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speedykvm.com changed my recurring price without informing me - Page 6
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speedykvm.com changed my recurring price without informing me

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  • WSSWSS Member

    @SpeedyKVM_Ryan said:

    @WSS said:

    @Amitz said:

    @WSS said:

    @SpeedyKVM_Ryan said:
    Thanks for the feedback, we will make the change from 15 days notice to 30 days notice. This client will be notified 30 days prior to service expiring. This should help ease peoples concerns that did not wait for the notification.

    Do it globally, not for "this client".

    I assume he meant all clients. Probably just a typo.

    I want him to acknowledge so.

    This is absolutely for all clients. Globally for all clients this was set for 15 days, it has been changed to 30 days :)

    Great! Thank you.

  • @Nekki said:

    @adamluk said:

    When I took out the car insurance I had no expectation of the price being fixed and simply paid for a years worth of insurance. That does not seem to be the case here, so for all people have been trying to come up with analogies they've somewhat missed the mark as far as I'm concerned.

    To use your car insurance as a example; it doubled in price, so you cancelled. You reasonably, had an expectation that the renewal would be in the ballpark of the previous year, and when it wasn’t you walked away and found a new insurance provider.

    You didn’t (I assume) run around accusing them of being scammer and liars, because nowhere did they guarantee the renewal price.

    You got and guess what - I'm not accusing anyone of being scammers or liars ;)

    I am however pointing out that with the car insurance no expectation was given for a recurring price however that doesn't seem to be the case with this? It seems to have been sold as 'recurring'...although if that isn't the case I'll get my coat?

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider
    edited January 2018

    Well what I take away from this is that this host should simply not be allowed to post offers here.

    The rules are fairly simple, it is recurring pricing, people could probably forgive a small increase ala leaseweb for example (they give notice).

    But not stating the new price on an offer after X period of time and having this sort of attitude just makes you completely incompatible with LET rules.

    You cannot tell me honestly that you believe if you had stated First-year price $36 recurring price $120 that you would have got the sales or as many sales to begin with.

    No one gets to dictate your policy or how many days it should be, but no one will disagree that SOME notice should be given and so far it has been proven that you don't give any actual notice.

    Not that you care I guess, but it is what it is.

  • At least my cable company inform me when there is a plan to change the price instantly. Not when they generated so called invoice.

    Dedicenter/cloudflexy/racksx, A not so well known nor a reputed host inform me and presumably all of their customer when they can't honor their recurring yearly discount next year.

    Any host that won't tell their customer about the price change is BAD host. I think we all can agree with that.

    If a host can send a bulk email about their promotion , there is no reason for them to not sending bulk email about their price increases.

  • adamluk said: You got and guess what - I'm not accusing anyone of being scammers or liars ;)

    I am however pointing out that with the car insurance no expectation was given for a recurring price however that doesn't seem to be the case with this? It seems to have been sold as 'recurring'...although if that isn't the case I'll get my coat?

    What it was sold as...we don't know, because no-one (yet) has found the offer.

    The screenshot provided by the OP indicates that the recurring amount was $16.80, which generates expectation, but as I've said a number of times already, shit changes over a year, so expectations should be managed accordingly.

    I assume that particular field is something that is automatically generated, so could only reflect the intended pricing at the time.

  • We shall say 'Ni' to you again if you do not appease us!

  • I really hope @virmach won't follow speedy KVM foot steps. If there is any price change, of their unsustainable bf deals , let us know. DO NOT PASS that job on a fucking INVOICE.

  • Why not inform clients of the price change the moment the recurring amount is updated within your panel? Why wait until they are almost at the end of their current term?

  • Nekki said: nowhere did they guarantee the renewal price

    While you are correct from a legalese standpoint, my opinion (and I think the angst that this entire thread is about) is that when one sees the term "Recurring Amount", it is reasonable to assume that unless otherwise notified (well in advance, boldly, block print yada yada yada) the renewal price will be the same.

    I don't think I've encountered any other provider that would without notice go and change the recurring amount. In this particular case, without any information/notification to the customer, a "contract" (which is the WHMCS billing entry/section/whatever that shows the contracted price) has been changed when the "reasonable expectation" is that a recurring amount will not change (at least not without sufficient notice/warning).

    At the end of the day, while legally they may be in the right, the spirit is lacking or to paraphrase "Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done."

