Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Hosting Software and Control Panels : WHMCS - treats people like a second class citizen

[SeanK]

I have been a member of this site for many years and I normally don't say anything. I keep to myself and give positive feedback where I can, but after this bull I needed to voice my concern.

Begin Rant now:


About ten months to a year ago I approached ServInt and asked them to look into getting WHMCS.

Things fell through so I again a month later took it upon myself and contacted WHMCS (Matt i think) and got him and a VP over at ServInt talking about getting WHMCS

They were able to talk and ServInt started to offer this product to their customers.

I see that people who have WHMCS are able to get perks like free eNom account among other things.

I contacted ServInt to get this and they advised me due to their new support contract that I needed to contact WHMCS to have them make the account for me. (okay, fine, i am cool with that)


I Submitted a ticket with WHMCS and got a reply from one of their people with this message

Hi Sean

Im afraid as you have purchased your license from a reseller and not directly with ourselves you will not have access to create a free eNom account with us. This is restricted to our direct customers only.

Many Thanks

Wayne
WHMCS Support

I purchased this license through a well known company, a Business on this forum with a lot of positive feedback so i am sure they got a lot of business out of this and because i don't get this key directly from WHMCS i am S**T out of luck?

Whats the point in using the software if you can't have all the options with it?

"Sorry people who don't purchase the software directly through us are not "eligible" to use the product in full?" But thank you for your money

Its not like the discount I am getting from ServInt is big bucks or something .. its a couple of bucks off... but you would think with the amount of people that ServInt has using this software the people over at WHMCS would be a little more friendly and customer service oriented.

I am pretty sure that I made WHMCS a good amount of money on this deal, by getting a well known company to pick it up this software. (Oh ServInt REALLY listen to their customers)


Whats the point of getting the software if you can't use all the perks, I mean why not just offer a trial version and tell all the DCs to screw off?

Oh and WHMCS your welcome for the money I have made you over the past year.. Too bad I will be removing my copy as I do like your software.

:End Rant

Just an FYI out there, Any new people who are looking at getting WHMCS through a second party DC should avoid it with the plague.

Anyone have suggestions for a replacement?

[M Bacon]

You could try out http://hostbillapp.com since it has more options and a faster development time. I don't see why they couldn't include the extra perks on whmcs.com for resellers. It's either spend more money or make your WHMCS Clients mad.

[HostGamma]

I do not see the reasons for this rant. So all this for a free Enom acccount? WHMCS would typically give discounts to resellers/datacenters and as such the "perks" are typically not included. We have a WHMCS license through Hostnine and it does not come with the Enom account neither.

Furthermore there are risks to have the "free" Enom account with your WHMCS license. What happens to that account if you don't like WHMCS anymore or want to migrate to another billing system?

[Searching10]

Anyone have suggestions for a replacement?

I love the Parallel Business Automation (PBA)
You can check how it looks in eurovps

[WHMCS-Matt]

Hi Sean,

Sorry to hear this has upset you.

However this has been the policy since the start, so isn't something new. It's not just free Enom accounts either but all the direct client benefits that we offer are not available to resold customers. The reason for that should be obvious. Direct clients pay more, and so there should be some benefits to go with that.

It's not at all the case that you're getting a stripped down or limited version of the software though, it's still the full software and it just means that you need to arrange a domain reseller account yourself and there are plenty of companies we support other than Enom which you could consider also.

It's also certainly not the case that we aren't friendly or customer service orientated, but it would be unfair to others to give the direct client benefits to resold customers on request just to make them happy. However, obviously in your case it sounds like you helped out in getting ServInt talking to us at some point in the past so if you get in touch with me directly there might be something we can do.

Matt

[mrcjdawson]

If it helps I can attest to the fact that Sean was indeed instrumental in our decision to begin offering WHMCS.

[SeanK]

Hey Matt,

Thanks for responding ... (i posted rant at 3 am, and normally don't rant)

Normally when a company like yourself setups a deal with a Hosting company its because you will do a greater volume of sales then without and it also gives your product exposer when a well known, good reputation company setups a deal with you.

I can attest that most of the people who signed up with ServInt around when you setup the deal had left CE because that was the only option they had at the time.

I saw an inferior product and pushed to have ServInt set something up with you guys. ( Again ServInt is good at listening to their customers people )

If you are doing the volume (at any company)that you normally wouldn't have, then it would be nice to offer some or all of the perks to everyone or even offer a small fee for the perks. (I am sure most of them are free to offer you with deals that you have worked out with the companies)

Its like walmart, they wouldn't have gotten as big as they are if they didn't treat everyone the same?

the only reason I have my license with ServInt is its an all in one billing, I don't need to worry about 3 or 4 bills... just the one.

[semoweb]

Well as someone else mentioned there is host bill but i personally dislike it. Im sure one day they will compete with WHMCS as for know whmcs is rocking the charts.

[HostSkies]

in a way i agree with matt, you pay more you get more benefits. Whmcs is still a great system and it works great. Going through a reseller just means you have to sign up with the extra accounts through them directly.

[xpservices]

I felt into the same trap - but i didnt know in advance that i lose some benefits.
I simply bought through a reseller because i was already their customer before.
So i can understand matt - but from the customers view that didnt know about that - its doesnt look good.
I would suggest you give those people a paid 'be a direct customer' upgrade - i would gladly pay the difference as i would have paid it anyways if i knew about the difference from reseller to direct customer before.

Just a suggestion.

[Cape Dave]

Originally Posted by xpservices

I felt into the same trap - but i didnt know in advance that i lose some benefits.
I simply bought through a reseller because i was already their customer before.
So i can understand matt - but from the customers view that didnt know about that - its doesnt look good.
I would suggest you give those people a paid 'be a direct customer' upgrade - i would gladly pay the difference as i would have paid it anyways if i knew about the difference from reseller to direct customer before.

Just a suggestion.

The above is a good idea.

[WHMCS-Matt]

We do infact already offer an upgrade path for those with owned licenses from a reseller who want to become a direct user on request. If you would like to find out more about that, please just open a ticket from your account containing the license.

Matt

[xpservices]

Cool, noone told me when i opened my ticket about enom with you guys last time - i was only told the same line like above. Would be good addition to the ticket answer to offer the upgrade

I will open another ticket, thanks matt

[httpEasy]

I see very little reason for this rant, too. WHMCS is good in itself and if you want a free domain reseller account you can get that easily as well if you don't insist in enom.

[whmanaged]

On one hand I see where you are coming from.

On the other hand I see Matt's point in regards to this. To run any good company the price may be bigger to go directly, then to a reseller. The reseller is cheaper, third party, meaning they have to either fix the issue or have WHMCS fix any issue with the billing system. To go with WHMCS you have more one on one with the direct company.

That's when you have to say "do i want to pay a little bit more and have more features, or go the cheaper route." Going direct is always the best WHMCS always gives the best support, and fast respond times for there issues!

You should just cancel and go direct.