMP packets. I don't have a firewall, and if I was blocking ICMP packets I would know about it, and none of the traceroutes would have run. When I explained this to them they sent another message telling me it was because my firewall was bouncing ICMP packets. 40 minutes after my complaint the routes magically started working...
They have removed connectivity on several occasions due to Denial of Service attacks to other customers, as opposed to blocking the source at their routers, leading to outages of up to 45 minutes. They seem no to have 24 hour support for some network issues, a there is a lag time on monitoring and response which shouldn't be there for a quality ISP.
I rest my case. There are a lot of good ISP's out there, XO communications are, in my opinion, not one of them. Keep away. Very far away.
This is my opinion on the service that XO have provided by me, and is to serve as a recomendation to any other people who may consider using them.
109 comments
leave a commentanonymous
2006.11.06 22:10 GMTI wish I would have seen this before I signed up with them. I experienced everything you described, plus some. Sitting her right now with a call center that has no service & guess what the best part is. XO is down as well. I can't even call to report the outage.
anonymous
2007.11.14 16:41 GMTDefinately worst company in the world. Their customer service probably operates less than 5% of usefullness. I have encouraged all my companies to change to another carrier.
One company switched to another telephone/internet company in August. Each month they tell me to call for the credit on our account. This is now November and they are telling me to call back again in December as our bill has not reached a zero, and Novembers cycle has passed. This is after talking to 3 supervisors, 3 members of customer service. AND I have all their ID numbers and names, but XO only have record of one person I talked to.
One of the original sales people who switched to another company, agreed this company has been full of false promises since the beginning!Just to add to this, I recently had a client transfer from their so called 'service' to mine. They basically make it impossible to transfer a domain. So DO NOT LET THEM REGISTER A DOMAIN!!
They use some crap custom panel with no information, or the ability to do something as simple as change the nameservers.
anonymous
2008.02.09 02:33 GMTThey automatically renewed my contract for another 3 years after I called them I was told I could go month to month. Then after they renewed me they told me they dont do month to month . How can I shake these bastards. They said I could cancell all together but I would have to pay they remainder of two years on contract.
I'm getting the shaft from them as well. I started shopping our service because the contract end date is coming up. I was warned by other vendors that XO would automatically renew the contract if I didn't give them 30 days notice that I don't want to.
XO confirmed this. They also told me that they don't offer any month-to-month service, so either I renew the contract or the service gets shut off when it ends - period.
AT&T is telling me that's actually untrue per FCC regulations. Most of me is hoping that the transfer just goes smoothly so my service has no disruptions - but the other part of me is hoping they try to mess it up so the FCC can come and smack them upside the head.
While I can understand your gripe. Service at XO has significantly improved but you need to understand their methods of dispute, and also have very good sales rep to go to bat for you. If you want a very good provider, try our web site. We can consult on good vendors; we have experience with all of them for 10+ years. Companies with great back office and billing are Internap, Megapath, Telia and believe it or not, Cogent. Who has the worst customer service and billing? Verizon Business, Abovenet, and Qwest.
alan
2009.07.13 16:06 GMTGlad to hear all the testimonials, you all have effectively persuaded me from using XO Communications. Thank you all!
nick
2009.09.03 21:03 GMTSo I'm in a similar dilemma and if anyone has insight it would be incredibly appreciated. We got their 3M flex package in 08/06, which then apparently auto renewed in '08. I called in June of '09 and spoke to a rep and asked what the terms of cancellation were. He stated that I would need to pay the current billing cycle and the next 30 days, which I said ok no problem. I asked are there any additional fees, and he stated no.
I then went to shop for a new service - The amount of phone problems I've had with XO warranted me going somewhere else. I just got the service installed 8/31/09, called on 09/01 to cancel and was told that I owe $14000 for the remainder of the contract.
After speaking to several reps, they will not accept a payment of $3600 which is the 2 months service I was told I needed to pay, and now I already have the new service as well.
I should have gotten this in writing and a phone recording, but I didn't think anything of it.
How do I get rid of these people, Jesus?!!!
anonymous
2009.09.04 00:40 GMTI was talking to my XO rep in early August about how expensive our data lines were compared to all the other service providers who are always contacting me. She went silent for a moment and then came out with the truth that they had been over-billing us for the past 2 years. She said she would take it up with a supervisor and call me back. She never did call back. When I finally chased someone down they told me that they have a back billing tariff that protects them from having to pay more than 3 months. So now I am talking to the retention department because I have threatened to leave when the contract runs out in November. Believe me, I'm going to another provider but I'm going to try and get my money back first.
anonymous
2009.10.12 20:20 GMTNick,
Going through the same thing. Was told it was ok to cancel, then we received a $24,000 adjustment a few months after changing. We never received notice of renewal either, which the contract states they must do, and, according to customer care, should be included in the notes on your bill. We have an open contract dispute with them, but I doubt they will let us out.
If they won't let you out, complain to the BBB and any applicable governing bodies.
sonny phan
2009.12.15 03:52 GMTHi,
I just received a $14,000 early termination fee bill from XO. And yes it was another unaware auto renewal of a 3 year contract. This is very expensive stuff to be auto renewed. I find it extremely unfair. And it will mostly put me out of business. Please email me if you have a same problem.
anonymous
2009.12.22 17:09 GMTI currently work for XO, and while I don't agree with the auto-renewal policy, why do you continuously blame XO for you NOT reading the paperwork you sign? The auto-renewal clause is plainly listed in the Terms and Conditions of the contract that you sign. Take responsibility for your own actions.
pissed ex-xo customer
2010.01.05 05:00 GMTDear Anonymous XO employee,
I have NEVER posted a rant before - I was looking for others in the same predicament as my company is in with XO. Reading your defense of this policy set my blood pressure through the roof.You have got to be kidding us, while the auto-renewal is in the contract, it also states XO will notify "in writing" that the contract will be renewed. That is very ambiguous if that "notice" (read contractual obligation) is occasionally stating that policy notice on the back of a bill. That is not an intentional notification to the responsible party of a contract.
XO is placing 100% of the burden for the 30 day cancellation period solely on their customers.
Further, XO has a host of resellers with a multitude of business practices. How can you defend that every one of your customers has received your "terms & conditions"? I signed a 1 page contract that was hardly more that a credit application.
I find it unethical the 6 months prior to my term renewal date that "notice" failed to appear the 2 months prior to my contract expiration date. As a matter of fact, it failed to appear 3 of the 6 months leading up to my term date. If that is a standard business practice that exists on all accounts, why is it not on every invoice every month? It almost seems intentional?? More importantly, where is the specific auto-renewal notice the contract party is entitled to?
