First off i would like to point out ive used Geotrust certificates for about a yr and this is the first time ive had any issues with them.
resently it appears that they have forgotten that they are a service and as such they need to supply support.

-two weeks ago we ordered a certificate for a customer.

-the certificate appeared to go through but it did not.
-we wrote to them asking for some info and have not heard back yet.
-we have called them daily since that point and constantly get please hold for next rep repeated about 5 times, then it goes to a "no one is avaliable please leave a message and you will be answered by the next business day", well as far as im aware there have been a few business days in the last two weeks but no one had called back.
-this morning however at 7 am i got a call from their billing dept looking for my new credit card number, unfortunatly the only number they supply to give them the info was their 1-800 number which you cant get through on.


things i dont understand-
why dont people answer their phones?
how does a company doing business worldwide on the web think 9-5 eastern is good enough support hours?
why is it when they want your business they are always available but when they get it they disappear?
why cant a company that creates certificates give a secure location to update billing info?

/end rant
anyone else having these issues?

Geotrust folks i know you post here so get off the pot and get your job done.

Steve
Tera-byte

why dont people answer their phones?
Stupid telemarketers... Was it possible you were calling after or before business hours? Or there was a problem with the ordering system so they were back-logged.

how does a company doing business worldwide on the web think 9-5 eastern is good enough support hours?
Remember the golden rule of business "You get what you pay for". Now a days you can get a GeoTrust cert for $49.00... and you expect 24/7 toll-free support at that price? That sounds like some of the people in the Hosting Offers & Requests forum :).

why is it when they want your business they are always available but when they get it they disappear?
Karma, Murphy's Law etc etc

why cant a company that creates certificates give a secure location to update billing info?
Because 128 big encryption is not unhackable... or quite possibly it's easier for them to verify that kind of stuff over the phone.

My suggestion: if you expect all the thrills and frills with your shiney cert, I'd suggest calling Verisign... and it's only 10 times more expensive!

hmm don't use them.. people are posting that they have some problems with browser recognition

Nothing wrong with geo trust certs, they just require a secondary "root" cert to be installed for a couple of there certs.


If you don't know how to do this then you would have problems with browsers not seeing the cert correctly.

This is funny Steve. I had the same issue with them. Kept calling for three days two weeks ago. Same crap - told me I must have just been unlucky. So I just called the sales number 866-273-7355 and told them the deal. They got a support rep on the phone and they ran the cert over the phone.

We left Thatwe after 3 years of service due to lack of support and a large price increase. The 800 support line was the biggest selling point.



"You get what you pay for". Now a days you can get a GeoTrust cert for $49.00... and you expect 24/7 toll-free support at that price?

True. However we don't even offer that cert. We know the deal. We only sell the Business ID. So for that price, you better get support.

quote:
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"You get what you pay for". Now a days you can get a GeoTrust cert for $49.00... and you expect 24/7 toll-free support at that price?
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as a matter of fact yes i do expect 24/7 support for that (assuming thats what i was paying for).
why exactly cant a service that does nothing more than generate keys with very little overheard provide that sort of support. i run a webhosting company and if i can provide 24/7 live support for people paying me 5.00 a month and make money then so can they. verisign/network solutions is not a viable alternative no matter what the price. their support is also not up to par with the economy of the internet today. how can anyone think that 9-5 EST support is satisfactory in a market that doesnt allow anything more than than a few minutes to a few hours to deal with issues that arise with hosting? certificates are a part of hosting and therefore have to be dealt with accordingly

Steve

Originally posted by comphosting
[B]

Remember the golden rule of business "You get what you pay for". Now a days you can get a GeoTrust cert for $49.00... and you expect 24/7 toll-free support at that price? That sounds like some of the people in the Hosting Offers & Requests forum :).



I paid +$120 for a certificate on Thawte and they support still sucks, I had to wait 3 week for a certificate renewal.

Keeg,

You're right, the support should be *hosting hours* for *any* product they provide, unless otherwise stated.

I think they may just be overwhelmed at this time, because like you [and us], many people who were there at the start are now having contracts renewed, and that is not as straightforward as it could be in many circumstances.

The people who work there are definitely very keen to do the right thing, but I think they just bit off more than they could chew as far as the rate of expansion.. but I suppose that's not our management problem.

In their defense, I have always found them willing to bend over backwards to help once they know about any issue, and like getting support with many large or fast growing companies, you might zero in on a particular person there and send requests for support directly to their email address each time you need something.. works for me..

i can appreciate that and yes i have attempted to bypass the regular support channels as well but im not getting any further with that. i guess my real problem is it simply does not take two weeks to not respond, the very least an email to them should get an autoresponder back to the client so the client at least knows they have it. or if the phone message says we will get back to you within 1 business day then do it.

