Want to take action against Cyberwings??

[jmunro]

Hi everyone,

I paid $30 for a 1 year account with Cyberwings and I'm pretty mad about what has happened.

For those of you who still believe Shawn J White, consider the following:

1) www.cwstatus.com is down as of 7pm, 19 July. What does that say??

2) He claims refunds are being offered. I have sent several emails, but have not heard from him.

3) A lot of the information he is publishing on cwstatus.com has so much secrecy attached and so many excuses that it doesn't sound real. Given the real level of concern out there, you would think he would publish some hard facts that can't be disputed.

4) No one seems to have been notified of Cyberwing's problems by email. If he was a legit business he would have notified everyone as soon as he realised there were going to be problems. I never received an email from him at any time.

5) If he's independently wealthy as he claimed, why are there people who haven't got their money back. And why is any of this happening?

6) The use of the title "CEO" is misleading and intended to mislead. This guy doesn't have a corporation. I have done a search of some corporation records and found nothing.

7) If you add all these facts up , plus others that you guys can think of, what's the conclusion you come to?

Anyhow, enough. I think there's an element of fraud going on.

Here's some things you can do to take action:

a) Report him to the Internet Fraud Center run by the FBI. You can file a complaint online: http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

b) Report him to the Attorney General in Maine: http://www.state.me.us/ag/

Good luck to everyone. I doubt we will see our money again but I'd be happy to see Mr Shawn J White being busted by the FBI.

J.M.

 

[Doug117]

hrm, probably not the best way to start your carrer off here @ anandtech. This definately does not go under the category of "Hot Deals" This thread will be locked. If you REALLY want to discuss this, i'll bet theres a thread in off topic or something

 

[TheToOTaLL]

Over a month ago there was a big CyberWings thread with their "great deals", and there have been a few since. In some of the threads (Insane Cyberwings Hosting Sales)(Cyberwings web hosting, 50% off sale. 110mb, 6GB transfer $3.90 a YEAR!) people posted feelings about CyberWings, and how "susipicious" they seemed. Now that they have gone offline, people are starting getting pissy. It just goes to show you that you pay for what you get, and that sometimes an extremely great deal can, and most likely will, turn sour.

EDIT: I especially like XFreebie's post in the second thread mentioned:

"my theory is that they will raise the rates when we are nice n comfy a year from now when its time to renew.

or they have the cyberrebates business model... take as much money as u can then run for it...declare bankruptcy to be protected from creditors and retire in the bahamas"

 

[frankqfrank]

brag and moan

 

[Seizure]

moan.

 

[frankqfrank]

Seizure in your profile, I think "Sike" (as you spelled it) is supposed to be "Psych" like in psychology.

I like monkeys.

 

[Otaking]

Hey, does this come with free shipping? I can't wait to PM and use a coupon!

 

[dcdomain]

This is ridiculous... you know, I'm as worried as anyone else, but what the hell? It's not like he just took the damn money and ran. Cyberwings did try to run a business and at least for me, did provide some service. I had two accounts so far, 4 still unactivated that I paid for. One went down a week ago, oh freaking well, I lost my database and forums, second one, went down today. Yeah I'm scared as hell because it contains a lot of rush information for my fraternity. But am I bitching about it and what not? You all have the right to get your money back. Go ahead and do so, and if PayPal won't refund the money, then as jmunro posted, go follow those steps and complain about the business. But all this moaning won't get you anywhere.

EVERYONE I KNOW had signed up knowingly that it might be a scam or might not live up to other hosts. Even I did, and now it has come true. So what? Move on, $4 bucks right? Skip a meal, most of us Americans are overweight anyway. This is a lesson learned through experience... from now on, go and pay your $100+ a year for a good host, for me, I'll just take this as a lesson learned and move on, there's more important things in life, and sitting in front of the computer bitching and moaning ain't gonna help.

Oh and this isn't directed at the guys in this thread, more like at the guys posting in that huge one... peaceoutside.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: dcdomain
This is ridiculous... you know, I'm as worried as anyone else, but what the hell? It's not like he just took the damn money and ran. Cyberwings did try to run a business and at least for me, did provide some service. I had two accounts so far, 4 still unactivated that I paid for. One went down a week ago, oh freaking well, I lost my database and forums, second one, went down today. Yeah I'm scared as hell because it contains a lot of rush information for my fraternity. But am I bitching about it and what not? You all have the right to get your money back. Go ahead and do so, and if PayPal won't refund the money, then as jmunro posted, go follow those steps and complain about the business. But all this moaning won't get you anywhere. EVERYONE I KNOW had signed up knowingly that it might be a scam or might not live up to other hosts. Even I did, and now it has come true. So what? Move on, $4 bucks right? Skip a meal, most of us Americans are overweight anyway. This is a lesson learned through experience... from now on, go and pay your $100+ a year for a good host, for me, I'll just take this as a lesson learned and move on, there's more important things in life, and sitting in front of the computer bitching and moaning ain't gonna help. Oh and this isn't directed at the guys in this thread, more like at the guys posting in that huge one... peaceoutside.

No one likes to be taken advantage of, even for $4, but you're right its not alot to probably every individual here.

