Vortech Inc in real trouble!!

I would like to inform everyone what is going on with Vortechhosting.com AKA Vortech Inc.

Craig Smith, the Vice President of Vortech, Inc is attempting to forcibly take over the company and has aligned himself with Drew Amend and Ernesto Haberli, both WELL KNOWN spammers.

They have locked me out of most of the systems, however they did forget about some key systems, which they left open that I have access to but limited. Craig has handed over all passwords for the servers, etc. to Drew as of Wednesday, December 31, 2008 so I am guessing that all customers email addresses and phone numbers have been harvested by now. Drew's newest scam is text spamming so not only will the customers be receiving spam via email but also via their cell phones.

Just a little proof:
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A Web site about Ernesto Haberli http://www.avidhostingsucks.com/

http://drewamend.com/Daven/contact.php Notice the vip-hosting.com ( this is the company that wanted to buy Vortech, Inc in 07 ) owned by none other than Ernesto Haberli.

Read it all for yourself self http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?p=4855480#post4855480


NOTE THIS: "I have contacted the Wichita Post Office. This PO Box has been canceled for over a year, and now has a forwarding address to another PO Box in Wichita. If you have any concerns you can contact the Wichita Postal Inspector Barry Rausch at (316) 946-4694. He might be able to recall any mail that has been sent to that address."

Who lives in Wichita? Drew Amend

Who are they talking about with avidhosting? Ernesto Haberli

Who is hosting part of the site or left part of it behind? Drew Amend http://drewamend.com/Daven/contact.php

Do a find on these pages for Ernesto Haberli you will see he was reported as late as December of 2008 http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso/evidence.lasso?rokso_id=ROK2044 and http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso/evidence.lasso?rokso_id=ROK2158

More hard proof that I just found on forum.vortechhosting.com in a post entitled Paypal Payment Option. As you can see, they are using Andrew Amends email address on paypal to receive payments:

kattouf kattouf is offline
Vortech Inc. Customer
Vortech Inc. Customer

Location: UK
Why did i get a payment receipt from

From: "ANDREW AMEND" <DREWAMEND@GMAIL.COM>

Its was the regular confirmation i get monthly but not from vortech.
Reply With Quote


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I have warned all of the technicians, that what they are doing is highly illegal not to mention extremely unethical. Not one of them has replied to me. I have been forced to take legal action against them along with Craig Smith and Drew Amend, for unlawful conversion, at this time.

Per the original operating agreement for the company, I am the only person that can hire and fire employees. I am the Registered Agent, Incorporator, President, CEO and majority shareholder of the company. I own 55% of the company and for a good reason ( at least I thought ) so this could not or would not happen. Unfortunately, it did after 8 years due to a shady spammer and the company Vice President. I am doing everything I can to regan control without taking down the entire network and handing the equipment over to Orlando Police Dept to be held until this situation can be rectified.

I am open to any suggestions or assistance anyone may be willing to offer as I am desperately trying to save the company before it is too late.

The techs, Craig and Drew are currently locked out of the data center, have no spare hardware and no money at all. I just wanted to warn everyone about this before it gets more out of hand. I have always been blunt but honest on these forums for the past 8 years. I just wanted to say it's been a great 8 years and I will be back.

To our customers:

I am truly sorry about this and have tried everything I can not to remove the systems from the Data Center but it may just come to that this weekend. They are making wild accusations but they have not been involved in this company, like me. I am the only one that knows how the company actually runs on a day to day basis. I am also the signer on all Vortech contracts and the personal guarantee for all contracts. Craig nor Drew have any idea how to run this company and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. I also have a default letter, in hand, from Colo Solutions showing they have defaulted on the colo bill and the network will be taken offline on Monday 1/12/2009 at 11am ET, due to non payment. The debt owed to Colo Solutions is approximately $41,000 that has to be delivered via cashier's check by 11am ET on January 12, 2008 for the network to remain online. They also owe myself and my wife over $22,000 in backpay. It is impossible for them to pay this outstanding debt to Colo Solutions by the deadline. Even if the outstanding bill is paid, they will not be granted access to the data center until the legal aspects of this issue are resolved, as stated by Colo Solutions. My advice to all of you is RUN!! Spammers running a reseller hosting company is bad news all the way around.

wow that must be tough. I'm sorry for your issue. But wouldn't you give very limited access to anyone that does not need it?

