| Posted by Sanj, 07-01-2005, 05:58 PM | | This is going to be the oddest story you hear,...
Having hosted my reseller account with ******* (no bad mouthing just yet as we are not yet done),...for 2 years or so,..my credit card expires,...and so the following invoice bounces.
I get an e-mail informing me that I need to correct the situation. So I try to sign into Worldpay,..none of my passwords work.
I tell the hosting provider,..Worldpay does not work,..can we setup the payment again. He agrees,..and all is well,...except taht before i have a chance to actually setup the payment,..the host suspends my account. What happens next,..you will not believe!
Now,..in summary:
1. I failed to pay an invoice on time,..but have paid every invoice to date on time. The problem, was a technical difficulty,.in that my credit card expired,..not through me wanting to avoid paying.
2. The account was suspended,....GET THIS,.....only 2 weeks after the invoice was due,..and they knew that I had technical problems.
3. So they suspend my account,..I work with them that evening to get it resolved and paid,..and make some smartass comments cause I was mad at them,..but GET THIS,....they're forcing me to move my accounts to another host in the next 7 days.
So, what I need from you folks is,...Should a host be allowed to play God in this fashion with YOUR business? If I had only a few customers,.it may be possible to move them,..but they could KILL my business. Is this acceptable.
I would like your opinions,...on how I should tackle this host,..
I sent the following e-mail.
"I have not resigned my account as yet,..
Are you terminating your service offering to me?
I need more time than a few days to get another host organised,...this is not the only thing that I do!
Thanks"
Am awaiting their reply?
What's your take folks?
With so many hosts fighting for our business,.I would have thought that courtesy would be the name of the game.
Depending on outcome,..I shall post the entire conversation,....for you to mull over. For now,..any opinions would be nice.
|
| Posted by samdax, 07-01-2005, 06:23 PM | | after two years ...
you deserve at least free months to get another provider.
but you can move all your account for 7 days without any problem
many of new providers will assist you with moving and you can setup all account during weekend time (no phone calls from anoying customers)
sometimes you have to do what you have to do
|
| Posted by tikal, 07-01-2005, 07:25 PM | | Sounds like they must be so successful the can afford to get rid of customers who incur the slightest problem with account payments, even after the arrears are paid. Strange business practices ?
If you want a good reseller account try clook, I've never had a problem with them and they're very helpful when it come to dealing with problems. They also have their own forum for their customer.
|
| Posted by Sanj, 07-01-2005, 08:11 PM | | Thanks for the comments so far.
Hosting companies will read this,..and those that want to be around in 2/3/4/10 years time will snatch customers in any way they can. Customer Service has to be KEY. I cannot believe for one minute that in the internet age, you can "afford" to lose customers. I'll review again tomorrow and will be glad to hear from a hosting company that thinks what has happened above to me was a little OTT. Also, if you can help me move my accounts,..I don't have many,..it's all mainly for fun at the moment.
I'm also a low support customer in that I don't use even half the space I have,..and have made at best probably 10 support tickets during the life of my plan. I am your ideal customer.
Had I operated my account for the next 10 years as I have done in the past 2,...that's 12k in the bank for someone for not doing very much,..1000 accounts like that and we're looking at 12,000,000. What am I missing?
|
| Posted by Sanj, 07-01-2005, 08:20 PM | | By the way,..to my question:
"I have not resigned my account as yet,..
Are you terminating your service offering to me?
I need more time than a few days to get another host organised,...this is not the only thing that I do!
Thanks"
still no response from this famed company with the 2/3 minute response times,..which I do not dispute. It's their handling. I don't think anyone should be bullied into moving their hosting. I have a mainstream revenue that these people cannot affect, but what of the others? What if I was a small business? Will update you tomorrow.
Ciao for now.
|
| Posted by jd123, 07-02-2005, 01:32 AM | | I'd love to know who the hosting company is!
|
| Posted by Sanj, 07-02-2005, 07:40 AM | | It's CLOOK!
