Crystal Web ADSL performance feedback thread Part 3...

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Sorry but this is bs. How can you be expecting us to pay on the first when you will only be sending invoices out on the first...

Please ensure that if you choose to pay by EFT that your account is paid on the 1st, as Crystal Web will no longer be accepting late payments to the extent that we have in the past. We’ve had some customers inform us of issues and this isn’t a problem, but we’ve had a lot of late payments or no payments. Late payments attract interest in accordance with our terms, and non-payments are now addressed via various legal channels.
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Nice to see the good old faithfull SA customer service method of passing the buck is still alive and well. Sry a response within 7 days for an isp ins poor, response needs to be within 24 hours at most.

We have noted an increase in the number of complaints from home capped customers. This has been reported to our upstream provider who manage these profiles (rather than premium products where we manage them directly) and they are investigating. An official update will be communicated within 7 days.
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stefan9 said:
Sorry but this is bs. How can you be expecting us to pay on the first when you will only be sending invoices out on the first....
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Simples.... do what I did... just make the payment now. You should know how much it is... pay by EFT with your own reference and it's done.... Sent mine yesterday :D
 
stefan9 said:
Sorry but this is bs. How can you be expecting us to pay on the first when you will only be sending invoices out on the first...
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I still fail to see the logic behind this. One would imagine that you can send out invoices BEFORE they need to be paid, so people can pay you...

Any accounting package allows for this.
 
StevenC said:
I still fail to see the logic behind this. One would imagine that you can send out invoices BEFORE they need to be paid, so people can pay you...

Any accounting package allows for this.
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iirc, I remember reading that you will have 3 days to pay from the day the invoices go out on the 1st of the month.
 
Dipro said:
Simples.... do what I did... just make the payment now. You should know how much it is... pay by EFT with your own reference and it's done.... Sent mine yesterday :D
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Sry I do not pay anyone before I receive an invoice.

ghostR said:
iirc, I remember reading that you will have 3 days to pay from the day the invoices go out on the 1st of the month.
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As far as I am reading the email that seems to be applying to the debit order payments and not eft. Unless they messed up their wording and the 3 days apply to both.

New Payment Methods and Billing Info
“Debit order, debit order, debit order!” I hear you scream. Yes, it’s here. We will send an update about how to add this to your profile in the coming days. We’ve had to amend our terms and conditions to move invoicing to the 1st of every month now to keep all payment methods tied to a central business logic that doesn’t try to process the incorrect pro-rata amounts. We will work out a solution to send through future invoices or balances though. That’s currently being tested now. For the time being, billing/invoicing will be generated from the 1st of next month for the same month, with 3 days due for payment. Please ensure that if you choose to pay by EFT that your account is paid on the 1st, as Crystal Web will no longer be accepting late payments to the extent that we have in the past. We’ve had some customers inform us of issues and this isn’t a problem, but we’ve had a lot of late payments or no payments. Late payments attract interest in accordance with our terms, and non-payments are now addressed via various legal channels.

A very important point to note: if you are currently receiving a discount from Crystal Web and pay us late without making alternate arrangements or informing us and coming to an agreement, you will forfeit your discount. We cannot afford these late payments. If we pay our suppliers late, as customers you’d be cut off. In essence we end up acting like a bank and providing incidental credit which as per our terms we do not provide whatsoever.

Please keep the payment references correct. We’ll be standardising these now as well. But always read the invoice. You’ll notice we’ve added FNB details now too for quicker reconciliation as there were numerous queries about payments not being reconciled after sending proof of payment. Proof helps to identify the transaction for reconciliation purposes but we cannot perform the reconciliation to your account until the payment clears.
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Crystal Web Support said:
Apologies for any errors that we have made on our side during your transition period from our Summer Promotion to Home Capped. It is a tough balance to get right, Offering data at what works out to around 60c per GB means some compromise has to be had. That being p2p and nntp is contended higher on these products. We do offer a range of products for each usage case, and if this sort of product isn't suitable we can always look at something more in line with your needs. Happy to discuss on live chat or via our ticket desk.
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Thanks for the response, I was however benefiting from the error. Now my line seems like i have a 512k connection. I am maxing 60kb/s over p2p. I dont care much for the night time data, as I am asleep during those periods. So the 60c a GB I don't see the benefit of that, in my eyes I am paying close to R4 a gig. The summer promotion was absolutely PERFECT for me. 200gigs unshaped pure internet joy as afrihost would say. I would change back to uncapped but now your shaping policy has changed so we dont see the first 100/200gigs unshaped.

Now I cant quite justify moving to the Business Premium accounts and pay more than R4 a gig (but actually have unshaped internet). When afrihost offers 200gigs for R400, of unshaped.

Decision decisions....
 