I hope you're able to regain control over your company. I understand it must be a very difficult time and hopefully they don't damage your business too much.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=748678 :S

Yep, interesting...

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=748678 :S

Ok... Now I'm really confuzzled. :rolleyes2

From what I've read, there are 2 possibilities:

1. A huge conspiracy against Brad Pugh.
2. Brad Pugh was really bad and the righteous people overthrew him.

It's hard to believe a company could end up in so much trouble. Which one is telling the truth? Just reading WHT it seems the current owner is the one telling lies, but we won't know the truth just yet.

Glenn;1047433']Ok... Now I'm really confuzzled. :rolleyes2
You aint the only one :S

Well this is certainly an odd one.....

But I'm not going to, go over to : http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=748678

I'm pretty sure all of the current tech's horror stories and a few other people's horror stories with Mr. Pugh will be enough to stop this in it's tracks, it's 3 pages of a good read you should check it out.

Summed up quick:

1. Brad WAS the CEO of a company owned by a few investors.
2. He at best miss-managed funds, failed to pay bills, and failed to pay payroll for weeks on end, at worst, he MAY have been stealing as the lawyers tell us.
3. He was removed from that position before his negligence and actions could severely affect the other investors any worse than he currently has. His WIFE who was acting as the accountant was also removed.
4. He is now crying all over the web acting like the company is now in "trouble" without him, when in reality all he did was leech thousands of dollars from it, fail in his responsibilities to debtors, employees, and customers miserably, oh and cause us headaches.
5. Think about it logically. If he really had any validity to his claims, legal action would have already turned it all back over to him. Had he been in the right, he would not be trying to do in "his company" because he would know it's success would eventually be returned to him.

What he is, Is a desperate pathetic excuse of a boss, who is trying in every way shape and form to knock others down from their rightful earnings and success because his dishonesty and lies finally netted him what he deserves. What he is, is someone who spreads untruth and lies for the sole purpose of hurting those he feels have betrayed him, when the reality is, he betrayed all his life long friends by living beyond his means on money that SHOULD have been rightfully paid out to employees and service providers who he is in debt to. He blew all his money foolishly like a kid with a 100$ bill in a candy store, and is now upset because all the people he owes are pressing legal action against him. If in doubt look him up in orange county florida. Their web site has complete disclosure of public records. You can see the cases filed against him by other owners, by leasing companies he failed to pay, for loans he defaulted on. The other thread at WHT lists more specifics for those interested. For those who do not want to have to look far, I'll cut and paste my response here::::

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I have to start off by saying I love my job. I've been a tech at vortech hosting for a long time, and many of the customers there know even on a semi personal basis. I have been good friends with many of the other techs and really enjoyed what i've been able to learn while working there, and the opportunity it has given me to grow in my field. That is probably the reason I am still working there.

That is correct, I still work there, no criminal charges are pending on me, I still fill all of my duties and my daily affiars in my position there. This person's accusations (if they are from brad) are slanderous. I have not broken any laws, and have only acted in the best interest of my company, to the best of my ability, within the instructions presented by my bosses.

