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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
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    Rude attitude from ServerBeach's salesperson

    I was thinking to order a server from serverbeach. When I was about to pay, I noticed that I was required to provide my date of birth. I wonder why date of birth is required, as neither credit card verification nor age verification needs it. So I made a call to inquiry why date of birth is required. A salesperson, I think his name is Roger, after listing to my inquiry, simply replied that why not go to another company if you feel uncomfortable with that (telling us your date of birth).

    I feel very lucky to call serverbeach before I buy. I believe server beach has a good network thanks to peer1. but i really suspect what kind of support i can get given the rude attitude from their employees like the Roger.
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  2. #2
    Without trying to be rude or blunt, I can definitely see their point of view, it's at your discretion to take your business elsewhere if you feel that providing your date of birth is an issue. The fact that you have a credit card doesn't necessarily mean that its yours and that you're 18. One can take their parents credit card, that only proves that their parents are 18+.

    An ISP asking for DOB is unusual, but definitely not wrong.
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    My comments do not reflect the views of the company or its management.
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  3. #3
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    I'd go along with Gene. Nothing wrong with a company that's contemplating entering into contract with you to verify that you can legally enter into that contract.
    There is no best host. There is only the host that's best for you.
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  4. #4
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    We ask for date of birth before sign up for statistical purposes and of course age verification. Can come in handy if you face a legal dispute.
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  5. #5
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    I do not think it is appropriate. What if you go to a store and ask a salesperson "why this t-shirt/book/tv/laptop ..." and you get a reply that "go to another store" ?

    Quote Originally Posted by webair-gene View Post
    Without trying to be rude or blunt, I can definitely see their point of view, it's at your discretion to take your business elsewhere if you feel that providing your date of birth is an issue. The fact that you have a credit card doesn't necessarily mean that its yours and that you're 18. One can take their parents credit card, that only proves that their parents are 18+.

    An ISP asking for DOB is unusual, but definitely not wrong.
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  6. #6
    So why not take his advice and go get a server elsewhere rather than starting a useless thread here?
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by tiger0516 View Post
    I do not think it is appropriate. What if you go to a store and ask a salesperson "why this t-shirt/book/tv/laptop ..." and you get a reply that "go to another store" ?
    If the person is under 18 they cannot legally enter into a binding contract.(in the US) No one would want to do serious business with a person they have no legal recourse against.



    Regards,
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  8. #8
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    Sep 2002
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    I was with them until a short while ago and they were often nice and responsive on the phone and in tickets, I wouldn't be surprised if a business asks for age but a salesperson should never say things like go elsewhere unless he is being nice enough to refer you to a place that meets your requirements/eligibility/etc.
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  9. #9
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    I am a little bit surprised that it seems many folks prefer such a "straight-forward" response towards (potential) customers. Do not tell me it is the usual practice for a salesperson in this industry. Fortunately, I am lucky enough not to have similar experience with any other company, either brick-and-motor or online company.

    Shall I pray and thanks for God that I am such a lucky person?
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  10. #10
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    I dont think the point of this thread is to condemn the concept of asking for DOB, I think the point is that the OP was not given a certain level of respect that should be expected.

    I may just be old fashioned, but that would probably upset me as well.

    Now my question is, was there more to this story? Was there a tone of annoyance or malice that you took with Roger? Perhaps calling their policies dumb?

    Something like that could warrant such a response from Roger, but if nothing of the sort took place, then it was a bit cold on Roger's part.
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  11. #11
    I don't think it's appropriate for us to be making assumptions as to how the OP was treated on the phone without actually overhearing the conversation, the sales persons tone could have affected the way the OP interpreted what was being said.

    In my mind I can see many different ways of telling someone to go elsewhere for a server, a few are very nice ways of putting that forth without offending the caller.

    I do not think it is appropriate. What if you go to a store and ask a salesperson "why this t-shirt/book/tv/laptop ..." and you get a reply that "go to another store" ?
    Have you ever went to GameStop or EBgames and purchased a M rated game and get asked for your ID,if you don't have it they tell you they can't sell it to you. Same thing here.
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan - Limestone View Post
    ... Now my question is, was there more to this story? Was there a tone of annoyance or malice that you took with Roger? Perhaps calling their policies dumb?...
    There usually is more to these stories.

