Refugee specials

[suppleSupport]

How do you feel about "Refugee" specials? Is it unethical to take advantage of someone else's problems that way or is it just a good business strategy? What about specifically targeting a competitor's clients?

[net-trend]

Well I'm sure to those who do it, it's a marketing scheme and business strategy for them.

Since the company is failing or has failed, why not do something to reap in more revenue?

We've never offered 'refugee' specials before, and sometimes i wonder if they (the refugees) even take up the offer given by others.

Also a reason why we never offered any refugee specials is because most of the time they come from hosting companies that give you the world for a dime. To have this work for you, you'd have to lower prices considerably.

[1000rpm]

I feel that using the "refugee specials" in order to make money is very poor business practise.

[Chicken]

I'm no so certina about using the term 'refugee special' however many of the futureprice clients (for example) are probably a bit alarmed and confused as to what to do, where to go, etc. I don't see anything wrong with letting them know that you'll be happy to take care of them.

Going after another host's clients is just business, nothing new.

[1000rpm]

I have no problems with companies targeting customers from businesses that have closed (legitimatley), however using the term "refugee" isn't appropriate in my opinion, especially following the war in Iraq.

[1000rpm]

Elevation, what does: ﻯﻮﺿﺭ ﻦﻳﻮﻧ mean in English, I'm intrigued.

[Living Media]

If I know - absolutely know - that a company is closing their doors in a month or two (as in, they've made the public announcement), I'll set up such a thing. If there are questions (like the latest Featureprice merry-go-round), any sale or special may be written up, but it doesn't get announced until there's confirmation that the company is closing.

There's always going to be some war going on somewhere in the globe, so the use of the word 'refugee' doesn't bother me as much as advertising refugee sales before the company in question has declared itself out of the game.

[OKIHost]

I do find this unethical, I mean if a company is closing its door for good and had notified customers I guess it is one thing, but if a company is having a problem for a week or so and people are complaining I dont find it very ethical to jump on that company and offer something like that.. I remember one that was to the tune of "Jumpline jumpers, Over here!!" and I would not be able to put my morals aside for gaining a few customers. It is quite obvious that someone is already looking for hosting if they see that title and I can't image it helping you gain more than you would have gotten anyway.

[suppleSupport]

Originally posted by 1000rpm:

Elevation, what does: ﻯﻮﺿﺭ ﻦﻳﻮﻧ mean in English, I'm intrigued.

it means... "PM me for free 1000gb servers"

or perhaps it's just my name... :)

[sharpweb]

I don't think that their is anything unethical about it. I would attempt to purchase a contact list of their clients if I could. That's if purchasing the clients outright isn't possible :-). Poor taste might be a completely different subject though?

-Sean

[proxy]

My first word of advice for this biz
is forget your morals because there are alot of sharks out there and if your not competitive theyll eat you alive

[Chicken]

I don't think morals or ethics has anything to do with it (still). Just understand that there are many others who provide a similar service to you. It's not unethical to target another host's customers, but it would be to target them in an unethical manner (i.e. email their customers telling them that their current host is closing down). If done correctly, no problems.