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Scam or legit? This 'datacenter' is just a garage

General Discussion by HeadRich 25 replies 1.9K views
HeadRich

Member OP

128GB or nothing

4 #1

Went to "a provider I won't name yet Premium Facilities" in Los Angeles last week. Address checked out on their site. I was evaluating colo for a 2U box.

What I found: suburban house, three-car garage, window AC unit rattling, one rack visible through open door. Guy in t-shirt answered. Claimed "we are expanding to suite B soon."

I asked about power. "20A circuit, shared with house." I asked about cooling. "We have redundant units." Pointed at two window units. I asked about bandwidth. "1 Gbps fiber, very fast."

I did not ask about RAM. There was no RAM to ask about. Just a garage with a single 42U and a dehumidifier.

Took photos. Left. Filed chargeback yesterday — they had billed me $400 "setup fee" before I even shipped. Card company sided with me in 48 hours.

Posting red flags I missed. Add yours.

  • No video tour offered, only photos
  • Address matches residential on Google Street View (I checked after, not before — my fault)
  • ARIN WHOIS for their /24 shows reassignment from residential cable ISP
  • No ASN of their own
  • Terms of service hosted on Google Sites
  • Support answers in minutes at 2 AM but takes days at 2 PM

But how much RAM? Not enough. Never enough.

rustyrack_grag

Member

3 #2
HeadRich said:
Terms of service hosted on Google Sites

That alone is disqualifying. A legitimate provider maintains their own domain for legal documents. It is a matter of accountability.

Additional red flags from my experience:

  • No mention of SSAE 18, ISO 27001, or even a self-assessed checklist
  • IP reputation shows residential ASN allocation, as you discovered
  • No peeringdb entry for the claimed ASN
  • Billing requires wire transfer or cryptocurrency only

I would note that their Terms of Service, such as they are, likely contain a venue clause in a jurisdiction with no consumer protection. I have seen this pattern before.

R.R.

if it ain't broke, rust it
Doug

Member

New Jersey

#3

Shared with the house? I'd have walked right there

grabs popcorn, checks /r/drama
GU

Member

#4

So the real HostHatch is legit, this was someone using their name? Or a reseller gone rogue?

HeadRich

Member OP

128GB or nothing

#5
Guru18 said:
Real HostHatch

No no. This IS HostHatch. I checked my invoice, matched the LLC name. Their "Los Angeles" location on the website. Not a reseller. The actual company.

I have VPS with them in Singapore, works fine. Did not expect this for colo.

Doug

Member

New Jersey

4 #6
HeadRich said:
Matched the LLC name

That's wild. I've got a storage VPS with them in Chicago, never had issues. But colo is a different beast. Maybe they're running the VPS side out of Equinix or whatever and trying to bootstrap colo on the cheap?

grabs popcorn, checks /r/drama
YU

Member

#7

I have VPS in their Istanbul location, stable for two years. But Istanbul is not on their colo page, only VPS. Maybe they rent rack in Marsis or something real there, but LA they tried to self-build and failed?

techmei

Member

8 #8
rustyrack_grag said:
Residential ASN allocation

Can confirm, just looked up the IP I get from their Hong Kong VPS. ASN belongs to AS14061 DigitalOcean. They are renting from DO or similar, not their own network.

The garage in LA is probably them trying to cut out the middleman and failing.

rustyrack_grag

Member

6 #9
techmei said:
AS14061 DigitalOcean

Correct. This is standard for budget VPS. The difference is that VPS customers rarely visit the facility. Colocation customers do. HostHatch — https://hosthatch.com — has been exposed by their own ambition.

I would add: their price list shows $400 setup for colocation. Real datacenters often waive this or itemize it. $400 for "setup" in a garage is fantasy.

if it ain't broke, rust it
PA

Member

#10

Following.

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