Steve

We left Thatwe after 3 years of service due to lack of support and a large price increase. The 800 support line was the biggest selling point.

well you are right. Thawte support was really bad (dunno how is support nowadays) and the problems with cert renewal - it was a nightmare for smaller companies that didn't had DUN numbers etc

Ok -- I get the message -- we are getting killed with volume lately.. since the Thawte price increase.

we keep adding to support -- but not fast enough I guess. We will add more.

If a host on WHT ever has a problem... you can email me directly at nealc@geotrust.com.....

Originally posted by apollo


well you are right. Thawte support was really bad (dunno how is support nowadays) and the problems with cert renewal - it was a nightmare for smaller companies that didn't had DUN numbers etc


And for my last renewal they made me notarize a bunch of stuff and fax it to them. I renewed for 2 years intending to renew for only 1, but looking at their prices today for the first time in months I thank god I made that booboo.

as to my first question do they suck? the answer is no they don't, neil has taken the time on a sunday to get to the bottom of our issues and have them dealt with. this means something to me although i do suggest they get a move on adding the additional support staff.

Steve

Steve -- this goes for everyone on here... our company will never act too big. We cannot always be perfect (as Steve pointed out), but we do always want to do the right thing.

You can always reach me by email if you have any issues.

Neal

You can PM me here on WHT or send email to nealc@geotrust.com

GeoTrust certs are a great alternative to Thawte/Verisign. As mentioned above, you will probably only experience a problem if you or your host cannot install a rootchain certificate. It's incredibly easy in Plesk (and I imagine other control panel solutions). It's also easy to do by hand in the httpd.conf.

It's all explained on GeoTurst's support page for the major webservers.

A word of warning, however: Heaven forbid you try to get Voxel Dot Net to install one of these things for your Ubersmith installation. :eek:

Jeff -- Most ouf our certs now do not require a root chain install...

That is progress...

Neal

I've bought over 5 certs from Geotrust and the entire process was easy. In fact, I got all my certs within 24 hours as opposed to the 3-4 weeks it takes Thawte. I paid for the $120/yr certs and installation was a breeze in Plesk.

Just my experience :)

Originally posted by braysurdi
I've bought over 5 certs from Geotrust and the entire process was easy. In fact, I got all my certs within 24 hours as opposed to the 3-4 weeks it takes Thawte. I paid for the $120/yr certs and installation was a breeze in Plesk.

Just my experience :)

you can now buy geotrust certs from rackshack for $29 or get a very comparable one from freessl.com for free with very similar browser coverage!
I hope this saves you money braysurdi.

hosty

Originally posted by GeoTrustCEO
Jeff -- Most ouf our certs now do not require a root chain install...

That is progress...

Neal

and is not trusted by 60Million internet users! Not progress! At least before you had 99% coverage but now your coverage is about 90% which makes you NOT TRUSTED by 60 million internet users! Maybe in 2-3 years time once your browser coverage increases to a decent level it can be used for commercial websites. until then you should really offer it as a free service.

hosty

Rackshack has a great deal going on right now...

I would consider jumping on it while it lasts....

Regards,

Neal

Originally posted by GeoTrustCEO
Ok -- I get the message -- we are getting killed with volume lately.. since the Thawte price increase.

we keep adding to support -- but not fast enough I guess. We will add more.

If a host on WHT ever has a problem... you can email me directly at nealc@geotrust.com.....

Neal, since you sacked your head of sales and other people at geotrust in order to save costs, you seem to be taking on the job of sales/support/customer care/engineering etc etc. How long can you run a company like this? The fact that you the, CEO of the company, are coming here and dishing out your email address to people who had problems with your company is a strong indication of something being wrong with Geotrust, don't you think?

hosty

Originally posted by GeoTrustCEO
Rackshack has a great deal going on right now...

I would consider jumping on it while it lasts....

Regards,

Neal

or they can get a comparable cert for free from freessl.com! so why pay even $29, right?

hosty

For those of you who may not know.... Hosty works for a Comodo (he runs a host on the side)... I have learned to ignore him (even though I do respond as a hobby every now and then)... Just search for "Hosty" on WHT and you will see this standard stuff.

what he will do now is come in as another user and make more posts......

If anyone wants the scoop on Comodo -- visit freessl.com

Now that he has ruined yet another thread... I think I will depart for the night....

