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Comments
very on point.
The first overdue bill was created on Aug 16, paid on Aug 20.
Requested & paid for BGP on Aug 17.
The second overdue bill was created recently on Sept 4, and now they're blaming my billing status.
Zero mention regarding my billing status on the provisioning ticket. It would be fair if they bring that up on the provisioning ticket (eventhough there's still no SLA after paying it
)
Sure, I don’t disagree that there are improvements to be made. As I said several post earlier there will be lessons learned that will perhaps include better reminders. This doesn’t however change the facts of the case at hand and I disagree with the narrative.
You are missing the truth. I will not be sharing billing dates, but you had a few and you still have one overdue. I believe you are also mixing up due dates with the bill was being issued.
You are more than welcome to speak with billing to obtain a statement of account that will show you all your bills, when they were supposed to be paid, when they were paid and what you still owe us and must paid immediately.
On another note, I find it even further disappointing that despite we offered you a refund while you still owe us money, you are still trying to smear us here in public. Wow.
Playing the victim again - this did not start out as a complaint thread or "naming and shaming" as you say. The OP was asking whether it's normal with you as a provider as it seems extended.
This reply and similar in the past is why I stopped using Clouvider a while back as I was worried anything I asked would be taken as hostile.
It's also disappointing for me that you're changing the narrative.
The provisioning ticket only contains your team saying "a no SLA request" and "requires major changes by senior engineers".
and now blaming my billing status on a forum..
As I said before, I didn't want this thread to end up like this.. but you're moving it that way...
The OP was making a power play move to force our hand. They even admitted this.
As per above, it was never about asking.
Sorry you felt that way.
But surely you agree there are other ways ?
The OP could send a PM. The OP could have asked without mentioning the company name. The OP did what he did not in order to ask and know - it was orchestrated to obtain a certain result. We don’t bend to this kind of pressure.
We didn’t change any narrative. We are presenting the full facts of the case, that you chose to skip, and defending ourselves from your false accusations.
Your intention was stated - you hoped that by creating this thread you’ll get this done immediately. All while having bills overdue. I’m sorry but that’s not how it works. Please don’t try to colorise it now that the facts are inconvenient.
All this while continuing to have bills overdue for your services.
What false accusations? am I creating a hoax here?
Yes, I do have pending bills on my account.
but as I said, 0 mention regarding my billing status on the provisioning ticket. and now you're blaming my billing status on a forum that led to "de-prioritize" provisioning.
It's been 20+ days, I sent you a message on ticket either this week or last week, but silence.
you could've said regarding billing on the provisioning ticket. not a reminder email. it's for a different service too right?
I think you forgot to reiterate that I paid 50 pounds for BGP setup? that's a fact too.
@Clouvider it looks really unprofessional when you throw your toys out the pram like that, disclosing details about the customer that he didn't himself make public such as the state of his billing account etc.
You're held to a high regard around here, please lead by example.
Overdue, not pending.
Open invoices are not a problem - problem starts when you are past due.
We did not de-prioritize them. We simply did not work on them at all while your account was in bad standing. We do not provide any new services when the account is in bad standing. You must pay your bills in full and on time.
We send automated emails about invoices. Our team has also, on one occasion, raised a ticket with you to further remind you. This is a courtesy from us. Manual reminders are not part of your service. You must pay your bills in full and on time.
Yes, and this was refunded to you.
Whoa @Clouvider is that you Dominic?
Malding
When someone is expressing a large magnitude of rage, often over something relatively small, that the stress they are giving upon themselves causes their hair to fall out (thus, balding). Portemanteau of "mad" and "balding".
I just realized. Why did you accept my request & payment for BGP when my account was in bad standing and has an overdue invoice in it?
and blaming no SLA & require major changes the entire time?
Please refer to the number of posts in which we have already explained this to you.
If you'd like to further discuss your account, please raise a case with support - as it should have been done in the first place.
well i'm just going to let the community comment on this.. time to pack up.
from my side, i've reiterated that they keep saying a no SLA and "require config changes" reasons on the provisioning ticket.
that's why I opened this thread to ask fellow providers whether it is normal or not to wait 20+ days for BGP? because their reasoning was all non-billing. if it's normal, then okay, apprently it takes some time to setup bgp. if not normal, then something is wrong..
if they mentioned about billing on the provisioning ticket, I don't think I would start this thread.. at all..
but now my billing status is onboard with the thread
i would be fine if they upload the entire provisioning ticket conversation here. so it would be fair for everyone to see. (while bluring their & my personal + org PII)
Isn't it obvious? It wasn't related to the BGP setup delay, you just f... it regarding some other issue and it came handy for him to use it here to justify reason for delay. At the begining of this thread he most likely wasn't even aware of this secondary non related issue.
So in some way you both fucked up. You with slightly overdue invoice payment and he with some longer delay of providing what you paid for.
We will go after both with torches and pitchforks unless you two become besties now!
Wait, this is beginning to become a trend with Clouvider. Feels like all the posts where someone complains about something regarding Clouvider is refuted in such a way that the customer is always bad or wrong. This particular one was escalated as a 'name and shame' even though the op's first post didn't give me that impression at all. Op asked a question on a public forum - and that was a conclusion that it was a name and shame???