I am sure all of those who have fallen prey to this company also feel that XO bears some burden to counsel their customers when "any" XO employee is contacted of their intent to change carriers or cancel their account - NOT after the fact. Very poor business practices which come very close to, if not, deceptive.
I have had more contact with your company since I cancelled my service that the prior term of my contract. XO is very reactive to their auto-renewal policy.
anonymous
2010.02.19 20:31 GMTEvery single business class voice/data providor in the United States has an auto-renewal clause in their contract. Also, tariffs are not mandated by individual companies but by the states within which they reside. So now ya know. ;)
small biz
2010.03.15 20:13 GMTOk -- Ditto we had the same thing happen. Auto renewal-
it was our own fault by not realizing after 4 years of being with XO that we had not fulfilled our contract in full. By enlarge all phone companies are shady with their business practices. Has anyone challenged them legally? Please post if you have. We are thinking about it due to the unfairness of the policy.anonymous
2010.03.29 23:58 GMTThis needs to be at the top of Google. XO is the worst company. XO Sucks. XO is bad. Don't use XO. XO customer service is the worst. XO contracts are shady. XO doesn't care about the customer, only about their money. XO customer support techs don't know anything about their system. XO doesn't communicate. XO doesn't inform customer of issues that will arise when services are moved. XO doesn't verify issues with customer before closing trouble tickets. XO just doesn't communicate.
xo-hater
2010.03.30 00:15 GMTHere's my story. We signed up for their Flex service in Aug 2008. From the beginning we were hung out to dry. They didn't help us configure their services. Calling the support line resulted in their tech people reading the same online help pages I was reading, and having no additional knowledge. Their "Tier 2" support was more helpful, but constantly didn't communicate with me to fully understand and resolve our issues. This led to constant unresolved or prolong issues with our service.
XO cannot make changes quickly. Everything requires at least 30 days, including adding additional long distance minutes (took 60 days), and adding a call center (30 days). We ordered extra phone numbers for our service and XO gave us numbers starting with a neighboring area code as the local prefix. This causes us to constantly receive wrong number calls. XO said they didn't have any other numbers to give us and that we should "tell the callers to dial a 1 first." Meanwhile we get close to 100 wrong number calls a day on these lines.
I spoke with XO Reps, local reps, customer satisfaction reps, and retention reps about the issues we've been having all along. EVERY ONE OF THEM has left the company or changed to a different location and department. Now that we are trying to end our contract with XO, I can not reference my prior phone conversations with these people as proof of our issues.
XO has denied culpability in any of this. They have only said that "we" have had communication issues, as in XO and my company. However, on my end, *I* have communicated, *XO* has not. More times than I can count, I have submitted trouble tickets and have them closed without a tech talking to me. Multiple times I've had to open new trouble tickets and verify that the support rep is putting the exact notes in the ticket that I need for the upper-tier tech to fully understand the problem since they don't care to talk to me about it. Numerous times I have contacted our account rep only to never be called or emailed back.
XO is a joke. They don't know how to run a business. They now are holding us to our contract claiming that lack of communication is not a breach of our SOA. Lack of customer satisfaction in their service is not a breach of our SOA. They say if we cancel they will charge us for the remainder of our contract (17 months) as an ETF (early termination fee).
If you are looking at XO as a service provider, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. XO is not good for your company. XO will ruin your company.
Somebody should start a class action against XO.
anonymous
2010.04.13 23:48 GMTI am actually with a competitor of XO, and while I love reading all of this beating up of XO,I must say it is unfortunately a symptom of an overly complicated 1/2 A^^ regulated industry and legal mumbo jumbo that most lawyers would not even understand that usually gets clients and customers in trouble. Your SalesRep is your best ally, whoever you are with. Utilize them as much as possible. I do find clients all the time who do not read their contract. I also find Salesreps, who purposely make their contracts non-understandable, or gloss over the details in hopes the details will be overlooked. Agreements boil down to (2) entities doing business, And like a marriage, those two entities will agree sometimes, and agree to disagree others. Two good people, if they are open will try to work together to make things work. But, also like in a marriage, if you stick your head in the sand, and if either side believes it's all the responsibility of the other.....the relationship is toast! So analyze, review, investigate, who you are going to marry. Because Like a pretty girl....many times what's underneath ain't worth it. Buyer beware!
consultant-telecom
2010.04.14 19:53 GMTHmmmm...The above comment makes sense. I am a consultant in the Telecom World. And it does amaze me, that vendors and clients, and consultants even, always want to make it an us against them world. For us to win, someone's got to loose. We have got to stop looking at it that way. Vendor's have bad salesreps, just like clients have bad employee's, etc. Shady is as shady does. Most salesreps cannot survive long term without a decent, integrity oriented, approach to both sides. Do they have their own interests at heart....of course, but so do clients. I see clients worming the price down by a few dollars, and then griping about the service they get, etc. Pitting one salesrep against another, treating the vendor like they are dirt, and then expecting the best? In a marriage...how far does that get someone? Treat people like you want to be treated. They will do their best for you. XO has great reps, and bad ones, just like everyone. Ask for a meeting with their management, try and work things out. No company wants to hold onto a client that hates them, but,.......a contract is a contract. Take some responsibility. Did you really just not pay attention. did they not fulfil their side? If not....I think any reputable Manager will work it out with you. Have your proof ready. But, don't expect someone to walk away from a contract, if you just want out of your obligation and are going to give the services to someone else? Your organization wouldn't do that either? Grow up......take responsibility. Or, if they are really that bad. Get your ducks in a a row, show proof, and that they too have contractual obligations. Make them fulfill them.
anonymous
2010.04.20 20:43 GMTIn response to "XO-Hater, on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 on 00:15 GMT"
XO doesn't choose the numbers that you are assigned. The numbers are generated by the "Rate Center" in which you are located, which is governed by the FCC.I agree XO is not a compnay to do business with, My compnay is stuck becuase we were not aware of the auto renewal clasue. we now are stuck for another 2 years and they will not offer us lower price plans which they are currently offering to others.