    I've told prospective clients to go elsewhere. Of course, this was after lengthy discussions on how absurd my verification or any other terms of service were.

    I'm not saying that's what happened here. I'm just saying that there are times when it's appropriate to fire your customer, whether they've been with you a while or are simply inquiring.

    There is no best host. There is only the host that's best for you.
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  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by tiger0516 View Post
    I am a little bit surprised that it seems many folks prefer such a "straight-forward" response towards (potential) customers. Do not tell me it is the usual practice for a salesperson in this industry. Fortunately, I am lucky enough not to have similar experience with any other company, either brick-and-motor or online company.

    Shall I pray and thanks for God that I am such a lucky person?
    No I just think some of us don't see the point of you posting this here. Okay someone at SB was supposedly "rude" (lets face it he wasn't really rude, the way you describe it he sounds like he doesn't want to deal with you) to you, big deal it happens in all industries. Sometimes employees have bad days and customers who call to complain about their age verification might not seem worth the effort to them.

    I just don't get what you are trying to accomplish here. What did you want the outcome of this thread to be? Did you want SB customers to migrate en mass, did you want an apology from the CEO from SB and a free server or did you just want to come here to trash a company without trying to resolve your issue with the actual company first?

    If you didn't like the way you were treated then you had a couple of options:
    1. Escalate the issue to his manager.
    2. Vote with your wallet and go elsewhere
    3. Complain on a public forum to people who can't do anything about it because one employee out of hundreds they have was blunt with you. Which solves absolutely nothing.

    I hope next time you chose option 1 or 2.
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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by webair-gene View Post
    Have you ever went to GameStop or EBgames and purchased a M rated game and get asked for your ID,if you don't have it they tell you they can't sell it to you. Same thing here.
    If you ask the salesman at the game store why he needs your ID, he'll tell you something like "We need to verify your age in order to sell you an M rated game" rather than "Uh, go to another store!"

    Quote Originally Posted by RossH
    lets face it he wasn't really rude, the way you describe it he sounds like he doesn't want to deal with you
    Where I come from, that's called being rude.

    No I just think some of us don't see the point of you posting this here
    He's posting his experience dealing with the process of ordering a dedicated server. Perhaps he also hopes for comments from others that have dealt with the same company. I see nothing wrong with that.
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  15. #15
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    ross what r u the poster police? who cares if you don't see the point... you usually don't.

    thx for the post... I won't shop there. Rude... is rude... is rude. Once again for the post.



    Quote Originally Posted by RossH View Post
    No I just think some of us don't see the point of you posting this here. Okay someone at SB was supposedly "rude" (lets face it he wasn't really rude, the way you describe it he sounds like he doesn't want to deal with you) to you, big deal it happens in all industries. Sometimes employees have bad days and customers who call to complain about their age verification might not seem worth the effort to them.

    I just don't get what you are trying to accomplish here. What did you want the outcome of this thread to be? Did you want SB customers to migrate en mass, did you want an apology from the CEO from SB and a free server or did you just want to come here to trash a company without trying to resolve your issue with the actual company first?

    If you didn't like the way you were treated then you had a couple of options:
    1. Escalate the issue to his manager.
    2. Vote with your wallet and go elsewhere
    3. Complain on a public forum to people who can't do anything about it because one employee out of hundreds they have was blunt with you. Which solves absolutely nothing.

    I hope next time you chose option 1 or 2.
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  16. #16
    I understand why they require date of birth. However, that is not the way you speak to a client.
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  17. #17
    I mean, you have to see there point.

    They just want make sure that you are overage I'm guessing.
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  18. #18
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    Sure that is all that they wanted. And had they said that instead of what they said the OP would be happily enjoying his server. However who wants to give there money to someone that acts like they are doing you a favor by selling you something. Just my two cents.
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  19. #19
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    Rude attitude? Hardly.

    You're objecting to their sales form, which means, somewhere down the road you're going to be another PITA customer. It's best to do just what this person has done and pass on the sale.

    As others have stated, if you're not 18, you can't enter into a legally binding contract, which is most likely WHY they want this information. Anyone hiding this brief bit of information has something else to hide, obviously. It's not like they ask for your ss#, your bank #, credit history, or anything else that could kill you.

