Many Hollinet customers have been on a cyber-roller coaster
since the Internet service provider filed for bankruptcy three
months ago, and while most are satisfied with the new service, some
are still wondering if the company will ever truly get back
online.
Many Hollinet customers have been on a cyber-roller coaster since the Internet service provider filed for bankruptcy three months ago, and while most are satisfied with the new service, some are still wondering if the company will ever truly get back online.
Hollinet’s assets were bought at a bankruptcy auction in May, and since then the new owner, James McDonald, said he has been working to get the company back on solid financial ground.
Hollister resident Eileen Dugan, who had been a faithful Hollinet customer since its inception in 1996, switched to Charter Communications for Internet service several days ago because she was unable to get any technical support from Hollinet, she said.
She had never had any problems before the company’s bankruptcy problems began and liked that the company’s local office was always open and a technician was available if she needed help, Dugan said.
About two and a half weeks ago, she began having problems with her e-mail service – she was not able to open mail and not able to send mail out – and since then had not been able to get a live technician on the phone to help her solve the problem, she said.
When Dugan went to the company’s old office on San Felipe Road, she discovered they’d moved and she didn’t have any way of finding where they’d gone, she said.
It was then that she decided to say goodbye to Hollinet.
“It’s too bad, because they were wonderful, friendly, and very helpful… and they were homegrown,” Dugan said. “But you gotta depend on it, you’ve gotta find a voice sometime.”
McDonald said he hasn’t heard of any e-mail problems and said his technical support staff is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
He said he moved the company out of the San Felipe Road location because it was too expensive and was too big an office for what the company needed.
He and his staff are working out of a temporary office in Fremont while he looks for retail space in Hollister, he said.
“We’re looking at some places downtown and in some shopping centers,” McDonald said. “We’re hoping by the end of the year (to be back in Hollister).”
McDonald also owns Sacramento-based company Iamis Information Services and has a 45-member staff – most of whom are working with McDonald on rebuilding Hollinet’s customer database and on other customer-service-related issues.
“I don’t ever expect to get to the point where we sit back and say, ‘It’s finished,'” McDonald said. “But we have more staff and a better financial structure. The company is in far better shape than it ever has been.”
McDonald would not say how many customers Hollinet lost when the company filed for bankruptcy, but the current customer base is “about what we expected,” he said.
Hollister resident Max Sweet, who temporarily lost service several weeks after McDonald took over Hollinet, was so frustrated with the lack of technical support that he almost switched to a different provider after six years with Hollinet, he said.
Now he’s glad he didn’t, because the service is better than it’s ever been, he said.
All of the spam in his e-mail has been cut out and he has no problems with e-mail or logging onto the server, he said.
“I’m very happy,” Sweet said. “And it’s local. I tend to try to shop local every chance I get, and the service is good.”
Hollister resident Anne Alcini, who also had some initial problems after the change in ownership, is satisfied with her service but liked having an actual person ready to give technical support at a local location.
“It’s more impersonal, but they’re improving,” she said. “I don’t know where they are – before I could just hop down there… but it seems to be pretty good.”
McDonald said Hollinet will never be the same as it was before because his company is working on steadily improving the service, adding new features, and, above all, doing everything right so Hollinet customers never have to doubt their local ISP again.
When he feels the company is financially ready to move back to Hollister, customers will once again be able to hop in their car and talk face to face with someone about service problems, he said.
“We have to make sure we don’t repeat the mistakes made by the previous owners,” McDonald said. “Our primary focus is having adequate resources to support all our customers – making sure we have the company built up and have enough revenue coming in to support an effective retail presence.”
Hollinet’s recent history
May 5: Owners Darlene Colvin and Brent Olson file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after eight years in business
May 6: Two companies vie to purchase the company – Iamis Information Services out of Antelope, and San Martin-based company South Valley Internet
May 27: Hollinet is auctioned off for $53,000 – Iamis Information Services’ owner James McDonald outbids South Valley Internet co-owner Roy Engehausen by $1,000
June 7: Some Hollinet customers are still upset about their service; new owner James McDonald promises to have service back up and running and better than before soon
Aug. 24: Most Hollinet customers are now satisfied with service, and while Hollinet’s office is currently located in Fremont, McDonald says it should be back in town by the end of the year.
