I had a customer today that wanted to cancel becuase the username he wanted was in use by a different customer. Whats your worst reason a customer ever cancelled?

Because they didn't like the colour of the CPanel theme we had. It's normally best just to let these kind of people go, because if they complain about something that small, goodness knows what they would say if you had a one minute outage. I tend to refer to these kind of people as "problem clients". Thankfully we don't have very many :)

Because they asked specifically for CPanel (said nothing else would do) then complained about lack of documentation, and the way it functioned (seemed stupid to me at least).

Also, customers who make up lies just to cancel, like "i decided to get a dedicated server" *cough* (on like a site pushing < 1gb/mo).

Because the domain they just registered with us was not working after we sent their account details. (Five Minutes After Signup)

oops! i got another one! i just remembered...

Customer was actually cancelled by us, he was found to be attempting to setup a warez ftp on his server, and his excuse was "i thought you said dedicated servers were private!" (it was his arguement *not* to get cancelled :D)

Originally posted by porcupine

Also, customers who make up lies just to cancel, like "i decided to get a dedicated server" *cough* (on like a site pushing < 1gb/mo).

Those are the best I should keep an archive lol

Forgot to mention one more: Customer complaint plesk is to difficult to use?

Originally posted by ***********
Forgot to mention one more: Customer complaint plesk is to difficult to use?

That`s for sure ;)

Originally posted by porcupine
oops! i got another one! i just remembered...

Customer was actually cancelled by us, he was found to be attempting to setup a warez ftp on his server, and his excuse was "i thought you said dedicated servers were private!" (it was his arguement *not* to get cancelled :D)

And it took me sooooo long to upload Microsoft Office XP Professional up there :(

LOL :D

Ok, I had an IRC Hosting Client that signed up 29$/month - 30$ setup, then cancelled after 2 months cause "he could not afford it anymore" and after 2 days signed up again thus paying another 30$ setup fee :eek:

Don't you love people who don't understand setup fee's, the whole concept of them just vanish for them somehow, they'll pay like a $500 setup to avoid $20/mo or something rediculous :eek2:.

Originally posted by porcupine
Don't you love people who don't understand setup fee's, the whole concept of them just vanish for them somehow, they'll pay like a $500 setup to avoid $20/mo or something rediculous :eek2:.

The opposite actually. In my NY dedicated offers I had several people willing to pay/proposing to pay up to 40$/month more to avaid a 100$ setup fee...:cartman:

Ok one more then (hehe, reminds me of my jokes forum *sniff*):
Someone cancelled i.e. did not sign up cause his desired domain name was not available. He blamed it on me and he would "go somewhere, where they do not deny him his name" :eek3:

now wouldn't that be a nasty scam, cheap hosting, domain hosting, business only, when people go to signup, steal their domain names..... Nah, someone's probably already doing that, i know it happened to where i used to work as the IT head, another rival company had their webdesigner steal their .com :D pretty funny to see, they brought out the whole array of lawyers, etc. and suddenly had interest in the net (they had a 56k link for 80 employee's, you know the type). :laugh:

Because we couldn't read their mind :-)

Because he thought I was Homer Simpson. When he found out that I was'nt, he cancelled! :bawling:

MAX POWER :homer:

Because he changed his nameservers and blamed us for downtime.

Originally posted by MAX POWER
Because he thought I was Homer Simpson. When he found out that I was'nt, he cancelled! :bawling:

MAX POWER :homer:

Hey Homer! It's me, your son Bart! Can't you see me? Here, here! (http://www.starhost.hm/wht/bart02.gif)

:D :rolleyes:

I don't understand why you would document reasons for cancellation as "bad". Customers have the right to cancel their account for any reason. If their reason is stupid, what else can you do? If it's not, then you may consider that as some sort of feedback.

I don't think a user cancelling an account because he/she can't have a username is an invalid reason. It may sound too much, but it's a valid reason that may have a purpose.

Labeling subscribers as "problem clients" is bad because you don't know where to put the line. What if you're just an incompetent support person who can't answer simple question, or you have an attitude problem? :cool: You see, it could be two way, a problem host or a problem client.

Originally posted by virgil
I don't understand why you would document reasons for cancellation as "bad". Customers have the right to cancel their account for any reason. If their reason is stupid, what else can you do? If it's not, then you may consider that as some sort of feedback.

I don't think a user cancelling an account because he/she can't have a username is an invalid reason. It may sound too much, but it's a valid reason that may have a purpose.

