
How Linode Screwed Me - fattypouch
http://mufasa.gq/how-linode-screwed-me/
======
demarq
I think Linode is totally understandable in what they are doing.

The author and his client however have both been deeply unprofessional. But
ultimately the author has the responsibility to do better next time.

Here is where the author could do better.

> Don't mix your personal resources and clients resources. I highly suggest
> provisioning the client their own server and Linode account and showing them
> how to pay. If you would like to simplify life for the client then use your
> own account, pay through your card only after the client has paid you.

> Qualify your customers. A customer who doesn't pay is not a customer. A
> customer who is as difficult as the one you are dealing with probably
> shouldn't be a customer. I get that you're really desperate, going for 200$
> opportunities but every now and then there is a customer who you should just
> say no to.

> Avoid the gig/freelancing space like the plague, it's rarely a place where
> you will be adequately rewarded for your time. Get a full time job, remote
> or on premise and perhaps in the future you can do high end consulting if
> you really like that freedom.

> Please calm down, I get the frustration that got you to write that post but
> it has affected your online image far worse than it has Linode's. Most
> people will read that post and come away with the idea, that you are
> unprofessional, desperate and highly unstable.

~~~
gus_massa
I agree, but next time please use * or - for the bullet points, because > is
usually reserved for quotations.

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nemothekid
Maybe this should be flagged and removed, but the author is completely in the
wrong here.

As far as Linode, or anyone else should care, the guy who is paying for the
account, owns the account. If he's the one paying the bills, why wouldn't have
access to the account?

~~~
king_phil
I don't see how that is true. I own a web hosting business (since 2003). This
situation is EXTREMELY common (like 5%-10% of accounts).

I do not see how the payer is the account owner. At all. Can you clarify why
that would be?

Legally speaking (in german law): The account owner is the person who opened
the account, because that is the person who the provider has made the contract
with (except the situation of a "Geschäftsbesorgungsvertrag" or a "Vollmacht"
[ letter of authorization, power of authority, idk. whats the english term]
where you make the contract for someone else). The payer may have a legal
connection to the account owner (will, in 99% of the cases, but must not), but
not to the provider.

So legally speaking Linode - at least in german law - Linode is providing
unauthorized access to a tzhrid party and will be held accountable for all the
damages the account owner suffers. That is a violation of GDPR, too. You'd
propbably resolve that by a simple letter from your attorney or a court order
if Linode does not comply (taking a few days only because of "emergency
conditions").

It's not easy to translate all the legalese, I hope you can follow ;-)

~~~
JeanMarcS
I am using OVH since we stopped using our own servers in a closet and had to
upgrade our services.

When you rent a server, or a VPS, you have 3 contacts. Administrative, technic
and billing. Like for domain names.

That way, when a client wants to directly get his own server, they put me as
technical contact (and can revoke me if ever they want).

The main contact is the administrative one. It can change the other contacts.

All is clear, and if problems like OP had happens, then someone did a really
worse choice

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LogicX
The part I don't get is... Somewhere along the line auhor got clients CC to
out into linode...

which then paid for all servers, instead of just client's servers. And author
didn't migrate his servers away.

But then auhor complains that client didn't pay, and author didn't charge his
CC.

The situation may suck, but as author points out, he made a number of errors
trusting client, and author made some additional errors as above.

As author can still ssh to his servers, I'd say he migrates the sites away,
and chaulk it up as a lesson learned. Not sure why Linode is the one talking
the blame in this tale.

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vinceve
When I was younger I had similar experiences with customers who ghosted when
their needs to be paid. The lesson I learned is to make sure you keep control
over your code / env until the customer has paid. I implemented some mechanism
in my sites that when they ghosted me, I just did a special api call which
cleared the database and showed in big letters that this website was stolen.
Suddenly there is contact again.

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threatofrain
When you accept that some customers will lock themselves out of their account
and you permit an alternative pathway back in, you also accept situations like
these.

There are lots of situations where the person who's managing vs paying are
different; lots of situations where a web resource that's being managed is so
important that no single person should have complete power. That's why
Cloudflare provides extra security for those who don't think the convenience
of getting back into their account is worth what's essentially a social
backdoor.

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tubaguy50035
If my credit card is paying for an account, why wouldn't I get access to it?

There's lots to wish about Linode, but them allowing the person paying the
bills to manage the account isn't one of them.

~~~
king_phil
I laid ot the legal situation above.

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NicoJuicy
Nobody mentions that the dude was also paying for his other 2 servers? So how
can it not be his account. It's obviously the authors fault

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xupybd
The counter to this is AWS. My credit card was not enough to access the
account after I lost the password. No way to close the account either. Just
cancel the credit card and hope they didn’t send debt collectors after me.

Please be smarter than me and keep your AWS account tied to a current email
address.

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zunzun
I hosted a domain on Linode years ago, this sure brings back memories of that
time.