So lets talk about being a boss, and what it means. Since this poster claims he has "worked his *** off" for this company. Let me ask you, if your company was having problems because of "lazy techs" or "people not doing their job" as a boss what would you do? He claims "...I am the only person that can hire and fire employees. I am the Registered Agent, Incorporator, President, CEO..." I know what I would do. I would fire them and find new employees. Yet the same core staff has remained for a long time. Logic would stand to reason if the problems with the company were staffing related, and the person in charge was busy "working his *** off" with that company they would be apparent and rectified quickly. Any person who runs a group of employees knows you either train them to do their job well, hire people who can do the job well to train them, or you get rid of them and find new people who have potential to accomplish your needs. You cannot blame the last year's problems on staffing when you are the boss, considering the boss is responsible for the actions of his staff. If you are indeed the sole person responsible for the hiring and firing of employees as you claim, then all of the employee's failures would really be your own failure to staff or retain the necissary staff. The shortcomings I have seen while working there, were not that of my fellow employees but rather of the acting CEO during that period of time. I can only speak for myself in this matter, but I would not have remained an employee considering how hard it was to get paid on time, or get support from the top if it were not how much I enjoy what I do.

I ask any of you, has our staff not tried every chance they could to help? sometimes at risk of even their own jobs? searching this thread you will often see us trying to help only to be shot down later. If we were the problem, it would have been an easy fix. It is time for those who were the problem to take responsibility for their actions. I ask you, as Brad was the CEO, was he not the person who is ultimately responsible for downtime? Is he not the person who would tell us what we would have to respond when asked questions? Anyone who looks at this with a clear logical head will see it becomes clear. All of the problems I have seen while working here start at the top!

Brad from his own admission has supposedly "worked hard" to make this a good company. He has by his own claims been the one in charge and soley responsible for the company's workings. He has had full control of the company up until a week ago. So in light of this, ask yourself, how can we be in long term debt in danger of being cut off, if the person in charge then was being responsible and fufilling their obligations? Why would our bandwidth provider have to change if he was maintaining good relationships? Why would techs email, message, use forums and every resource availible to communicate with their customer if they did not care? I will say it is hard to answer a phone you do not have, or that is not connected due to the person in charge not providing you with working phone service. I will say I seriously doubt our data center bill since the first of the year is $40,000.00. If we do owe the funds he claims we do, then it must be because he did not fufil past obligations. If we were to be "shut off" it would have to be in default a process which does not happen in a matter of a few days if the company is managed correctly. How can we be 3 weeks behind in pay if he was doing his job up until the first of the year? True some of us may be behind in pay, I personally am owed a good sized sum, all of which acrued during Brad's administration. I have remained an employee, and fulfilled my duties even without pay in his absence until all the needed corrections are made. Why? because I like all employees of the company enjoy what we do. We see great potential in the future of vortech hosting. I see this as a year where we will finally have leadership committed to the business not motorcycle stunt shows. I see this as a year we can grow, expand, and catch up to the promises failed by previous administrations. I am for once very excited knowing I may get to continue doing what I love, with people who's company I enjoy, and customers that are thankful to have my support. I am honestly upset that he would make acusations of a slanderous nature towards technicians who worked through christmas and new years without pay to keep this company going in a time of turmoil.

I do not know all the ramifications of all of Brad's actions. I do not know what he did or did not do for the company outside my own scope of observation. I can say my fellow employees have worked very hard at doing what they can to make people happy, to make things right, and to keep this company going. I can say that I have seen little effort from brad to make it a better company. I can say I saw him take trips with his motorcycle team, spend a lot of effort, resources, and (I assume because motorcylces are not cheap) money on that endeavor while leaving us to wonder when our next paycheck will cash. I can say from my own experience I was often shorted or delayed on pay. I do not know if he treated everyone else as such, I can only make assumptions and guesses that he treated others as he did me. I will try my best to share only what I have experienced and leave out the personal gripes I might have.

I also would like to note, that if his statements are true, then why would he be here sabatoging his own company. If his alegations are true, he would want the company to survive and do well for his own benefit. I conjecture this is only a last ditch petty effort to "stab" the people who have given him their loyalty over the years only to be repaid by getting short changed, left unpaid, and abandoned.

