Open Letter To Afrihost

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komanta1

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Hi Gian,

I am writing this email in response your "apologetic email sent out today".
You might not respond or even get a chance to read it, but in my miniscule attempt,
I feel I can say I'm giving my honest feedback regarding my past vs present experience with Afrihost.

I joined Afrihost in 2010 as my personal web host.
I couldn't find fault in Afrihost's level of service and great value for money.

All my friends were sick and tired of listening to me waffling on about how they should switch
to Afrihost because of their amazing products and service. (Also in hope to receive my refer a friend bonus).

I then later began using Afrihost's world class uncapped internet in 2012 and Afrihost
never disappointed. I managed to get 3 of my friends to move their reliable Mweb internet to Afrihost
and they were happy too.
As my freelancing web design business grew, I referred clients to use your services countless of times.
Afrihost gave me success, gave me joy and boy did I brag.

I was so passionate about Afrihost I even applied for the Rock Star Graphic Designer and Web Designer positions you had available.
Because I was so proud I wanted to be part of the team! (Sadly, to no avail)

Them came 2014...........

Internet speeds dropped, Servers offline, holding on the phone for support took forever......

It wasn't the Afrihost I once knew. I started loosing confidence and stopped referring customers,
after all.....it's my freelancing business's credibility on the line.

I can't say that it has been the merger with MTN that has caused it or the growing influx of customers due
to your great reputation, but Afrihost ....... just doesn't feel like what Afrihost once was.

I was truley surprised when Afrihost won ISP of the year in 2014, I honestly didn't think you deserved it.
Afrihost isn't the cheapest, it isn't the fastest and service isn't the best, like it once was.

Regarding your new Afrihost Plus+ product, I guess users just feel neglected. While their internet is down or come to a crawl, email client fails
to connect to the SMTP server, Afrihost is launching new products like there is nothing wrong.
We all understand South Africa's internet is in a shambles "Thanks Telkom" but Afrihost was once great and beat the odds in delivering top notch quality services to us regardless of the situation.

Reading the "Sorry" email, it is heartbreaking having to see you send us an email like this.
It's not the proud Afrihost I once knew. Afrihost Plus+ should have been a South African Revolutionary
product, Asking users what they would pay is another slap in the face..... It would obviously be the least amount
as possible especially if we are forking out a mini fortune for a decent ADSL line. It's like you saying: "Hey guys, we have this product we can charge a min of Rxxx but if everyone agrees on a higher price, could we charge you more?".

I really hope Afrihost works on its roots and what it once stood for.
Become the company we once trusted, relied on and was proud of .

We want our Afrihost back.

Yours Sincerely,
Afrihost User
 
Thank you for taking the time to post this letter komanta1, I really appreciate the feedback, and I am sure Gian will as well.

The Old Afrihost you know is definitely still here, the past few months have been a tough time for us, we've had to rapidly expand our Support Team to keep up with our growing numbers, and there has been unfortunately taken some time to get everyone up to the standards that both we and you expect. And I think that this was made worse by our move into our new premises, which was sooner than expected, and our PABX and phone lines have been buggy and took some time to sort out. Now, I am not using these as an excuse, I just want you to know that these are things that are a work in progress, and that will very soon be rectified.

Our ADSL infrastructure has been a bit of a mess, but I honestly believe that we have finally managed to track down the issues causing most of the problems, and our Team has already started to implement the needed changes to improve everyone's connection speeds.

Afrihost Plus+ has been in the planning and implementation stages for a few months, and November was chosen as the release date, Gian was shocked at the reaction and backlash from the initial mail that was sent out, and this is why he decided to reach out and explain the situation to our clients. Afrihost remains a proud and hardworking company, but we will also be honest with our clients at all times, and the letter was Gian's way of reaching out, and communicating his thoughts and feelings on the matter.

The actual price of Afrihost Plus+ has also been set way in advance, and even if all of our users chose the most expensive option on the survey, the actual monthly price would not have changed.

