MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

Katsunami · 12-07-2017, 11:02 AM

How to lose a loyal customer? By making your service so expensive that basically anyone else is cheaper.

I've been hosting my e-mail, and sometimes some small files, pages or domains, with the same webhost, since 2004. Even though support is great and I rarely have had any problems, I've just started to move to someone else. Their prices are becoming ridiculous.

Let's see:
2004: Webhosting for €28.95 (one domain name free).
2005-6-7-8-9-10: Webhosting for €28.95 and one domain name for €9.95 per year. Storage capacity, speed, and some functionality increased.
2011: big package setup change. Costs are now €43 a year... I thought. Turned out that VAT was now not included in the price. Final cost for a year of hosting is €52 (and €9.95 for the domain).
2011-14: Costs steady rose to €70, but I was still on the old plan, and I bought an extension for three years, for €52 a year (and the domain name at €9.95 a year).

Today I get an SMS: My account is about to be terminated, as I have not paid for a renewal. Eh... why? Shouldn't I have gotten e-mails about that?

Turned out, Ziggo has removed my old e-mail forward setting somewhere around two months ago. This webhoster was the only one sending e-mails to that address. (Obviously, in 2004, I couldn't handle the setup of a new domain under the domain name itself as it didn't exist yet.) My webhost has been sending me e-mails for six weeks about the account, as they always do.

The account ends somewhere this month. OK. Fair enough.

After I find out, I log in to have a look at their current packages.... and I'm shocked to see that the lowest offering they have now stands at €91 per year (when I add the VAT to their price). So in 10 years time, their hosting prices rose from €28.95 to €91 a year (ex domain name), while other hosters, either older ones that were expensive, or newer ones that trying to break into the market, have become cheaper.

Out of protest I've removed all of my emails (I have everything back to 2011 archived on my computer and in my own backups) and files, and searched for another hoster. The current number one in the Netherlands (my current hoster is now number 2, after being number one since 2007 or so) has a very small package on offering. It's basically comparable to what I started with in 2004:

2GB of space
25GB of data
Some SQL databases
PHP (version selectable; everything 5.x and 7.x)
Unlimited e-mail boxes, forwarders, and subdomains.

They don't have any of the fancy new-fangled stuff such as RedisCache, Memcached, triple failover, hourly backup and so on on this package. My current hoster does, but I don't need it. I just need a place to receive e-mails not tied to anything like Google, Microsoft or an internetprovider (so I can move it anywhere). That space needs to receive mails containing attachments as large as I want, and to (sometimes) put some files and maybe a tiny personal wordpress site or even a static page. It needs to be big enough to receive a year's worth of e-mail, after which I'll archive it on the computer itself.

That's it. This provider offers it... for the sum of €0.54 a month (including VAT). I only needed to pay for the move of my .net domain. My .nl domain was moved for free. I'll be switching my personal mail to my personal domain (which contains my name), and in august 2018, when it runs out, I'll drop the .net domain and replace it by a GMAIL adress for forum use.

Even if I need to have more power, storage, speed or functionality, I can upgrade to their next account. That one still has my current hoster beat by €2 a month.

I don't need to pinch pennies and look at €2 a month for e-mail, but I just refuse to pay €91 (and rising, probably) just to host my email on an over the top powerful webspace. I just don't need that.

I my current hoster had kept a smaller package for somewhere around €30-45 a year, I wouldn't have left. THEY stole customers from others using cheap hosting in 2004. Now the newcomers of 2017 are stealing customers from THEM.

After everything is set up and working on the new hoster (my mail will still come in at the previous hoster until the move is complete), I'll extend my subscription to four years @ €0.54 a month, and then I'll take a look at it again in 2022 again.

12-07-2017, 11:02 AM	#11
Katsunami Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,111 Karma: 34000001 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: KPW1, KA1	How to lose a loyal customer? By making your service so expensive that basically anyone else is cheaper. I've been hosting my e-mail, and sometimes some small files, pages or domains, with the same webhost, since 2004. Even though support is great and I rarely have had any problems, I've just started to move to someone else. Their prices are becoming ridiculous. Let's see: 2004: Webhosting for €28.95 (one domain name free). 2005-6-7-8-9-10: Webhosting for €28.95 and one domain name for €9.95 per year. Storage capacity, speed, and some functionality increased. 2011: big package setup change. Costs are now €43 a year... I thought. Turned out that VAT was now not included in the price. Final cost for a year of hosting is €52 (and €9.95 for the domain). 2011-14: Costs steady rose to €70, but I was still on the old plan, and I bought an extension for three years, for €52 a year (and the domain name at €9.95 a year). Today I get an SMS: My account is about to be terminated, as I have not paid for a renewal. Eh... why? Shouldn't I have gotten e-mails about that? Turned out, Ziggo has removed my old e-mail forward setting somewhere around two months ago. This webhoster was the only one sending e-mails to that address. (Obviously, in 2004, I couldn't handle the setup of a new domain under the domain name itself as it didn't exist yet.) My webhost has been sending me e-mails for six weeks about the account, as they always do. The account ends somewhere this month. OK. Fair enough. After I find out, I log in to have a look at their current packages.... and I'm shocked to see that the lowest offering they have now stands at €91 per year (when I add the VAT to their price). So in 10 years time, their hosting prices rose from €28.95 to €91 a year (ex domain name), while other hosters, either older ones that were expensive, or newer ones that trying to break into the market, have become cheaper. Out of protest I've removed all of my emails (I have everything back to 2011 archived on my computer and in my own backups) and files, and searched for another hoster. The current number one in the Netherlands (my current hoster is now number 2, after being number one since 2007 or so) has a very small package on offering. It's basically comparable to what I started with in 2004: 2GB of space 25GB of data Some SQL databases PHP (version selectable; everything 5.x and 7.x) Unlimited e-mail boxes, forwarders, and subdomains. They don't have any of the fancy new-fangled stuff such as RedisCache, Memcached, triple failover, hourly backup and so on on this package. My current hoster does, but I don't need it. I just need a place to receive e-mails not tied to anything like Google, Microsoft or an internetprovider (so I can move it anywhere). That space needs to receive mails containing attachments as large as I want, and to (sometimes) put some files and maybe a tiny personal wordpress site or even a static page. It needs to be big enough to receive a year's worth of e-mail, after which I'll archive it on the computer itself. That's it. This provider offers it... for the sum of €0.54 a month (including VAT). I only needed to pay for the move of my .net domain. My .nl domain was moved for free. I'll be switching my personal mail to my personal domain (which contains my name), and in august 2018, when it runs out, I'll drop the .net domain and replace it by a GMAIL adress for forum use. Even if I need to have more power, storage, speed or functionality, I can upgrade to their next account. That one still has my current hoster beat by €2 a month. I don't need to pinch pennies and look at €2 a month for e-mail, but I just refuse to pay €91 (and rising, probably) just to host my email on an over the top powerful webspace. I just don't need that. I my current hoster had kept a smaller package for somewhere around €30-45 a year, I wouldn't have left. THEY stole customers from others using cheap hosting in 2004. Now the newcomers of 2017 are stealing customers from THEM. After everything is set up and working on the new hoster (my mail will still come in at the previous hoster until the move is complete), I'll extend my subscription to four years @ €0.54 a month, and then I'll take a look at it again in 2022 again. Last edited by Katsunami; 12-07-2017 at 11:12 AM.