    Face it, your birthday's already out there, online. There's no reason to hide it. Calling them up and confronting them about it is just going to raise suspicions about yourself, and flag you as a 'trouble' customer. Maybe that's why they do that in the first place

    Rude? hardly. You were encouraged to take your business somewhere else. That benefits them by freeing support of a burdening customer, and lets them move on to the day to day of doing business.
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  20. #20
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    Can someone get the tapes of recording for listing purposes before we proceed further, otherwise it could be just and attack on a company from someone ? Thats what you get that weird message " your message will be recorded for monitoring purposes and blablabla.." ??

    Cause every coin has 2 sides ! And to every story there is the dark side !!

    @Linux " Face it, your birthday's already out there, online. "

    Woot u mean where ? Can you locate my birthday date online for me ?
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    These things we do not provide/offer : Unlimited Storage ! Unlimited Bandwidth ! But Why? Cause, we were unable to put such a large number on our pages, it just would not fit.
    So check out the numbers that actually fit >> << the page as well as your budget too !
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  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by PinkFloydWS View Post
    ross what r u the poster police? who cares if you don't see the point... you usually don't.

    thx for the post... I won't shop there. Rude... is rude... is rude. Once again for the post.
    So you aren't going to shop some place because one employee out of hundreds was rude? So I guess that means you will never shop any where ever again because I have seen stories of rude employees from ATT/Sprint/Cingular/Walmart/Target/Walgreens/McDonals/Burger King/etc.

    This is no big deal, some guy got told by one employee out of hundreds that he should probably take his business elsewhere and he probably should.
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  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by bqinternet View Post
    He's posting his experience dealing with the process of ordering a dedicated server. Perhaps he also hopes for comments from others that have dealt with the same company. I see nothing wrong with that.
    He has no real experience, he didn't want to provide his birthday and a sales person told him that maybe he take his business elsewhere. In no way is this rude, the sales guy didn't call him names, hang up on him, curse him and didn't ask why he was being a PITA. This is like the people posting 4 hour reviews of a company they signed up with.

    I guess the point I'm trying to get across in this thread is you should not judge a company on the single actions of one employee out of hundreds. If the op had spoken to a manager I'm sure this situation would have been handled to the op's satisfaction.
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  23. #23
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    May 2006
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    You call that rude?
    Jesus christ kid, wait til you get in the real world..
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  24. #24
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    I guess the point I'm trying to get across in this thread is you should not judge a company on the single actions of one employee out of hundreds. If the op had spoken to a manager I'm sure this situation would have been handled to the op's satisfaction.
    Excellent point. As for myself, I do not see how such a question could remotely be a problem for the client (unless of course they are underage).

    Sure, maybe they could have answered in a different manner, but I definitely don't see any problem with the question posed and if the client is not willing to provide their date of birth (or even mails them asking why that is needed without signing up) then there should be alarm bells, for this very -basic- information.

    Please note that there are laws concerning "contracts", etc (you can notice this on forums especially, with the "I confirm I am 13 or over" and they may need to confirm you are over 13 years of age or have parental permission.
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  25. #25
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    I recently went to a fast food place to get a salad (love their salads) and the usual person wasn't there. I pulled up and the person said, "yea what do you want?" I said, "I need a second please", which I got no response. No more than 5 seconds later the person said in a really crappy attitude "Ok... so yea.. what do you want." Which I then reply "I said I need a minute 5 seconds ago" which was a reply of "yea".

    I finally spoke up and said what I needed. Waited a few second and asked for my total. Which the person gave me my total in a bitchy attitude.

    Believe me I talked to the manager and I will not be ordering from there again. I have no problem what-so-ever never going to a place again because that 1 person was rude.

    I have worked in customer service and know that just one employee can ruin a customers shopping experience. It appears the person at ServerBeach ruined this potential sale, and I sure hope his/her manager knows about it.

    How people can defend people with rude actions, is beyond me. Maybe its because you are rude yourself. People are allowed to post their experience on this forum, and why people like you have to bash them when they do.. is again... beyond me. Don't like the post... then move on!

    I can guarantee if you the manager over at SB knew how this potential customer was treated they would apologize and try to make the situation better. Just like the manager at the fast food place did. They knew they were in the wrong.. ofcourse they were. Its not the policy the person is 100% complaining about, its how he/she was treated.
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