rjbutler
05-16-03, 11:28 AM
PRESS RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Robert J. Butler III
ThinkTech Design
815 Carpenter Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19119
(215) 848-1211
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ensim’s WEBppliance 3.5 Pro, Steep Upgrade Fees Surprise Existing Customers.
Can You Say, “Buy Me Again Sam!”
by Robert J. Butler, ThinkTech Design, Philadelphia, PA, May 13, 2003—
As a relatively small hosting provider looking to standardize on one control panel. Ensim, despite its shortcomings, stood poised as our number one choice, beating out the likes of Plesk, Cpanel and H-Sphere.
Ensim had a good thing going. Ensim was listening, fixing bugs, adding features and doing technically, what all good companies should. The result was exactly what its established customers had been waiting for, WEBppliance 3.5 Pro. Shiny, new and nearly bug free after several small post release updates. There should have been the sounds of great rejoicing in the Ensim user community. But sadly, much of the accolades were muffled by the sounds of weeping and the voices of discontentment when Ensim revealed its upgrade fees.
I don’t think anyone would have faulted Ensim for charging a modest fee for its new upgrade. But for those Ensim customers who purchased WEBppliance less than a year ago, the $239.00 upgrade fee, representing 120% of their original purchase price was like an ice cold slap in the face. After all didn’t they support Ensim by choosing their product. And didn’t they help Ensim reduce its support costs by contributing to the user community through Ensim’s forums. And for all the waiting, this is the thanks they receive?
According to Ensim, WEBppliance 3.5 Pro represents a whole new product and not an upgrade.
Ensim believes that the potential ROI (Return On Investment) should overshadow any concerns regarding the pricing of its products or its upgrades, and that anyone looking for a better price should join their EARN Reseller Program.
But isn’t Ensim missing something here?
Should existing Ensim customers really have to become Resellers in order to obtain a fair price for upgrades to the Ensim products they’ve purchased? Don’t existing Ensim customers deserve some respect and appreciation for not just buying their product, but for remaining loyal through out all the bug fixes? Shouldn’t Ensim be striving to insure the success, contentment and loyalty of its existing customers? After all it was the customers that helped Ensim get where it is today.
Slap your customers around hard enough and believe it or not they will look for solutions elsewhere. Ensim has highly rated competition, and new products from other solution providers are on the horizon, gaining momentum and slowly gaining a market share of their own. It’s a sure bet that Ensim’s competition will be watching and reading about everything Ensim does.
They may even be reading this letter, as part of an article or as a posting on some Internet forum.
Give them a reason to take advantage and they will. Ensim’s competition is waiting for Ensim to screw up or become complacent to its customer’s needs.
Judging by recent happenings, the competition is about to get their opportunity.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Robert J. Butler III
ThinkTech Design
815 Carpenter Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19119
(215) 848-1211
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ensim’s WEBppliance 3.5 Pro, Steep Upgrade Fees Surprise Existing Customers.
Can You Say, “Buy Me Again Sam!”
by Robert J. Butler, ThinkTech Design, Philadelphia, PA, May 13, 2003—
As a relatively small hosting provider looking to standardize on one control panel. Ensim, despite its shortcomings, stood poised as our number one choice, beating out the likes of Plesk, Cpanel and H-Sphere.
Ensim had a good thing going. Ensim was listening, fixing bugs, adding features and doing technically, what all good companies should. The result was exactly what its established customers had been waiting for, WEBppliance 3.5 Pro. Shiny, new and nearly bug free after several small post release updates. There should have been the sounds of great rejoicing in the Ensim user community. But sadly, much of the accolades were muffled by the sounds of weeping and the voices of discontentment when Ensim revealed its upgrade fees.
I don’t think anyone would have faulted Ensim for charging a modest fee for its new upgrade. But for those Ensim customers who purchased WEBppliance less than a year ago, the $239.00 upgrade fee, representing 120% of their original purchase price was like an ice cold slap in the face. After all didn’t they support Ensim by choosing their product. And didn’t they help Ensim reduce its support costs by contributing to the user community through Ensim’s forums. And for all the waiting, this is the thanks they receive?
According to Ensim, WEBppliance 3.5 Pro represents a whole new product and not an upgrade.
Ensim believes that the potential ROI (Return On Investment) should overshadow any concerns regarding the pricing of its products or its upgrades, and that anyone looking for a better price should join their EARN Reseller Program.
But isn’t Ensim missing something here?
Should existing Ensim customers really have to become Resellers in order to obtain a fair price for upgrades to the Ensim products they’ve purchased? Don’t existing Ensim customers deserve some respect and appreciation for not just buying their product, but for remaining loyal through out all the bug fixes? Shouldn’t Ensim be striving to insure the success, contentment and loyalty of its existing customers? After all it was the customers that helped Ensim get where it is today.
Slap your customers around hard enough and believe it or not they will look for solutions elsewhere. Ensim has highly rated competition, and new products from other solution providers are on the horizon, gaining momentum and slowly gaining a market share of their own. It’s a sure bet that Ensim’s competition will be watching and reading about everything Ensim does.
They may even be reading this letter, as part of an article or as a posting on some Internet forum.
Give them a reason to take advantage and they will. Ensim’s competition is waiting for Ensim to screw up or become complacent to its customer’s needs.
Judging by recent happenings, the competition is about to get their opportunity.