Warning: My Dismal Experience With CRNC

I found CRNC through reviews on WHT, and began using them as a colo provider in April 2005. I used them for a small project, hosting only one 1U server that was to be used in the event of an outage of one of our main servers. I had a few issues with them along the way, including several outages, a forced datacenter move with little notice (from NJ to NY), and one occasion when they accidentally re-assigned our IP addresses to another customer. If this had been my primary server, their service would have been completely unacceptable. But this was a failover server, they were local, and I stuck with them.

I canceled my service with CRNC in September 2006. Even after I canceled, they continued to charge my Corporate Amex each month for hosting services.

This was fairly easy to stop, with the help of American Express. However, I've been trying for the last year to get a refund for the overcharges, and to get them to return the server, with absolutely no success. On two occasions, I got a response saying that my server would be returned shortly, but then they'd stop answering my emails, and the server still has not been returned.

I shipped CRNC the box and packing materials for the server in October, which they lost, and then found. I've tried contacting them repeatedly since last year, without much success (except for one day in April, when they agreed to ship the server, but didn't).

Finally today, I received a response. Not only would CRNC not return my money, but they now want me to pay them $250 for "storage" for all of the time they've been keeping my server. Their last email said that I haven't been persistent enough in trying to get my server back, and they have been trying to contact me to obtain a prepaid shipping label (they haven't!). They've conveniently forgotten the fact that I have emailed repeatedly with no response, and that they have plenty of my money from overcharges that could have been used to pay for shipping.

From James today (September 21):

Quote:

We received your packaging months ago however we attempted to contact you via email and telephone in regards to a shipping label. Now seeing as this issue is almost a year old, the last 4-5 months of which we have received no correspondence back from you, we are going to have to charge a storage fee of $25/month. We made numerous attempts to release this server back to you. It obviously has not been a priority for you. We're always available via email and telephone. From December until September is $250.00, of which after $105 is deducted is $145.

It is not our business to store equipment we are not being paid for. The server was your property and you made minimal effort and no follow-thru to get the server back. Please understand our viewpoint on this. We've been in business for 4 years. We're not out to harm anyone, especially former customers that could potentially come back some day.

Thanks

To be perfectly clear: CRNC has had the box and packing materials, the address to send the server to, and the money for shipping since last October. I've contacted them 8 times in the last 9 months (including several times in April, June, and September). I'm not certain how many unanswered emails would be considered sufficient effort, but I've spent more than enough of my time on this issue.

I've been really friendly and really patient up to this point, but I can no longer accept this kind of treatment. I was a very good customer for 18 months. Each monthly bill was paid on time by credit card. I can't recall even once requesting technical support, *never* complained about the outages or forced datacenter move, and didn't complain about the hours of work their mistake with our IP's cost me. The server was almost completely unused, and our bandwidth usage was always less than 0.05% of the 2000GB I purchased each month.

I met James when the server was installed in the Equinix datacenter in Secaucus, and he seemed like a really nice, technically knowledgeable guy.

I've always chalked up the issues I experienced to a lack of business experience and general disorganization. However, now I'm beginning to wonder whether keeping my money and server is deliberate. A line in his email response is pretty telling to me: "The server WAS your property" (emphasis mine). There was a thread on WHT a few months ago with a somewhat similar experience where CRNC wouldn't return the customer's money or equipment.

I'm truly amazed that any business treats their customers this way.

Unfortunately, I do not expect this situation to be resolved without the involvement of the police and courts. It would be wise to think carefully before entrusting your equipment to this company.

(Somewhat related: was CRNC recently purchased? It looks like some of their IP ranges are now owned by Atlantic Metro Communications.)