Hi all, i need some advice!

I have a potential customer who keeps emailing me, they started by having a go at me saying my email was down, however i have been receiving emails on that address all week and no-one else has had problems, she was actually quite rude about it.
I appologised for this and then today she started having a go at me about my website (she found me via my old site which i stopped working on ages ago) complaining that the links on some of it were absolute and not relative so when she saved my site to her HD she couldnt view it properly (why was she saving it to her HD anyway is my question??)
She then went on to ask normal questions about uptime etc and whether she needs a seperate dialup to access her FTP.

What should i do, she has been quite rude about it all and i am thinking that if she is like this now what will she be like when she is a customer and more to the point if i am so bad like she seems to think why is she still emailing me??

she says she has seen serveral companies offering 100% uptime, as if i am supposed to compete, i refuse to say i have 100% uptime because its impossible and i dont believe in lieing to customers.

I am worried that if i dont give her an account she will come to this board or one like it and slag me off.........technically her account should be up now as she didnt email me for info she filled in the order form and sent it !!!
help, what would you do?

A popular business book gives the best solution quote:
"It's ok to fire your customers"

Simple.

"I'm sorry, I just don't think we're a good match. I don't believe we'll be able to provide the level of service you expect and deserve. Can I recommend Host X, or Host Y, they can probably serve your needs quite well. Best of luck."

Do it and don't think twice.

Brandon

Send them off to *****.

Don't sell anything to this customer!
She'll keep bitching more and more to a point where you'll feel sorry you ever replied to her messages.

Experience talking...

:rolleyes:

I fired a precustomer today!!!!

And they were a friend that decided to ask me about 500 questions so she could make sure that she was getting screwed for $10 a month to host her business website. Then she wanted me to explain why she couldn't do it herself....

I told her forget it. I didn't want her as a customer. That I was offering her something that I would charge other customers $39.95 a month for.... so much for trying to help.

Sometimes it just aint worthy... especially when your guyt feeling is to run.....

______________________
Keith

Originally posted by Skeptical
Send them off to *****.

I was just about to say that too... :cool:

Originally posted by CChard


I was just about to say that too... :cool:

No better yet send them to one of those hosts which offer everything (including unlimited bandwidth) for just $1 per yer :emlaugh:

GRRRRRR now she insists she needs 400MB space with 1GB bandwidth, hmmm wonder if the Don could help her LOL

mmm....also ever heard the phrase "the customer is always right"?

I have found that some pre-customers can be very hard, asking lots of questions, trying to find holes in your offerings etc. but usually, once settled in, these accounts are as good as gold.

yes i have heard that phrase which is why i was asking for advice :cool:

For a extremly small account like that and the amount of time you spend helping and the way she acts back I wouldn't say it's worth it. That's a potential customer and if she keeps talking back to you that way she will most likely do it if she does become a customer and there's also a chace she may not sign up since she is being so persistant in finding downtimes and loop holes.

You know, some customer (or pre customers) do have a lot of questions and that's ok. They're spending their hard earned money. But a rare, select few require constant "hand holding" so to speak. And while giving great customer support should be every hosting companies #1 goal, it shouldn't interfere with day to day operations; meaning that it shouldn't take you away from supporting other customer or regular server upkeep.

I had an end user who recently claimed the he/she was unable to receive his/her email. I let the user know that my servers are monitored 24/7 and that no outages have been reported by the monitors or by any of my other customers. He/she said something to the effect of "funny, none of my other sites, that I host with other providers are having trouble except for you". So being the good host that I am (:D ) I followed up and researched and there were no outages. The end user contacted me for about a week with the same issue and finally I let he/she know that everything on our servers were working perfectly and that the email problem may in fact be coming from his/her ISP. Needless to say, he/she wasn't very happy with that response. I let him/her know that perhaps our service wasn't right for his/her needs and offered a refund for the last charge made to her account if he or she wanted to quit hosting with us.

Miraculously after that, he/she stopped having issues and is still with my company. The fact is, your hosting service may not be right for each and every end user, if that is the case, do the right thing: Send them another reputable provider. Issue a refund for the most recent charge (If you feel this is applicable). When most end users see that you are willing to treat them fairly, they will remember you. Do to this kind of attitude, I have an extremely low attrition rate.

Just my two cents. :stickout

:cool:

Sent her off to hostonce
I think they have everything she is looking for ;)

I have answered all of her questions and I am waiting to see what happens, as i havent been open very long myself i am very concious of getting a bad reputation before i have even got going.
I take customer support very seriously and I am constantly trying to improve the way i run things, I am currently setting up credit card processing on my site as i feel i have wexpanded enough to make this viable in the hope it will attract more customers.

A bad reputation is always feared. One thing to do is answer all her questions regarding hosting. If she seems to be asking stupid questions tell her she is not welcome to use your services and give her a refund. The only problem would be if you sayed good buy and didn't give her 30 day money back :D

Originally posted by Skeptical
Send them off to *****.

:D

"At this time, we have chosen not to pursue you as a client. Good luck with your Internet marketing plans!".

Of course they get all offended, and you get a reply back with, "You're the one that needs good luck, with a salesman like that." Obviously they were expecting you to bend to their will, and kiss their behind for the sale.

Some customers just like to be in control. It's probably the one place in their life where they think they can have it.

No good Deed goes Unpunished,,

just lived that experience again this week.

do you ever get to a point where you do what is asked, but as little as possible?

Miami doesnt everyone at some point

You know that quote: "The Customer is always right" it should actually be

"The customer is always right except when the custmer starts to piss you off, then the customer is wrong and you now have the right to break rule 1 which is the customer is always right"

The customer is always right is a good rule to stick by, except of course when they dont have a clue what they are talking about and asking for the impossible LOLOL

This reminds me of a thread about 4 or 5 months ago where some troll insisted that the customer was truly ALWAYS right, no matter what, and come hell or high water you should always due what the customer wants.

While "the customer is always right" is a good thought to do business by, anyone who honestly believes that everyone that shows up at their door should be cradled, coddled, and generally fawned over is either extremely foolish, naive, or just generally doesn't have a clue about real business. There ARE some customers you don't want, and it's OK!

My $0.02,

Brandon