A horrible business company. Future shoppers do not use XO Communications.
anonymous
2010.04.23 16:44 GMT"My compnay is stuck because we were not aware of the auto renewal clasue"
Or another way to say it would be, "My company is stuck because we didn't bother to read the terms and conditions of the contract that we signed."
telco consultant - xo sucks
2010.04.23 23:22 GMTWe have been using XO for a number of years and we are running from them as fast as we can. Their service is the worst and we have tolerated it way too long. We have had critical services down for days at a time and their support and response times has to be among the worst in the industry. Do not even think of running your business on XO Communications. Most Telco's suck to some degree, but XO is by far the worst. Glad to see this page in the top 10 on Google... more consumers need to be informed about XO
XO the worst company ever.. The blocked my number porting and refused to let the DID go.. Filed a complain with FCC, let see what FCC can do..Stay away as far possible from XO..
anonymous
2010.04.28 22:45 GMTWe have similar issues. Our contract renewed last year for 2 years automatically, but we have found out our landlord is out of business and we must vacate our offices. Because of the time limit we have to virtualize. XO has categorically refused to terminate our agreement without penalty since the circumstances are out of our control and as of now isn't offering us better than a penalty of 80% of the remaining life of the contract (some 14 months and $11K). This despite steering business their way over the past 6 years between my company the one I used to work for. Basically, they are sticking us with a $8100 bill for service they can never provide. They've effectively lost me and everyone I know as a customer. Don't just run away, ACCELERATE!
anonymous
2010.04.29 22:13 GMTI was just told by XO that we have an early termination fee of $20,000. This was not an auto-renewal, but they company has gone out of business. I don't remember seeing anywhere in contract about the ETF. STAY AWAY FROM XO Communicatins!!!!!!!!!!
anonymous
2010.04.30 22:55 GMTWhen you negotiate services and prices with a telecom provider, keep in mind that you're negotiating a price for a full term of services, not just a monthly rate. The longer the term, the lower the monthly charge because the provider can spread their own costs (yes, they have to pay for things too) over a longer period of time. When you sign a contract and then break it before the end of the term, the provider will lose money. Not just revenue that they were planning to make but expenses that they've already incurred to provide your service. Obviously, that's not going to be an acceptable option for any business. So, they charge you the remainder of the contract or an agreed upon settlement. Think of it this way...if you buy a car and finance it for 3 years but then wreck it after 2, should the finance company eat the rest of the cost of the car which they've already paid the dealership for? How's that fair?!
As far as auto-renewals, yeah, those are shady but unfortunately they are standard in the telecom world and switching companies won't help. Do your research though because auto-renewals are illegal in many states regardless of whether or not they were in the T&Cs of a contract. They bank on the fact that you won't actually fight it in court.pillow
2010.05.05 02:23 GMTIt did not take long to find many people with XO communications gripes. Well let me join the crowd, and ask your advice. We had ongoing line problems and were promised a contract rate, every month we were charged from 100 to 500 dollars more each month. When asked about the overage, it was always the slow reaction of the billing department (even after 90 days) we were still overcharged. After problems with our point to point and never getting the billing problems corrected, we cancelled service and found a new provider. XO sent us a bill for $31,000.00, telling me that they have a department of lawyers that do nothing but collect on these contracts. Well if the service is bad, billing is incorrect and overpriced every month and after 8 months it is never corrected / WHAT ARE YOU TO DO??? I am ready to take them to court, and will be creating a website too. The best I can hope for is a class action suit agains XO Billing Practices - and from the looks of this forum and a google search - Bet we have some members of a class action suit here. If you have been damaged by XO in anyway PLEASE post here AND e-mail me, if you e-mail me - I will let you know about membership in a class action suite against this company.
anonymous
2010.05.19 01:23 GMTNeed your Email address, just notified them that the business is changing locations and the new buidling will not allow them to put a line in as it is contracted through another provider. When I told XO they told me that I would have a $24K early termination fee. They are the ones who can not provide service at the new location.
anonymous
2010.05.19 20:44 GMTSo XO should be out the money that YOU agreed to pay because YOU have decided to move to a building that already has telecom service? Unbelievable.
we have the same problem, we discontinued service with them in October last year after 7 years. never once did we receive a notice of renewal, not a call from anyone at XO over that period except when we had numerious servious outages. They sent us a bill for 24,000 early termination, we beleive that this is a far wider problem than just the few people who have responded to this blog, if so then this is a case for the FCC to investigate as it is a clear case of preditory contracting.
mark m
2010.06.11 18:06 GMTWow, 24000 is quite a lot of money! What did they tell you when you asked if you had any contractual obligations left? Or did you just assume that you were on a month to month type deal, like with a cellphone or cable?
anonymous
2010.06.22 21:25 GMTWOW! We have XO GIGe and 4.5M FLEX Service and are extremely happy! There will always be good and bad with EVERY service provider.
XO has alot of customers and each experience is different, every business is run independently.
Enough said.
anonymous1
2010.06.23 14:26 GMTwow is right, if you can't figure out a telecom contract and when it expires and what will happen when it expires then you honestly shouldn't be working ANYWHERE!!
FOR THE RECORD:
The comments from anonymous/anonymous1 dated:
2010.05.19 20:44 GMT
2010.06.22 21:25 GMT
2010.06.23 14:26 GMTAll came from the same IP address, which is in a block managed by... XO Communications!
It also happens to be the same IP address as the post from the anonymous post by a self admitted XO employee on the post 2009.12.22 17:09 GMT
Now, to be fair it could just be that a customer being provided services by them has IP's within their block, and that they are providing network services through the same proxy/firewall... though I am just guessing here.
I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
anonymous
2010.07.01 17:59 GMTafter reading all this i have one question... is anyone happy with their current isp? it seems every isp i find has a page like this one with customers who hate it, can anyone honestly endorse their isp?
OK, I'll put my money where my mouth is:
I am very happy with the companies who currently host my servers. I have three servers hosted (two co-located, one dedicated) with PoundHost in Maidenhead, UK, and two servers hosted (both dedicated) with The Planet in Dallas, Texas, USA.
Both have provided an excellent service and I frequently recommend both companies to other organisations. Their network connectivity is great, their uptime high, and there response to issues quick. In the latter Poundhost always excel themselves, and are flexible as well - which is amazing considering the competitive cost of their hosting.
I've been hosting servers with various ISPs for 15 years, and have used both of these for the last 6 years. They have provided far the best service, compared to companies such as XO, Globix, MediaTemple, DreamHost, 1&1 and numerous others I can no-longer remember, who I've used for various levels of hosting from shared web hosting through virtual servers to dedicated servers.