Bye all


Neal

Originally posted by GeoTrustCEO
For those of you who may not know.... Hosty works for a Comodo (he runs a host on the side)... I have learned to ignore him (even though I do respond as a hobby every now and then)... Just search for "Hosty" on WHT and you will see this standard stuff.

what he will do now is come in as another user and make more posts......

If anyone wants the scoop on Comodo -- visit freessl.com

Now that he has ruined yet another thread... I think I will depart for the night....

Bye all


Neal

I don't work for comodo and yes I am an instantssl reseller (a fact known to people who have read my previous postings) and I am pissed off with Geotrust for throwing lies and deceit at me trying to make me a geotrust reseller and insulted my intelligence. I consider this thread to be very bloody relevant as I personall feel Geotrust suck and you Neal won't be able to escape from me. Please anyone who feels like finding out my previous postings do so you will see how I exposed Geotrust deceit and lies. They have sacked a lot of people recently that is why their CEO is trying to do everything himself, that is why you don't get your calls answered, Rackshack reduced their quickssl price from $49 to $29 because they realise quickssl is NOT trusted by 60 million internet users. Geotrust has been saying the same thing about rackshack when they were selling at $49, don't worry its only short term etc,(check out his postings) who are they kidding? How long can you run a business treating us like idiots?

You will also see that every challange I have made challanging Geotrust with what they display on their website, they never answered, their customers many webhosts here asked them but they never answered! Their ex-resellers questioned them, but they never answered, but as soon as they had an advertisement to make Neal the Geotrust CEO came to these forums and spammed the forum and of course his postings were taken down immedietly.

What sort of a company that would make their resellers purchase certs at $50-$60 to sell at $120 but allow other resellers sell at $29? Also, as if this was not enough they steal potential customers by setting up a different domain name, still owned by Geotrust www.freessl.com and offer certs free. Not only do they take reseller's money but they also take the reseller's customers!!!

hosty

Originally posted by hosty


I don't work for comodo and yes I am an instantssl reseller
Are we suposed to take your word for it?
and I am pissed off with Geotrust
I would of never guessed that.
I personall feel Geotrust suck and you Neal won't be able to escape from me.
You'll find that harassment is against the rules.
Rackshack reduced their quickssl price from $49 to $29 because they realise quickssl is NOT trusted by 60 million internet users. Geotrust has been saying the same thing about rackshack when they were selling at $49, don't worry its only short term etc,(check out his postings) who are they kidding? How long can you run a business treating us like idiots?
Rackshack is about to give away Urchin (http://www.urchin.com/), a $600 software. What's your point?

Originally posted by Marshall


Rackshack is about to give away Urchin (http://www.urchin.com/), a $600 software. What's your point?

my point is Urchin does not have 300% price difference between their resellers' purchase prices.

hosty

Originally posted by hosty


my point is Urchin does not have 300% price difference between their resellers' purchase prices.

hosty
Do I really have to explain to you what a loss leader is?

Originally posted by Marshall

Do I really have to explain to you what a loss leader is?

thats what geotrust said when rackshack were selling at $49 as well. This must be a forever ongoing promotion ;)

hosty

Originally posted by hosty


my point is Urchin does not have 300% price difference between their resellers' purchase prices.

hosty

Yeah, it is worse!! Just like Ensim WP, Cobalts, etc.... Volume speaks volumes. And right now RS is the volume leader.

Originally posted by UmBillyCord


Yeah, it is worse!! Just like Ensim WP, Cobalts, etc.... Volume speaks volumes. And right now RS is the volume leader.

the point is then, how can geotrust expect any other reseller to join their reseller programme, knowing that there is another company out there sell it at a price that is half the buying price for them? How are these resellers supposed to sell? 20%-40% difference could be justified to a customer but 300% difference???

hosty

Originally posted by hosty


the point is then, how can geotrust expect any other reseller to join their reseller programme, knowing that there is another company out there sell it at a price that is half the buying price for them? How are these resellers supposed to sell? 20%-40% difference could be justified to a customer but 300% difference???

hosty

You don't. You just deal with it. This has what has plagued business for centuries. Look at Walmart for example. Do you think they get their toothpaste for the same price as 7-11? Hell no. Small business always gets screwed on the wholesale.

I do understand your point. However you need to realize GoeTrust has done nothing new. Its business. Also, as pointed out by another, loss-leader should explain things.

Mmm, when dealing with Thawte there is quite a distinction between Thawte 'Support' and Thawte 'Verification'; the verification can be slow, but this is usually because the verification process is held up because some docs didn;t make it through or something' we've had lots of those issues...

Their support team is usually on the ball though.

Anyways, no answer to the question posted, just want to clarify the other issue. ; )