Another one who expects me 2 pay for his hosting.

Account was set up just under a month ago, 2 weeks ago i sent a payment reminder explaining that there is no trial period on his account and could he please pay asap:

I got this reply:

Hello Jo - been busy at work - still in the process of assessment - will
send payment ASAP.

So today i sent another email a final reminder as its been another 2 weeks, saying that if payment hasn't been received in 7 days i will have tp suspend his account and got the following reply:

Hello Jo - I sent you an email last week explaining that I am still
assessing the service.
I will pay the £39.99 when I am satisfied that it meets my requirements. I
am sorry that this seems to be taking longer than expected.
Working in Debt recovery I understand the need for weekly reminders. But the
heavy handedness of this approach is not giving me a good impression of the
service.
It is unlikely that I will be able to settle the account until the middle of
December. If you suspend my account in a weeks time It will be a shame
because I have been pleased with the service so far but you will have forced
me to find another provider.


After that i replied saying that as i explained in previous emails there is no trial period, it is unfair if he gets 2 months free and others have to pay straight away.

At one time i would have deperately tried 2 hang on to him and please him but i've had enough, i told him that im sorry if he feels he needs to find another provider but there is nothing i can do.

What the hell do these customers think they are doing, they agree to the terms of service and then think they can set their own payment terms............do they think we get the servers for free?

Get rid of him and stick to your policy i'd say. There is no point in letting customers take the mick. Let him know that you don't wish to use up valuable resources chasing customer payments therefore his account is suspended until he pays. Be firm but fair. If you've got payment conditions in your T&C's point him kindly towards them.

Then don't setup accounts without payment in advance :wink:

Cheers

do you have the domain fully under your control (ie, in your 123reg account), I had a non-payer once and I suspended his account and said his domain would be seized as payment - got the money the next day.

Otherwise - I would agree with Mark, get rid of him and to have a payment up front policy. We notify the client that if they pay by cheque, the domain and hosting will not be setup untill the cheque has been cleared.

I have 2 accounts which i am waiting for payment for. Its are real pain, supending accounts next friday if payment is not received. Its not something i like doing but it must be done.

Hello,
I give my customers 7 days to pay. Most of them have done so but some just try to ignore until they see "Suspended Account" Then they start paying.
Thanks

Hi,
He has had more then enough time to send his payment. He is playing you and will continue to do so if you do not show him that you are in charge of Your business.

You don't have a free trial period, he fully knows that, and still hasn't paid, and expects it to be at least another 4 to 6 weeks before he does....

DHU... shut him down before he sets up spamware or something on yoru server. He is up to no good, no matter what is going on.

You do not need that, and shouldn't have to take it.

Tim L

I agree with the other posts here. If you have a TOS, there's nothing wrong with pointing him to it and taking the appropriate action. You have to look out for yourself, your company and your other customers. If he's giving you such a hard time now to make the very first payment, and believes he's entitled to something for free, he will most likely be trouble later on down the road as well. I think you've handled it well and he should have gotten the point by now.

I think that since the original post is almost a year old, he had either received payment by now or he's suspended the account.

I personally think this guy sounds like he is just trying to leach free hosting. I wonder how many people he has done this to? I have a strict policy that I will stick to when my hosting opens. I personally am not going to give trials, or allow people to asess the services. They can have examples of what we offer, but they will not be given anything for free.

Welcome to the real world. Not every customer wants to pay for some reason... hehehe, even though they know that they need to pay, but they just decided to ignore that fact.

However, you need to be frank with them that you shall suspend their account if they don't pay. And do it! I see a lot of companies out there just threat the client and never folllow through. Bad business. Make sure you mean what you say, and vice versa, if you say that you'll provide great service, make sure you do it! If not, then don't say it at all! It's always better to do more than what is promised.

Shut him down period. No money no hosting, i had a couple customers in the past who tried to get away like that by giving all kind of excuses, my only answer was "No money no hosting" eventually, a couple of them ended up paying after their website was suspended.

I'd like to take a moment to wish this thread a happy 2nd birthday!

Anyway, to relate to the topic, personally, I don't activate an account until the payment is received.

LOL, Jordan, you crack me up sometimes...
I would say this is the best and safest way to go. As soon as payment is cleared - service is provided.

Glad I could provide some comic relief around here

It just makes sense to me to do it that way. When you go to the grocery store, you don't get to take the food home then pay for it - you pay before you take it home. Just like with everything else (except for restaurants). Could you imagine if you went to a clothing store and just walked out with a shirt and said "I'll be back in a few weeks to pay for it". Yeah.... That'll go over well.

Hehehe. Good one Jordan!

I wonder... Should we let this thread active till its third birthday?