On a completely side note, If this statement is true:

"My new company is already up and running but I can't post it here yet as I am sure Craig and others are lurking around here reading this. But it's 100x better then vortech already."


then why does "warpedtoys.com" resolve to : 174.133.143.98

which anyone who cares to look it up:


OrgName: ThePlanet.com Internet Services, Inc.
OrgID: TPCM
Address: 315 Capitol
Address: Suite 205
City: Houston
StateProv: TX
PostalCode: 77002
Country: US

NetRange: 174.132.0.0 - 174.133.255.255
CIDR: 174.132.0.0/15
OriginAS: AS13749, AS21844, AS30315, AS36420
NetName: NETBLK-THEPLANET-BLK-15
NetHandle: NET-174-132-0-0-1
Parent: NET-174-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.THEPLANET.COM
NameServer: NS2.THEPLANET.COM
Comment:
RegDate: 2008-06-17
Updated: 2008-06-17

RAbuseHandle: ABUSE271-ARIN
RAbuseName: The Planet Abuse
RAbusePhone: +1-281-714-3560
RAbuseEmail: abuse@theplanet.com


I guess already having your own "new" hosting company up and running isn't entirely true, or maybe you still decide to pay others for your own pet website instead of hosting it yourself!
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I should also append my later post for those who may be worried :::


We have no intention of closing the company. We plan to keep it going, start re-investing funds into it as we just saw the release of two EXTREMELY over paid employees (Brad and his Wife) We will finally have the capital and support to improve and grow as a company. This put some of us who's hands were tied by those above back into a position where we can improve.

In the last few days, many of us who were very limited before were granted access to help customers more than we ever could. Under Craig's leadership we've been given far more ability to make people happy, adjust to customers needs and help them to a much more in depth degree. I believe in all honesty this was the best thing for the company. I staked my job and well being on it, even through threats hinting of violence from the former CEO. I am glad to see him gone, if this is his last ditch effort to ruin something he supposedly cared so much about, then I'm glad to see him get it over with. I welcome a new year with paychecks on time, bills up to date, and service improvements. I'm actually very excited to be part of "ground floor" renovations!


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I hope that clears it up for anyone who is concerned. Feel free to submit a ticket (customers) or call the NEW 800 number if you need more information.

I still cannot believe the same mouth who claims to care about a company so much, and supposedly worked so hard, would stoop to this level in a pathetic attempt to destroy it.

Confused.

I hate when company owners throw their personal baggage in a public forum, doesn't make them or the company look any better.

Confused.

I hate when company owners throw their personal baggage in a public forum, doesn't make them or the company look any better.

Indeed. In fact, the result is that I (and I am sure many others) will in the future shy away from hosting companies whose names contain Vortech because of the association with this charade.

You're going to avoid a company that is currently working on fixing everything? I'm sorry you feel that way, but in no time everything at Vortech will be like it should have been for the past year.

Indeed. In fact, the result is that I (and I am sure many others) will in the future shy away from hosting companies whose names contain Vortech because of the association with this charade.

Then People like him win. That was obviously his goal. As a FORMER employee he wanted out of spite to try everything he could to ruin it. I think he has it set in his head if he ruins the company suddenly the wrongs he has done will disappear. I hope you would not fall victim to his charade. I would urge you to give us a chance to purge the bad from our ranks, then consider us regardless of the ill fated efforts of one would be saboteur.

Dan, unfortunately drama like this really scares people away, even if the problem is adequately resolved.

It may sound stupid, but with tens of thousands of other Web hosts to choose from, 99% of hosting shoppers won't be able to justify the purchase of hosting from a company with a black mark such as this.

That doesn't mean it's an impossible issue to overcome: RegisterFly is still around, though only a tiny thing compared to the size it once was.

Dan,

To take what TSO said, this ---- drives away future customers as they to think or believe if they pay for a service for a provider, that provider will be around next week and won't disappear.

Airing your dirty laundry from a Ex employee or CEO (whichever) stating you got extreme costs to pay as this CEO took money and didn't pay bill causing service (if it hasn't already) to be interupped, i'll pass you for a stable more bigger company.

If this is going to be a law occurance also based on whats said, i dunno if i'd be your client in the future. This ---- is best be handled off public forum so you don't want your name tarnished by he said/she said.

You all are right, this is silly, I will not be posting anything further and I wish for the best of Brad and his family in the future.