    In this case I clearly feel that justice was NOT done and until this thread happened, I doubt this would have changed (for the better I hope).

    Thanked by 1geekalot
  • NekkiNekki Veteran
    edited January 2018

    nullnothere said: While you are correct from a legalese standpoint, my opinion (and I think the angst that this entire thread is about) is that when one sees the term "Recurring Amount", it is reasonable to assume that unless otherwise notified (well in advance, boldly, block print yada yada yada) the renewal price will be the same.

    'Reasonable' is the problem.

    I don't disagree that it's a reasonable expectation, but it's also reasonable to expect that things may change over 12 months, and a price point set that far back may not be able to be met in a year's time.

    I personally think it's reasonable that decent notification is made, and that customers don't uncover price hikes (no matter how big or small) themselves without explanation.

    So a question, if I may.

    Clearly Incero have found the old price sustainable. If they whacked out an email to everyone saying 'we can't keep your plans going, you're either going to have to pay double or migrate', would everyone be so angry?

    Thanked by 2hostdare nullnothere
  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider
    edited January 2018

    Nekki said: Clearly Incero have found the old price sustainable. If they whacked out an email to everyone saying 'we can't keep your plans going, you're either going to have to pay double or migrate', would everyone be so angry?

    I expect some people would be, but some people always are :) I would find that perfectly acceptable, at the same time though based on the facts not the opinions, I would not allow them to post anything but monthly offers here for a good long time, the rest of us follow the rules they are not special.

    Unless you know, that's like a minimal rise with justification, but going from $30 ish to over 100 is just not a minor justifiable increase.

    having thought about it a bit, I suspect this was just to deliberately get some low yield customers to move on or turn in to highly profitable ones, so this thread is probably just helping them achieve that i.e. they are 'done' with the LET market I guess.

    But if that is the case, i wish they just had the stones to say it.

    Thanked by 1vimalware
  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @404error said:

    @jarland said:

    . I am the person in leadership here who has a bias in favor of Incero (and not without good reason), and I took zero action here.

    That's what @dbman been saying all along bro. He's just asking for you to keep your bias in check.

    That's not a fair ask, I'm not doing anything. It's obvious in this thread that I'm not.

  • If yearly price change is in general acceptable by the community, why should we keep the rule for yearly plan?

    VPS must not exceed USD$15/year recurring on annual billing, with no setup fee, if the provider has been in business for less than a year, or

    VPS must not exceed USD$48/year recurring on annual billing, with no setup fee, if the provider has been in business for more than a year, or ...

    Isn't it better to remove the recurring requirement, so provider can offer also one time discount on yearly plan?

  • Nekki said: I don't disagree that it's a reasonable expectation, but it's also reasonable to expect that things may change over 12 months, and a price point set that far back may not be able to be met in a year's time.

    Agreed. In every sense, this can be a genuine issue - RAM prices have shot up and so we've got to increase prices. DDoS costs money so pay more. Others, including OVH have had this issue and I think they handled it well giving all around warning and enough time to do your best to lock in at current prices or plan for migration.

    I personally think it's reasonable that decent notification is made, and that customers don't uncover price hikes (no matter how big or small) themselves without explanation.

    This is the key point. As of today (in fact much earlier because this change on the WHMCS has already happened - I don't know when/how long ago), Incero/SpeedyKVM already knows that there will be a (significant) price increase on some/many of their product lines and that there are many customers who are going to be surprised/angry at the 2x-3x increase.

    A note to at least current subscribers of the said service explaining the price hike and when it's going to take effect (along with an explanation of why the hike is happening) would be a fair expectation from a decent provider.

    I remember MailCheap's increase email and I think it was at least well parleyed. Of course people were upset at significant increases but there was a clear communication and explanation and I'd say very good advance notification that prices will be going up.

    I'd want to be with a host that looks out for its customers. Heck, if the customer service was good/great, I'm sure most of us would pay just to support them as well.

    On another note, someone pointed out (unverified?) that you could signup today for the same service at the "old" (presumably "promotional" price). To me that's a stinker. If the costs went up genuinely you should not be able to get the same product at the old price (and this isn't some "already manufactured" biscuit packet that is just sitting around).

    All in all this whole episode leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth and I'd really question the ethics of this.