But although it may be a few bucks to the subscriber, it might add up to alot of money for 'CEO-Shawn'.

If this is a scam, and it has the makings of one, someone like this shouldn't get off the hook regardless of the individual investment price, particularly if he's scammed alot of money altogether.

If he's not held accountable, then there's nothing to discourage him doing it to other people again in some other shape or form.

 

[jonnashville]

1. You get what you pay for.

2. If you didn't see this coming, then you need to see an opthamologist.

 

[dc]

shawn said they would be back up by at latest saturday(tomm). so why not give them the weekend, and if they're still down, then moan and complain all you want.

jmunro:
1. cwstatus.com was on the rackshack servers in texas, all the texas servers are down. it looks like they wanted to move them to the new datacenter along with all the maine accounts. no official word on this, but this is what it looks like.

2. did you folow the refund directions posted on the page? and when did you submit the refund request? odds are you aren't at the top of the refund line.

3. i can't argue with that. too much secrecy makes it very suspicious.

4. yes, communications has been poor, but have you signed up with the cyberwings mailing list to be notified?

5. he's been working on the datacenter issues, so refunds aren't at his top list of priority obviously, he said that he does a group of refunds a day. why is this happening? disagreement and other issues with lightship, their primary bw supplier.

6. cyberwing was incorporated 6-12-02 in maine.

7. yes, you guys have the right to be suspicious and upset with CW. imo they have handled these situations very poorly. but has shawn run off with everyone's money? no. if this was meant to be a huge scam, he would of dissappeared right when the first signs of troubled appeared early july. but he's still here and trying to rebuild and fix the situation. if you aren't happy with it, ask for a refund and wait in line. i have spoken to several people that have gotten refunds already. they are slowly coming.


personally i'm giving them till monday, and if no progress is made, i'm asking for a refund also.
and most of you guys whining have spent <$30 with CW, so get a grip and wait a bit longer before going postal. i'll be joining you guys on monday if nothing changes.

 

[SinMen]

Originally posted by: dc
i have spoken to several people that have gotten refunds already. they are slowly coming.

Did they get the refund before or after this mess? That is a HUGE difference.

 

[hevnsnt]

Very well said dc..

 

[Seizure]

Originally posted by: frankqfrank
Seizure in your profile, I think "Sike" (as you spelled it) is supposed to be "Psych" like in psychology.

I like monkeys.

I pretty sure it's spelled SIKE. ah well. I'll stick with it.

 

[dlaw]

Completely agree with dc. "so why not give them the weekend, and if they're still down, then moan and complain all you want." Just hold it till they really are gone.....of course, it may be better if they come back up.

 

[SinMen]

Originally posted by: dlaw
Completely agree with dc. "so why not give them the weekend, and if they're still down, then moan and complain all you want." Just hold it till they really are gone.....of course, it may be better if they come back up.

First, it was 2-3 days. Then a week, then this Thurs-Sat. What next? Tomorrow, he might say next Friday again. Are you going to keep letting him push back his deadline, the one he set himself?
Personally, I think you should give him whatever time he needs, if next Monday is not enough, may be another year, or 10 years, or 100 years. I am sure he will have the servers set up by then and my great grandchild can use my accounts. Wow, think about it, get a web site hosted for $4 in a hundred years? What a deal.

 

[jrichrds]

3 types of people:

1. Knew to stay away, cried scam.
2. Relied on CW for hosting that had at least some importance. Heartily defended CW. Getting screwed right now.
3. Knew what they were getting into. Stuck with the insanely cheap plans ($1-10/year) and didn't get baited into zapping and lifetime-ing into the $100 range. Indifferent if CW goes down as they weren't important sites anyways....just sites that they wouldn't have put up if they had to pay $5/month ($60/year) instead.

1. They're saying "I told you so"
2. Now in reverse mode, and the main reason for the multiple CW threads you see on multiple forums. Sucks for them.
3. Don't mind waiting. Got money's worth already out of the few dollars paid. Just sitting back and waiting. If CW comes up again, great. If not, no big deal.

I hope most of you are 1 or 3.

 

[mainomega]

Wow, I've read everything there is about this. I have an account setup with him/them. I only used it for e-mail... which turned out to be the worst mistake. But, This guy is just buying time. The reason he's so secretive is because instead of just comming out from the first day and saying he's gona take everything offline for 2-3 weeks, he just fed us little bits.

hahaha, its late and that didn't make any sense, anyways... he's just buying time... like selling something on ebay while the jerk doesn't even have it... and hoping the ups truck will come before you complain to paypal. hahaha, nice comparison huh ?

 

[HarryK]

Originally posted by: Seizure

Originally posted by: frankqfrank
Seizure in your profile, I think "Sike" (as you spelled it) is supposed to be "Psych" like in psychology.

I pretty sure it's spelled SIKE. ah well. I'll stick with it.

It all depends what you're intended meaning is, but in the context of "Ha ha. Sike [sic]" it certainly appears that it should be spelled "psych". Like you "psyched" us out.

However, if you're using the word sike in reference to a gutter or stream, then your spelling is correct.

 

[TNTrulez]

lol