Most people thought that the dot com bubble had burst and for a while I could probably agree, but now they are definitely a viable source for people to make money on since users are becoming more and more open to purchasing online. There is Amazon and the other giants behind them that were always going to manage to pay their way through it. However, a company in the UK is one that I have been most impressed with is Dabs.com. The stringency of their security checks before a purchase is made is impressive and I do wish that other companies would do the same. At the moment, it would be quite easy to use someone elses credit card for an online purchase and have it delivered to another address with the invoice with it so that the unsuspecting owner only finds out when the bill comes.

With Dabs the first delivery has to be to the home address, they will phone you up to confirm who you are and if using a mobile phone number as proof it has to be under that purchasers name at the same address. There's even a 3 digit code I had to give that exists on the back of the card so if a petrol station person or whoever has got hold of a unblanked receipt, they still cannot use it.

What is great though is that I only had to put this information in once and now it is stored so I don't have to go through the process ever again. There may still be obvious flaws, but its a darn site more comforting than thinking you are open to others ripping you off.

Here's a link where I got the idea for commenting on this:

http://msn.com.com/2100-1107-998161.html

I think that explains everything about the 'dot-com bust' in just 2 sentences.

Sadly, I STILL see this happening all around me, believe it or not. BAD public relations, bad customer relations and absolutely NO logic and business sense!

Here, take a look at this classic example of how to run your business to the ground in just one thread:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...hreadid=130298

The real eye-opener for me was this excerpt off one of the post there by a senior representative of the company:


Even if it were somewhat 'true', I wouldn't be caught saying that, let alone posting it on a public forum like that

__________________
J de Silva
Learning Journal | GIDForums™ | GIDNetwork™ | GIDWebhosts™ | GIDSearch™

I read that thread you posted to about page 5 and then I couldn't take it anymore. That guy was the epitomy of bad customer support wasn't he. I was surprised of all the things he said they didn't pick up on what you quoted as they could have really nailed and proved him wrong with that one.

The strange thing is and very convenient for burst.net is that you didn't really know who wrote that message. Its all shrouded in mystery like I've never seen.

I am sorry Rob, but I think this might not be on-topic anymore... but I just had to post about this company yet again...

http://forum.burst.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=682

Now, they've resorted to deleting posts and complains by their valued customers (NOT!) from their own boards!

Just incase they delete the entire thread, here's at least one poignant plea from (what must be a small-fry) customer of burst.net:

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J de Silva
Learning Journal | GIDForums™ | GIDNetwork™ | GIDWebhosts™ | GIDSearch™

So these are the ba$tards who own this node...

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Div why are you so annoyed at them? For the right reason I'm sure, but I'd be interested if you elaborate

I have seen it in some of my error logs...script kiddie type of stuff. I remember because I thought the node name was kinda strange. I have also gotten spam from this node name ... (when I was getting the odd spam email a while ago, I'd do some work to figure out where it came from. Now that I get ~10-20 per day on one of my accounts, I am just thankful of my spam rules.)

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Maybe we should send them to Virginia:

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Business/...0429_1346.html

It only took them 825 million spam mails to arrest this guy:

http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/2206311