Once again, I would like to thank you for taking the time to reach out to us, and sharing your thoughts and concerns, Gian and I really appreciate it.
 
AfriGenie said:
Thank you for taking the time to post this letter komanta1, I really appreciate the feedback, and I am sure Gian will as well.

The Old Afrihost you know is definitely still here, the past few months have been a tough time for us, we've had to rapidly expand our Support Team to keep up with our growing numbers, and there has been unfortunately taken some time to get everyone up to the standards that both we and you expect. And I think that this was made worse by our move into our new premises, which was sooner than expected, and our PABX and phone lines have been buggy and took some time to sort out. Now, I am not using these as an excuse, I just want you to know that these are things that are a work in progress, and that will very soon be rectified.

Our ADSL infrastructure has been a bit of a mess, but I honestly believe that we have finally managed to track down the issues causing most of the problems, and our Team has already started to implement the needed changes to improve everyone's connection speeds.

Afrihost Plus+ has been in the planning and implementation stages for a few months, and November was chosen as the release date, Gian was shocked at the reaction and backlash from the initial mail that was sent out, and this is why he decided to reach out and explain the situation to our clients. Afrihost remains a proud and hardworking company, but we will also be honest with our clients at all times, and the letter was Gian's way of reaching out, and communicating his thoughts and feelings on the matter.

The actual price of Afrihost Plus+ has also been set way in advance, and even if all of our users chose the most expensive option on the survey, the actual monthly price would not have changed.

Once again, I would like to thank you for taking the time to reach out to us, and sharing your thoughts and concerns, Gian and I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Good reply, and thanks for your honesty.
 
To Afrihost:

I came to the "party" pretty late. I signed up with you guys in an act of desperation, after being shafted by MWEB, OpenWeb, CrystalWeb, and Internet Solutions. I don't have any experience of past matters with Afrihost. In any case you can search my posts, I have had absolute hell with the internet this year... I have had to change my ISP several times, partly because there was a major problem with an overseas link for like 2+ months (and it was covered up by the ISPs- they would deny anything was wrong), and because I get throttled within days using LEGITIMATE things like iTunes with my Apple TV and watching a couple of movies. Fortunately not all of us are stupid like the average internet user and I can see when someone is actively trying to screw me.

I have only had one period to complain about, a few weeks back, the internet was slow as a dog on weed.
I run a business on your product, and aside from the hiccup with the DSLAM we had today (Thanks Telkom), I am generally content with my CAPPED package. I have learnt the hard way that "UNCAPPED INTERNET" is basically as imaginary as elves and fairies... Uncapped means unthrottled to a point, usually 80GB odd, after which you are shaped/throttled/disconnected, depending on the ISP. Unfortunately some ISPs whom I won't mention think they are clever and throttle even simple protocols such as UDP and DNS requests... they got my vote with my wallet!

I will be honest, the international speeds on your product is really bad during the day sometimes, but at least it works after hours. During the day, as long as I get into my e-commerce websites, and I can access e-mail I am not too fussed about the slowness.

The big things for me are that your capped packages work for me. I was referred to you by a client, because he runs two ADSL lines at home using two of your capped packages, for business, doing things such as remote desktop, etc.. he told me it is slow at times, but it remains solid.

As for how well these capped work, if we don't take speed into account:

* I don't have error messages with Apple devices anymore.
* The Apple TV doesn't keep falling over, like it does, especially on IS' network.
* My e-mail is always on
* I don't have problems making posts, logging into this forum
* I don't have problems with GMail not logging in, not being able to add attachments to an e-mail message
* I have not been accused by Afrihost of having a faulty router or faulty ADSL line. My standard procedure is always to rule out Telkom first when I have a problem, then I tackle the ISP if the line comes back clean. This is what happened earlier this year... I came down on Telkom like a concrete block, in the end it turned out my line was perfect, and the ISP was to blame.

