2 ms·

The user referenced in the article who complains and thinks that he deserves everything for free is not the kind of customer you want.

by iman 17y ago

whughes 17y ago
If you're getting paid to support that user, then it doesn't matter much what you want. That is the case with a commercial setup.
- lsc 17y ago
  not necessarily. businesses can (and do) target customers who work best with the business model they use. I know I have something of a barrier to entry for customers; if you can't figure out how to use an OpenSSH public key to authenticate your access to a serial console, I refer you to linode or slicehost. I freely admit I am unprepared to support those users, and probably could not do so at my current prices. And my competitors are good; I haven't heard anything bad about either one. Sure, I could have more customers if I had an easier way to control your VPS than a ssh-based console, but at what cost? People who know Linux are pretty easy to support, once you give them (standard linux) tools. There are enough people who understand (sometimes even prefer) the standard linux tools to a web interface to support my business, so I say, why not offer them a service at a price that reflects the lower cost of supporting those users? (right now my big problem is provisioning; that is, if you want to add services, you need to wait for an employee of prgmr.com to help. But most everything else, the user can do without my help.) I think forcing your support people to stay on the line with rude or difficult customers is a good way to burn out your support people. I think having a liberal but well-defined money back guarantee makes doing support quite a bit easier. Keeping good customer support people is hard - I think losing the most difficult 2% of customers is a small price to pay to keep good support people for the rest of your customers. And really, I'm not in the business of tricking people into giving me money. If we aren't what you expected, then yeah, I'm happy to give you a refund.

The user referenced in the article who complains and thinks that he deserves everything for free is not the kind of customer you want.

by iman 17y ago

The user referenced in the article who complains and thinks that he deserves everything for free is not the kind of customer you want.

whughes 17y ago

If you're getting paid to support that user, then it doesn't matter much what you want. That is the case with a commercial setup.

lsc 17y ago
not necessarily. businesses can (and do) target customers who work best with the business model they use. I know I have something of a barrier to entry for customers; if you can't figure out how to use an OpenSSH public key to authenticate your access to a serial console, I refer you to linode or slicehost. I freely admit I am unprepared to support those users, and probably could not do so at my current prices. And my competitors are good; I haven't heard anything bad about either one. Sure, I could have more customers if I had an easier way to control your VPS than a ssh-based console, but at what cost? People who know Linux are pretty easy to support, once you give them (standard linux) tools. There are enough people who understand (sometimes even prefer) the standard linux tools to a web interface to support my business, so I say, why not offer them a service at a price that reflects the lower cost of supporting those users? (right now my big problem is provisioning; that is, if you want to add services, you need to wait for an employee of prgmr.com to help. But most everything else, the user can do without my help.) I think forcing your support people to stay on the line with rude or difficult customers is a good way to burn out your support people. I think having a liberal but well-defined money back guarantee makes doing support quite a bit easier. Keeping good customer support people is hard - I think losing the most difficult 2% of customers is a small price to pay to keep good support people for the rest of your customers. And really, I'm not in the business of tricking people into giving me money. If we aren't what you expected, then yeah, I'm happy to give you a refund.