Labeling subscribers as "problem clients" is bad because you don't know where to put the line. What if you're just an incompetent support person who can't answer simple question, or you have an attitude problem? :cool: You see, it could be two way, a problem host or a problem client.

Does everything around here have to get so serious? Customers are free to cancel because they don't like the color of my socks. Doesn't change the fact that it might be worth a chuckle a few months later. :)

Some people are just lame and like to host jump. :stickout

Originally posted by virgil
I don't understand why you would document reasons for cancellation as "bad". Customers have the right to cancel their account for any reason. If their reason is stupid, what else can you do? If it's not, then you may consider that as some sort of feedback.

I don't think a user cancelling an account because he/she can't have a username is an invalid reason. It may sound too much, but it's a valid reason that may have a purpose.

Labeling subscribers as "problem clients" is bad because you don't know where to put the line. What if you're just an incompetent support person who can't answer simple question, or you have an attitude problem? :cool: You see, it could be two way, a problem host or a problem client.

Theres always one :-(

I was quite enjoying this thread.

Originally posted by IT Hosting
Because he changed his nameservers and blamed us for downtime.

Same here, I have found that it's better to let these people just go in the long run. Funny thing is they ended up going over to Altelia for a couple weeks and re signed up.. :D

We had one cancel last week. Didn't give a reason, though I suspect it was because he couldn't reach his site.

Understandable considering he'd been canned a week earlier for not paying his monthly fee, been sent 5 e-mails regarding his overdue amount, a suspension notice, and finally a cancellation notice. None of them bounced, and all were sent to the same e-mail address he requested closure from.

We informed him that we didn't have anything that needed doing to fulfill his request as it had been done a week previously. Signed it 'Best Regards' to hit send. Just kind of sat there shaking my head for a while.

Greg Moore

I don't like the color of your socks! (or maybe it's the smell)

I have a personal site on one shared server that I have stayed with for almost three years, but I also have several other sites that needed a few more features. Finding the right one wasn't fun.
Here are the reasons I have used:
see eye host: I didn't lie. I also didn't cancel. I just closed my bank account, opened a new one, and changed my CC numbers. Then changed my nameservers.
They have major issues in every department. Uptime, Security, Integrity, Billing. I knew it was a mistake as soon as I was set up and FTP'd in and could see the name of every website and email account on the server. Oh and you couldn't have webmaster@yourdomain if webmaster@someoneelsesdomain was being used. How stupid!

Rockethost: "Your webhosting no longer suits my needs as I really need cgi to work and I feel four months is long enough to wait. I wish you luck."
Their cgi didn't work when I signed up. it still didn't work when I left four months later. Yes, I sent support tickets. Many people on their support board complained too. Those posts disappeared.
Fortunately, I had a simular domain name (one letter diff), so when the other site was ready, I finally cancelled and parked that domain name.

Linuxweb: "I have no complaints, but the prices are too high for me to host all my sites here."
I have several domains and tried one account with them. I liked it (anything was better than see eye host) but it would have been too expensive to have all my domains there. I still used it for testing for about two months after because I had simular domain names (one letter diff), so when the other site was ready, I finally cancelled and parked that domain name. They had also raised their prices before I left.

Thank goodness I have extra domain names. That way I can set up the site completely under one name, then cancel and park the other name with no downtime.

Originally posted by porcupine
Also, customers who make up lies just to cancel, like "i decided to get a dedicated server" *cough* (on like a site pushing < 1gb/mo).

Porcupine:

I've actually done this.

Originally posted by hostpath.com


Porcupine:

I've actually done this.

So that was you, eh?! :angry: j/k :D.

I can understand people moving sites to a dedicated server, a site that takes up 10mb space, and 200mb of bandwidth though (alone, no other sites), i don't buy.

nice thread !!


full of good info :


:homer:

Originally posted by virgil
I don't understand why you would document reasons for cancellation as "bad". Customers have the right to cancel their account for any reason. If their reason is stupid, what else can you do? If it's not, then you may consider that as some sort of feedback.

I don't think a user cancelling an account because he/she can't have a username is an invalid reason. It may sound too much, but it's a valid reason that may have a purpose.

Labeling subscribers as "problem clients" is bad because you don't know where to put the line. What if you're just an incompetent support person who can't answer simple question, or you have an attitude problem? :cool: You see, it could be two way, a problem host or a problem client.

