All of us customers are already aware that Rochen has the fastest server and is best in terms of infrastructure. And is environmentally friendly and all that. And they're hosting Joomla.org so they're at the top of the world.
However, there's one thing which can outweigh even their lightning-fast servers. In a negative way.
Yesterday my website was suspended, Friday night at around 23:00. Today the billing department doesn't work as...well...it's Saturday. But some idiot still made a program which pulls the plug on Friday night, when it's next to impossible to make an emergency payment and even if you do - the billing dept doesn't work.
So now there's no way to process the payment and get the site back online until Monday, although my card is ready to be billed.
And yes, I repeat, whoever made a program which suspends websites due to delayed payments on a day when it is not possible to make a payment is an idiot. Downright idiot. I would like to know who that was.
This is the second time this happened, and last time was even worse, as they pulled the plug on Sunday. Since I was away from civilization that week, I spent the entire day desperately trying to find a bank which works so I can send lousy 10 euros to Rochen. Anyone intelligent would wait until Monday morning, but not Rochen.
Anyway, I'm quite busy and often on business trips and I got to tell you, paying Rochen those lousy couple of euros is a bigger obligation and a problem for me than any real business obligation I have. My money is constantly moving around and I can't guarantee I will have the exact change on 15th, 16th and 23rd.
Rochen insists the payment is made right in the five-day window (which very often, naturally, includes the weekend so it's a three-day or four-day window), they only accept one payment solution (wow), and if you don't manage to pay in time you're suspended. And even if I initiate a money transfer to myself, to my debit card, so I can pay Rochen - sometimes it takes a day longer than expected, as money transfers sometimes do. And you get suspended the exact minute the deadline expires even though you're a paying customer for a year or more.
I'd very much like to pay in advance, or initiate the payment myself, but that's not possible with Rochen. They insist on that five-day (or three-day) window during which they attempt to bill your card, and if it happens to be empty, you're suspended. No questions asked. No arguments accepted.
I remember a lousy hosting service StartLogic - you know, the "unlimited" one with tech support who doesn't speak English - but they had one good feature - a "I need more time" button which extended your payment deadline for a week. For those cases when the "check is in the mail", which happens to all of us. It came in quite handy, I used it only once in two years but avoided a suspension and consequent loss of traffic.
Rochen doesn't care for customers. It's either 1 or 0, you either paid when we forced the billing or you didn't.
On the other hand, in the Terms & Conditions, Rochen states that "outages of service will be expected" and in the Guarantees section they state that "the customer is guaranteed that Rochen will do their best". Nothing more.
For payments they are so rigid that it's impossible, and for example, with this month's issue with latency, which cost me money, they didn't even bother to say sorry. Because they were "doing their best".
For them it's enough to do their best (without making guarantees), and for us customers it's not enough to do our best (walk the deserted island searching for a bank) but only the outcome counts (either you paid by that exact minute or you didn't).
That's not fair. Rochen may be proud of their infrastructure but us customers are financing it with our money and our trust.
Most of you probably never had this problem because you're careful about having enough money on your card, but for me it's sometimes a problem to do it on some exact day, and I wanted you to hear my story so you know the true colors of Rochen's billing department and their poor business practices.
And, don't be naive. Rochen became big because they have a perfect business model with no delayed payments. Not even one minute delay after the deadline. Nice and clean.
And cheap. As in "cheap bastard" cheap.
They don't really care about our businesses and the damage caused by the outages and the lobotomized suspensions. I guess caring is not part of the service at Rochen. And most of us are not hosting blogs about Mickey Mouse here but profitable business products, so the relationship between Rochen and the customer is a business one. At least is should be.
However, there's one thing which can outweigh even their lightning-fast servers. In a negative way.
Yesterday my website was suspended, Friday night at around 23:00. Today the billing department doesn't work as...well...it's Saturday. But some idiot still made a program which pulls the plug on Friday night, when it's next to impossible to make an emergency payment and even if you do - the billing dept doesn't work.
So now there's no way to process the payment and get the site back online until Monday, although my card is ready to be billed.
And yes, I repeat, whoever made a program which suspends websites due to delayed payments on a day when it is not possible to make a payment is an idiot. Downright idiot. I would like to know who that was.
This is the second time this happened, and last time was even worse, as they pulled the plug on Sunday. Since I was away from civilization that week, I spent the entire day desperately trying to find a bank which works so I can send lousy 10 euros to Rochen. Anyone intelligent would wait until Monday morning, but not Rochen.
Anyway, I'm quite busy and often on business trips and I got to tell you, paying Rochen those lousy couple of euros is a bigger obligation and a problem for me than any real business obligation I have. My money is constantly moving around and I can't guarantee I will have the exact change on 15th, 16th and 23rd.
Rochen insists the payment is made right in the five-day window (which very often, naturally, includes the weekend so it's a three-day or four-day window), they only accept one payment solution (wow), and if you don't manage to pay in time you're suspended. And even if I initiate a money transfer to myself, to my debit card, so I can pay Rochen - sometimes it takes a day longer than expected, as money transfers sometimes do. And you get suspended the exact minute the deadline expires even though you're a paying customer for a year or more.
I'd very much like to pay in advance, or initiate the payment myself, but that's not possible with Rochen. They insist on that five-day (or three-day) window during which they attempt to bill your card, and if it happens to be empty, you're suspended. No questions asked. No arguments accepted.
I remember a lousy hosting service StartLogic - you know, the "unlimited" one with tech support who doesn't speak English - but they had one good feature - a "I need more time" button which extended your payment deadline for a week. For those cases when the "check is in the mail", which happens to all of us. It came in quite handy, I used it only once in two years but avoided a suspension and consequent loss of traffic.
Rochen doesn't care for customers. It's either 1 or 0, you either paid when we forced the billing or you didn't.
On the other hand, in the Terms & Conditions, Rochen states that "outages of service will be expected" and in the Guarantees section they state that "the customer is guaranteed that Rochen will do their best". Nothing more.
For payments they are so rigid that it's impossible, and for example, with this month's issue with latency, which cost me money, they didn't even bother to say sorry. Because they were "doing their best".
For them it's enough to do their best (without making guarantees), and for us customers it's not enough to do our best (walk the deserted island searching for a bank) but only the outcome counts (either you paid by that exact minute or you didn't).
That's not fair. Rochen may be proud of their infrastructure but us customers are financing it with our money and our trust.
Most of you probably never had this problem because you're careful about having enough money on your card, but for me it's sometimes a problem to do it on some exact day, and I wanted you to hear my story so you know the true colors of Rochen's billing department and their poor business practices.
And, don't be naive. Rochen became big because they have a perfect business model with no delayed payments. Not even one minute delay after the deadline. Nice and clean.
And cheap. As in "cheap bastard" cheap.
They don't really care about our businesses and the damage caused by the outages and the lobotomized suspensions. I guess caring is not part of the service at Rochen. And most of us are not hosting blogs about Mickey Mouse here but profitable business products, so the relationship between Rochen and the customer is a business one. At least is should be.
