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Thread: Is this morally wrong?
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10-21-2009, 10:37 PM #1Junior Guru Wannabe
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Is this morally wrong?
I'm sure anyone here that has reseller services has fallen into this situation before.
You have a reseller client who doesnt pay his bill, has had his account susspended, shows no intent to pay and has basicly told you its not going to be paid because they have lost interest. They have people who have purchased hosting services from them and are now out a host (mind you, only 4 or 5 accounts). Does anyone see it as being moraly wrong telling them the situation and offering them the ability to make a seemless transition over to your complany located on the same server seing as though you sold the reseller account to their provider to being with?
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10-21-2009, 10:42 PM #2Web Hosting Master
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Only if the clients contact you some way.
You should never contact his clients they are his he has the right to sell them or move them or lose them.
You can ask the reseller if he intends on keeping them or if is OK with you offering to continue their service but unless he says yes they are not your clients.
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10-21-2009, 10:48 PM #3Junior Guru Wannabe
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10-22-2009, 12:19 AM #4Newbie
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As a client of the reseller I would much prefer the upstream provider contacted me & offer a seamless transfer than have my site suspended for no fault of mine. It doesn't matter a damn to the end client about normal protocols. The main thing they care about is their site & it not being affected.
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10-22-2009, 12:43 AM #5Web Hosting Master
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If all there was to be concerned with is the end user you are correct.
But the provider has a reputation first and for most to maintain. He does not want to be known as a customer stealer. Second the reseller has potential legal recourse against him for stealing his clients and lost income.
Even if he did not pay the bill and it was suspended he could claim he was unhappy and moving clients when the provider swooped in and stole his clients.
Not a good place to go.
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10-22-2009, 01:18 AM #6Newbie
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I see your points, but given the circumstances (from a customer view) I would prefer someone deal with the immediate problem & sort the issue using common sense. I doubt the average customer of a reseller cares much & an email saying that their current provider will be closing on such & such a date & offering a seamless transfer would be welcome. They don't have to take up your offer but I would imagine a lot would really appreciate it.
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10-22-2009, 01:31 AM #7Web Hosting Master
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First get the consent from your client to contact his customers as he is moving out of business. Without your clients consent its not ethically correct.
To get the money that your customer owes you can be collected by moving go legally with him and it should not done by stealing his customers. I hope I have put my point across.
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10-22-2009, 01:51 AM #8Disabled
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Well, It may not be totally wrong but I guess you could say it isnt kosher. it is best to leave it suspended. If your suspended page has a link to your site or support department the clients may contact you which would be best
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10-22-2009, 02:00 AM #9Newbie
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I would offer the reseller some cash to take the problem off of their hands. Who wouldn't take that over nothing?
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10-22-2009, 03:03 AM #10Junior Guru Wannabe
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I havent touched any of his clients, and dont plan on it. For the time being, I'm just going to leave them as is. The Reseller isnt makeing any contact with us, and has ignored our attempts to contact him for the most part. None of his clients have made contact with us, not even to get their data. Should they try I'll gladly give it to them. I dont think their very active, their bandwidth usage is less than 1000 MB a month and consists of static pages.
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10-22-2009, 04:11 AM #11Web Hosting Master
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What you should do in the future is make sure a provision for this is in your TOS.
Basically that you reserve the right to offer his customers hosting if certain conditions are met (unpaid bill, customers not moved.. etc)
Other than that, I agree that you should not try to take the customers without an OK from your (ex) client.
If you want to feel good about yourself, keep the customers up for a month and let them know the accounts will be suspended due to their upstream no longer being a customer and that they should take all complaints to them.
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10-22-2009, 09:49 AM #12Retired Moderator
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Does anyone see it as being moraly wrong telling them the situation and offering them the ability to make a seemless transition over to your complany located on the same server seing as though you sold the reseller account to their provider to being with?
I would not establish any kind of contact with the end users on my own.
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10-22-2009, 10:42 AM #13Newbie
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All of you are wrong.
Go for the money.
Any way you can get it.
Everybody was some one's customer.
Make the dead beat ~ Somebody Else's Problem.
I always do it this way and I don't know how else it could be done.
