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+1 on that. We get that a lot with what "managed" means. While we handle all of the software, "managed" to other providers is the autoinstaller in CPanel. Or only server management.
Ummm, no he didn't
@sleddog huh?
@roroqiu didn't 'say' that. It's a messed-up quote. No big deal....
My dream customer would have to be Santa Clause.
So does the UPS and FedEx man do in a pinch?
Not really those guys make too much money. Santa does it for the hell of it. I sent a Christmas package this year had two 25 dollar gift cards and two squishables (if you don't know what they are look them up). Cost me 25 bucks to send them. I have decided next year they get gift cards.
We should have a website where customers put their offers in for providers:
Name: Joe Bloggs
Promises to pay on time
Just started his company, so a bit risky
May try and get away with torrenting movies on his server
Average 5 support tickets a month
...
And we can go on and decide whether or not he's a good deal for us as providers.
And what stops the shaddy provider from low balling your offer and simply dropping the ball on the customer?
95% of your information given there will be fabricated or incomplete. Would you yourself actually use a middle-man that distributes your information to providers, knowing full well that some of those providers are downright shady?
I was actually joking
You need to go... err, higher!
I host a retired USPS worker who pays to have his sites burned to a DVD once a month and mailed to him. Won't accept the normal FedEx that we use. Has to have it sent via USPS. Have to make a special trip just for him.
That actually exists in France (Banque de France and COFACE) and Germany (Schufa scoring system). Whereas in France it is mainly used for credits and CC contracts it is used in Germany by 90% of the companies to screen their customers before concluding any type of subscription or distance contract. So in Germany whenever you buy a cell-phone or conclude a distance contract to buy ie clothes you are screened. Maybe something alike is also available in the UK or elsewhere.
Well yeah, there are tons of "credit rating" kinda services out there, for loans/CC/whatever. I think it was more of "is this guy a good customer" than "does this guy pay on time" though :P
I wasn't speaking of "credit rating" I was speaking of a customer scoring system. A customer scoring system does the following: It keeps track of the customers (current/previous) address, gender, his bank accounts, CC details, his debts, crime records, payment behavior, contract usage behavior and even already concluded active contracts with different companies. Additionally each individual company can add records, for example: "Only pays after second invoice regularly" or "A lot of trouble, asking for refunds" etc. This database is then shared between companies. If you have a new customer you simply search the database for him and get the records that were saved by other companies and banks.
You see the difference?
I have to admit that I just take the client after a quick google for the client name for anything that pops up. There's nothing physical being used up so it's nothing out of my pocket except for time and bandwidth if something goes wrong. I have refused and refunded a couple of folks over the years. Not proud of doing such but I do have to protect my other clients.
I've thought about running a sex offender check a few times as well since we host kids. I've passed on that. We had those two child porn rings set up on a pair of the social networking sites we host but since those were clients of clients, such a check wouldn't have made any difference.
I must say I wouldn't like to be screened like they do in Germany just for getting a simple shirt or DVD via Amazon or alike. But then again, maybe it's the reason they don't suffer so much from the economic crisis as they "know" their customers very well. Maybe even better than the customers know themselves.
Every time I read something like that about Germany, I sit here looking at my firewall blocks and how that country is our leading problem for scrapers.
It's like New York State and their banning of the alt.*'s when all the child porn is in another top level.
Some folks just don't have a damn clue....