I'd prefer to be discreet regarding the particulars of what was discussed between myself and the client here - I think that it appropriate.
In broad terms, any business relationship relies on trust and communication. When those break down, it makes sense to review and say "Can we move forward?". As much as a client signs up and would ask themselves whether they want to stay in that relationship, we also need to look at this from our perspective decide if the same holds true. Any client can give us notice within the month and receive service until their cancellation date. So I think it's more than fair if that holds true the other way around, especially if we are prepared to give that client a full refund for the month, and then give them enough notice to ensure they can reasonably find alternative services elsewhere.
I don't expect that anyone would only say good things about us, and no-one should feel that they can't give honest (perhaps occasionally brutal) feedback. But firstly, you need to make your point, and then move on so others can make theirs. Secondly, when feedback is no longer constructive - then it comes back to the relationship and asking the question.
Once I start receiving messages from other clients that they no longer feel safe to post in the feedback thread, and complain that this is becoming unpleasant for them, then clearly it's something that must be addressed. If the other party is not willing to compromise or work with us, then clearly we've reached a stage where we need to part ways so that they can pursue a more suitable service elsewhere and we can continue to focus on those clients who want to be engaged and who want to find solutions or meaningful information.
Actually you're bound by your terms and conditions, not by your emotions relating to trust.
Please quote the relevant terms of service that allow you to cancel a customer's account due to feedback they provide in a feedback thread where you offer semi-official support channels.
Stop dodging the question - it's not a complicated one, and I too am well versed in the gift of the gab to avoid difficult questions, which is all you're doing.
I have also been talking to jeanres in private, and have the communications you and him and have had. I've also read over this thread. If you had an issue with his actions, you were well within your rights to report them to the moderators for review. If they're unproductive in a feedback thread, mods will delete them and request that the poster use a new thread for such discussions. Simple.
Instead you adopted a vindictive approach, by cancelling the customer's account without notice, as required by your own Ts and Cs. Your PM does not constitute a formal notification of cancellation of service.
How are other customers expected to respond to this? All it does is set a precedent that Afrihost will cancel your BUSINESS account with them if you post negatively about them in a feedback thread, or if they subjectively decide that your actions result in a breakdown of trust. This whole trust thing is quite preposterous in any case. Such an expectation exists between employers and employees. What expected trust was breached here? There is no expectation of trust with a customer to the extent that they will not post publicly about their troubles with your company. Such an expectation does not exist. You're simply bullschitting here.
What you did was let ego get in the way of customer service.
Let's break down the course of events here:
customers have since last year been experiencing major troubles
Afrihost promise to resolve them...vaguely
Come April 2014 the very same problems still exist, and are blamed on IPC which you claim to have bought last year (LOL)
Customers have reached breaking point, and post harshly about this lack of service, because it seems dancing around the point for months had no positive return for them
Afrihost cancel one particular customer's account because they don't like the fact that he was posting regularly about these legitimate troubles.
Afrihost hide behind some pseudo-trust relationship that really doesn't exist in the real world. Your customers are not your employees.
Afrihost refuse to acknowledge that no parts of their contract afford them the right to cancel without notice because they don't appreciate the feedback they received
Now you guys have every right to cancel an account with notice for whatever reason under the sun. At least inform your customer properly. They're running a business with these accounts, and the customer in question has had to try to reactivate his account multiple times now to retain service. In addition the customer has his Telkom line with Afrihost and is petrified that his Telkom line is now going to be cancelled because of this. Why? Because Afrihost did not communicate the cancellation properly.
And while you have every right to cancel the terms and provision of service, it speaks volumes that this is as a result of poor feedback given in a feedback thread. If you can't handle the heat then get out of the kitchen. Or resolve the problem that has been going on for months. IPC does not take months to install - what a crock of schit! And this is for business accounts, to boot!
So I ask once again, for the sake of everyone else, please advise what actions we may take on the forum to retain Afrihost's services, and what actions we are no longer allowed to take on the forum, and how these tie in with your terms and conditions. Also, have you alerted Rudolph Muller to the fact that you have changed your communication interaction on the forum, and that there is now a limit as to how many negative posts a specific forum member can make before his account is terminated without proper notice? I think you owe it to the forum in general to alert everyone as to what these new limits are...
Just because I want what I pay for, I am getting abused by Afrihost.
