| Posted by leeware, 08-06-2007, 06:40 AM | |
I am opening this thread as a place to answer questions regarding a notice that was sent to all active subscribers on yesterday. I am posting the full text of the message here:
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
YOU HAVE UNTIL 08/15/2007 TO BACKUP YOUR STUFF AND FIND ANOTHER PROVIDER
I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE FOR THE HARDSHIP THIS ANNOUNCEMENT HAS CAUSED YOU.
IF YOU HAVE A SUBSCRIPTION THAT EXTENDS BEYOND 08/15/2007 I CAN REFUND
YOU THE UNUSED DAYS. CUSTOMERS ON THE TZ SERIES OF VMS YOUR SERVICE WILL
CONTINUE AND YOU CAN IGNORE THIS NOTICE FOR CUSTOMERS NEEDING MORE TIME,
THE SERVERS CAN REMAIN CONNECTED UNTIL 08/19/2007 BUT NO LATER, AS I HAVE
TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO HAVE THE SYSTEM REMOVED FROM THE DATACENTER
AND THAT COULD TAKE SEVERAL DAYS.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
After careful consideration and analysis I have decided to discontinue LeeWare Development UVM Service. The Service is debt free. However, as the owner and operator of this service it has been a lost investment. While I can technically continue the service, I think that it is best If I cut my losses sooner than later. There have been many successes and also some
failures.
In terms of success, I came to the VM market about 2 years late, built and
name for myself and established a niche product offering. I completely
capitalized on the good-value-for-the money aspect VM service hosting. I
invested heavily in this area and established business relationships that
while risky, were the right ones for my particular service offerings. I
saw continued growth through every quarter of each year I've been operating the service. There are many other successes however, those are not as important as the failures.
Let's cover some of the failures, the objective of any investment is to make a return on that investment there are several ways to accomplish this, there are also serveral risks associated with particular types of investments which result in negative returns.
While I was aware of risk associated with each factor, I failed to appreciate the costs associated with correcting what turned out to be bad decisions with obvious consequences.
The primary failures are:
1. Failure to establish contractual relationships with vendors so that the
costs of service could be fixed for predetermined lengths of time.
2. Investing heavily in a large infrastructure with little or no control of the auxiliary costs of the service infrastructure. (See #1)
3. Building and maintaining too much capacity for long periods of times before I had the business to support the infrastructure so that I could get volume pricing.
The business eventually came, I had 200% growth in the first
quarter of this year. Which required additional expansion and capital
investment.
4. The decision not to pass increased costs onto existing subscribers and
carry them at a loss for long periods of time.
5. Failing to react in a timely manner to developments which threatened the long-term viability of the service. (See #1-4)
============================
Lee Evans, Owner/Operator
LeeWare Development
|
| Posted by Dougy, 08-06-2007, 06:43 AM | |
Sorry to hear Lee!
|
| Posted by leeware, 08-06-2007, 08:26 AM | |
To all subscribers:
First of all, thanks for all of the kind words of support and understanding. Let me make a few claifications that I hope will help everyone understand the full status of the service and to answer some of the most common questions I've received so far.
1.0 The first thing I did, was stop the automatic billing. I wanted to make sure that no one was charged again for service.
2.0 The second thing I did, was send a notice explaining what was going on. This notice was prepared before I stopped the billing and went out shortly afterwards.
3.0 My first plan was to raise the prices of the VMs thus the new prices listed on the website. However, I've been in this situation before, and I just hiked the prices in April of this year. In June, I eliminated some plans. In July, I dropped some clients and forced upgrades on others. However, as indicated in the notice I realized that the problem I was trying to resolve will not be fixed through internal reorganization.
Since I settled all of the financial debt of the service. I decided that I should just pull the plug because I've been trying to correct these problems for almost a year. The fact that I've made little progress on this front coupled with the fact that I can't fix it without spending thousands more. Made my only viable option clear.
4.0 What is the TZ Series and why will the service continue there?
The UVM Service (Unmanaged Virtual Machines) is based on XEN a while back I partnered with some technology providers who provide back-end services for LeeWare. The purpose of this partnership, was to help me to offer my clients more options these VMs are based on OpenVZ.
4.1 see: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...hlight=leeware
4.2 Subscribers who have been customers of both services i.e. UVM VPSXXX series and then the TZ Series might have had their subscriptions cancelled inadvertently this is because your information was included in the UVM database table that was submitted as part of the batch cancellation process. There will be no disruption of service for TZ series subscribers. However, those subscribers should create new subscription and I will issue overpayment credits.
