View Full Version : People Amaze me!
This is a vent
I have a standard 50 MB 500MB free account that I offer to people who I deem a "Good Cause" techie kids , schools churches etc
ok , so .Im over at WHT and I get this
Dear Laci,
I am replying about this request: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showt...threadid=199024
I am sorry to disappoint you, but I was offered 100mb, 1GB and I am trying to finalize the plan with that host. But you know some free hosts aren't that reliable these days...
If you still want to host me, will you offer more?
I am sorry, again, to disappoint your generosity.
sincerely,
a studnet.
__________________
needs a reliable hosting.
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
mind you this is a free account ....people want everything for nothing and arent shy about demanding more geesh!
HOLY !!!!!!!
Dana, Im impressed you still offer any free accounts like that. I, personally, dont have the patience :)
I like to give back to the community , but even I am re thinking offering it (not to my exsisting ppl ) I hope I didnt break the rules by posting the free plan it just occured to me , but I needed to ...in order for the story to make sense
I get that all the time, as if I should feel honor to host them at no cost.. I also had someone IM me with this
"Hey, My name is Charles and I wanna work as a tech support. I want to be paid $1.25 per ticket and I want weekends off.. so how do I log into the staff area?"
I was like "hmm who are you?!"
Originally posted by Robert:
I get that all the time, as if I should feel honor to host them at no cost.. I also had someone IM me with this
"Hey, My name is Charles and I wanna work as a tech support. I want to be paid $1.25 per ticket and I want weekends off.. so how do I log into the staff area?"
I was like "hmm who are you?!"
:eek:
OKIHost
10-22-03, 04:16 PM
Its funny you mention this because last week I had someone ask me for free hosting for a fairly busy graphics forum and we decided he would need 200MB and 30-40GB so I am like ok well you can move whenever you want, here are nameservers etc.
He then tells me to hold because he is checking some other offers and comes back and tells me 'Another guy just offered me 5GB of diskspace and 600GB of bandwidth, can you beat it?' :eek:
I had pretty much given up on all sponsored sites but I do read the free requests forum sometimes to see if there is anything that looks fairly decent that I could throw a banner up on and its just not worth it, the free hosting requests are getting as bad as the shared/reseller hosting requests.
At one time you could get some decent exposure by doing high traffic sponsored sites but now it is really nothing more than more headaches.
Originally posted by _Dana_:
I am sorry, again, to disappoint your generosity.
sincerely,
a studnet.
LOL you must be so darn disappointed...
What is a "studnet"?
soapsud
10-22-03, 05:14 PM
please don't make fun of us studnets. some of us work very hard for our edumacation. :)
markblair
10-22-03, 05:19 PM
Dana, I would have just replied stating "no, since this is a free offer that's as high as it gets." I'm not sure if I'd offer anyone this myself but I understand your reasoning for wanting to help people out.
Chicken
10-22-03, 05:25 PM
Originally posted by _Dana_:
I have a standard 50 MB 500MB free account that I offer...
...I get this
Dear Laci,
If you still want to host me, will you offer more?
My reply to this would be simply...
Dear Studnet,
Hi, we'd be more than happy to offer you what ever you need!
<link to paid plans>
Your account will be set up as soon as your payment is processed.
Sincerely,
Laci
It took you this long in THIS business?
I think all of us get these.
I love it when somone asks for a server and thinks that just becuase RS can offer 700G of bandwidth that I am too.
I have started asking client are they really going to use all of that, most of the time I get a no and then we really talk about what their needs are.
I offered free accounts over a year ago just for PR. I did it with the one condition that free account holders post regularly in our customer forums. I was mainly trying to get the post count up as many of my clients don't use it because there's not a whole lot going on. So anyway, I signed up about 25 free accounts. 3 or 4 posted in the forums a few times, the rest never even signed up. I left the accounts on the server until just recently.
I sent them all nice letters telling them that we were discontinuing all free accounts and wanted to thank them for trying us and offered a special discount off our regular plans if they'd like to upgrade.
Do you know I actually had people pissed at us for giving them a ONE MONTH notice that the accounts would be disabled!! A whole month to find out what to do, with FREE HOSTING, and they still complained (well, some of them). Just not worth it to me.
I have clients that pay a LOT of money that never once call me for help. It seems the less you offer plans for the more support and customer service they require... err... the more they complain. No thanks...
My reply was
"No , I offer a free account to help out Im not in competition , Good luck with your new host :) "
Dana
xAngelx
10-22-03, 08:00 PM
We get tons of those. And Brandon is right, the single most demanding client we've ever had was one with a free account.
He eventually left because Donna refused to give him another 500 megs space and 10 gigs bandwidth (on top of the 500/5 she already had given him). We still offer the odd free account but rarely. Usually if it's a church or something.
From today's "You want WHAT?" files (this is a real quote request btw) -
I want my services offer 3 kind of service : shared hosting, reseller hosting and virtual dedicated server.
If you have dedicated server with :
- price lower than $80 include WHM/cPanel/Fantastico
- free setup
- at least 6 IP's
- 30 GB Hard Drive
- No long term contracts
- VPS/VDS included
At least he's willing to pay, but $80? Not even going to mention that that'd be one crappy server with only a 30 gig drive lol
LOL. So wait, people get something for free, but they want more! And that's not all, they also DEMAND more because your offer doesn't meet the "competition".