Whatever Afrihost want to do, is their business. I am sure, the major complainants are the UNCAPPED users. I have been there, done that, got the T-shirt. The fundamental solution to the problem in this country with internet is to ban the advertising of a service as "UNCAPPED". It is human nature to see the word UNCAPPED and then go wild.. because hell you won't pay more than the agreed price and screw them ISPs.

Advertising a finite resource as infinite is the basic mistake. And because these uncapped things perpetuate the market, this is why internet in SA sucks... because we have people downloading 24/7 and reducing the available bandwidth for the rest of us.
 
Props to OP! This letter echoes my sentiments. The email yesterday was the first time Gian spoke frankly and from the heart. **** happens.

I think an NB lesson for Afrihost to take from recent troubles is to be transparent with us. Downplaying situations isn't always bestest
 
AfriGenie said:
Thank you for taking the time to post this letter komanta1, I really appreciate the feedback, and I am sure Gian will as well.

The Old Afrihost you know is definitely still here, the past few months have been a tough time for us, we've had to rapidly expand our Support Team to keep up with our growing numbers, and there has been unfortunately taken some time to get everyone up to the standards that both we and you expect. And I think that this was made worse by our move into our new premises, which was sooner than expected, and our PABX and phone lines have been buggy and took some time to sort out. Now, I am not using these as an excuse, I just want you to know that these are things that are a work in progress, and that will very soon be rectified.

Our ADSL infrastructure has been a bit of a mess, but I honestly believe that we have finally managed to track down the issues causing most of the problems, and our Team has already started to implement the needed changes to improve everyone's connection speeds.

Afrihost Plus+ has been in the planning and implementation stages for a few months, and November was chosen as the release date, Gian was shocked at the reaction and backlash from the initial mail that was sent out, and this is why he decided to reach out and explain the situation to our clients. Afrihost remains a proud and hardworking company, but we will also be honest with our clients at all times, and the letter was Gian's way of reaching out, and communicating his thoughts and feelings on the matter.

The actual price of Afrihost Plus+ has also been set way in advance, and even if all of our users chose the most expensive option on the survey, the actual monthly price would not have changed.

Once again, I would like to thank you for taking the time to reach out to us, and sharing your thoughts and concerns, Gian and I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

So why even bother asking us then? Just to make it feel as if we might have contributed Afrihost and the new product?


Afrihost is growing, has grown and will probably continue to grow provided you guys get everything sorted out with your network.
If Gian was soo surprised by the backlash then clearly communication is lacking a bit - the fact that he does not know how many upset clients there are how frustrated everyone has been.

To be honest I just use the free 1GB account from Afrihost and have not recommended them to anyone recently. Had my account with Afrihost since 2008 or 2009 I think and use to use you guys back then and were fantastic.

Perhaps Gian, as well as the team, need to be a bit more hands on in terms of client feedback.
What type of staff members are the ones on this forum reading and responding and being made aware of the issues? How high up does it reach? My guess is probably not very unless one of the managers somehow finds out about it and decides to try and do something about it.
 
PsyCLown said:
So why even bother asking us then? Just to make it feel as if we might have contributed Afrihost and the new product?


Afrihost is growing, has grown and will probably continue to grow provided you guys get everything sorted out with your network.
If Gian was soo surprised by the backlash then clearly communication is lacking a bit - the fact that he does not know how many upset clients there are how frustrated everyone has been.

To be honest I just use the free 1GB account from Afrihost and have not recommended them to anyone recently. Had my account with Afrihost since 2008 or 2009 I think and use to use you guys back then and were fantastic.

Perhaps Gian, as well as the team, need to be a bit more hands on in terms of client feedback.
What type of staff members are the ones on this forum reading and responding and being made aware of the issues? How high up does it reach? My guess is probably not very unless one of the managers somehow finds out about it and decides to try and do something about it.
Click to expand...

