Money Back Guarantee

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Posted by tavonx, 08-17-2001, 12:01 PM
How can I as a reseller offer money back guarantee. I just signed up at VO. And are wondering how can I offer this want VO charge me for the resold account.
Posted by Tobarja, 08-17-2001, 01:02 PM
How you get billed by your reseller provider is between you and your host. They may bill you immediately, they may check to see if it's been active for a particular amount of time, you will have to ask. The 30-day guarantee is a liability you will probably have to eat yourself. You just have to pray your customers like your hosting choice as much as yourself!
Posted by SteveP, 08-17-2001, 02:38 PM
I'm looking to get into the hosting business myself. That answers one of my important questions. Seems that the 30day Guarantee is a MUST for any host these days. I know I myself require it when I'm looking for a new host for myself. I guess I'll just have to offer great services and make my customers want to stick with me.
Posted by Brian Farkas, 08-17-2001, 02:39 PM
For the most part, hosts usually do not offer 30 day money back guarantees on resold accounts, simply because they can not control every aspect of the customer's experience. Hence, if the customer cancels they can not tell whether it was something the hosting company did wrong, or something the reseller did that made the customer leave. If you want to offer a 30 day guarantee, you're welcome to do so, but will probably have to absorb any of the prices yourself if a customer does decide to leave. Good luck, Brian Farkas
Posted by banihani, 08-17-2001, 07:54 PM
charge setup fee that will cover your.
Posted by SLN, 08-17-2001, 08:44 PM
Charging setup fees is not necessary. Setup fees turn off potential customers most of the time. Unless you offer dedicated servers, there is no reason for clients to pay the setup fees. It is not that hard to simply add an account to your system. Unless you have a very successful hosting company, and a lot of traffic, then setup fees might be a good idea. It would keep your company financially stable, and get a solid sing up rate. I recommend you to search for a host that does offer 30-Day-Money-Back-Guarantee. You and your customers will both feel safer, knowing that they can receive a refund in case of they will become unsatisfied. It's part of the industry, I guess. Good luck with your search.
Posted by Chicken, 08-17-2001, 09:57 PM
As Brian Farkas posted, it is not common for a host to offer this for resold accounts. Maybe there is one that offers it for less than 30 days (7 or 15), but as he said, unless the host is responsible for setting up the accounts and provides support, there is a lack of control issue and this is the reason (as he said) you won't find this (for the most part at least).
Posted by GordonH, 08-18-2001, 03:48 AM
Hello When I started as a reseller I just had to bite the bullet and pay out of someone left within the 30 days. It was a good discipline - it really forces you to go the extra mile with people. However, offering a 30 day guarantee has its drawbacks. We get people signing up for hosting at, say 3pm, and then cancelling at 4pm before they have even logged into their control panel or FTP. I wouldn't say it was common (about once a week) but it does leave you wondering why they signed up in the first place. Gordon
Posted by mahinder, 08-18-2001, 06:59 AM
if you provide good support and uptime you will not get any money back requests. i only have around 0.02 % money back requests in last 3 years.
Posted by tavonx, 08-18-2001, 12:19 PM
I see this is a tough choice, I guess I could charge a setup fee to cover the money back, but run the risk of turning off customers. However, I can take the risk and "bite the bullet" however lets say I get ten people to sign up the first month and they all cancel. I think I will charge a small setup fee depending on the package that covers most of the sale. Thanks for the advice.
Posted by SoftWareRevue, 08-18-2001, 12:25 PM
If you provide a good service, you're not going to have enough people requesting a refund. If I were just starting out, I wouldn't charge a setup fee.
Posted by SteveP, 08-18-2001, 11:32 PM
I want to thank you all for your input. Its always good to hear what others have to say that have been doing it
Posted by Jonathan K., 08-19-2001, 12:04 PM
tavonx, Just fyi, I asked an almost similar question to VO; it was about account charges rather. I think this might help you understand how they charge on resold accounts: I've reconfirmed this with them. In an 'extreme' case, if someone ordered an account on the 2nd but cancelled on the 31st on the same month, you will not be charged for the account. In regards to bandwidth on that resold account : You can contact sales@venturesonline to confirm this or Tabernack, aka Eric of VO, should be able to confirm this too if he sees this post. Hope that helps.
Posted by tavonx, 08-19-2001, 04:56 PM
Ive changed my mind after Alot of input from you guys. Ive decided to "bite the bullet". What I decided to do is send an email to my future customers and ask them how they like my service so I get feedback and can improve anything they feel Im lacking during the first month (and beyond) Hopefully I wont get to many cancelations. Thanks Again
Posted by Brian Farkas, 08-19-2001, 06:10 PM
That's certainly a good idea- customers always like it when they feel like their input is valued. We often send out emails to our customers asking how we are doing, what we are doing right, and what needs to be improved. Doing this will allow you to tailor your services to customers, and meet their individual needs. The number one thing to remember is communication- ALWAYS try to inform customers of what's going on. For example, if a customer submits a trouble ticket that you know is going to take more than 24 hours to solve, shoot him/her an email and tell them that you apologize for the inconvenience, and are looking into it. I try to make contact with customers submitting a ticket at least once every 24 hours while the ticket remains open until a resolution is found. Just letting them know you received the ticket and are looking into it can give them peace of mind. Good luck with your business, and remember: If you treat your customers like gold, you will not have many cancellations. Brian