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    Jebing said: If yearly price change is in general acceptable by the community, why should we keep the rule for yearly plan?

    fair one, or maybe force stipulation at the time of sale for yearly plans rather than having people assume the rules were followed.

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran
    edited January 2018

    @AnthonySmith said:
    Well what I take away from this is that this host should simply not be allowed to post offers here.

    The rules are fairly simple, it is recurring pricing, people could probably forgive a small increase ala leaseweb for example (they give notice).

    But not stating the new price on an offer after X period of time and having this sort of attitude just makes you completely incompatible with LET rules.

    You cannot tell me honestly that you believe if you had stated First-year price $36 recurring price $120 that you would have got the sales or as many sales to begin with.

    No one gets to dictate your policy or how many days it should be, but no one will disagree that SOME notice should be given and so far it has been proven that you don't give any actual notice.

    Not that you care I guess, but it is what it is.

    Am I missing something or was their last offer thread in 2016? I'm not holding any provider accountable for any offer that wasn't made as a discussion post in the offer forum. Is that unfair? I mean, unless they're scamming... As in selling a service and not providing it, running with the money, etc.

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    jarland said: Am I missing something or was their last offer thread in 2016? I'm not holding any provider accountable for any offer that wasn't made as a discussion post in the offer forum. It's that unfair? I mean, unless they're scamming... As in selling a service and not providing it, running with the money, etc.

    That's why I suggested locking the thread until that was established, personally, i would extend that to BF/CM or similar offers made on other threads but that is just me.

    Since then though, they have been fairly transparent that they see nothing wrong with giving no notice of a massive price hike regardless of where the offer is posted, I do see that as a problem.

    I also really do suspect that it was done to get rid of budget customers anyway though so either way mission accomplished :)

    Thanked by 1adamluk
  • @brueggus said:

    My price for renewal went from $31.50 to $108.12 USD. There was no notice - I've checked my emails and my email history in WHMCS. If I would buy the same plan for the same period today, I'd pay $36.

    From my experience, most providers send an email when they adjust their prices. And I'm fine with that. It's a way to show respect to your customers. Those providers who don't are usually the kind of providers one can well do without.

    Something doesn't add up. Holy Cow. Why was your price increase so high? Did they provide any feedback? @SpeedyKVM_Ryan

    Should one infer that all of the pricing on their site is more or less promotional pricing?

    Granted I know you can lock yourself into a 3 year deal which in tech is a long term...

    But if I know pricing is "promotional" with large increase coming down the pipe, I would then take further steps, like place everything into containers (which I'm going to implement anyways).

    12 months is generally my upfront comfort level.

  • nullnothere said: On another note, someone pointed out (unverified?) that you could signup today for the same service at the "old" (presumably "promotional" price). To me that's a stinker.

    That is a good fucking point - is that actually true? Anyone with a link?

  • gisadikgisadik Banned, Member

    @Nekki said:

    nullnothere said: On another note, someone pointed out (unverified?) that you could signup today for the same service at the "old" (presumably "promotional" price). To me that's a stinker.

    That is a good fucking point - is that actually true? Anyone with a link?

    OP is on SEA SSD 30, website price is $80/year. He was offered renewal at $36.12. Not here to debate anything. Prices are locked in for whatever term you prepay/contract for only.

  • gisadik said: OP is on SEA SSD 30, website price is $80/year. He was offered renewal at $36.12. Not here to debate anything. Prices are locked in for whatever term you prepay/contract for only.

    That being the case, what's with the screenshot displaying the lower price?

    Surely if the intention is to increase after the lock-in period expires, it'd be fairer to display that right off the bat.

    Thanked by 1hostdare
  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    gisadik said: OP is on SEA SSD 30, website price is $80/year. He was offered renewal at $36.12. Not here to debate anything. Prices are locked in for whatever term you prepay/contract for only.

    Well, if you are quite confident that he was made aware of the price change in year 2 at the point of sale or properly notified pre invoice generation for year 2 then /thread.

    I assume you will have no problem showing that was the case?

  • gisadikgisadik Banned, Member

    @sureiam said:
    I wrote and asked them about locking in the 3 year data storage price and they casually told me no one knows what tomorrow will bring. Figured they weren't the right provider for me. Last thing i want is to move all my cold storage data backup to their servers and have my price jacked up. Shame they looked like a good fit.

    Doesn't sound true at all. What is the ticket number?