Tell the "student" you can certainly accommodate his needs. But it will cost him $$$. ;)
*slaps hands on hips*
DNGirl :/
Chicken
10-22-03, 09:53 PM
Kevin, those $89 server offers (C1.7/512MB RAM/60GB HDD/700GB transfer) are going to give people the idea to see what kind of dedicated servers they can get for $79, maybe $60... what can I get for $50? You'd think you could get a 30GB HDD and maybe 100-200GB of transfer for $60/70 (comparatively).
xAngelx
10-22-03, 11:17 PM
Hmm where did you see those offers chicken?
We could do a server with a 30 gig drive with 100 gigs transfer for $80. We could even include cpanel and fantastico. But to include extra IP's, bandwidth plus a VPS system for that price is impossible.
www.ev1servers.net
www.dedicatednow.com
www.serverbeach.com
Shall I go on :D
xAngelx
10-23-03, 04:36 AM
Ahh haven't checked any other places in a while lol
Chicken
10-23-03, 08:01 AM
Yep, that specific server spec was from RS (ev1), but there's another one that I've seen advertised that offers dedicated servers for $50/mo. (Duron 1300/512MB RAM/60GB HDD/700GB Transfer). If you see enough of those, I woldn't be the least bit surprised at a request for sub-$80/cPanel/Fantastico/no setup/30 GB HDD. Dedicated leases have come down, but it's harder to get a reasonable price for reasonable offerings in certain markets these days. Luckily... there are other markets.
I had a post at that other place looking for a tech. I had about 100 replies whaich didn't even come close to what I asked for but my favorite was from a 17 year old kid in the UK who had talked it over with his girlfriend and decided they would love to come to California. He wanted the job and needed to know how soon I could relocate him and his girlfriend. Even asked if I was by the beach.
Chicken
10-23-03, 08:09 AM
I've not been able to ind anyone for you Dale (by the way). I've thought and looked, and was just asking someone yesterday abot it (not ignoring your PMs), but so far... zilch.
Originally posted by Chicken:
I've not been able to ind anyone for you Dale (by the way). I've thought and looked, and was just asking someone yesterday abot it (not ignoring your PMs), but so far... zilch.
I apprrecciate you giving it some thought. I how busy you must be. If you run across anyone let me know. I'm not having much luck either.
:rolleyes:
bradley
10-24-03, 10:15 AM
MY VENT FOR THE DAY:
I just had a guy call and ask for a proposal on a website. He said he runs a marketing firm in town and would need a custom site. He said he saw my website and wanted me to give him a custom proposal. Without prompting, he said he would need:
16 pages (including case studies, portfolio, client listing, about us, events)
database for newsletters
ability to offer quick updates
intensive graphic design
It smelled fishy b/c who in the world actually has prospects that know exactly how many pages they want and what they want on each page??? I certainly don't. So I told him I'd get him a proposal and a couple mockups early next week. I got his email & phone number.
So.... I decided to do a little investigating. The domain for his email is registered to a local web designer. Hmmm... so I do a reverse IP search on the server and come up with his personal blog site. Not too shabby. He fortunately writes about his new job working for a well-known design firm in my area.
That makes me sick. Sure, search my site, find my prices... that's what competitors do. But don't have me spend time and money designing mockups and a formal proposal just for kicks.
Any ideas on revenge? Nice, of course. I'm open to suggestions.
:stepping off soapbox:
Hi Bradley,
That is certainly VERY annoying! I totally understand your side. And to know that this ... uhm.... tactic is used by many out there to find out more about their competition, well... that's certainly very frustrating.
Here's what I'd do if you still want revenge ... :: stepping on soapbox :: Give them a horrible mockup that takes you 1 - 3 minutes to make. Tell them you will charge them a super HIGH price. And tell them you only accept PayPal as your payment method..... Why do this? They will figure you are just some kid who doesn't know what he's doing. They won't think of you as competition. And you don't have to worry about them keeping an eye on you. ::stepping off soapbox::
Aaah! Hope you had a good venting day today!
:)
DNGirl ;)
bradley
10-24-03, 08:25 PM
DNGirl, thanks for the idea! I will plan on trying it next week, and, of course, I'll let you know if I get a reply.
The day was getting better... until I had a flat tire during rush hour on my way out of state! Well, I've arrived at my destination now, so things are getting better. Dial-up here (yuck!), but I'm glad it's the weekend! :) :) :)
"I like to give back to the community"
That's the way to go about thinking :) Well done and im impressed by what you do. But i agree people shouldn't bargain with you on something which you are doing out of own generosity.
I'd be pretty pissed off if the next time i ring up a charity to donate some cash they go "Oh, someone gave us more than you - can you better it?"
Not quite the same scenario but quite similar. :)
Keep up the good work and ignore the people who try to drag you down :)
Eek.
There was a guy outside my local Target store. When I approached the store, he said to me, "On your way back here, I just wanted you to know that we're collecting money for the homeless. Please consider helping us." This was quite different from other times when these guys just say "Can you help this or that?". When I exited the store, I had $1 in hand and put it in the box. The guy said: "Thank you very much. Have a great day. And go do something fun tonight. God bless." That was nice. :) Different from the simple "Thank you".
There are people out there that are happy to get whatever gift it's offered and are VERY thankful about it.
Not all is bad, I guess.
DNGirl :D
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