In terms of provisioning bandwidth to site offices, I've never needed that much bandwidth, but in the UK Virgin Media and Nildram have always served me well. Virgin's support leaves a little (sometimes a lot) to be desired, but their service is stable. Nildram's support is great, their bandwidth fast and they are flexible.
kara
2010.07.09 21:16 GMTGoogle "the planet complaints" and see what comes up. Then try "poundhost complaints". You guessed it. My point is that no ISP is going to be complaint free. It seems that most replies here though have more to do with contract issues than service issues.
randall
2010.07.15 00:25 GMTBe sure to file complaints through the Better Business Bureau, which is the path I will take in addition to all other possible avenues for remedy to deceptive practices. As of 7/14/10 XO Communications Inc. has a C rating (A to F scale).
The XO contract page which a previous Manager at my company signed, has a reference to a web link for additional Terms and Conditions. The link does not work. The Terms and Conditions document (titled XO Virginia, L.L.C. VA SCC Tarriff#2) is buried in the XO website. A company with honorable intentions would at a minimum make a highlighted footnote under description of services, terms segment regarding auto-renewal terms as they are one of the most critical aspects of considering whether or not to do business with a company.
THe only reason I am dealing with an auto-renewal issue is that when I requested the 'contract' months prior to the orginal contracts expiration date, I was emailed a scan of the cover / signature page.
I do not care whether all providers utilize these deceptive practices or not, they are in the wrong for doing it! For certain, this will lead to a class action suit and I predict that it will be a slam dunk when it comes. Shake hands with the devil to slap a devil, what a world.
@kara ... of course no one is complaint free - your point is almost patronising it's so obvious, forgive me if I'm equally patronising in return.
This isn't a perfect world, individuals, companies, governments and animals all make mistakes. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be entitled to complain. By sharing our experiences, both good and bad, we allow other people to make a judgement based upon those experience, rather than simply trusting what we are told by governments/companies/marketing departments/advertisers etc and the promises of the politicians/account managers etc. - which, in my experience, are often empty.
In this specific context I put both PoundHost and The Planet much much higher in my estimation than my experience with XO Communications. I have complaints with both of them, but their service is many many many many times better than that offered by XO, and when I have had issue with their service they have dealt with the issue effectively and courteously.
That might not be other peoples experiences, but it's a subjective world, and I'm sharing my experience. This is, after all, my website, my opinion, my experience. Others just happen to be sharing there experiences, and XO trying to counter without much help.
The problem with bad service, as XO offered me, is that it makes people vocal. People are a lot less vocal when things work. I recall there is an adage about this, where a happy customer will tell 2 others, but an unhappy customer will tell 10 - XO's customer service department obviously need to know that if this thread is hurting them.
The could, for instance, offer to prove me wrong and provide me with an excellent service for the next 8 years, to counter my past bad experience and improve upon the experience I've had from Poundhost and The Planet. Then I'd gladly retract my comments.
Equally the could deal with, fairly, the issues that other posters in this thread have posted about - putting the interest of a financial ecosystem that depends upon each other before the legal and financial bottom line.
However, whilst the persist in not dealing with customers complaints, and upsetting them, they will continue to have bad things posted about them. C'est la vie.
P.S. You can also google "dorian moore" complaints to try and find complaints about me... ooops, that turns up this page. Thanks for the pagerank love all of ya!
mike
2010.08.05 02:45 GMTI started trying to get away from XO over a year ago. We have multiple offices with several different contract start dates. I was well aware of the auto renew clause so I was sure to obtain all the contract end dates from XO.
Well, after a year went by and the contract end dates started to approach, I decided I should verify the end dates one more time just to be sure (I did that because XO has screwed us over on so many other occasions). After a couple attempts to get the end dates from our rep with no response, I called XO customer care and was given completely different dates than when I had called a year ago. They told me one of the contracts had actually renewed for 3 years 2 months after I had first called the year before. I called XO customer care again and was given all different dates. I escalated the situation and finally got our rep involved. After a couple months I had been given 8 different sets of dates in all. In the months in took me to get the dates a couple of the contracts actually renewed for 2 more years. We felt like we were being held hostage. Eventually, we just chose some dates that were relatively in line with the last set of dates we were given and told XO we were terminating our services on those dates. I was able to get our XO rep to agree in an email that if we terminated our services on those dates we wouldn't be charged any early termination fees but now I can't get a response from him.
Another requirement of terminating your service according to XO's SOA is to provide them all of the circuit ID numbers for the circuits you wish to terminate. I tried to get all of our customer service records from XO customer care and was told I needed to request them from XO's website. I put all the requests in and 5 days later they sent me 5 incomplete customer service records that left out most of the circuit ID numbers I was looking for. So, I sent the incomplete service records to our rep with our termination letter. Now I'm just waiting for XO to send me a bill for 30 grand.
In the years we were with XO they did so many horrible things it almost became funny. They mistakenly disconnected our service and it took them 2 weeks to get it back on. I have emails from our rep stating they owe us around $1,600 for services we were mistakenly billed for. I know we will never see that money.
XO is quite simply the worst company I have ever dealt with.
anonymous
2010.09.30 21:14 GMTI agree, first XO is charging us $15/mo with limited bandwidth and limited diskspace. The only reason we can't leave is that the CEO, when faced with a decision to leave, resisted change because he "just likes companies that are local." And XO has offices in San Antonio so that makes him happy. Even though you can't DO anything there.
Well he delayed the website's upgrade (which he's paying for) for two weeks because he didn't trust the CTO's suggested alternative. It's pathetic I know.
Now onto the problems with XO:
I have been working on creating a new website for this company. I needed to use mysql and php 5. I wanted to use mysql 5 but they're still in the dark ages. So I had to convert the parts that used mysql 5 to 4 which wasn't terrible. But still they should keep up with times.
But that's not the worst. Their default php version is 4.x. I wanted to use 5.x. The on-line help (which is not easy to use or very good), tells you that you can use php 5 by using an .htaccess file.
So I created it with the right incantation and ran phpinfo() to ensure I was running the right version. PHPInfo() reported 4.0. So I called XO. The technical support person said "oh you can't use that script to determine the version of php" of course he was full of it. After complaining to him and explaining to him that what he said was nonsense, it all of a sudden worked.
They never told me that the .htaccess file needs a blank terminal blank line in it.
But that's not all. Later I've been trying to use the .htaccess to do some basic things, like protect folders, redirect old html links to new pages, and prevent directory listings, etc. every single thing that I try gives me a parsing error.
What's worse than that is that every time you make a change, it takes about 5 minutes before your change is reflected on the servers. This makes debugging a syntax error a nightmare.
Still, till this day, I've been waiting for help with htaccesss. I can assure you that I don't have bugs in my files but that their proprietary version of apache sucks. It's taken two days and they still haven't gotten back to me.