Messugga said:
This sounds an awful lot like the stories we got from Openweb.
Paying a fair amount for what's supposed to be a good quality account. Hell, even moved my line over which normally I'm against in principal, and this most certainly isn't the sort of performance I received initially. Not a big fan of Telkom exchanges being blamed either. Another thing Openweb loved doing.
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Sadly the last few weeks have led me to believe we have another Openweb on our hands. Those that were around during the heyday of OW will be familiar with the following:

- ISP started as an alternative to poor performing popular ISP's, claims to be different/savior of the power user.
- ISP claims it will never take on a number of customers that will jeopardize overall customer performance.
- Performance is decent for a period, much celebration ensues and referrals to friends and family from current customers is commonplace.
- Performance starts to decline and panic ensues.
- First line support does not have skills to determine the issues or is not privy to actual causes of the above.
- Telkom infrastructure is blamed.
- More draconian shaping/throttling/fair use policies/whatever you want to label it as are implemented, not directly communicated to all customers.
- ISP's initial representatives take a back seat to answering issues and another rep is appointed to deal with the MyBB queries.
- Issues continue to be blamed on Telkom infrastructure despite many taking it upon themselves to prove that:
1) Alternating periods of poor or good performance start and end at suspiciously exact times (i.e. to the minute)
2) Using an alternative ISP's account sees much improved performance.

I hope I'm wrong about what the end result is but these are simply some (very familiar) observations. :erm:
 
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Iwojima said:
Sadly the last few weeks have led me to believe we have another Openweb on our hands. Those that were around during the heyday of OW will be familiar with the following:

- ISP started as an alternative to poor performing popular ISP's, claims to be different/savior of the power user.
- ISP claims it will never take on a number of customers that will jeopardize overall customer performance.
- Performance is decent for a period, much celebration ensues and referrals to friends and family from current customers is commonplace.
- Performance starts to decline and panic ensues.
- First line support does not have skills to determine the issues or is not privy to the actual causes of the above.
- Telkom infrastructure is blamed.
- More draconian shaping/throttling/fair use policies/whatever you want to label it as are implemented, not directly communicated to all customers.
- ISP's initial representatives take a back seat to answering issues and another rep is appointed to deal with the MyBB queries.
- Issues continue to be blamed on Telkom infrastructure despite many taking it upon themselves to prove that:
1) Alternating periods of poor or good performance start and end at suspiciously exact times (i.e. to the minute)
2) Using an alternative ISP's account sees much improved performance.

I hope I'm wrong about what the end result is but these are simply some (very familiar) observations. :erm:
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I agree with your comments. I have seen that happen too many times with a lot of excellent ISPs..... I hope, as you do, that they remain loyal to the concept of quality and not quantity.... it would be better to build a sustainable business model than opt for the quick buck and watch the business destroy itself. Just my 5 cents on the matter... :D

ps still loving my CW account :love: .... time for a banana !!! :whistle:
 
Where is Shaun/DJ? Seriously.

I check this thread now and then and things have really gone downhill since he's been away. Its complaint after complaint and not much being done about it. People joke about AH and their failure to plan properly but I don't see how CW is different at the moment.

Everything is still good on my side for the most part on Home Capped so I don't really have any major complaints.

I've had issues with shaping not being released on Torrent To HTTP downloads during the "download period" (00:00-06:00). I barely use it so it's not much of an issue, but its still something I'd like to be sorted out.

I have spoken to support about it before and was told it would be reported to the engineers. From my experience the other night, it still hasn't been fixed. Not sure what to do next as I've already reported it and was told it would be fixed.
 
just a quick comment on the billing cycle change

what is happening is the migration of accounts on the subscription system - something which you may recall has been on the check list for a while - during this month such that the account cycle runs properly on the calendar month; the current system (soon to be old) runs from 23-22 with a cancellation date of the 19th.

So from next month before the 1st (somewhere between the 19th and 25th) an email will be sent out with a sort of "pre-invoice" and your statement (any outstanding balance) as well as pertinent subscriber information and communication. This will also allow a customer to know what amount will be paid via debit order if a debit order mandate has been given.
 
With the billing cycle change, does that affect the cancellation date at all? In the past you guys said that the 19th was chosen to be able to provision capacity properly for the next month. Have your systems improved to the point where you can move that date closer to the end of the month like some other ISPs allow (say, the 25th) or is this still going to be the default cancellation date moving forward?
 
CataclysmZA said:
With the billing cycle change, does that affect the cancellation date at all? In the past you guys said that the 19th was chosen to be able to provision capacity properly for the next month. Have your systems improved to the point where you can move that date closer to the end of the month like some other ISPs allow (say, the 25th) or is this still going to be the default cancellation date moving forward?
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we may revisit the cancellation date but for now the extra breathing room in processes is quite necessary with systems migrations not for the next few months - the question really comes down to is a slightly later cancellation date valued by customers?

moreover if you look at the intended end point where a product email with an indication of what the amount payable is as well as what debit order will be processed it becomes beneficial for that to happen sooner
 
Paul Hjul said:
So from next month before the 1st (somewhere between the 19th and 25th) an email will be sent out with a sort of "pre-invoice" and your statement (any outstanding balance) as well as pertinent subscriber information and communication. This will also allow a customer to know what amount will be paid via debit order if a debit order mandate has been given.
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Thanks for the extra information. I was rather annoyed when I thought I would receive an invoice on the 1st, and have to process an eft virtually on the same day to avoid being cut off. Receiving a pre-invoice gives us plenty of time to do the payment :)
 
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