4 ms·

They're giving a whole two days of notice to their customers before shutting down--customers who might be on precisely the kind of trip right now where they're

by Elepsis 11y ago

They're giving a whole two days of notice to their customers before shutting down--customers who might be on precisely the kind of trip right now where they're relying on their service. I think that might be an impressive new low.

tkmcc 11y ago
The post is timestamped "2 April 2015," but it still makes me wonder why they only gave two weeks notice.
crypt1d 11y ago
As far as I can see this was posted on 2nd of April, so its actually almost 2 weeks notice. Thats not much either, but still a lot better than 2 days.
- Elepsis 11y ago
  Yep, totally missed that. Thanks for the catch.
gtirloni 11y ago
Keep your lows updated! http://web.archive.org/web/20150401223153/https://www.nebula.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/20150401223153/https://www.nebula...
- eCa 11y ago
  There is a difference though between shutting down as in 'no more money' and shutting down as in 'I just got a boatload of cash, bu-bye!'. (Shutting down a serious service zero-day is of course inexcusable no matter the circumstance.)
  - gtirloni 11y ago
    For customers that difference approaches zero.
    - hobarrera 11y ago
      No, there's a big difference. The company that got bought intends to keep customers (and even gain more). They new parent company probably wants to keep a good image. The company that ran out of money doesn't really care about such things any more. It's dead. A customer might understand the second case, while it'll definitely hold a grudge for the first one.
      - gtirloni 11y ago
        This is a very myopic startup view of the world. In both cases the customer is left behind. Refresh.io: "We’ve decided that as of today we’ll no longer accept new users, and the Refresh app will be shut down on April 15" Nebula: "It is with an extremely heavy heart that we announce that today, April 1, 2015, Nebula is ceasing operations." On both cases there is no "expect great things from us!" message for the customers. Are you a Nebula or Refresh.io customer? Sorry, not anymore. You paid something? Awww, sorry. You depended on Nebula? Too bad, their management team cannot plan a day ahead and warn customers that it's running low on resources and will close in the near future. A 1-day notice is what you get. A 3-month notice would be much better but I guess that wouldn't play well with their possible buyers (they would lose all their leverage in the negotiations). You depended on Refresh.io? Too bad, got a few days to find a replacement. Their management team did not have the decency to keep the service up a bit longer. Both situations are game overs. I don't understand what you mean with "A customer might understand the second case, while it'll definitely hold a grudge for the first one.". So a company is stupid enough to decide a day ago that it cannot keep running anymore and the customer might understand that? Like "oh darn! sorry for you guys.. don't worry about the money I already spent.. take some time off, you deserve it! what a cruel world". There is no difference. In both cases the customer is screwed. If the founders got money or not does not matter a single bit (unless that, in case Refresh.io case, you didn't care much in the first place and can _hope_ that LinkedIn will, who knows, offer something similar).
        hobarrera 11y ago
        Nebula said: "We're sorry. We died." Refresh.io said: "Fuck you." You're inevitably going to have different levels of respect for each (even though you won't be doing business with either any more).

by Elepsis 11y ago

tkmcc 11y ago

The post is timestamped "2 April 2015," but it still makes me wonder why they only gave two weeks notice.

crypt1d 11y ago

As far as I can see this was posted on 2nd of April, so its actually almost 2 weeks notice. Thats not much either, but still a lot better than 2 days.

Elepsis 11y ago
Yep, totally missed that. Thanks for the catch.

gtirloni 11y ago

Keep your lows updated! http://web.archive.org/web/20150401223153/https://www.nebula.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/20150401223153/https://www.nebula...

eCa 11y ago
There is a difference though between shutting down as in 'no more money' and shutting down as in 'I just got a boatload of cash, bu-bye!'. (Shutting down a serious service zero-day is of course inexcusable no matter the circumstance.)
- gtirloni 11y ago
  For customers that difference approaches zero.
  - hobarrera 11y ago
    No, there's a big difference. The company that got bought intends to keep customers (and even gain more). They new parent company probably wants to keep a good image. The company that ran out of money doesn't really care about such things any more. It's dead. A customer might understand the second case, while it'll definitely hold a grudge for the first one.
    - gtirloni 11y ago
      This is a very myopic startup view of the world. In both cases the customer is left behind. Refresh.io: "We’ve decided that as of today we’ll no longer accept new users, and the Refresh app will be shut down on April 15" Nebula: "It is with an extremely heavy heart that we announce that today, April 1, 2015, Nebula is ceasing operations." On both cases there is no "expect great things from us!" message for the customers. Are you a Nebula or Refresh.io customer? Sorry, not anymore. You paid something? Awww, sorry. You depended on Nebula? Too bad, their management team cannot plan a day ahead and warn customers that it's running low on resources and will close in the near future. A 1-day notice is what you get. A 3-month notice would be much better but I guess that wouldn't play well with their possible buyers (they would lose all their leverage in the negotiations). You depended on Refresh.io? Too bad, got a few days to find a replacement. Their management team did not have the decency to keep the service up a bit longer. Both situations are game overs. I don't understand what you mean with "A customer might understand the second case, while it'll definitely hold a grudge for the first one.". So a company is stupid enough to decide a day ago that it cannot keep running anymore and the customer might understand that? Like "oh darn! sorry for you guys.. don't worry about the money I already spent.. take some time off, you deserve it! what a cruel world". There is no difference. In both cases the customer is screwed. If the founders got money or not does not matter a single bit (unless that, in case Refresh.io case, you didn't care much in the first place and can _hope_ that LinkedIn will, who knows, offer something similar).
      - hobarrera 11y ago
        Nebula said: "We're sorry. We died." Refresh.io said: "Fuck you." You're inevitably going to have different levels of respect for each (even though you won't be doing business with either any more).