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10-22-2009, 01:56 PM #14Retired Moderator
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10-22-2009, 07:13 PM #15Brian King of LLAMEDOS
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If the guys not responding to 'normal' communications,
you might consider sending a reg. letter, along the lines of:
Please contact our office within 1 week to discuss both your reseller account
and your customers.
Failure to reply within said timeframe will be taken as confirmation that:
a. you have withdrawn yourself from your contract with us.
b. you do not wish to provide services / support to your own clients,
but that you will allow us to contact said clients with a view to offering
them a 'rescue service'.
Just my initial thoughts on what is a tricky situation, which you could simply ignore.
I guess ignoring would be the most moral, but least satisfying[to me].
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10-22-2009, 07:30 PM #16Disabled
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Its not your responsibility to look after the reseller's clients.
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10-22-2009, 08:06 PM #17Aspiring Evangelist
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Considering that only 1000MB bandwidth is being used collectively, are you sure the accounts are paid clients as such? Might they just be personal sites of the reseller? Just thought I'd throw that consideration into the equation.
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10-23-2009, 06:55 AM #18Web Hosting Master
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Whilst it would be good to save their customers I say stay away from it, they are not your problem.
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10-23-2009, 08:52 AM #19Junior Guru Wannabe
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We've had this in the past, We was in deep discussion with the reseller before he ended the account. We gave him a preview of the email we was sending and we communicated with customers, letting them know their provider was ceasing to trade however as the owners of the hardware their based on, we're pleased to continue the service with 3 months free, and then for us to contact then indevidually to check satisfaction and billing.
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10-24-2009, 12:37 AM #20Junior Guru Wannabe
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This is a great point, and one I never considered.
I'm thinking that if you have a customer who isn't paying, I'd change their email address so they can't retrieve their reseller account password and then change their password so they can't just cut out and run with out paying their bills.
I'd leave his clients up for a month or three while we try to get him to pay up.
And about at this point, I'd have something in my t.o.s. that says we are allowed to contact them if there's no resolution, and offer to bring them on board to be our clients.
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10-25-2009, 09:15 PM #21Mr. Awesome
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As mentioned previously, you should include a clause in your TOS that specifically addresses this situation. (ie: If reseller customer doesn't pay, then you have the right to directly contact the individual website owners...)
Otherwise, I would contact your ex-customer and perhaps offer to purchase their customers from them. Most people like receiving free money.
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10-25-2009, 11:19 PM #22Newbie
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When i used to do hosting and this situation happened to me. I think that if the host is going to just stop paying. Then yes you are helping their customers by transfuring them. This is because if he lets the account expire. then chances are they wont have backups and they are already going to be upset to its the least thing you can do for them.
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10-26-2009, 12:19 AM #23Web Hosting Master
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This is definitely a no-no situation. Neither should you try to contact his/her clients nor should you do anything to "start" the conversation. Those clients pay the reseller, not you. They are technically not your clients (their his) . A reseller takes your services and pays you a fixed fee (or variable) and brands himself as the owner for the allotment. Though you are liable to their actions (most of the time) you are given sufficient time to remove problems. However, ethically (not just morally) you shouldn't be contacting them to host them. HOWEVER, if they contact you asking you the situation, you can inform them (and should) of the situation. If they ask for options give them that. You may to an extend offer an option (but don't push it). theres a good chance they might complain and bring your company down through the reseller.
BE very careful. Its best to leave alone anything that might backfire and this is a hot cake that might just do the damage though it might look really delicious.
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10-26-2009, 10:33 PM #24Web Hosting Master
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You typically need to wait for the clients to contact you first. Anything else can be morally ambiguous.
-mike
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10-27-2009, 01:59 AM #25Junior Guru Wannabe
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We've had luck with having a reseller communicate their clients and inform them that we'd take over the accounts. Twice this year this they were part time designers so a buyout was the logical conclusion.
As several have stated, contacting your reseller's customers is a definite no-no unless the contact you. Work with your reseller - sounds like they want out anyway.
Other then that the only thing you can really do is to give an additional grace period for the account to allow the reseller's customers to pull their data off. Hopefully the reseller will communicate the need to do so.
Is your reseller using private label nameservers? Is your company listed in the whois? While unlikely you may get contacted that way if you are.Last edited by recoil; 10-27-2009 at 02:01 AM. Reason: late night
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