In short run from XO if you can.
anonymous
2010.11.05 18:03 GMTSo, what happens when you don't pay the early termination bill? What does XO do about it?
anonymous
2010.11.08 22:26 GMTThey'll report to the credit bureaus and then, if the amount owed is high enough, sue for breech of contract. They pursue less than 20% of these cases themselves though. Most are sold to third party collectors. Good luck!
anonymous
2010.11.12 05:42 GMTI agree with all of you. I am trying to resolve intermittent connectivity issue and they were not able to resovle even after 24 hrs,
I have called 10 times in 24 hrs every time they say that they have escalated the issue but no one call back or try to resolve the issue.
I tried to contact so called account manager but no response.
Their service/support sucks. I do not recommend XO to any of you in the world.
anonymous
2010.11.12 22:19 GMTMy company is in the same boat regarding the early termination clause. We terminated 19 mos early- and they now claim we owe them $20k. Love the idea of a class action. Probably would have felt differently if they provided actual notice - either a letter, email or phone call instead of relying on a generic notice buried in their bills each month. We will fight in court if necessary. Good luck trying to get someone knowledgeable on the phone- even if you do they refer you to legal and guess what- they only provide a mail address- no phone number or contact person. This is a great forum- would love to see how many folks are affected by this to see if a class action is warranted.
anonymous
2010.11.12 23:07 GMTI selected XO for my company and stayed wit them for 6 years. Mye experiance was that their field tech was good but customer support and internal system was a mess. Each time you call them they would take 30 to 40 min wit you on the line to open trouble ticket. Some of the features we had wit them like auto attended no one at XO service center knew what it was and they would say no its your internal equipment and we never had any internal equipment everything from voice mail to auto attendent was hosted by XO. After long arguments and going back and forth they would accept it. Very frustrating.
Six years later I moved and gave them a notice of sixty days before the end of the contract and they said it was fine. It took a little longer for us to move (15days) so I called and emailed and requested extension at that time they did not say anything but said its fine tehy will disonect after 15day. They left out the part that oh yeah but we will charge you $22,000 for not switching 15 days after the grace period.
Once all was done they sent me a collection notice and the account to collection agency who wants to collect the full $22,000 from me. No one from XO would return my calls not even their District Sales V.P.
No wonder their stock is trading at such low levels.
There are companies you switch back and forth to as your need changes but then there is XO you will never go back to after this.frank hornstein
2010.11.13 15:56 GMTWe had XO for 4 years and it a horrilbe experience from day one. We decided to go with Cavalier. I called XO and talked to their accounting office and told them that we were looking at changing to another carrier and wanted to know if we needed to give any kind of notice. The lady asked for my account number and said NO. I asked her if we needed to write a letter stating the termination and she said No. She said the other carrier would take care of the transition. We changed service, received the final bill and I paid it.A month later I recived a bill for $15,000- for early termiation of contract. I have been harrassed by a collection agency for a year. When I told the collection agency about my discussion with the accounting office at XO the guy told me that they are minimum wage personnel that are clueless. NEVER EVER sign on with XO. It was and is a horrible experience.
anonymous
2010.11.16 22:36 GMTXO Communications Surpasses One Million Business VoIP End Users
Company Leads Industry in Business VoIP End Users
Herndon, VA, October 5, 2010 – XO Communications (OTCBB: XOHO) today announced that it has surpassed one million VoIP customer employee end users, reaching a major milestone in the business VoIP services market.Through its award-winning business VoIP services portfolio and industry-leading VoIP services bundle, XO® IP Flex, XO Communications has solidified its position as the leading provider of VoIP services for businesses.
brian
2010.12.02 14:16 GMTI have experience Xo Communications Rip off and I never even got the service installed correctly. I never received the service because, they installed the wrong equipment. The day of the switch they found out it was wrong equipment but, never the less they continued to bill claiming they did install. We have had to file a law suit and Public Utilities Complaint. We have continued our service with our original provider and XO Comunications continues to bill us to this day even though their own installer claims we never got the install. Do not sign anything with them until you verify the service.
mike
2010.12.14 16:29 GMTLeft XO after 10 yrs of a roller coaster ride of poor service and many outages. What is the status of any class action suits with regard to early term fees and related. I just got hit with the infamous $24,000 etf bill.
anonymous
2010.12.14 17:07 GMTJust submitted to the BBB on XO Communications unfair ETF practices - little weird that the etf fees for many are 24k
anonymous
2010.12.14 17:21 GMTRead the following at this url - Sprint could pay big for ETF
http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/business/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212903558
dave
2010.12.17 02:47 GMTI found this blog a little less than a month ago when I recieved a bill for $18000 5 months after I switched providers. Our contract ended on May 23rd, I called 2 weeks before which they said they had on record. said I had 30 days to switch service completely, Verizon took a little longer and it was completed until July, I called and ask for an extension and verified that no extra fees would apply, the care rep confirmed and that service would just get cut off. Service never did and I never received a letter in the mail. Been research about contracts and it says if they don't send a certified letter that notifies renewal of contract than the contract is void. Not too sure though, I am based in New York by the way. I will be also try the BBB, don't know how successful that will be though.
anonymous
2010.12.21 20:17 GMTXO is the worst! We have an IP/VPN/MPLS solution with them and its been bad! Intermittent issues they cannot resolve! What's worse is that they don't believe when we told them that we having problems! We submitted all sorts of logs from different sources to show that the service did go down but to no avail. It is the worst company ever!!!!!
Quite frankly, I dont know how they stay in business. I called support and I asked how many guys they have working in repair and he said 3 guys!!! No wonder they are always experiencing heavy call volumes, they don't have anyone on staff!
I tried to resolve the issue with our "Client Services Manager" who had the audacity to come on site, look us in the eye and promised us that it will get better and that he will personally see to it that our issues are taken care of. Nothing. He rarely responds to email and does not answer any voicemail. In short, completely useless!!
I realize that most telcos suck anyway but XO is by far the worst! XO is beyond worst - just stay away as far as you can!!!
anonymous
2011.01.20 13:44 GMTI am an XO employee and your complaints are not falling on deaf years anymore. The company has reinvested in it's IT infrastructure and I assure you the philosophy of just adding new customers and not worrying about existing customers has changed. Customer retention and satisfaction is job #1 for all employees.
Give XO another chance and we promise to surpass your expectation with great service and and even better customer service experience.h-town
2011.03.15 17:53 GMTAnyone successful in breaking an XO contract for poor quality of service?
