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Inception Hosting Review
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I thought Clouvider was a premium provider, but their shit here feels more like the hatch host. Sad to see they being another provider offering great products but falling short on having normal people in public relations and customer service
It also reminds me of https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/181288/20-days-waiting-for-bgp-session-from-clouvider-is-that-normal/p1
15/01/2025 when still no response would have been perfectly reasonable.
I love all the hosts acting like they are doing people giant favors all day. No one forced you to get into the business. If there's a fly in your soup and the manager gives you a free drink in compensation, he doesn't go around moaning about the big favor he did you.
Of course we could have avoided it. This does not entitle the Customer to raise a chargeback though.
I sympathize that the OP went nuclear, but that's the obvious risk you take in this business -- and why going silent is never the smart play.
I got that, but how's this his fault?
Look at this mail:
Cool. Problem solved.
But he did not ask or order free service.
I see his ticket request that was ignored more as: "since you're already kicking us out with the refund promise, I would prefer to end this now, not next year, as I have no use for a service that's about to be terminated."
A simple response, like the one from Julita above, within two weeks of his request or maybe just some response, and there wouldn't be a chargeback, I guess.
What do you think? Ignore is never the answer to solving anything billing-related and you know that.
the more often you repeat this “Of course we could have avoided it. This does not entitle the Customer to raise a chargeback though.” the more I believe that it was right that he raised a chargeback.
Its getting sad to see your (feigned) ignorance. Too many chargebacks after silent treatments won't be good for you anyway.. not sure how the blacklists you threatened the customer of will affect him, but your antics are getting of bad taste here already..
Indeed. And that's what makes @Clouvider (rather than Inception Hosting) appears as being "a bunch of scumbags" to use op's words...
Many providers have the time to write arguments after arguments in LET while no time for replying a ticket.
Many doesn't even have the minimum skill to continue resolving the issue with the client.
There is also this post by @Faapps
https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/198793/the-story-of-how-i-made-false-accusations-that-i-couldnt-provide-evidence-for/p1
I’m not going to go into details of why there was a delay to the response to non-technical (lesser priority) tickets in December, I admit the ball has been dropped here but it’s simply unfair to now be dragged through the mud here.
Once we decided to shut Inception Hosting down, a very, very long notice was provided to all Customers. All services, including that of an OP, extended until 15th January. Notice especially sent before Black Friday to give everyone options on top of massive recurring discount on our own services. A confirmation that refund will be issued has also been provided in that very email.
Inception Hosting must be the only shutdown of a hosting business that was based primarily on this forum that didn’t end in everything crashing down and burning to the ground in recent times. Some will always find a way to want more, but I think we did a great job here and treated Inception Customers well and with respect throughout the process.
I am not anti-tech people, they are 100% of my revenues and I would be one myself if I didn't do what I do. But we need to admit that things like "ticketing systems" are for the benefit of the provider, not the customer. The culture is not to ping again after submitting a ticket. This culture is promoted here (by provider sympathetic people). I resolve large disputes for a living and even with my experience I cannot tell whether a delay in a response is targeted against me as a tactic or just due to general incompetence in business.
@Clouvider I understand you have done better than most in these situations. The problem is that there's a lot of "pretend" going on. In established businesses, when a "company" is acquired (depending on assets sale or stock sale) the "buyer" takes on a set of legal responsibilities they cannot avoid. It's not about doing anyone a favor, or being virtuous in intent, or trying to be virtuous.
An acquirer in these circumstances should treat the acquired customers the same as their "real" customers. I can assure you that businesses never think through in advance all the edge cases they will encounter, even when they think they are.
If they cannot make that commitment, then don't do the acquisition, don't be a hero, no good deed goes unpunished.
The people debating you @Clouvider are likely trying to make a point to all hosts, not just you. Not responding timely to tickets is a real problem.
For the record I have never been a customer of Clouvider or Inception, I'm just a busybody.
At no point have Inception Hosting Customers been treated any less.
Please however bear in mind that Inception Hosting has been providing services independently, as a separate company, with a separate staff (some staff shared between the business), offering completely different standard of services.
The operation of Inception Hosting was no longer viable through a set of circumstances not created by Clouvider and without appropriate notice to us, and the Customers have been treated well throughout the process, including being offered a long period of notice, ahead of the specific time in this forum, allowing them to take action (Black Friday) and with an offer of a refund for an unused time.
Up to this date, I have thought of and have happily recommended Clouvider as a solid and decent provider. The behaviour outlined in this thread shows me this seems to no longer be the case. Unilaterally cancelling a service ahead of time, announcing a pro-rated refund without any specifics, while at the same time asking the customer to move elsewhere. Then being surprised they are actually reaching out to you after you cordically invited them to, not replying to their ticket for 14 days, and then acting surprised they open a PayPal Dispute Resolution Process. Yes, that is the actual name of what is commonly known as and called chargeback. Perhaps, because PayPal often decides in the customers favour. PayPal even suggests you find an amicably solution with the customer which it seems like you chose not to, by ignoring their ticket for 14 days.
