Cheap Shot
Posted on Saturday, October 18th, 2003 at 15:00.
Why do I even try?
I often wished for a Mac-based web hosting company that was priced reasonably, offered stellar support, and gave me all the Java goodies that I prefer to develop with. After not finding such a company in the past two years, I decided to spend the money and fill the market gap.
I made a business plan and a marketing strategy. I bought a server, hardware upgrades, and appropriate software. I spent many hours configuring and testing every aspect of the server. I signed a contract with an ISP. I obtained a credit card merchant account. Everything was in place.
On October 9, 2003, I logged into my FedEx account and printed a label to send my server to its utopian ISP. After walking across Boston Common, I delivered my server to Mail Boxes Etc. (a FedEx Authorized Shipping Center). Cue The World’s Worst Luck™.
FedEx scans every package before it is loaded onto a truck at pickup. I know. I managed a Postal Annex+. FedEx claims to never have received my package, which makes sense since it was never scanned. (Even if the driver did not scan the package at pickup, it would have been scanned when the truck was unloaded at the FedEx terminal.) Mail Boxes Etc. claims the package was picked up by FedEx. Because the package was a drop-off and not sent through the Mail Boxes Etc. store account, it claims no responsibility. The store claims to be just a drop-box with a human.
Essentially, my server is missing-in-action. No one claims liability for the package and I cannot prove the package was lost or stolen by any particular party.
Where do I go from here? Financially, I cannot afford to buy another server. Mentally, I am angry. At who or what I do not know. This page is only available courtesy of a friend (Matt Locke) forwarding my traffic to my horrid .Mac account (a total rip-off, don’t buy).
I knew I was taking a financial risk by launching a business venture, especially as a freshman in college. I would have been nearly profitable just with hosting my existing web design clients. Unfortunately, the loss of my hardware equates to instant failure and no potential return on investment. My only regret is that I never had the chance to fail legitimately.
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