Do they have a Service Level Agreement that lets you out of the contract without penalty if you experience outages?
anonymous
2011.04.01 20:40 GMTI work for a small company that was just charged $26K in early termination fee, despite having followed all the required termination steps. They even gave us a refund for the prorated portion of the month in which we switched, then turned around and decided to send us a bill for $26K anyway! To the XO employee above, kind advice: find another job. Whatever they tell you is a lie. Their actions is not in line with the brainwashing they're apparently giving their employees.
anonymous
2011.04.04 22:37 GMTWe too were hit with a $24K bill. I put in the term requested within the 30 day time limit, but still got a bill for ETF.
anonymous
2011.04.05 16:35 GMTWere either of you two (above) in contract when you terminated your services? Just wondering.
anonymous
2011.04.07 17:02 GMTOver a year ago I had left this comment: "I am actually with a competitor of XO, and while I love reading all of this beating up of XO,I must say it is unfortunately a symptom of an overly complicated 1/2 A^^ regulated industry and legal mumbo jumbo that most lawyers would not even understand that usually gets clients and customers in trouble. Your SalesRep is your best ally, whoever you are with. Utilize them as much as possible. I do find clients all the time who do not read their contract. I also find Salesreps, who purposely make their contracts non-understandable, or gloss over the details in hopes the details will be overlooked. Agreements boil down to (2) entities doing business, And like a marriage, those two entities will agree sometimes, and agree to disagree others. Two good people, if they are open will try to work together to make things work. But, also like in a marriage, if you stick your head in the sand, and if either side believes it's all the responsibility of the other.....the relationship is toast! So analyze, review, investigate, who you are going to marry. Because Like a pretty girl....many times what's underneath ain't worth it. Buyer beware!
No one countered these statements or even commented. Why? Because I think they made too much sense. I love the fact that you all hate XO...they are terrible, but not necessarily from a contracts standpoint? Try walking away from a car lease contract, or a building lease, or any contract you Hypocrits! You don't read, nor understand what you bought, and you want to blame XO? Jeeeeezus! Yoou call up some $12 hour Customer service rep, and explain you want to disconnect. She doesn't even now probably how to read your contract, and you take her word for the fact you won't owe anything. you asked....because inside (yourself) you questioned, and problably suspected you did! Wow...you deserve to go out of business, with this lack of business sense!
let's sue xo
2011.04.12 17:20 GMTXO is a bunch of crooks. They lie on the phone and in their emails. We are a small business who got their infamous $26k ETF bill. Now, it appears the "debt" has been sold to "Access-Recovery" or something like that. I think that company is in bed with XO to screw people. Another obsolete company grabbing at everything they can before they die. I am in for a class action against these unscrupulous people.
anonymous
2011.04.12 17:30 GMTTo the persons who posted the comment about XO having to notify you about the renewal, could you please post where in the SOA or terms and conditions you found that requirement? thank you
anonymous
2011.04.12 20:06 GMTTo the OP above; it's not in the T&Cs. XO prints its renewal policy on every invoice they send. This satisfies the PUCA requirements in every jurisdidtion with the exception of the state of Ohio and the city of Phoenix, AZ. If you don't live in one of those places, don't bother wasting your time trying to fight it...the law is on their side.
To "let's sue xo", good luck with that.
david
2011.04.29 23:20 GMTI was reading some of the posts regarding XO Communications and need some help.
I'm starting up a new real estate business in San Diego, and they happen to have the vanity number (unassigned) in their possession, but will not work wtih small businesses that won't commit to at least 20 lines immediately.
So, what I'm frantically trying to do is locate a "generous minded" individual that currently has an XO account that would add this single number to their account and then I would have AT&T (who I've already talked to) port over this number to my own account and cancel immediately with XO. Unfortunately, AT&T can only transfer active numbers and not numbers that are currently unassigned.
I would of course pay for everything in advance and also give you something extra for your time!
I'm trying everything I can to get this darn number!
Feel free to contact me if you or someone you know might be able to help me. Thanks in advance for reading this.
David Stone
619-206-1551 cell
dstone@ioxford.com
anonymous
2011.05.02 20:28 GMT"To the OP above; it's not in the T&Cs. XO prints its renewal policy on every invoice they send. This satisfies the PUCA requirements in every jurisdidtion with the exception of the state of Ohio and the city of Phoenix, AZ. If you don't live in one of those places, don't bother wasting your time trying to fight it...the law is on their side."
What are PUCA requirements? I strongly disagree with the above statement. Our contract provides that XO will notify us in writing prior to expiration of term. If no action, contract will automatically renew. A generic statement on every bill does not meet this requirement. Further the bill does not even specify when contract terminates. All XO needed to do was to send a letter prior to termination alerting us to auto renewal. They failed to do that.
anonymous
2011.05.02 20:52 GMTPUCA is a generic term for Public Utilities Commission. This organization regulates the standards by which telecom and other service providers may operate in their own respective markets.
A generic statement on every bill, in fact, does meet this requirement unless you are in one of the above stated markets.
anonymous
2011.05.10 16:42 GMTIt's really too bad...."The Law is on their side", "Let's sue XO".....Customers pitted against business, business hiding behind corporate laws, policies, legality in every thought, every action.....
Corporations are run by people, Customer's organizationsa are run by people. People would not hurt other people intentionally...but corporations, and businesses don't think twice about it? There has got to be a better way to arbitrate problems, resolve with outcomes that satisfy both sides. America's Corporations are becoming hated, and unfortunately the reality is just like Lawyers, there are good ones and bad ones. There are two sides to every story. Corporations cannot provide services and then just walk away, because the client did not really understand the terms of the deal. Businesses cannot continue to be viable when services and costs are unreasonable, or penalties for their needing change are unreasonable. I don't know the answer...but we have to figure it out....somehow.....someday?anonymous
2011.05.11 19:09 GMTwould love to see support for the statement that generic statement on bills meets notice requirement set forth in contract. That is not my understanding of the law especially in NY.
anonymous
2011.05.11 22:04 GMTLet me guess, your thinking of New York General Obligations - Title 9 - § 5-903. That's the one that most people in NY reference when trying break their contractual obligations. Here's the problem with it; it doesn't apply to telecom/data services. XO has prevailed in court many times on this issue...especially in NY.
anonymous
2011.05.12 16:37 GMTI wish that I could answer that question for you but I cannot. I'm simply passing along what I do know.
anonymous
2011.05.14 06:32 GMTI just got hit with a $30k ETF bill. Sent in my cancellation request through their website customer service. Have the written request and a ticket number to prove it. Talked to their dispute department and the guy told me that although they see the explicit cancellation request, that was not sufficient. It had to be a certified letter. Can you believe that?
anonymous
2011.05.16 16:09 GMTXO doesn't have a "dispute department". When you say that your request was sent in through their website, do you mean that you mailed a written request to the address on their website or do you mean that you sent it as en email to their general inbox?
anonymous
2011.05.20 23:25 GMTI fear for anyone trying to cancell with XO who does not have a copy of their latest contract. You will have a tough time finding out your real contract expiration date from XO.
