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MiniVPS price increase - Page 2
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MiniVPS price increase

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Comments

  • Tough call for @martind. Unanticipated recurring costs from the DC. Personal view: honor the annual deals (no price increase), offer UK deals at discount for X months.

  • joepie91joepie91 Member, Patron Provider

    @Corey said: But if they reserve the right to increase the price at any given time they should be OK right?

    The validity of such a contract clause depends on the jurisdiction - and as far as I am aware, no such clause existed in their terms of service in the first place. See also:

    @gsrdgrdghd said: miniVPS agrees to provide the services stated for the price agreed at any given time.

  • SpiritSpirit Member
    edited November 2012

    @24khost said: @Spirit I can prepay my cable bill also, doesn't mean they can't raise my rates.

    I don't pay cable bill upfront so I can't comment that. Beside that there's not issue about raising rates, issue is that people paid xx $ for 12 months and now they have to pay again for those months or their service will be terminated disregarding they paid it already.

  • 24khost24khost Member
    edited November 2012

    People who want everything cheap. I had a client today who wanted me to match urpads 1 a month price. Had it been $2.00 a month I would have thought about it. But when I consider my cost of ip's I can't even come close to allowing that.

    I feel for mini-vps

  • @joepie91 said: @Corey said: But if they reserve the right to increase the price at any given time they should be OK right?

    The validity of such a contract clause depends on the jurisdiction - and as far as I am aware, no such clause existed in their terms of service in the first place. See also:

    @gsrdgrdghd said: miniVPS agrees to provide the services stated for the price agreed at any given time.

    I agree with @gsrdgrdghd 's paste they should have to provide the yearlys with the same cost.

  • @24khost said: People who want everything cheap. I had a client today who wanted me to match urpads 1 a month price. Had it been $2.00 a month I would have thought about it. But when I consider my cost of ip's I can't even come close to allowing that.

    This is the lowend market.

  • @24khost said: People who want everything cheap.

    Huh? People want this what they paid for.

  • @spirit curious - what price increase does this mean for you? What do you have with them? (if you're able to share)

  • KuJoeKuJoe Member, Host Rep
    edited November 2012

    @Spirit said: People want this what they paid for.

    So if your option is to pay extra for the same resources or not have a VPS at all because they deadpooled which is the better option for the client?

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @KuJoe said: So if your option is to pay extra for the same resources or not have a VPS at all because they deadpooled which is the better option for the client?

    If that is what is on the line short term, may be deadpool either way.

  • I'll address everyone's comments at a later stage - as you can imagine we're a little busy at the moment sorting through tickets, emails and plans to mitigate any problems for clients.

    So far, for the most part, customers have been very supportive and helpful as have we in our replies to them in an effort to help them out of a bad situation and ourselves. I think only 1 customer hasn't been satisfied so far which is a good thing out of over 100 tickets.

    Spirit. I know you are quite vocal on this forum and like to make sure your piece has been said however, at the moment, I don't think I've seen any communication from you regarding this. I am personally checking over every single email and ticket coming in regarding this. Instead of shouting about how terrible we are would it not have made more sense to get in touch to clarify the position and see if we can waive certain fees/prices?

    I'll hold my hands up and admit that going with OVH in the first place has turned out to be a pretty stupid move and we're paying the price of that now (no pun intended) however instead of belittling us during this particularly difficult time, why not lament on the good service and products you've received from us since you signed up and realise that we have absolutely ZERO desire to penalise our customers because in the end, the only ones to suffer from cock-ups are us.

    Thanks.

  • I had three of their £10/year boxes, they're set to expire in early January so I personally can't complain - They've been nice and stable for roughly 11 months.

    I do appreciate their openness regarding the situation, I'd rather have this than have them suddenly go offline.

  • SpiritSpirit Member
    edited November 2012

    @craigb sure. I have two yearlies. And while around 100% additional payment wouldn't kill me it's just stupid that they force me to pay it to use it BEFORE next billing period without refund posability. With monthly payment I wouldn't complain - I can simply cancel it and not pay next month

    @KuJoe said: So if your option is to pay extra

    Extra? You mean double (100%)..

  • taking ethics into account , wouldn't it be fair to honor all yearly paid deals ? If you promise something and market it likewise for sales , i don't think its a good practice to break your clients trust whatever be the reason.

  • @MartinD imho. (and I don't speak only for myself) if you can't honour plan even till the end of billing period isn't logical solution to offer pro-rated payment?

  • @Zen said: So they can't handle an extra euro per client? That means they're making next to nothing and I'de run for the hills either way.

    Spot on !

  • KuJoeKuJoe Member, Host Rep

    @Spirit said: Extra? You mean double (100%)..