Then somehow using outstanding billing to not respond to a ticket? This isn't lowendIQ, folks might be cheap here but they aren't stupid (give or take a few odd ones out MAYBE)
I just hope fanboys don't come rushing to say you offer good service as if that would negate the original question / issue that surfaced in the case of the OP.
We were responding to the tickets in the timely manner. Within same day or within 2 days max (that was due to bank holidays).
And again, we didn't say we don't have anything to improve here. In fact, we said this multiple times in this very thread. Communication for one is one thing that can and will be improve going forward. We simply don't agree to take 100% of the blame.
This is the most stupid, idiotic reply i've seen here from a provider, a (former) good provider.
Clearly personal revenge but for what? the guy didn't come here to cry about the service, he came here to ask if this is something that happens regularly.
Now you make some BS about his shady billing status and ask him to contact you in private.
You are wrong in the head and need to seek help.
Someone read /r/pettyrevenge/ too much.
I understand this is complicated in terms of evidence, privacy etc. but it seems you issued a refund for the bgp session and sure perhaps legally this is fine but how do you think that comes across to someone (a customer) who probably just wanted the bgp service? I don't particularly understand the overdue payments so bare with me (aren't your services prepaid so if something is overdue that would be terminated accordingly if unpaid?)
Back to the impression to customer and people reading these posts (or part thereof):
Let me make a real world analogy. I purchase a burger from a restaurant so I placed the order. An hour passes by and I don't get my burger (I'm still hungry). I ask the people around how long it took for them to get theirs. The restaurant owner hears me asking and gives me back my money instead of making the burger for me to eat to satisfy my real need.
How would the person who paid for the burger feel? How would other customers seeing how that person was served feel about that situation? Don't want to assume but I know I would think twice about supporting such a company.
I am not gsslighting, I am actually trying to show you how I feel reading this one.
Edit: Forgot to mention you mentioned that you were in contact with the customer but I was referring to in relation to the overdue payments affecting the delivery of his bgp service - that's what I meant.
In your analogy, the owner asked his staff to not make the burger for the customer as the customer still has unpaid tabs from the last month the customer visited. Just wanted to add that as this is what is happening to the op.
Fair enough and (maybe) staff did not relay that to the customer (???)
This is a valuable insight and is appreciated. It is definitely not a nice thing to be denied a service and not something we decide on lightly.
Look, there are processes one can follow. Aside of us dropping the ball on the communication front - namely updating that ticket and explicitly stating it won’t be done because payment for other service is overdue, I feel the correct way to address it, rather than, to use the restaurant analogy, stand in front the restaurant and go after the reputation of the restaurant (with or without that intent), would be to raise a case and complain. I feel that would be an appropriate escalation. Our Ops Manager would have either chased hard for completion or stated the issues that need addressing first, depending on the account status at the time of the complaint.
Again, payment/account status were not the only issues with this order and therefore it required further checks. The nature of the work also meant it was in the limited capacity queue that wasn’t moving as fast.
If you’d like to use forum - ok - but perhaps PM and give some to address the facts before going to the ballistic option of going public - without knowing or presenting all the facts (intentionally or not), as you may come across hostile, as we felt it was in this case with OP.
@Clouvider I get it, if I was a provider, my service would be like my baby and I must admit it would take a lot to not treat with it on a personal level. The forum can be a drama filled area so I get that too but the good news is that when a provider has acknowledge dropping the ball (wrt more clear comms) and made that part right with the customer, that usually ends with mostly the on lookers respecting the provider - whether the op is happy or not - and THAT will continue to make you benefit greatly for years to come.
I see both sides making really bad errors.
@nanankcornering
Let's be honest. While you of course paint it as "hey, I'm just asking a question!", it seems reasonable to assume that your game in fact was and is "I don't care about what @Clouvider thinks or needs, I want my service and I want it now, and if personal communication doesn't lead to success I'll apply social pressure and try to force Clouvider to bend to my wishes".
That may look like a smart move but actually it usually isn't as you may have learned by now.
@Clouvider
I get it, you feel blackmailed (and from what I see you are right), but:
Make up your mind; you either play it "politely" ("ueber-ich") and prioritize your good public image -or- you play it hard and prioritize protection of your company. But do not bloody mangle the two - unless you do it really, really smart and stone-cold!
Secondly: No matter which way you chose, finish it in one strike! NEVER allow someone like that to draw you into a public discussion! Simple reason: it works against you 99.9% of the time, no matter what.
Just look at the result! Seen from the most positive (for you) perspective you've won this fight but lost a customer, and way worse, your reputation is significantly harmed.
Finally, back to @nanankcornering: NEVER start a public "social war" without informing your opponent well in advance (~offering a last and fair chance to settle things peacefully) because putting things out to the public risks to switch the opponent into survival and fight-to-kill mode (and because it risks to make you look like a thug).
FWIW if I were a provider, even one who doesn't have friendly feelings for Clouvider, you'd now be on my blacklist ("do not accept that guy as a customer and if he already were quietly get rid of him asap").
@risharde I agree. We do however feel that, due to the way it was raised and continued, and the overall account conduct, we are clearly past the point of being able to recover the trust-based relationship with the Customer. We feel there are perhaps different providers that will be in a better position to help the OP.
I'm not at all familiar with BGP... Is there no other provider for this you can go to? This doesn't look like it's going to end well for you.