Meridian pair back with big promises

By ADAM GIFFORD

The pair behind an Auckland internet service provider which pulled the plug on hundreds of customers and went into liquidation have resurfaced with another ISP, PrimeHost.

Dale McIsaac and Matthew Betts were directors of Meridian Internet, which closed in December 1999.

At the time, Mr McIsaac told the Business Herald they stopped trading because Telecom's 0867 strategy made it uneconomic to carry on.

Meridian Internet Technology, wholly owned by Mr McIsaac, was put into liquidation last April 27.

Infinity Internet, jointly owned by Mr McIsaac and Mr Betts, went into liquidation on August 10 on the application of Telstra New Zealand, which was owed $59,517.45.

In her report, liquidator Linda Christensen said Infinity acted as a service company to Meridian. Its only assets seemed to be a modem being bought on hire purchase.

The new company, Net Pay, was registered on July 10, with Mr McIsaac owning 51 shares and Mr Betts 49. The company office was given as care of New Lynn lawyer Peter Hoskin, but Mr Hoskin said he had had no contact with the pair since Meridian collapsed.

The PrimeHost site says its technical support centre "is staffed by a team of dedicated professionals delivering high-quality, courteous and prompt monitoring and incident resolution 24 hours per day, seven days per week."

It turns out that technical support is an answering Machine, or you can send e-mail - the same system used by Meridian.

The site is full of expansive claims - PrimeHost is "one of New Zealand's leading web hosting companies" which provides "the best customer care in the industry."

Customer "testimonials" include such gems as: "It is a pleasure to deal with a company that delivers what it advertises, sadly it can be all too rare these days," and "Please accept my warmest adoration for a job well done in a well-managed company."

The testimonials are unsigned and there is no index of hosted sites.



Hosting starts at $19.95 a month for 100Mb of data, with a two-week free trial, no setup fees and a money-back guarantee.

In contrast, 2Day Internet in Auckland charges $15 plus GST a month for a 2Mb site and $100 for a 100Mb site, with a set-up fee. Taranaki-based Web Farm charges $29.95 pus GST for a 50Mb site.

Official Assignee David Hart said there was nothing to stop people registering companies when previous companies were in liquidation.

But if a creditor or the liquidator believes the failure was because of a director's mismanagement, application can be made for a banning order preventing a person from being a director.