I came across this post today:
I read everything carefully. Thank you to the original poster for taking the time to organize these concerns. Regardless of anything else, being willing to write them out is itself a form of care. I’ll respond to them one by one below:
1. Regarding the terms “payment is a sponsorship, and the machine is a gift”
The reason for these terms is simple: UlziX is currently operated by me personally, and the company registration process has not yet been completed. To avoid legal risks related to “sales activities” (such as tax and compliance issues), we use the wording “sponsorship” and “gift.” The purpose is essentially to mitigate my personal legal risks, not to shirk after-sales responsibility. However, I also understand that, from a user’s perspective, these words naturally give the impression that we “don’t want to take responsibility.” In the future, I’ll consider improving the wording so that, without increasing legal risks, the terms are clearer and more closely reflect the actual service relationship. As for how we handle things in practice—as long as an instance has been properly activated, we will deal with any problems that arise.
2. Regarding “upstream issues”
I need to clarify one point: we have never simply “passed” users on to our upstream providers and left them to fend for themselves. Whenever an upstream failure occurs, our process is: confirm the issue → move the user to an available region → ensure that the instance returns to normal. Paid users are given priority, but free and giveaway machines are handled in the same way. In general, we have not left users waiting indefinitely for the upstream provider to fix the issue. I agree with the post’s view that “upstream risks should not be borne by customers.” Going forward, we will make it clearer to users that, regardless of where the problem originates, we are the party primarily responsible, and we will proactively provide updates on the handling progress.
3. Regarding “refunds can only be credited to the account balance”
I won’t avoid this point. At present, we indeed do not support refunds to the original payment method, mainly because we have not integrated the full capabilities of a payment platform and therefore cannot process refunds that way. Many NAT VPS providers use a similar approach, essentially because the profit margins of these low-cost products cannot support complex payment channels. What I can offer is this: after a refund is credited to the balance, users can use it directly to purchase other products (we have currently decided that the original refund configuration and the remaining term before the refund can be retained in full), and the balance remains valid indefinitely.
4. Regarding “the website being unavailable multiple times and being redesigned”
In fact, from its early days until now, UlziX has experienced only two genuine service interruptions:
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Early on, during an upgrade of the Mofang architecture, we migrated from the old site to the new one and switched hosts. The site was indeed unavailable for a period.
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The second time was when a large number of users flooded into the free Hong Kong region, causing the official site to become temporarily overloaded and the pages to lag, though it remained usable.
Other than that, after the migration of the new official site was completed, there have been no access interruptions caused by technical failures. The post mentions “switching to another domain and then notifying users by email.” I’m not entirely sure which specific incident this refers to. The original domain automatically redirects to the new one. If there is a specific example, please point it out and I can investigate it accordingly.
5. Regarding “giveaway machines are advertising”
I won’t deny this point—whether through forum giveaways or free distributions, there is indeed a promotional purpose. But I want to say this: using free machines to attract attention does not in itself mean “lure people in first and worry about the rest later.” Our free and giveaway machines that have already been activated support migration, region changes, and compensation if problems arise. If we only handed them out and did nothing to keep them running, then yes, that would simply be advertising. But if they remain usable after being distributed and someone handles problems when they occur, then it cannot be fully summed up by the word “advertising.” The post mentions that “free machines are unstable.” This was already stated in the event description: the free resource pool uses a first-come, first-served model and does not guarantee performance. Also, wasn’t the upstream provider switched to a paid one yesterday? It should be more stable now.
A few final words
UlziX is not a perfect platform. I handle operations, technology, and after-sales support by myself, so there are indeed many oversights. But “deliberately taking advantage of users” is not my goal—I was a user myself, and I know how frustrating it feels to pay money and still be treated poorly. We simply have too many tickets and tasks, so we can only prioritize paid users, while free users may have to wait a little longer and be handled during less busy periods.
If the original poster or any user has a specific issue that needs to be addressed, you can reply directly to this post or contact us through a support ticket. I’ll handle it as soon as I see it. Thank you to everyone willing to take the time to provide feedback.
–This post was polished by AI and fully represents UlziX’s views