You wanna see the exchange that we had on the ticket. It's embarassing. Jim seems like he's a teenager who gets bullied at school so makes up for it by playing GOD with his customers.
Jim,..I still don' know whether I can keep my hosting long enough to transfer my sites,...what do you say GOD? Can I pleeeease,..pretty please.
|
| Posted by CybexHost, 07-02-2005, 11:02 AM | | Although many not fancy these kinds of actions, it's always useful to review the Terms of Service before signing up.
The language in these documents can often be eye opening.
|
| Posted by phpcoder, 07-03-2005, 12:11 AM | | Personally I think he is a robot that can do anything and everything but we can argue about that later
|
| Posted by Jim_UK, 07-03-2005, 10:30 PM | | I have actually been away since Friday and have only returned this evening to find this post as a reaction to me not replying to an email sent to my personal address that is yet to come as I go through the ones waiting for me. You will get a reply but please allow a little time.
May I remind you that we're a hosting provider, not somewhere for you to practice insults and threatening behaviour. We're always happy to help our customers but when things get personal after being asked to keep things civil that's where I draw the line. In addition, we can help if you need extra time for invoices but you'll need to tell us (and I'm afraid this won't extend to your previous host comparison of three months with no payment before the account is suspended).
I have received your apology email and as mentioned, I will get a reply to you asap.
|
| Posted by bqinternet, 07-04-2005, 12:18 AM | | This sounds fairly commonplace to me.
You're lucky they gave you 2 weeks. 2 weeks is pretty standard, but many hosts will cut you off after a matter of days. There is nothing unusual about a 2 week grace period.
Then don't make smartass comments
I really don't see a problem here. For whatever reason, regardless of whether or not you have an excuse, you didn't pay your bill, and you got your account suspended. When you talked to the host, you were rude, and they asked you to leave.
It's pretty cut and dry, and I don't blame the host.
|
| Posted by Sanj, 07-04-2005, 05:14 AM | | Thanks for you replies,..
It's fairly eye-opening to me,..I have implemented dunning at many companies and have never come across such a short dunning period for customers.
I accept that it's my fault as it is in the terms and conditions and in hindsight, if 100 people are late in paying a small vendor, it gets problematic for the vendor.
So I apologise to Clook and to Jim for my wayward comments.
|
| Posted by jmweb, 07-04-2005, 07:15 AM | | Agreed.
|
| Posted by Sanj, 07-05-2005, 06:06 AM | | Personally, I want the following:
WEB HOSTING CHARTER (Draft)
- Real SLA's advertised that are stuck by (e.g 99.99% when it's really 95% shoudl be restated to 95%)
- Packages advertised that are real (i.e Unlimited this,.unlimited that,..yet when you start to use it,..bang,.your're suspened)
- Hosters NOT abusing their powers, and asking you to leave without reasonable notice. If you want me to leave, give me the time to leave. I propose one month at a minimum to migrate my business to another host. Having spent a couple of years at a host, a lot of time has been spent on my part getting things just right,..and migration is not a simple thing. Why should I be sitting there afraid to speak up against bad service or something I disagree with for fear of being kicked off by the host without adequate time to migrate.
- Freedom of speech,..I thought this was covered many years but evidently not. If I have a complaint, I want to be able to complain in the forums without getting shot down and asked to leave. This is a BASIC RIGHT. I saw another post about Clook here. That guy complained. I believe he too was forced to leave. There's a name for that,....
These boards it seems are managed/moderated/controlled by hosting companies. BUYER BEWARE.
IF YOU ARE A CONSUMER OF HOSTING SERVICES,..REPLY WITH AN AGREE IF YOU AGREE TO THE ABOVE CHARTER. That way, we can have a "Web Hosting Charter" that defines what WE THE CUSTOMER WANTS and find/use only companies that have agreed with the charter.
If no-one cares for it,..don't bother replying,...but if you do,..please reply with a "AGREE".
|
|
 Add to Favourites
 Print this Article
|