Or just put the user on a different server so the name isn't in use :confused: , right?

best one we have has was because they couldnt upload thier warez to the servers. So they went looking for a new host.

LOL

I just love the customer who calls screaming because his e-mail's been down for 3 days and if it's not up in 30 seconds he's canceling his service and calling his attorney and the BBB. Then I remind him that he cancelled his service with us 6 months ago because he had found a cheaper host. "Well, They won't return my calls so I want you to fix it."

(happened yesterday)

Aaron

I had one of those too, that moved and forgot they moved - but did not forget where to send payment (to the new people).

Kinda stole my thunder on that one.

The stupidest reason was "I found it for 50 cents cheaper over here" and because I would not match it knowing the other provider and what they do, he left. Came back 2 weeks later saying "They charged me a $20 setup fee!! Will you credit my account because they did this?" Oh brother, he could not understand why we would not give him credit for what another ISP charged him. His reasoning is "You are all on the same backbone and the money all goes to the same place, right?"

If that is true - where is my money from Time Warner/AOL????

It is just me, or do I detect that the more advanced we become, the more morons there are...? :eek:

Originally posted by NodeHost
I had one of those too, that moved and forgot they moved - but did not forget where to send payment (to the new people).

Kinda stole my thunder on that one.

The stupidest reason was "I found it for 50 cents cheaper over here" and because I would not match it knowing the other provider and what they do, he left. Came back 2 weeks later saying "They charged me a $20 setup fee!! Will you credit my account because they did this?" Oh brother, he could not understand why we would not give him credit for what another ISP charged him. His reasoning is "You are all on the same backbone and the money all goes to the same place, right?"

If that is true - where is my money from Time Warner/AOL????

now that one is good. :)

I had a customer that left because he said the servers were slow, but it really a poorly written script, but they wouldnt belive that.

bleh, i had a friend that left one webhosting company because he didn't like the color on the banner on the Control Panel, and because he said that they had disabled .htaccess (he wasn't coding it right, and he wouldn't use the control panel to generate it for him because he was worried he would break it).

He went to another host and cancelled in a day or two because his webroot was called www instead of public_html and he wanted public_html back. *sigh*

and then, of course, he explained this all in great detail to me and i laughed, and laughed, and laughed......

Originally posted by NodeHost


If that is true - where is my money from Time Warner/AOL????

LOL frank thats pretty funny.

When i ran my hosting company I had someone cancel because of the warez issue. They wanted me to give them more space so they could fit windows xp on it for someone to download. I was like umm NO! so they said forget you ill go elsewheres and then they left. Acually this is when i was on a dedicated server with frank (NodeHost) and both of us would have got in trouble if they put it on there.

Also i had one person that i gave lifetime hosting to for a very cheap price....they stop using hte hosting after a few months and basaclly told me they found anotehr place and didnt care to host with me no more. I since then shut down my hosting company and moved my clients elsewheres. They come back after almost 8 months asking for a full refund. I told them i had a 30 day money back on it and they said they wanted it back anyways. This is 8 months later! Being the kind person i am i gave them half of it back but told them the rest they lost out on. (I figured since i coudlnt offer them hosting anymore since i closed that i could give them something back...even though they canceled)

Some of the otehrs i encountered was when i worked at Node Hosting and got them in the support tickets. I had ppl say that they wanted to cancel because their site is not working then right afterwards i got another ticket saying nevermind i just typed the url wrong. Got to love those ones. (Frank you remember those ones right?)

Originally posted by Skie
bleh, i had a friend that left one webhosting company because he didn't like the color on the banner on the Control Panel, and because he said that they had disabled .htaccess (he wasn't coding it right, and he wouldn't use the control panel to generate it for him because he was worried he would break it).

He went to another host and cancelled in a day or two because his webroot was called www instead of public_html and he wanted public_html back. *sigh*

and then, of course, he explained this all in great detail to me and i laughed, and laughed, and laughed......

Oh that one is good LOL

I had ppl say that they wanted to cancel because their site is not working then right afterwards i got another ticket saying nevermind i just typed the url wrong. Got to love those ones. (Frank you remember those ones right?)


