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  1. #1

    Arrow Account before payment?

    I had a client today who made an order but refused to pay until I setup his account and transfer all his accounts from his old host over. I told him I can not create the account until payment is recieved, so he said nevermind then. Do you think it is a good idea to setup accounts before payment is recieved? What would you have done in this situation?
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  2. #2
    No way would I set the account up until payment was received.
    Sounds like a scam to me.

  3. #3
    I've gotten burned from setting them up, even buying their domain name... then never receiving payment. So in my opinion, no, don't do it.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
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    North America
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    I would have politely said, "Sorry, but it's against policy to provide services before payment is received" and let them go elsewhere if this did not suit - especially since this person was asking you to transfer the site files for them.

    The only two reasons I can think of for someone asking for this are:

    1) they've been burned before, and so don't want to prepay and lose their money again
    2) they're trying to scam you
    Lesli Schauf, TLM Network
    Linux and Windows Hosting: Scribehost

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2000
    Location
    San Antonio, Texas
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    3,690
    You did the right thing for sure!
    NEVER set up an account before payment is received.
    HostCaters.com - Quality Web Hosting - Under A Gig! - Since 1999

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
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    Hmm, could you not just cancel their account in about 20 seconds if they didn't pay?

  7. #7
    No. They want me to setup their account and transfer all of their old accounts over and get everything up and running. Then they basically want to decide if they like my service or not :/
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  8. #8
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    At what point would you cancel the account: 20 seconds after creation? A few days? Also, this is extra work that has to be done: you have to monitor the accounts to see which ones are on trial period, cancel the ones that aren't or send invoices, and all that. And even so, you're going to find people who complain that you cancelled their account for no reason if they don't pay.

    There are pluses or minuses to either decision - but for me (and for most people here, judging by the replies) the potential pros of providing a free trial period are outweighed by the potential cons.

    If you have someone who wants to decide whether they like your service or not, they can transfer over one account and be your hosting customer for a month or two or however long they wish to evaluate the value of your service before moving their other accounts over.
    Lesli Schauf, TLM Network
    Linux and Windows Hosting: Scribehost

  9. #9
    I agree with everyone here. Protect yourself from being burned. Also, if you have a 30 day money back guarantee, you could tell the guy he has nothing to lose by trying your service for a month.
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  10. #10
    I told him that but I don't think it's encouraging him. That is why I feel it may be a really bad idea.
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  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
    Location
    West Michigan, USA
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    Never ever ever ever ever setup accounts without payment.

    Ever.

    --Tina
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  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
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    UK
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    Like the others say, don't do it.

    You don't need or want the hassle, do you?
    Many people get burned by scammers like these, so what if he is legit and all - he could at least trust your 30 day money back guarantee?

    If you are desperate for his service, do it - otherwise I'd stay away from him.
    Never setup accounts before payment, totally bad in the long run.


  13. #13
    I'm far from desperate for his service. hehe I'm not going to do it unless he pays first. Thanks for the advise everyone!
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  14. #14
    Personally (and this is just me), I would happily set people up before receiving payment, though I would not pay for their domain name costs. Why? Unless you are close to your bw limit for your server already, there is no actual cost to you. It also generates good will.

    EDIT: In terms of how it works with the domain name, either they deal with it themselves or I give them a subdomain of a 3 character domain I keep around for the purpose.
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  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Tehachapi, Ca
    Posts
    812
    Well, I do setup accts prior to payment if the order is for check/money order. But I state in my tos that acct will be suspended/deleted if payment is not recieved within a time limit. Now I know this could just open me up to abuse but it could also open up to a client who for whatever reason can't or doesn't want to pay via credit card. Or they don't feel comfortable posting their bank info with paypal. I think it just gives a good rapore with your clients.

    However I will not purchase a domain name for them.
    Bonnie - http://ansmediagroup.com - http://peachydomains.com
    Hosting since Aug 3, 2002 - Domain Registration since Feb 26, 2003
    Former CredibleHost clients can access their domains at http://access.enom.com to update their dns entries. I may be contacted for any reaons by emailing me through these forums.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    Australia
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    Re: Account before payment?

    Originally posted by mhale
    I had a client today who made an order but refused to pay until I setup his account and transfer all his accounts from his old host over. I told him I can not create the account until payment is recieved, so he said nevermind then. Do you think it is a good idea to setup accounts before payment is recieved? What would you have done in this situation?
    You did the right thing. If they don't pay, no dance.
    WLVPN.com NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider
    Increase your hosting profits by adding VPN to your product line up

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    UK
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    Yeah. I mean: Does your ISP allow you to signup before you pay?
    Do they allow you to use the Internet before you pay?

    Simple: THEY DON'T!


    You said you are not desperate for their service, so just leave them totally alone. Sounds more like a scam to me than anything else.

    I don't see a lot of other companies doing it, plus they want your service meaning they should bend to your rules: not the other way.

    With an ISP or anything you pay in advance.
    (Except with mine, they didn't bill me first month ... then they quickly picked up on it and double billed the next month )


  18. #18

    I wouldn't cause

    yea it's easy to deactive their accounts , but if it gets out that you give out accounts before you get paid, then script kiddies and spamers are going to flock to you.

    on that note about the kiddies , if you offer to much for to little you'll attract them too.

    a host I had offer *********** limited root access(all the perks minus Virtual reboot, and ability to recompile daemons) for CHEAP CHEAP , and he got flooded with script kiddies

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,567


    Yeah, there are just too many cons for offering Free Trial Periods - the very reason why so few do, if any even!

    You're better off with a money back guarantee - if you even want to offer one of those too.


    I cannot think off hand if any do, but I'll try and find some - maybe the topic starter can talk to them and see how they found the free trials go and whether they get abused.
    Although I doubt I'll actually find many if any.


  20. #20
    Join Date
    Dec 2000
    Posts
    610
    If it's an account with a low profit margin, the customer can pay first and transfer the files himself. If it's a client willing to pay $20/month per domain, then I would be willing to work something out after verifying the order. My times too valuable to do any extra work on a low cost/low profit margin plan.

    -Mike

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,567


    If you are making no profit on that account or it is just too low to be of any real value to transfer over the accounts - you're just waisting your time.


    Personally, from all the information you provided and all these posts:

    I SAY DUMP HIM


    It's up to you, that is my thought though - why waist your precious time on something that you wont make money on?


  22. #22
    For your information its Adult 100gb+ reseller account (and growing). I have had several times (more like everytime) where sites were transferred inproperly I have post nuke sites, forum sites, script sites, etc and this is a move from Ensim servers to CPanel servers so the absolute paths dont exactly match. All I wanted was to show me that he could transfer them without a hitch, I did not even need login and password information so what possible scam are you talking about and if it was a scam why would the customer want to transfer sites? Why would it even be a big plan? Why not a tiny little 5 dollar plan?

    Also for the person that said ISP doesnt allow you to sign up before pay....I think your extremely confused 90% of all ISPs allow you to sign up before pay.

    For the people that keep yelling scam this scam that, I wasnt even aware of his 30 day money back guarantee until after he posted this thread and even then he uses 2checkout and I used them when they first started so pardon me if I dont trust their refund system. Anyone that used 2checkout back then knows exactly what im talking about.
    Last edited by Ifrit; 03-29-2003 at 04:53 PM.

  23. #23
    I told you I had a 30 day money back gaurantee while we were chatting :/
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  24. #24
    mhale, the customer is always right.
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  25. #25
    Originally posted by ddent
    mhale, the customer is always right.
    I doubt that
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