After going silent for these 14 days, it shouldn't come as a surpise that a customer may open a dispute on PayPal regarding the issue as it may appear like a last resort effort to get you to respond to their inquiry. While your offer to continue the service free of charge (which is debatable, because in this case the customer has been charged) may seem very generous to you, it isn't necessarily how the client would like things to proceed. It also isn't an excuse to not respond to tickets in a timely manner. How would you feel if you waited 14 days for a reply and then you open a dispute and this action triggers a swift response. Doesn't this train customers to dispute via PayPal allthemore? Threatening the customer to report them to FraudRecord as a scammer is way out of line, too. I guess after not receiving a reply for 14 days on a billing related issue, many people would get frustrated.
Also: Your aquisitions and the problems coming with them are not the customers problem. Your lack of sufficient support staff to reply in a timely manner are not the customers issue either. Your thinking you know best what the customer wants is a problem. Why ignore them if you can work with them and could have the whole issue resolved in no time? Refunding them ahead of time could have solved the issue. Replying to the ticket could have solved the issue. Going silent on communication and not replying did not solve the issue. Going after the client after they opened a dispute and continously trying to prove them wrong doesn't paint a good picture of you either. Take the Pony of this forum as an example and reply "the client has been refunded and their account has been closed". A refund could have avoided so much bad publicity. You don't need to like each other or be friends. But there's other ways to terminate a business relationship than this.
I won't reply to further comments on this debate, but I'll leave this here.
I’m sorry @Ympker you think this way.
If we knew we will be shutting down Inception Hosting ahead of time - a separate company, just so you know, we would have prepared for it better. We didn’t have this benefit.
We could have provided a very short notice and prompt refund or a long notice and refund as early as we can, which you must appreciate, has fallen at a busy time of the year.
We chose to do better for the Customers by giving them plenty of time to take action and nonetheless still offering the refund. We also chose to do it as quickly as we could ahead of Black Friday out of respect for Inception Hosting loyalty to their brand.
You have a grand total of 1 Customer complaining and first one to raise a chargeback, that we believe, was unfounded, especially that the date of shutdown is 15/01, not 20/12.
Okay so here's a reply since I saw it while still being on this page. I have no doubt that you had the best intentions with how you gave ample notice. This is commendable and something we probably all would appreciate instead of a short notice prior to termination. I think your timing came back biting you as it obviously seems like you had too much on your plate. If it's only 1 customer that is complaining wouldn't an early pro-rated refund not only have been economically do-able, but also would have very likely avoided all this drama?
I hope you will take something away from this as I'm sure many people here want(ed) to like and appreciate you. We all have a lot on our plates (everyone's fighting their own devils that is), so working together instead of against each other is easier on us all, wouldn't you agree?
Have some Merry X-MAS days you all
There was no need for them to say such a thing. From the e-mail they sent in November, which you yourself quoted (my highlighting):
They already make it clear that you wouldn't be paying from whenever it was in November and that people who had already renewed would get that portion back pro-rated from that point on.
I'd understand why you might be concerned about a slow refund if they were deadpooling, but you knew they'd been taken over by a much bigger company with deeper pockets who aren't going to default on the refund. There was literally no reason to panic about it.
This is not the Clouvider that I know. Has their account been hacked?
Inception Hosting was a good company but not now.
You only have yourselves to blame by ignoring my ticket, my follow up and the follow up to the follow up.
All you had to do was respond and say it'll be coming on Jan 15th and that would have been that. Even Telling me that instead of what Dominik sent, I would have immediately contacted Paypal to cancel the dispute but nope, couldn't do that. I would still have been willing but you appear to do not want to accept any responsibility so yeah, it's going to cost you. Sorry, not sorry. You had every opportunity.
Do not expect a company that is in the process of being shut down to respond to tickets in a timely manner.
If after the 15th of January you didn't get a refund - thats a different thing. But you jumped to chargeback before that time.
So you should probably see how this is a problem, no?
Absolutely, I had no problem with them. Servers were a little slow but I had it for storage, not speed. Never had problems with support the couple of times I contacted them and I had just signed up for a 5th year of service. Steady and reliable which is all I ask for.
I did not go nuclear. In the absence of any response from the hosting company regarding a refund, I took the most appropriate route, after giving them plenty of time to address it. Like I have already said, a simple "please wait until Jan 15th and your refund will be processed" would have been all it takes. They didn't even grace me with the dignity of a response. Anyway, I really have nothing more to add to this conversation. I am fair, I offer @Clouvider the opportunity to reach out to me either here or through Inception ticket system and offer me an acceptable resolution and I will happily cancel the chargeback request.
I don't think you have the option of cancelling a chargeback once it's started.
I can vouch for that with $15/year @InceptionHosting plan.
Always had excellent support whenever I have raised tickets.
Yes you can cancel the dispute
https://www.paypal.com/us/cshelp/article/how-do-i-cancel-a-chargeback-as-a-buyer-help1144
They were going to honor the refund requests, After a set date. You are claiming it's not the case and want to put blame on someone else for your impatience.
After almost 4+ years of using the services, today you deem them scummy?
If they were scumbags, why would you even continue renewal?
You seem to be pissed off at something you could have handled by waiting for a month more.