We recently cancelled our contract with XO in a letter sent via UPS, printed the proof of delivery because we knew we would have to use it later. Our new service provider ported the lines. We received verbal confirmation that the service was set to be terminated and kept the XO reference number, see above. We were then told the credit for the amount billed outside our contract would be processed the next month, which is where we made our mistake of not writing down that reference number. We currently have a smaller balance due which we are fighting with the dreaded Access-recovery. We are happy to pay through the end of our contract, XO billed us for almost three months past our contract end date and i could never get a straight answer out of anyone. Never get a straight answer is the XO MO. The problem with XO is not $12/hour employees(I have know plenty of compentant $12/hour people), it is that the information is not available to anyone whom the customers can talk to. They are crooks who will say anything you want to hear just to get you off the phone. STAY AWAY.anonymous
2011.05.23 16:51 GMTThe "dispute department" was who they forward my problem to. I sent my cancellation as an email to their general inbox for which they acknowledged receiving because I received a phone call and an email from them asking if I would consider renewing if they match whatever competitor pricing I received.
I have already forward my complaint to the PUC. I think everyone else should do the same.anonymous
2011.06.01 18:27 GMTJust got off the phone with XO communications and apparently my claim to PUC got them to waive the $30k termination fee. It went all the way up to their VP for approval. There is hope for everyone after all!!!
soon to be former xo client
2011.06.21 18:48 GMTIt's sad to see all the suffering. We've had XO for 5.9 years. The flex product was nice to have since it had data and unlimited calling with 5 lines...except the T1 would drop, the edge routing would go out, customer service blows, etc.
We're switching to Telepacific with 3.0mbs and 12 voice for around $800. Our contract is up either 7/31 or 8/7 but of the 5 people I talked to at XO, none can tell for sure. About to write the letter of termination - found this page while looking for a template!
Good luck. I did have better luck finding a local sales rep. But only a bit better.
anonymous
2011.06.22 17:24 GMTTelePacific is no better. Good luck.
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/telepacific-communications-c241394.html
The anonymous poster of the TelePacific link above posted from the IP Address: 66.89.55.81 ... I'm sure you can guess where this is going, but to save you all the trouble of the WHOIS lookup on that IP Block:
#
# The following results may also be obtained via:
# http://whois.arin.net/rest/nets;q=66.89.55.81?showDetails=true&showARIN=false
#NetRange: 66.88.0.0 - 66.89.255.255
CIDR: 66.88.0.0/15
OriginAS:
NetName: XOXO-BLK-16
NetHandle: NET-66-88-0-0-1
Parent: NET-66-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
Comment: ADDRESSES WITHIN THIS BLOCK ARE NON-PORTABLE
Comment: Please report spam and viruses to abuse@xo.net.
Comment: For better service, direct customers of XO may use
Comment: the web form at http://www.xo.com/contact/care/
Comment: for reverse DNS requests and other customer-specific
Comment: technical issues. Thank you for your cooperation.
RegDate: 2001-03-26
Updated: 2009-03-31
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-66-88-0-0-1OrgName: XO Communications
OrgId: XOXO
Address: 13865 Sunrise Valley Drive
City: Herdon
StateProv: VA
PostalCode: 20171
Country: US
RegDate:
Updated: 2008-01-14
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/org/XOXOReferralServer: rwhois://rwhois.eng.xo.com:4321/
OrgAbuseHandle: XCNV-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: XO Communications, Network Violations
OrgAbusePhone: +1-866-285-6208
OrgAbuseEmail: abuse@xo.net
OrgAbuseRef: http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/XCNV-ARINOrgTechHandle: XCIA-ARIN
OrgTechName: XO Communications, IP Administrator
OrgTechPhone: +1-703-547-2881
OrgTechEmail: ipadmin@eng.xo.com
OrgTechRef: http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/XCIA-ARIN#
# ARIN WHOIS data and services are subject to the Terms of Use
# available at: https://www.arin.net/whois_tou.html
#
Of Course that posted could have been made by a satisfied XO Customer within their IP range, but I thought I'd go for full disclosure so you can make your own minds up.
IP addresses are saved for all people posting messages to the site - in fact for all people visiting the site, I could extrapolate that IP against accesses in my log files to see how frequent a visitor they are etc. This kind of stuff is pretty standard. IPs are not private information, and can be shared, so they don't identify an individual (though they can)
anonymous
2011.07.19 21:55 GMTThe thing that makes me most upset with the early termination clause - it is NOT REALLY in the contract. What is in the contract is a section refering to terms and conditions on their website. ANd then when you go to website you have to hunt all over to find a small pdf file link. Terms should be IN THE contract, not hidden on a website vaguely referred to IN the contract.
anonymous
2011.07.23 16:47 GMTWhen a party breaches a contract then the other party is entitled to damages. Usually in the event of a service provider contract, the damages are measured by the service provider's loss of profit resulting from the breach of contract. When those damages are uncertain or difficult to calculate, the parties can contract for a liquidated damages clause whereby the parties agree to "liquidate" and agree to a certain amount of damages in the event of breach. Early termination fees are "liquidated damages." However, when the lost profit can be measured, or when the liquidated damages are merely a "penalty" for breach, and not a true measure of the damages resulting from a breach of contract, those liquidated damages are not enforceable. For those businesses who terminated during a renewal term, I don't know how XO can claim any damage from discontinuing a contract that the business could have discontinued earlier without damage to XO (at the end of the initial term).
I also agree that the cancellation charges are not in the service order or the contract provided. XO's claim to be able to change the "terms of conditions" from time to time at its own option also is not enforceable - because that is not a contract which requires mutual agreement. If XO can modify the terms at will then both parties should have that right.
anonymous
2011.07.28 22:38 GMT"it is NOT REALLY in the contract"
It's in section C of the abridged version of the terms that are given to each customer with their executed copy of the contract. If any customer feels that their fee amount is unfair, they are more than welcome to contact XO negotiate a fair settlement.
