Could a few people give me their thoughts about the reasonableness of this?

I have been a Dathorn customer for a little under 2 years. To the best of my knowledge my account has always been paid on time, and operated well within their TOS. A model customer? :)

I have up until now been happy with their service.

On the 14th (last Tuesday) a Dathorn forum alert, and an email from Andrew were sent to me. They announced a doubling of disc space offer, for a processing fee of $5, and expiring that night.

However I live in Hong Kong, and spend three and a half days of every week on the Chinese mainland, and had just left as usual the day before, so I missed the offer.

Nothing that unusual huh? However, I was a bit uneasy about an offer that expires so quickly, and also figuring I had an unusual case, wrote to Andrew last night (on my return) to see if he would reconsider and apply the offer still, as it was something I could use right now.

The unusual case? - there aren't many countries which police and restrict internet use like the authorities on the Chinese mainland do. My 3&1/2 days a week, every week on the mainland is spent in a city of 8 million people where internet cafes are banned by law. That's why I don't get to check my email for that part of the week.

In spite of detailing the circumstances, the blanket, short and sweet answer from Andrew was "Sorry, the offer has expired." Hmmm, well I tried, end of story right?

This morning I was looking around this forum, and I see the offer from Andrew was actually posted here on the 8th, (Shared and Reseller Hosting Offers) some 6 days earlier. Here is where the "uneasy" part gets answered !

The only conclusion I could come to is that the offer was actually a new customer drive, and for commercial reasons was offered tightly "clipped" to existing customers.

The forum alert posting (dathorn forum) was not read to the last post by me last night before I wrote to Andrew. On re-reading it this morning, the last poster (Andrew) informed everyone that if they missed the opportunity, not to try "begging" :o

Obviously I am now a beggar ! (well I'm in the right country for 3 days a week for that activity !)

The questions, after this long-winded story where I need some comments from experienced people are:

- Does everyone think this is a reasonable and fair practice to discriminate against loyal clients by offering new clients the same account with vastly better terms, giving the existing client a crippled opportunity to catch up?
- Is this the start of a situation with Dathorn that I have personally witnessed numerous times in the hosting industry, where once a company gets established, their attitudes and policies start to harden, a touch of arrogance starts to creep in, and that formerly "precious" customer becomes an expendable item?

Do any Hosting companies, after becoming successful, manage to remember how they got that far, and actually quantify the value of a model customer versus the opposite?

Any enlightening posts in reply are appreciated.

Thanks, John

ps - BTW - my references to internet restrictions on the Chinese mainland are a statement of fact - not criticism

- Does everyone think this is a reasonable and fair practice to discriminate against loyal clients by offering new clients the same account with vastly better terms, giving the existing client a crippled opportunity to catch up?Cell phone companies here don't give you that opportunity at all. Each new offer is better than the last one, yet the old customers remain stuck to their initial plans, at least until the contract is up. You can then take advantage of the next great offer. :)

Fair, or not, it's common practice.

Andrew actually suggests that you regularly check the Dathorn forums for announcements and not rely on email. If you had checked the forum then you could have signed up anywhere from 6/7/2005 - 6/15/2005.

Andrew is not known for being flexible or being very conversational. The strict adherence to rules is one of his ways of keeping costs down. It might make him into a bit of a character, but it's a character that offers rock solid hosting that his clients rely on. I've been a customer there for 6 months.

Hello Hamtramck Rick

As described, it is impossible for me to check email OR the forums for half the week - no matter what Andrew suggests.

His "suggestion" was taken up by me months ago: to place an email notification alert on the forum for his announcements, AND the first email alert to this offer was sent to me on the LAST day of the offer.

Thanks for the reply but you didn't actually address or answer the questions posed.

John

It is up to the Hoster or Business as to when a "Special" will start and how long it will last. Once the "Special" is over it is up to the individual Hoster / Business to allow others a "Special" that is now over. That's just business and no discrimination at all.

As to current Clients not getting as a good a deal as new Clients, if you cannot get (what you feel) is an even break or satisfaction, then you have the right to go somewhere else with your business. And that too, is just business and no discrimination at all. ;)

You may not have been the only person to ask if you can still get the special offer. Therefore, there may have been others that have been moreso justified to be called "beggars". There is no discrimination involved with doing this. It's perfectly normal for a company to offer slashed pricing for new customers rather than upgrade existing customers. Companies in other industries do it all the time. For instance, take a look at cell phone companies and cable TV companies.

Thanks,

Originally posted by Champenois
Hello Hamtramck Rick

As described, it is impossible for me to check email OR the forums for half the week - no matter what Andrew suggests.

His "suggestion" was taken up by me months ago: to place an email notification alert on the forum for his announcements, AND the first email alert to this offer was sent to me on the LAST day of the offer.

Thanks for the reply but you didn't actually address or answer the questions posed.

John

It's not Dathorn's fault that YOU cannot check your email xx times per week. This falls on you only. This offer ran for 8 (yes, eight) days.

If you had indeed, setup the forums email notification, you would of gotten the notification the day Andrew posted it. Which was 06-07-2005, 12:41 PM. This special ran until 06-15-2005 12:00 PM. That's just 19 minutes shy of 8 (eight) days.

On the 14th Andrew was kind enough to sent out an email, letting everyone who wasn't currently checking the forums, or those who hadn't setup the subscription/email alert for the forums, know of the special.


New Clients got the offer free, while existing custmers had to pony up $5 to double their accounts. I see nothing wrong with it. (doubled both of my accounts day offer surfaced)

I don't see how it's an issue that you weren't around to see the offer, and you think you can get around the end of the offer, due to whatever reason you wish to give.