Jun
15
BPD on Business and Internet
Filed Under General
I haven’t been keeping up with my posting schedule lately, in part because I have been very busy with work.
It seems every June one of my webhosting companies folds, and leaves me in the lurch for not only finding a new web host, but also groveling for a refund. Last year at this time, a host in Canada simply closed shop and refused to refund me $3,000 worth of pre-payments. I dug up his phone number and called his house a couple times at 2 AM in the morning Canadian time, and he told me “You have the wrong number, I work in Real Estate”, as if he already knew that I was going to ask him about his career. Plus, nearly everyone works in Real Estate 
.
This year I’m in a better boat, because the my current web host company is fair and honest. They are a reseller of a much larger corporate hosting company, and recently announced to me that prices were going up 50% due to budget demands. Quite simply, I can not afford such an increase, no matter how much I liked the company.
As a result, I’ve had to dig around and find a cheaper host, format new servers, transfer my data, and then point DNS/nameservers at the new server IPs. This takes a few days to do and can be a royal pain in the ass.
Today I’m finishing up the entire project, in plenty of time to let my current web hosting company de-commission my old servers and liquidate them so I can get my refund. At my calculation, they owe me $3,900 USD for yearly server pre-payments and also for a $1000 over-payment on my part. Yes, can you believe it? I’m honest enough that I overpaid someone $1,000 USD.
If you learn anything about business, learn this: Just pay people on time, and if you can’t advise them and be honest. Don’t jerk them around, stonewall, or screw them. Don’t promise payment if you can’t give it. Nothing (…well almost nothing…) is for free.
Likewise, if you’re providing a service, bill your patrons on time, advise them about price changes, and refund them for any over-payments or service time they will not use.
These simple principles will get you VERY far in the business world. It’s taken me a few years to figure this out, but in the end, you’ll find that people are happy to work with you and will, in some cases, refer you to others so that you get more business.
Good luck with your pursuits! 