The Social Media team reports directly to the Afrihost Directors, and there is a constant stream of communication between us and the Directors.

There were obvious negative feelings with the network management issue that we were experiencing, but I don't think any of us expected it to directly result in the response towards Plus+.

The original survey was less to create the impression of involvement, but more to show the wide-range of value-added products that were included in Plus+.
 
Last edited:
AfriGenie said:
The Social Media team reports directly to the Afrihost Directors, and there is a constant stream of communication between us and the Directors.

There were obvious negative feelings with the network management issue that we were experiencing, but I don't any of use expected it to directly result in the response towards Plus+.

The original survey was less to create the impression of involvement, but more to show the wide-range of value-added products that were included in Plus+.
Click to expand...
That sounds fairly promising actually.

Well let's wait and see what happens. :)
 
AfriGenie said:
The Social Media team reports directly to the Afrihost Directors, and there is a constant stream of communication between us and the Directors.

There were obvious negative feelings with the network management issue that we were experiencing, but I don't think any of us expected it to directly result in the response towards Plus+.

The original survey was less to create the impression of involvement, but more to show the wide-range of value-added products that were included in Plus+.
Click to expand...

I do think that your company, especially your CEO got a good reality check out of this.
At this stage I have no intention of changing my ISP. If there is a problem, I will complain here VERY QUICKLY.

There are customers who are getting poor speeds, a mate of mine is one of those clients, he procured an IS business account to be able to stream, because his Afrihost account is throttled into the ground. I am not denying there are problems, there definitely are, but I am just saying that, you need to sharpen your pencil bigtime. Customers in SA are gatvol of bad service and won't stand for it anymore!
 
Koosi said:
I do think that your company, especially your CEO got a good reality check out of this.
At this stage I have no intention of changing my ISP. If there is a problem, I will complain here VERY QUICKLY.

There are customers who are getting poor speeds, a mate of mine is one of those clients, he procured an IS business account to be able to stream, because his Afrihost account is throttled into the ground. I am not denying there are problems, there definitely are, but I am just saying that, you need to sharpen your pencil bigtime. Customers in SA are gatvol of bad service and won't stand for it anymore!
Click to expand...

As is their right!

Your friend should definitely not being seeing any bad speeds at all, especially with regards to streaming. Would you mind asking him to drop any of us AfriGeeks a PM with his details.
 
Koosi said:
I do think that your company, especially your CEO got a good reality check out of this.
At this stage I have no intention of changing my ISP. If there is a problem, I will complain here VERY QUICKLY.

There are customers who are getting poor speeds, a mate of mine is one of those clients, he procured an IS business account to be able to stream, because his Afrihost account is throttled into the ground. I am not denying there are problems, there definitely are, but I am just saying that, you need to sharpen your pencil bigtime. Customers in SA are gatvol of bad service and won't stand for it anymore!
Click to expand...

+1
 
If I can just chime in as an ex customer...

Once a service is purchased it should not change its character so wildly. Uncapped which in reality is so limited, counts as one problem, but we should not expect what we have bought to transform into something we would never buy. Telkom did this too - overnight - and continue to come up with every excuse for it.

AH management dropped the ball once more. I don't think they realise that customers won't look at them again for a long time, if ever. Much of their top level seem quite fake when it comes to apologies, and this has been noticed too.
 
Just a recap here.

Gian personally emailed me the following in return.

Thanks for your feedback XXXXX. I do appreciate it!

I am truly sorry how we dropped the ball and we are working on stabilising everything again.

We are working towards offering fantastic service again!
Click to expand...

Whilst it's not the greatest response, where else would you personally get the CEO to reply to you.
I feel that at least they know and admit that there are issues to be solved.
Not many companies take accountability and always pass the buck.

Looking forward to what Afrihost has in-store.
 
Am I understanding this correctly though - to get 400GB (200+200) from 1 January 2015, we have to pay the extra Plus+ fee in addition to what it costs now, right?
 
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