    So you're paying £1/month now? Now this thread saddens me. :(

  • @Zen That means taking a £2 loss per year per client on the plan, that's not sustainable.

  • KuJoeKuJoe Member, Host Rep
    edited November 2012

    @Zen said: So they can't handle an extra euro per client? That means they're making next to nothing and I'de run for the hills either way.

    Contrary to popular belief, not all companies are fueled by greed. Some companies actual design their plans so the client gets the best pricing, not so their wallets get fatter.

  • SpiritSpirit Member
    edited November 2012

    @KuJoe said: So you're paying £1/month now? Now this thread saddens me. :(

    @KuJoe - No, no.. it's like that. You (your own company) have $14.99/year plans, correct? I order this plan from you and 4 months later you want additional 10$ from me without posability to go away with pro-rated refund in case I don't want to pay another 10$ for this what I already paid. So what now? I have two choices. Paying additional money or I get terminated after those 4 months without refund for non used 8 months.

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran
    edited November 2012

    Contrary to popular belief, not all companies are fueled by greed. Some companies actual design their plans so the client gets the best pricing, not so their wallets get fatter.

    Everyone is fueled by selfish desires. If you're not doing it for profit, you're doing it so someone or everyone will like you. Whether you realize it or not. No one will like you for not charging enough to take care of your clients. I don't have a large profit margin but its part of a long term plan and we have the funding to eat unforeseen costs. Not talking up myself, just saying I think that's something every provider should be able to say at the least. If that comes across as bragging in the slightest, we have a problem here. It should be normal.

  • rm_rm_ IPv6 Advocate, Veteran

    @Spirit said: I paid for whole year. I can't cancel it to get money back.

    I believe this is the missing option, giving people prorated refund for the rest of their prepaid year.

    @MartinD said: would it not have made more sense to get in touch to clarify the position and see if we can waive certain fees/prices?

    Nope it would not, bad business practices need to be named and shamed publicly.

  • KuJoeKuJoe Member, Host Rep

    @Zen said: I understand, I just find it hard to believe that with over 1000 clients in XX location you can't shunt a little extra weight for pre-existing clients, and increase pricing for new clients.

    Based on just 1000 clients that would be asking them to foot the bill for $1597/month. After finding out that clients like Spirit are only paying £1/month, if they ate the cost of the IP (£1) then they are operating at a negative for every client that is only paying £1/month.

  • MiniVPS should either swallow the increase or issue pro-rated refunds for the remainders of people's contracts with them.

    They've entered into long-term contracts with clients. They can't decide to charge more halfway through if the customer has already paid. OVH (and MiniVPS's business plan...) caused this problem, so there's no way the customer should be disadvantaged by this.

    This is the problem when you're renting hardware AND IP space from a provider. They can screw you, like OVH just did.

  • SpiritSpirit Member
    edited November 2012

    @KuJoe not if they give option of a pro-rated refund for non used months in case clients don't pay extra money.

  • I think a prorated refund would be a nice option and the provider doesn't loose very much in the end.

  • @martind appreciate you've been put in a tough spot and no doubt wrestled with this...what's your thinking around the pro-rated refund for annual accounts? Not trying to put you on the spot, but you guys have a good reputation and I'd bet you considered this option.

  • KuJoeKuJoe Member, Host Rep

    @Spirit said: I have two choices. I pay additional money or I get termnated after those 4 months without refund for non used 8 months.

    I believe they provided an option that resulted in no additional costs. While it's not ideal for most to have an IPv6 only VPS, some can make due with it as long as they provide NAT for IPv4 connectivity. That being said, it sucks that a 3rd party is forcing their hand to do this to their clients.

    @jarland said: Everyone is fueled by selfish desires. If you're not doing it for profit, you're doing it so someone or everyone will like you. Whether you realize it or not. No one will like you for not charging enough to take care of your clients.

    I guess you're right. I do this because I enjoy it so I guess that's as selfish as it gets. But still, they are making an attempt to take care of their clients by doing what they can to stay in business. If they had been charging double the cost to begin with then they could easily eat to costs with a much smaller client base.

    I'm just trying to offer a look at this from that of another provider in hopes to offer some perspective in this thread. :)

  • @KuJoe said: I believe they provided an option that resulted in no additional costs.

    yes, and you can connect to 1% of the internet with that option!

  • KuJoeKuJoe Member, Host Rep

    @Gary said: This is the problem when you're renting hardware AND IP space from a provider.

    +1! It's a very scary situation when you're not in control of your own company (we learned that the hard way).

    @Spirit said: not if they give option of a pro-rated refund for non used months in case clients don't pay extra money.

    I would hope that would be an option. What did they say when you asked them about it?

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