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What's experience has Hacker News had with OVH? Personally I got a £4 a month ($6.30) dedicated sever from them not long ago when they came out (I think they s

What's experience has Hacker News had with OVH? Personally I got a £4 a month ($6.30) dedicated sever from them not long ago when they came out (I think they sold out within a couple of days). I had to buy 3 months together as a minimum but it was still very cheap for a dedicated server (2GB RAM and 500GB harddrive). However my initial experience with OVH wasn't amazing. The website promised 24 hour delivery when I ordered it. However after 4 days no word from them so I sent a support ticket. I got a quick response saying that "As stated on our forums and website, the server will be delivered between 1 to 10 days". Kind of strange as the website had clearly said 24 hours when I placed the order (although it had since changed to 10 days) I'd covered this in my ticket but this wasn't mentioned. Anyhow I did get my server after 20 days (no word as to the hold up but at least they started the 3 months from when I actually got access to the server rather than when I'd ordered it). This is the only experience I've had with them and it wasn't terrible but not very promising. I've always had good experience with VPS on Digital Ocean so I think I'm likely to go with them instead when these 3 months run out. Alternatively I might keep the dedicated server just to backup files on to. The terms and conditions did not seem to forbid this. Has anyone else had experience doing this? Are they likely to destroy my server if I use it for my personal backups? Has anyone else used OVH? What experience did you have?

alexchamberlain 13y ago
Had a similar experience with a similarly priced server; it's simple though: too many of us bought one at the same time and they ran out of stock and people to install it. Fair enough, they're all personal servers anyway. Why would they prevent you from using your server for backups? (Assuming the files are legal ofc)
shimon_e 13y ago
I've been with OVH for a few years now. Historical when they have advertised the server will be ready in 1 hour it is. The problem with the new range was that they were simply too popular. So much so that OVH's hardware partners could not deliver the hardware fast enough. They got something like 15,000 orders for just one type of server in about a day. That is 10% growth in their total server count in just one day! Sooo maybe you could cut the a little slack? Actually the cheap servers are suppose to be for personal use. They lack hard disk raid, proper support, and have the lowest priority for hardware replacements.
- makomk 13y ago
  Yeah, I think there were even a bunch of non-technical people over at Hot UK Deals who ordered the new low-end server. Must've been a nasty shock for OVH all round.
- Ellipsis753 13y ago
  I knew they were popular but I had no idea there were that popular. Yes, I'll cut them some slack here, I wasn't actually in that much of a rush for the server anyway. It would have been nice if I'd been kept informed however (I'd be uneasy recommending them to a client if they need a server the next day).
Matti 13y ago
"The terms and conditions did not seem to forbid this." Why would they forbid that? Do you realize that you are paying basically nothing for a dedicated server with a 500GB harddrive and an unmetered 100Mbps connection? You got in on the server deal of the year and yet you are still thinking about canceling when the three months are up? You come very close to being an example of a pathological customer.
- Ellipsis753 13y ago
  Haha. It is a very cheap server. I was thinking more along the lines of how some unlimited plans actually just end the contract with you if you use "too much". I've never heard bad things about OVH but I've never really heard good things either. I just felt a little uneasy when I had a slightly bad first impression of them. A cheap server is good but I'd rather pay more if they're going to be bad. (Not that OVH were). I was just interested to know what experiences others had had with them.
shubb 13y ago
My first purchase was a £16/month Kimsufi (cheap) dedicated server, when that range launched in August. I am pretty happy with the server now it has been delivered, but the launch of that range was a series of the worst mistakes I've seen a company make. I recommend not using OVH for any serious work. The company cancelled all orders by PayPal, and didn't inform customers they were cancelled for a week. The company took up to 2 months to deliver servers it expected to deliver in 1-24 hours. Tech support staff refused to give details. The company refuses to communicate with customers directly, forcing them to negotiate refunds, and discuss billing issues in a public forum, which seems to be check by staff about once a day. My big problem with OVH was the lack of communication. We don't really know why they cancelled all those orders, why they took so long to deliver the servers, or why they stopped providing billing and incident support via email. We do know that the technical support staff have not been told these things either. What little they did say, mostly tweets in French by the CEO, turned out to be false reassurances. I think something went really badly wrong at OVH, and not knowing what damages my confidence in them.

alexchamberlain 13y ago

Had a similar experience with a similarly priced server; it's simple though: too many of us bought one at the same time and they ran out of stock and people to install it. Fair enough, they're all personal servers anyway. Why would they prevent you from using your server for backups? (Assuming the files are legal ofc)

shimon_e 13y ago

I've been with OVH for a few years now. Historical when they have advertised the server will be ready in 1 hour it is. The problem with the new range was that they were simply too popular. So much so that OVH's hardware partners could not deliver the hardware fast enough. They got something like 15,000 orders for just one type of server in about a day. That is 10% growth in their total server count in just one day! Sooo maybe you could cut the a little slack? Actually the cheap servers are suppose to be for personal use. They lack hard disk raid, proper support, and have the lowest priority for hardware replacements.

makomk 13y ago
Yeah, I think there were even a bunch of non-technical people over at Hot UK Deals who ordered the new low-end server. Must've been a nasty shock for OVH all round.
Ellipsis753 13y ago
I knew they were popular but I had no idea there were that popular. Yes, I'll cut them some slack here, I wasn't actually in that much of a rush for the server anyway. It would have been nice if I'd been kept informed however (I'd be uneasy recommending them to a client if they need a server the next day).

Matti 13y ago

"The terms and conditions did not seem to forbid this." Why would they forbid that? Do you realize that you are paying basically nothing for a dedicated server with a 500GB harddrive and an unmetered 100Mbps connection? You got in on the server deal of the year and yet you are still thinking about canceling when the three months are up? You come very close to being an example of a pathological customer.

Ellipsis753 13y ago
Haha. It is a very cheap server. I was thinking more along the lines of how some unlimited plans actually just end the contract with you if you use "too much". I've never heard bad things about OVH but I've never really heard good things either. I just felt a little uneasy when I had a slightly bad first impression of them. A cheap server is good but I'd rather pay more if they're going to be bad. (Not that OVH were). I was just interested to know what experiences others had had with them.

shubb 13y ago

My first purchase was a £16/month Kimsufi (cheap) dedicated server, when that range launched in August. I am pretty happy with the server now it has been delivered, but the launch of that range was a series of the worst mistakes I've seen a company make. I recommend not using OVH for any serious work. The company cancelled all orders by PayPal, and didn't inform customers they were cancelled for a week. The company took up to 2 months to deliver servers it expected to deliver in 1-24 hours. Tech support staff refused to give details. The company refuses to communicate with customers directly, forcing them to negotiate refunds, and discuss billing issues in a public forum, which seems to be check by staff about once a day. My big problem with OVH was the lack of communication. We don't really know why they cancelled all those orders, why they took so long to deliver the servers, or why they stopped providing billing and incident support via email. We do know that the technical support staff have not been told these things either. What little they did say, mostly tweets in French by the CEO, turned out to be false reassurances. I think something went really badly wrong at OVH, and not knowing what damages my confidence in them.