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Cancellation notice of LET/LEB vps providers
cosmicgate
Member
Hi, i would like to know what's the "code of conduct" of most vps providers on LEB/LET when a client wants to terminate their vps? Do they(the client):
a)Just wait out till the service is due and move on without paying without informing the provider/ignore due invoice without paying. Is this an acceptable practice? Will this be accepted as a proper way for a client to "terminate' their service?
b)have to inform provider X days from the last day of their service for proper termination.
If b) is true, what is the minimum days (in general) for the client to take action?
Please discuss as about 70% of the providers i've come across do not include this in their TOS. Some do, but the moment you inform of your cancellation they cancel your service on the exact same date as you informed them even though you still have X days left for their service.
Comments
I don't think that one month of cancellation notice request like some hosts (even some of my favourite hosts) have is reasonable. For dedicated server maybe yes, but for vps where minimal costs are involved in operating individual accounts no. Because with one month of cancellation notice request client need to know more than one month upfront that s/he don't want/need vps anymore but pay it for next month anyway.
Most hosts by my experience require cancellation notice before next invoice is generated, usually 7 - 10 days before vps expiration date which is by my opinion reasonable.
More rare we see something like Rapidxen have in their FAQ "Cancelling your account is quite simple. Since you pay in advance for service, simply do not pay the renewal invoice and your account will be automatically closed and deleted within 72 hours" - that's smooth from customers point of a view but we should not expect from all hosts to have such user friendly cancellation policy.
As conclusion I would say that most hosts require cancellation days upfront and that's OK but all what's longer than two weeks upfront for small vps isn't really reasonable and user friendly.
A host shouldn't complain as long as it's cancelled before the invoice due date.
I cancelled a Hostigation VPS 3 days before the due date without issues and burst.net hasn't complained when I canceled after invoice generation, but they generate invoices 3 weeks in advance.
Without issues? Ok, but in most cases you will still recieve payment overdue notices for already generated invoices won't you? Some hosts most likely manually remove non paid already generated invoices after cancellation but not all.
It really is no skin off my back if you cancel the date the invoice due, or even after. Some are quite anal about it, they will suspend all service for a single service going into arrears, and that just doesn't float with me as ethical when I've been paid already for the other services. So I didn't get to collect a fee for a few days, I'll remove your account from the server after 10 days and move someone else in that does want the service. Keep paying, keep getting service, stop paying, I stop the service that wasn't paid for. A few are kind enough to use the cancel feature in WHMCS, and I respect their wish if they mark end of billing period, they did pay me after all, but I also understand many providers will get emotional and terminate anything that is requested immediately, so people fear submitting the request. Either I did a good job providing the service and you will be back as many are, or I didn't and you moved on.
No, when using the cancel feature in WHMCS it will mark any generated invoices for the cancelled service as cancelled as well. So if you have not actually cancelled via that feature, yes, you still get the notice.
@miTgiB even with request of some hosts to cancel before invoice is generated while client cancel after and because that still owe them by TOS? Or this depend from WHMCS setup?
Everyone can operate how they wish, I was just relaying my feelings on it, and WHMCS is very flexible when it comes to how it handles a non-paying client.
I have tried a shorter period for non-paying clients to remove their suspended service from the servers, but have found I run into little trouble waiting 10 days after their due date to remove it, 3 days after the due date I suspend it.
If I'm remembering correctly, BuyVM will suspend your other VPSes if you try to "cancel" one of them by not paying the invoice. Your best bet, no matter the provider, is to cancel via WHMCS when you're 100% sure that you don't need the VPS or anything on it, since some providers don't honor the "Wait until the end of the billing period" option. So, back up your data, make your DNS changes, etc, then cancel. I don't see a reason to cancel more than a few days before the due date - it's entirely unreasonable for a VPS provider to require a week or 10 days notice.
Correct, because we outline in our TOS, that everyone read like they stated, that simply leaving a service like that isn't OK.
Francisco
@miTgiB Same thoughts here. We welcome the use of proper cancellations, and always respect a client's choice of immediate or end-of-cycle termination (in fact, treat most of them as end-of-cycle regardless), but I really couldn't be bothered by accounts left abandoned, forgotten, or cancelled near/after their due date.
It's also worth noting that if you wish to cancel after a service is suspended, the overdue invoice is automatically adjusted to only reflect the dates up until cancellation, prorated.
We don't let clients cancel, that's bad for business.
[/jokes]
We would appreciate if the client send us the request of cancellation before the next invoice is generated, the service will be guaranted until the paid period.
Suspension and termination are manual process for us so we handle them once a week, this usually mean that the client has one-two weeks to regain access to the account.
I get annoyed by clients that just don't pay their bills. The real world doesn't work that way, so why should the hosting industry?
We're very grateful and lenient as long as you submit a cancellation before your due date. Even if an invoice is already sent out.
Which world do you live on? The real word unfortunately does work that way, and people are shocked when they are expected to pay their bills for services. This is a lesson I learned very early on in this business. So the trick is to suspend their service soon enough after due to insure it is cheap enough for them to renew instead of going someplace else. We are not the phone company, electric company, cable company, we do not have a captive audience like they do, they have choice for our service and will roll to the next on the list if you make it too hard on the client.
If I don't pay my bills I get collections on me after the loss of service. That's the real world. I also can't just chargeback on something I buy and expect to get away with it either.
Speaking on behalf of Latheesan and I; we wouldn't mind it if the customer didn't tell us... we do automatic suspension after 24hours from the due date and automated termination after 7 days from when it's due. If 1 of our customers did request cancellation, we would work him to make sure everything is good to go and we can terminate it 24hours after the due date. So either way, we're pretty happy with it.
try sending your customers to collations as an ISP, I did that 15 years ago, never again, you only create tons of bad blood and bad word of mouth, it will kill you in your tracks very quickly. It's not the clients fault they didn't pay their bill, it is not your fault for sending them to collections. Granted for a LEB I'm not about to consider it, but back in the dialup days I did do this for a few months and saw the negative response.