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UPS batteries swelled, DC says not their problem

Datacenter Talk by wendy 19 replies 2.7K views
lookuppierre

Member

#11

I am administrate servers in Lyon and I have seen this at InterServer also. The contract is always protecting them. In France we have the « loi Hamon » for consumers but for B2B colocation it is different. I think wendy you should ask for the maintenance logs of the UPS. If they have never checked the battery health themselves, they cannot say you should have done it. This is the « bad faith » argument. Also, £800 is very much, I think you should negotiate to 300 or 400. The HostHatch bluff is maybe too strong, but mention you are looking at other DC in Manchester area.

prix fixe infrastructure: €5/mo
pam3

Member

Latency Witch

#12

Melbourne here. I have dealt with Vultr support on latency issues but never colo battery drama. Their cloud support is ticket-based and slow. I would not expect them to be more helpful than your current DC on this. The real question is whether the UPS serial number is on their asset register. If it is, they maintain it. If it is not, you do. Ask for the asset register.

100% packet loss at hop 3
ronwit

Member

Budget King

#13
SamAlvi said:
Get that in writing? No?

In Japan we have the « hōshō » system where verbal promises from sales are sometimes binding if recorded, but UK is different I think~ very sorry for your situation wendy~ at OVHcloud I paid about 15000 yen for the panel damage which is maybe £80? Your £800 seems very high~ maybe ask for itemized invoice~ Kaomoji for moral support~ (｡•́︿•̀｡)

instant noodles, instant deploys
wendy

Member OP

#14

I asked for the asset register and they said "proprietary information." I asked for maintenance logs and they said "tenant equipment is not maintained by DC operations." The sales rep who told me "we maintain the power path" has left the company according to LinkedIn. I am starting to think I should just pay and move on, but £800 plus a new UPS install fee plus my own replacement UPS is going to be over £1200 total.

Have you tried restarting it?
wilmaethqn44

Member

#15

I run a bakery website and this thread is terrifying me. My hosting is just shared hosting at a UK provider. Is this something I need to worry about? I do not even know what a UPS is. Should I ask my host about their batteries?

frames, tables, still valid HTML
PetraSuper

Member

network boot believer

#16
wilmaethqn44 said:
Should I ask my host about their batteries?

No, you are on shared hosting, this is not your problem. The DC problem is for colocation only, where you rent the physical rack. Your bakery website is safe, no worry. Hej.

boot anything, anywhere, anytime
PA

Member

#17

I had similar at a DC in Slough. The trick was to get a third-party rigger in who could cut the batteries out without damaging the rack. Cost me £200 instead of £600 DC quote. The DC was angry about "unauthorized work" but the lease did not actually prohibit it, it just said I was liable for damage. I took photos before and after. Worth checking if your lease has an explicit prohibition on third-party technicians.

wendy

Member OP

#18
paul26 said:
Worth checking if your lease has an explicit prohibition on third-party technicians.

It says "all work on DC premises must be carried out by DC-approved contractors or DC staff." So that route is blocked. I am going to try the negotiation angle. I will offer to sign a 12-month extension in exchange for splitting the cost. If they say no, I will pay and move to Vultr cloud instances instead of colo when the lease ends. I am done with this.

Have you tried restarting it?
tallinnying

Member

Night Shift

#19

Night shift in Tallinn. I have seen this exact scenario at a local DC. The battery swelling is always the tenant's fault for "improper environment" even when the DC controls the environment. It is a standard playbook. Wendy, your extension offer is smart. They want the revenue more than the £800. I would ask for 50/50 split and a written maintenance schedule for the new UPS. Get it in the addendum this time.

builds at 3AM, sleeps at noon
GeorgeNmp

Member

AS64512

4 #20
wendy said:
I will pay and move to Vultr cloud instances instead of colo when the lease ends

Vultr does not do colocation, only cloud and bare metal. If you need actual hardware in a rack, you would need to look elsewhere. Their bare metal is monthly though, no contract, which might suit you better than colo lock-in. Just correcting the record so you do not plan around something that does not exist.

iBGP, eBGP, don't care, just peer

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