Could I get some opinions on what went wrong here? This is the first time in 2 years in hosting I've had an unhappy client and its something I'd like to avoid in the future. I was actually considering offering a refund for the VPS portion of the fee if he insisted on a refund, since the Directadmin license is non-refundable but then he started with the name calling at which point I decided I would only help him with the VPS itself. If you have any questions about the situation, feel free to ask as well. Thank you. thewird ********For Reference: Sorry, I'm used to cpanel, but I figured directadmin would be better for what I'm doing here. I'm not going to be having resellers, just me, so I added my first domain under my admin account. This is for a live site, and I don't want to point the nameservers here until I'm set up. The domain is maaa.info. For ftp, under the domains folder, I see three folders, default, sharedip, and suspended. I'm assuming I should make a folder called maaa and put my site in there? And if so, do I put it in the domains folder or the sharedip folder? Thanks, Code (markup): I'm not familiar with directadmin, your best bet would be in their forums http://www.directadmin.com/forum/ Keep in mind you need to create your own private nameservers. Code (markup):
I think you have handled it pretty well except from that first message you have sent him "Do not steal IPs..." You are implying that he did it on purpose (which he might have) and that he is a thief, but I believe you should have given him the benefit of the doubt. He looks like he doesn't know much about the technical details so it could have been an honest mistake (aren't there any safety guards to prevent accidental use of unallocated IPs?) His behaviour was definitely out of place after that while you behaved quite professionally. I would have tried to put it in a different way in your second message "No refunds are given. You caused ..." to de-escalate the situation instead of causing more trouble i.e. explain in a calm way that what he did (irrespective of whether is was on purpose or accidental) was improper/incorrect. You'll always find immature people who will start calling names etc. Best is to keep calm and explain as best as you can. As a corrective action I would find a way to prevent accidental use of unallocated IPs. If that cannot be done, then find a way to pass this message to customers when they sign up. I hope this helps.
I'm not sure which software you are using, but you might want to consider scripting something that disallows doing things that may influence other VPSs, like adding IPs that are not yours. A VPS has a virtual NIC, so it should not be too difficult to disallow anything that doesn't belong to him. Besides that; you must remain calm and nice all the time with clients, no matter what they say. Personally I would have done; Dear, It appears you accidentally used a setting which negatively influenced other clients; I set the system to it's previous state to fix the issue. It appears you added 2 IPs which were not yours, this is probably an accident related to something you are trying to achieve; could you tell me what that is so maybe I can help you? Kind regards, etc Clients responding with ranting I also always answer very politely and I would have given a refund immediately , as this client will only cause you problems no matter what happens. But I am too friendly often, which costs me money. Basically you have to see what 'kind' of client it is; a) completely ignorant (like this one) b) a bit knowledgeable (worked with hosting before) c) very knowledgeable (knows linux and ssh) d) playing to be b, but actually a e) playing to be c, but actually a or b a,d and e you should just refuse imho; they will only give you crap and make unpaid workload for you. These fold are whiners and they are really very stupid. How can you THINK of hiring a VPS without knowing a lot about it; I know a lot of people do and most actually either ask or figure it out (b,c cats) but the rest is not worth it I think. Anyway; I always stay friendly and so on; better lose a bit of time/money than having people go into forums (with very high Pagerank...) and screaming that your service is the worst on the planet. Often the first thing people get when they enter your service in Google.
You asked, so Ill be honest. Personally, i think your replies and initial message was kind of rude, It would be a good idea to work on your CS skills. Also, putting the ticket here with their domain name here is also unprofessional. Now, i can easily do a whois search and know exactly who this person is. A think a bit more professionalism is needed. Good luck with your business.
WOW. I find your responses very rude. Maybe you didn't intend for them to be, but the way I am reading them they seem very rude. Like Kwaku said, you should ALWAYS remain calm and be nice to your clients. They are after all the ones paying your bills. Instead of saying something like "If you needed help, you should have asked like every other client who needs help." You should say: "In the future, if you are unsure about something, please contact me and I will be happy to help." The following comments should never have been said. I would be in big trouble if I ever said these things to customers where I work. "I believe you have no experience in hosting and should take a look at yourself before you respond again." "You'll go far in business with comments like those. Anyway ignoring your rants" "If you say so. Considering the time of day, it would probably be best if you get some sleep and then get back to me in the morning with a fresh mind." "I still don't see where your going with the last couple of replies. Unless your next response is anything important, I'll be closing the ticket." The ticket should have been closed long before things got so out of hand. You are almost patronizing the client towards the end. Fighting back to his immature responses just makes you seem rude, immature and unprofessional.
I have to agree with everyone here. Your replies and comment were very unprofessional. In a professional setting you cannot pass judgment on someone. Proper action would have been to suspend the account and notify the user without making direct accusations. Plain and simple.
Negative criticism is appreciated. Thats why I posted everything here. I don't want the issue to happen again. I can no longer claim 100% happy clients in the past 2 years anymore... Thanks everyone for their comments. I'll try to edit the domain name. thewird