To the poster above regarding XO's damages when a customer terminates during a renewal term; XO is the beginning and end service provider, however, there are many providers in between which XO must pay. Simply put, XO doesn’t own every wire and/or circuit over which your voice/data will travel. XO pays these other providers up front for you term of service. If you sign a 3 year contract, XO will pay AT&T, Verizon, Quest, or whichever carrier applies for 3 years of "facilities". When you auto-renew, they pay for another 3 years. When you decide to leave before that 3 year term, you leave XO in the hole for those charges. Currently, XO pays almost $200K PER MONTH in early termination charges to AT&T alone, so there are definitely damages but, again, please feel free to contact XO to negotiate a fair settlement. Believe me, nobody at XO is getting rich off of termination fees.
Yes, I work for XO. Have a wonderful day!
g. phillips
2011.08.18 22:00 GMTXO IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST TELCO OF ALL TIME. COMPLETE INCOMPETENCE. LITERALLY HOUR(S) WAIT WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE ON EACH CALL. NETWORK OUTAGES THAT LEFT OUR BUSINESS WITHOUT ANY PHONE SERVICE FOR NEARLY A WEEK ALMOST PUTTING US OUT OF BUSINESS. THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN A MONTH LATER. WHEN WE CANCELLED OUR SERVICE WITH 30 DAYS NOTICE BEFORE THE AUTO-RENEWAL DATE, THEY DISCONNECTED US BUT CONTINUED TO BILL US AND THEN SENT US TO COLLECTIONS. THEY THEN REFUSED TO ADJUST THE BILL TO CREDIT US BACK TO THE TERMINATION DATE. STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY!
XO Service really bad, internet connection down without notice from 7:00 am 8/19/2011 until ... "we don't know, our tech drive to your company in 15 min...balabala" but then 15 hours, not so good service for this company , good luck anyone with XO,
i think about open a domain name xosuck.com for people to claim ,
15 hours downtime on your business - how much money you lost, think about this when sign with XO
Go to xosuck.com to claim your case,
xosuck.com
devon gumbs
2011.09.02 04:27 GMTDevon Gumbs I worked for Comcast Business services contact me at 908-209-3961 and allow me to share with you our business solution.
anonymous
2011.09.02 21:22 GMTToo late Devon. Comcast already has a website dedicated to their suckiness.
comcastsucks.org
anonymous
2011.09.20 20:11 GMTAfter breaking our contract and going month to month for a higher rate for just internet service, after several phone line outages, we decided to terminate XO altogether in May 2011. The representative told me it would be a prorated fee of $550.00 for the month and wished me luck. XO continued to send bills to my business to the tune of $2879.00 three months later. Be careful with XO, they misrepresent every chance they get!!!
anonymous
2011.09.21 04:19 GMTi have been locked into a contract with xo for 3 years. i have 17 sites with verizon and have had no outages. my 3 xo sites are down minimum once a month.
anonymous
2011.10.14 00:47 GMTI still question why if this is part of every contract then why is it not clearly stated in writing on the contract? This would follow the same kind of law that says you cannot use too small a fine print. You cannot require the use of a tool such as a magnifying glass or in this case a computer in an attempt to make the information less available than it would be if you just put it in plain print on the contract. I feel this also violates California law:
17602. Automatic renewal or continuous service offer to consumer; Unlawful acts; Mechanism for cancellation; Terms; Applicability of requirements
(a) It shall be unlawful for any business making an automatic renewal or continuous service offer to a consumer in this state to do any of the following:
(1) Fail to present the automatic renewal offer terms or continuous service offer terms in a clear and conspicuous manner before the subscription or purchasing agreement is fulfilled and in visual proximity, or in the case of an offer conveyed by voice, in temporal proximity, to the request for consent to the offer.
anonymous
2011.10.17 21:57 GMTThe renewal policy is printed on every monthly invoice. The font and size are compliant with all jurisdictions. There is no fine print.
A copy of XO's General Terms and Conditions is available at any time by download or a simple phone call to customer care.
moredthanu
2011.10.25 22:32 GMTTo the guy that compares XO to my spouse. There is give and take in relationships. Unilateral divorce laws have lowered spousal abuse, homicide and female suicide. If you can’t hold me with service or companionship then let me go. For the price of XO I could be dating a super model Ethernet, DSL or cable modem. Just getting my feet wet on this issue started by person that used to be in my role.
anonymous
2011.10.27 01:28 GMTHere's the contact information for the law firm who handled Sprint and Verizon early termination suits.
XO can decide to negotiate ETFs or pass the word on a class action law suit.
Scott A. Bursor
Bursor & Fisher, P.A.
369 Lexington Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10017-6535scott@bursor.com
212-989-9113 (tel)sysprep greg
2011.10.27 20:20 GMTSysprep Greg responded: My internet\phone from XO was down affecting remote workers, internet, email, clients basically the whole business. I reported the problem starting at 10am and at 6:23am the following day the first technical person I was finally allowed to speak with said "This ticket hasnt been worked at all." Followed by "I am not at all familiar with your product, I will have to transfer you." And we have a 10Mb Flex product (4 figures monthly) not some cheap little dsl link. It ended up taking about 20hrs just to get a technician who knew the product to start looking at it. That was with me screaming from the mountaintop the whole time as well. They kept promising I would get a contact back, never did. At the end of this contract, in about a month, they can XO my rear end goodbye! I'm off to find a service provider who provides some service. My impression is that 99% of their employees are only there to prevent you from talking to the 1% who can actually do something. Hey XO CEO, stop being a dumbass and hire some techs. Fire all those useless customer service reps. Otherwise you will not be in business long!
edtech
2011.11.23 00:13 GMTFor months in early 2011 the XO ISP service has deteriorated to the point that when we placed a call about poor internet service, they put the circuit in test for days - thats right we had no service while the fiddled around for days. Now they have threatened to take us to court to sue for the balance of the contract saying that they did NOT guaranty QOS only that their "OBJECTIVE" was to deliver service but there was no guaranty that they would actually deliver, even though the expect to be paid regardless of whether they delivered or not! STAY AWAY FROM THESE TURKEYs! Carl Icahn should be ashamed to be associated with this scurrilous bunch of boobs!
mr. mandy
2011.11.23 18:27 GMTThe 3 year auto renew thing, i don't see how companies can legally allow this. This is such as scam and this is an example where government needs to step in. Can business go back to just that instead of every fricken company trying to scam you. Just got call from someone with "yellow pages" which of course is another company than the one you think.
anonymous
2011.12.23 19:31 GMTHi we use xo and are extremely pleased!!!! We are in the Jersey market. As with any company you nut read contracts, I made sure every single detail was brought to my attention!
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