5.0 Migration Path for UVM VPS series To TZ Series:
Due to my relationship outlined in 4.0 customers will have to subscribe to the TZ series just like they would if they were going with a new provider. I am the administrative contact and billing entity for the service but that's it. The best way to do this is to subscribe get your new VM setup and move your stuff.
6.0 Over Payment Credits:
6.1 Most of the customers who have contacted me already have taken the correct action of sending me the information I need i.e. renewal dates etc so that I can issue over payment credits that is, credit for subscriptions that span beyond the scheduled shutdown date.
6.2 Customer who require overpayment for refunds should formally request this via email. I will not retroactively refund payments for services rendered.
6.3 The only customers that qualify for retroactive refunds, are those that wish to stop using the service immediately but signed up in August i.e. (within the last 5 days)
6.2 For people who have subscriptions that expire or were set to renew between now and the shutdown date. Your VMs will remain online until the shutdown date (please use this free time to migrate your data and applications.)
6.4 Auto Payment -Going forward
In the rare event that the batch cancellation process failed to cancel all of the active subscriptions, any subscriptions that end up going through will be cancelled and refunds issued.
6.5 Manual Payments -
If you send in manual payments, don't send anymore! (I'll have to return your money.)
7.0 Are you leaving the business:
LeeWare Development has existed since about 1990. I've done everything from software development to hosted services. In the short term I've been planning for entry into a different segment of the market moving up the food chain perhaps. Obviously, if I do this, I will need to reduce my risks/vulnerabilities, establish better benchmarks for shorter ROI and longterm agility.
8.0 Selling my Customer List:
I considered selling the customers but that was never the objective. One of my most valued success is building a brand name for myself. I would like to continue that effort. I feel that I had to earn or burn the business of every individual that used my service over the years. I don't think any amount of money is worth the investment in personal energy and planning put into that effort. This is not the same as leaving my former customers without options. Just like I out lived many of my competitors and gained from their failures the same will be true in my failure. But just like I had to earn the business of my customers my competitors will have to do the same.
9.0 Thank You - A Personal Message to Each Subscriber
Even through my relationship with each of you was professional and not personal, being a human being I can't help but feel some since of mourning over this aburpt parting of ways. I would like to thank each person that offered a kind word it is much appreciated. I would like to thank each subscriber for giving me an opportunity to serve you and I hope that I will have an opportunity to earn your business in the future.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
===========================
Lee Evans, Owner/Operator
LeeWare Development UVM Service
http://www.leeware.com
|
| Posted by qopit, 08-06-2007, 10:41 AM | |
I definitely have to say that I'm sad to see leeware go... I used my vps entirely for personal/hobby reasons (personal wiki, svn server, etc) and the service offered was excellent. I had the super-secret-wht-only VPS400... the connection was great, and Lee would always respond promptly (if tersely!) to any issues... for example: when initially configuring my server I needed some SUSE CDs (repeatedly) mounted and he would do it for me quite quickly... sometimes in minutes if he was there, but always within a day. Considering it was an unmanaged server I was quite pleased.
I spent a long time looking for a good value VPS with 256 MB RAM and decent storage, and had considered leeware to be an excellent and unmatched find. Now I just have to try and find another! Hours of looking and there clearly aren't very many candidates out there that can match the value leeware offered for a hobbiest like myself.
Thanks Lee, and good luck with whatever you do.
|
| Posted by GPearce, 08-06-2007, 01:45 PM | |
Sounds like a good company. Sad to say i missed its offers, and now wont get the chance.
Suggestion though - why not sell the clients?
|
| Posted by leeware, 08-06-2007, 01:59 PM | |
The Answer to this question is outlined in item 8.0
|
| Posted by CNSERVERS, 08-07-2007, 12:57 AM | |
I have sent a refund request since I have only signed up for two days. When will you start processing refunds?
|
| Posted by Mxhub, 08-07-2007, 02:19 AM | |
Lee is a responsible guy! *Thumb UP*
I am expecting the next big thing coming from you in the future.
|
| Posted by Saiboogu, 08-07-2007, 09:21 AM | |
@qserver - As a long time customer I have no doubt that Lee will get your refund issued as soon as he's able - I'm sure his inbox is overflowing right about now.