Hahahahahahahahahaha, gahahahahahah, i've dealt with a few people like that, and woe is me, they were TERRIBLE, except i dealt with them as a consultant, and oohhhh boy, the crap was 20 feet deeper when you had to deal with them hours on end :bawling:. I've still got one who has yet to pay me because he stopped me from working on his DB after months of delay (which he caused as he refused to give me the updated backend files as he was still using them (couldn't spare 2 hours to let me update mine and give him the new db, his backend/frontend were intertwined)), i've been sending him invoices, but he's a frustrating old guy, i'll probably have to resort to getting a collections agency after him at this rate (man that would be funny now that i think about it :D)

I've still got one who has yet to pay me because he stopped me from working on his DB after months of delay (which he caused as he refused to give me the updated backend files as he was still using them (couldn't spare 2 hours to let me update mine and give him the new db, his backend/frontend were intertwined))

Well, I'm guessing he'll probably show you his backend in one form or another if you take him to collections...

HAHAHA :D

Originally posted by porcupine
I can understand people moving sites to a dedicated server, a site that takes up 10mb space, and 200mb of bandwidth though (alone, no other sites), i don't buy.

I moved a site from shared hosting that took up virtually no space and had no traffic to speak of to a dedicated server -- but I did so in order to full control over the server and install components that I wanted to use. Also, traffic grew rapidly!

Originally posted by runfast


Well, I'm guessing he'll probably show you his backend in one form or another if you take him to collections...

Thats ok, i've been patiently waiting almost 6 months for my $$$, he can show me whatever he wants as long as i see his wallet sooner or later :D.

Originally posted by porcupine


Thats ok, i've been patiently waiting almost 6 months for my $$$, he can show me whatever he wants as long as i see his wallet sooner or later :D.

When he does show you his "backend" please take a picture... A photo of a clients arse: PRICELESS! :D

lol :)

My favorite has got to be the guy who years ago signed up for Internet access and web hosting with us and then subsequently cancelled.

Right hand to God on this one, he cancelled because none of it worked. HE DIDN"T HAVE A FREAKING COMPUTER!!!

Most recent dinger was a customer who wanted us to fix the problem with 'our' mailto script ( we provide a few basic cgi scripts in the directory) when in fact there was nothing wrong with the script, his web designer had made a mistake and left out one character in the link to it. But because we couldn't fix the script, and kept telling him that his designer needed to fix his bad code, he cancelled.

I've been enjoying this thread :D

I had a customer who signed up with us and put in their domain as a dot-com ("whatever.com"). I looked it up in the whois and noticed it wasn't registered, and when I sent him the account info I offered to register it through our registry for our normal cost. He wrote back in all caps and I believe one or two curse words saying that I was trying to rip him off and our site said the domain would be free :confused:

Turns out he wanted a subdomain ("whatever.oursite.com") which is indeed free, but he was so annoyed at "my" mistake that he cancelled. :rolleyes:

HE DIDN"T HAVE A FREAKING COMPUTER!!!


:eek: I think that one takes the cake. :eek:

WHT MasterCard ads...


Buying your first server to start a hosting business: $1200
Buying all the software that you need: $950
Advertising for new clients: $400
Getting your first client: Priceless
(or, the alternate "priceless" line..)
Watching a client leave you in the dust for the stupidist reason: Priceless.

Because he didn't want to change his nameservers

Try having them call you up asking where the "any" key is, or to fix thier coffee cup holder (CD ROM).

We get quite a few tech questions also, those are a little more interesting.

Example. Lady called in, her custom disks to auto configure her computer for her domain was not working. Being a special project, we asked her to make a copy of them and send them back in, 3 days later, we get a letter in the mail, with 3 photocopied disks.....

Many more.....

Originally posted by NodeHost
Try having them call you up asking where the "any" key is, or to fix thier coffee cup holder (CD ROM).

We get quite a few tech questions also, those are a little more interesting.

Example. Lady called in, her custom disks to auto configure her computer for her domain was not working. Being a special project, we asked her to make a copy of them and send them back in, 3 days later, we get a letter in the mail, with 3 photocopied disks.....

Many more.....
I got an email of all of those in there :D

We reported some of our good ones to CNET about a year ago, some made thier list, some didn't. Those two were actually published ones.....

Wow Cool :)

Here is a good one for today,

Someone cancelled because they did not like being emailed about server maintenance or any sort of network issues over a period of months...

People complain when you dont inform of maintenance or upgrades etc, and they complain when you do

edit: spelling

heh... i can't see being mad from being informed about network issues... actually, if i had my way, the host would email me a "server status" report every hour or so, with all the issues reported, and a list of processes and system information, so i could know how the server was running :-D

more information is good.