If you're going to close a thread........

[thecoalman]

It should be closed to everyone. I have strict policy about this for my own moderators. No "last word" word in if you're going to close it. Brief explanation of why it's being closed and simply close it, no other replies by anyone.

[Gwaihir]

Uh yeah! I don't even see who closed it and why.

I actually wanted to respond to Greg. It's great to see him involved out here and I think he's said a ton of good stuff in those last few posts. But I also spotted a misunderstanding and difference of perspective still.

The first: I don't think anyone was talking about clients voting on company policies in any way. Rather having a chance to provide constructive feedback and catch oversights. I dare say we have seen such an oversight with the recent php upgrade ideas, which shows the usefulness of leaving an idea out for comments for a little while before going ahead.

The other: I'm sure you're in all the way working on all that great stuff you mention. But at the end of the day, a system not in production isn't any good yet to us clients. We do not benefit from it yet, in fact we do suffer from the attention its development draws away from todays matters, and the not-taking of quicker fix routes that would have been taken if the big great thing wasn't on the horizon. This is a general truth of the matter. I'm not saying you're doing particularly bad as this goes, I just want to toss it out here for you to ponder.

I myself am in software development and have become a great fan of working in small increments that actually go into production. It helps to take care of the most pressing needs faster. It helps to keep focus, through not having to split attention between many long term great things on the horizon and the short term needs. And it actually works; no big half done projects to throw out after years of work, but quick successes and some quick, far smaller, far less costly failures.

[Ron]

Not saying you fingered me, but just want to say that I didn't lock the thread, it was locked by someone else after I made post #32. I didn't reply to it again until after Greg addressed me personally. Then I couldn't stop myself.

I thought about whether to re-open it and decided I didn't wanna tick off yet another person. This has not been enjoyable debate in any way for me.

[gohighvoltage]

Well, It may make sense to reopen it, looks like Greg is addressing some of the concerns, and it only seems right that clients can express their opinion. (Rather then start a new thread here)

(keep it all in one thread, rather then open multiple threads)

[Ron]

Feel free to re-open it if you think that's best.

[gohighvoltage]

Hey Ron! Well, I have no idea who closed it, so I don't want to step on any toes. I figure if they read what I posted above, maybe they would consider re-opening it. The conversation that is going on with you and Greg is great progress and information.

[JPC-Sabrina]

If you consider that the thread was not closed by a known regular moderator than I would take that as a sign. Sometimes you have to clean the slate, enter into a new dialogue and/or embrace other current subjects.

[Frank Broughton]

Let me make a point and put things into perspective for you. All those people asking questions you think are "dumb" are paying customers too. There are no dumb questions everyone has different experience and education. Every JaguarPC client deserves the same level of support whether they pay a million dollars or $4 whether they are asking about an e-mail account or asking about running a VPS. No one is better than anyone else here.

I STRONGLY disagree with the analogy as stated. If you treat your $4 customer the same as your million dollar one, you dead sure better be giving that $4 one million dollar coverage. If not, it is a no brainer - the million dollar one better get better treatment or you are going to loose that million dollar customer. I do agree with your over all premise ALL customers should be treated well. BUT that million dollar one needs to be winked at once in a while.


For the record, I am kinda an old timer here, although I have my own 'puter in a friends data center now (for FREE! na na na na), I still do have my JPC account (2 VPS's), a friend took it over but I keep an eye on it for him. Overall I am still happy with how JPC is handling him and the account.

[JPC-Sabrina]

Hi Frank,
I haven't seen you on the forums in a while. It is nice to get many as many different perspectives and opinions as possible on the matter of how customer needs should be addressed. You do have a valid point and JaguarPC is evaluating several different models of customer care during this stage of growth. Our old timers know that we value their long standing commitment. JaguarPC has grown tremendously because of referrals, word of mouth and consistently positive reviews. This type of support has always been and will always be invaluable. Thanks for coming by and commenting as well as giving us one more honest "thumbs up".

[gohighvoltage]

I STRONGLY disagree with the analogy as stated. If you treat your $4 customer the same as your million dollar one, you dead sure better be giving that $4 one million dollar coverage. If not, it is a no brainer - the million dollar one better get better treatment or you are going to loose that million dollar customer. I do agree with your over all premise ALL customers should be treated well. BUT that million dollar one needs to be winked at once in a while.


For the record, I am kinda an old timer here, although I have my own 'puter in a friends data center now (for FREE! na na na na), I still do have my JPC account (2 VPS's), a friend took it over but I keep an eye on it for him. Overall I am still happy with how JPC is handling him and the account.

Hi Frank, I think anyone would totally agree with you. You do have to take care of all your customers. Nothing in the customer service industry is completely black and white, there is always gray areas, no matter how hard you try not to have them.

While I definitely agree, that you do treat your long time, million dollar customers, well, so they stay with you, you just can't say, I'm sorry Mr. $4.00 customer, your issues are not important, and somebody else's issues are more important, because they pay more.

You can have 100 customers that pay $100.00 per month, and lets say you have 1000 customers that pay $50.00 per month. $10,000 vrs $50,000. You can't make all your $50.00 customers feel that they are 2nd hand, or you lose all of them and then in the end you lost out big time. Treating all customers fair is always best. Sorting issues out by priority is always best. This is what Jaguar is working on and making it streamlined. Someone with a "how do I protect a folder" is less priority then someone's server being down. (how much they pay is not in the equation, and it really shouldn't be).

I hope that makes sense?

[JPC-Zachary]

The only thing that should cause an issue to be prioritized is downtime vs. no downtime.

It seems as if everyone missed the point I was trying to make. No matter whether you are a million dollar customer or a $4 customer, everyone should be treated like a million dollars. I have been in sales for a really long time and I have seen a lot of sales people and a lot of companies give preferred treatment to customers who have the million dollars now and kick the "dumb" question people to the curb. Then they are running to cover their butt when one of those "dumb" question people is leaving them for another provider with a million dollar deal.

The guy with the $4.00 hosting who has no web hosting experience and needs help with file permissions might just be a scientist in his real life and finds the cure for cancer.

[gohighvoltage]

WOW, Well Said Zach.

I personally know a surgeon that performs brain surgeries and saves lives, but does not know how to check the oil in his car. Everyone has their expertise. There is no dumb questions. We all started in this world knowing absolutely NOTHING.

[Ron]

The guy with the $4.00 hosting who has no web hosting experience and needs help with file permissions might just be a scientist in his real life and finds the cure for cancer.

...and he might be the Easter Bunny too...

Are you serious? You can't make a business decision to treat your small customers with inconsequential issues the same as your 10 year veteran reseller and forum moderators with network prioritization and routing issues or server configuration issues that cause his forum and photo gallery to be down, or .

Oh wait...

[Ron]

WOW, Well Said Zach.

I personally know a surgeon that performs brain surgeries and saves lives, but does not know how to check the oil in his car. Everyone has their expertise. There is no dumb questions. We all started in this world knowing absolutely NOTHING.

You're misunderstanding. He's suggesting that fixing his file permissions issue will/may allow him to find the cure for cancer. A butteryfly's wing proposition.

[JPC-Zachary]

You're misunderstanding. He's suggesting that fixing his file permissions issue will/may allow him to find the cure for cancer. A butteryfly's wing proposition.

Are you kidding Ron? You and I both know that is not what I meant.