    Our response would have been;
    "Yes you can lock in pricing by prepaying that term" which is an option on our site for our STOR products.

    I suspect you were asking to lock in pricing without prepaying, which has zero value to us. Our policy has always been, and always will be, that your price is locked in for your contracted/prepaid period. Want 3 year price security? Pay for 3 years. Want month to month? Pay month to month.

    HTH

  • gisadikgisadik Banned, Member

    @AnthonySmith said:

    gisadik said: OP is on SEA SSD 30, website price is $80/year. He was offered renewal at $36.12. Not here to debate anything. Prices are locked in for whatever term you prepay/contract for only.

    Well, if you are quite confident that he was made aware of the price change in year 2 at the point of sale or properly notified pre invoice generation for year 2 then /thread.

    I assume you will have no problem showing that was the case?

    I didn't say that. Renewal notices go out a couple of weeks before expiration via email.

    Our policy has always been, and always will be, that your price is locked in for your contracted/prepaid period. Want 3 year price security? Pay for 3 years. Want month to month? Pay month to month.

    HTH

  • So 100% clear message here, and all the better for it.

    Incero NEVER guarantee the price of a service beyond the current contract term, unless specifically stated (as it was with the BF server deal).

    Broadcast it far and wide folks, that way no-one is under any disillusion.

  • gisadikgisadik Banned, Member
    edited January 2018

    @Nekki said:

    gisadik said: OP is on SEA SSD 30, website price is $80/year. He was offered renewal at $36.12. Not here to debate anything. Prices are locked in for whatever term you prepay/contract for only.

    That being the case, what's with the screenshot displaying the lower price?

    Surely if the intention is to increase after the lock-in period expires, it'd be fairer to display that right off the bat.

    Prices are guaranteed for the period offered for sale, want 3 years lock in? Pay for the 3 year plan. In general the NYC and SEA data centers go up in price every renewal due to the operators passing through higher costs. We have not and will not ever say a price is good for eternity, the price is good for whatever term you lock in.

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider
    edited January 2018

    gisadik said: I didn't say that. Renewal notices go out a couple of weeks before expiration via email.

    That does not really answer the question though, that is a convenient sidestep by calling an invoice a renewal notice.

    Scenario.

    You offer me XYZ product for $30 p/year, there is no explicit notice that this is first year only I buy it and set up a subscription, I use it I have it doing work, I see an invoice come in to my inbox, I assume everything is fine, I even get notice that a payment has been made from paypal.

    2 days after the renewal date I see its offline, I login and suddenly the renewal price has changed, the same renewal price that was there for months, and I have an invoice for $100 and no choice but to pay it to get things back online.

    Probably exactly what happened here.

    The real issue though is that you can set promo codes as none recurring so that when people go to checkout, they see the price for the next anniversary date, what you have done is manually changed it without and real notice, call it what you want, I call it a shitty business practice.

    You use WHMCS, so the way you are doing it i.e. setting up the codes are recurring then manually changing the price towards the end of the term does not really seem like an honest practice.

    edit: the recurring box for promotions is NOT ticked by default, so human error is not an excuse.

    Thanked by 1404error
  • gisadik said: Prices are guaranteed for the period offered for sale, want 3 years lock in? Pay for the 3 year plan. In general the NYC and SEA data centers go up in price every renewal due to the operators passing through higher costs. We have not and will not ever say a price is good for ever, the price is good for whatever term you lock in.

    Which is fine - so why display the current price as reoccurring.

    Surely you should do this as a one-time discount in your system, so the original price displays as reoccurring. You can then offer renewal 15-30 days before at whatever price you like.

    Thanked by 2vimalware WSS
  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    So regardless of where, the promotions are being sold as recurring and manually changed towards the renewal without specific notice, call that whatever you want, on that basis alone I would not allow them to make any offers here if it was my call, but its not so it is what it is, suck it up I guess.

    Thanked by 1WSS
  • gisadikgisadik Banned, Member
    edited January 2018

    @AnthonySmith said:
    So regardless of where, the promotions are being sold as recurring and manually changed towards the renewal without specific notice, call that whatever you want, on that basis alone I would not allow them to make any offers here if it was my call, but its not so it is what it is, suck it up I guess.

    OP has over 3 months left on his term.

    But sure. We'll keep doing business our way. If you're in business in 9 years time feel free to shoot us some tips.

This discussion has been closed.