@Lee -- The "technology provider" you partnered with for the TZ series -- Do they offer VPS services to individuals? If they met your standards, I'm sure some of your former customers will be interested. I already purchased other hosting because I have a good sized forum to move, but if I saw another good offer out there I might change. Like others said above, it's been tough finding something comparable to the price and features we got with Leeware.
Thanks for a few great years of hosting - good luck with whatever you do next!
|
| Posted by qopit, 08-07-2007, 07:27 PM | |
For what it's worth, I spent a very long time looking for an alternative to leeware with similar value. Hours of searching did not yield much even close to leeware as far as value for $$, but in case it helps any other leeware refugees, I've ended up signing up with bigvps. I needed 256 MB RAM and have gone from the leeware vps400 to the bigvps 256 MB account. No verdict whatsoever on the quality of service yet, but if the responsiveness of Ray Barnes is any indication, it looks like it will have been a good move.
|
| Posted by Saiboogu, 08-07-2007, 09:28 PM | |
Thanks for that tip qopit -- Looks better than my deal with PowerVPS, and they're in a better geographic location for my forum members. I'll second the comment that Ray was very responsive, hopefully the VPS service matches.
|
| Posted by leeware, 08-07-2007, 09:58 PM | |
For customers that have been asking the TZ plans are available here:
http://www.leeware.com/tz100.html
http://www.leeware.com/tz200.html
http://www.leeware.com/tz300.html
MODS: feel free to remove this if it is not appropriate.
Last edited by leeware; 08-07-2007 at 09:58 PM.
Reason: added notes
|
| Posted by tical, 08-08-2007, 07:16 PM | |
Gentlemen, thank you for the plug.
Conversely, i'm also going to give one to Lee. I must say that my encounters with Lee on this forum have been nothing short of professional. Per the rules of this forum, I can't recommend Lee's services without having been a customer, although hopefully anyone who finds Lee's TZ services to be within their budget would stay on board.
Good luck once again in your future endeavors Lee.
|
| Posted by leeware, 08-12-2007, 09:38 PM | |
Addendum to the original notice:
Dear VM Owner,
At the beginning of the month a notice was sent to all active subscribers of the the UVM service informing them that the service was scheduled to go dark on 08/15/2007. The billing for the service was stopped at that time. Therefore, customers who had renewal dates for periods beyond the 08/05/2007 have been receiving free service. This free service period was is intended to allow customers the opportunity to make other arrangements for hosting.
I am the billing / management entity for the TZ series (OpenVZ) product offerings. If you need service immediately you should subscribe here:
http://www.leeware.com/tz100.html
http://www.leeware.com/tz200.html
http://www.leeware.com/tz300.html
Many have taken advantage of this opportunity and many others have not. I realize that this could be due to spam filters or other issues beyond my control like outdated contact information or the failure of a reseller of the service to notify end users. However, at a minimum, subscribers to the service should have received a notice from paypal when the subscriptions were cancelled. One copy is sent to the customer and one to the provider. Many customers for whom I was unable to reach via other means contacted me as a result of the billing changes and were made aware of the situation.
I realize that many other people will be surprised by the system collapse.
This is unfortunate and beyond my control. I want to remind those that will be that I am under no obligation to do any work to receover or make available data once the systems are taken offline. It is the responsibility of each customer to maintain proper backups. See TOS/AUP #8 http://www.leeware.com/customer.html Normal data recovery fees apply.
As for the future of the UVM service, for months now I've been formulating plans for a new service offering different from anything seen before. but just like with my impact on the VPS market, I plan to continue this tradition but under more favorable circumstances. If everything works according to plan the release date will be the last quarter of 2007.
Again, I apologize for the hardship this will cause and I hope that I can earn your business in the future.
Lee Evans, Owner/Operator
LeeWare Development UVM Service
http://www.leeware.com
|
| Posted by WirralNet Matt, 08-17-2007, 10:39 PM | |
Im sorry to see this particular venture hasnt worked out as you would have liked Lee, although it hasnt been a failiure from the looks of things.
Im sure you will back with a new offering, and your honesty and thorough explanation and fairness in this scenario will undoubtedly carry on the good and honest reputation you have built up within the industy.
I have never been a customer of you, but I have seen many offerings over the last year or so, and many customers feedback.
I wish you the best in the future friend and hopefully we will see you back and better then ever soon!
|
|
 Add to Favourites
 Print this Article
|
