Unfortunately, the web development company does not want to fix the error for the customer, unless they are paid a certain amount (which I think they should not charge at all) to “upgrade” the system. They claim to have developed the scripts using PHP version 4, but now that the server has been upgraded to PHP version 5, the scripts do not work any more. That is, they blame the problem on the server.

I checked the scripts but did not find any problems due to new PHP version. I found the errors as common programming errors, which can be fixed easily by them who developed and understand the system. In addition, the developer could not answer me when asked for exactly what outdated features of PHP 4 that the scripts are using that are not working now.

They refused to fix the problems for the customer, saying that the web site is not hosted with them. But I think this is not a very good reason, because a web site can be hosted and deployed anywhere, not necessarily theirs. They should support the web site no matter where it is housed.

Now they say they are no longer interested in serving the customer, and they say since I am so “expert”, then I should fix the errors for the customer. Well, even if I am in web development business, they are still the one who created the system. I think it is their responsibility to support the customer and not just simply pass the buck and walk away.

We can be obedient to the customers and obey whatever they ask us to do.  Tell me what you want and I’ll do it for you.  If you don’t tell me anything then I will not do anything for you.

We can also be of service to the customers and serve them in their needs and wants.  Is there anything I can help you?  I have become more proactive in serving you.

We can also be “loving” to the customers by giving them our “love”, not only our service.  We are here to bless you and make your life better.  We will serve you even if you are not (yet) our customer.

When a customer sends me some complaint, comment and suggestion, I have learned to at least give an acknowledgment in reply.

When a customer takes her precious time to complain to me, I want to thank God because, unlike some customers who simply walk away to another provider, she is still concerned of me and wants to do business with me!

When we are so bogged down by work, we forget whom we are working for.  Customers are the reason we businesses exist and they are the one we serve and the reason of our work.  They are our kings, and should be considered as distraction or interruption.

So, do not ever ignore your customers, no matter how slight the issue is.  Ignoring them is as good as asking them to just go away!

Let say you are expecting an urgent incoming email but suddenly your mail server goes down.  You just can’t send or receive emails at all.  You become frustrated and call up your hosting provider.  You are about to curse them.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience. We just restarted the server.  Please try to check your email again in 5 minutes.”

Have you heard such standard reply before?  Perhaps few weeks later the same thing happens again.  And you get a reply just similar to the above, again and again.

What if your hosting provider is so honest to explain to tell you that they are facing such as such problem, taking such as such steps to fix it, and doing such as such to prevent this from happening again in the future?  Will it not be better?

Problems can occur from time to time.  But customers can judge us by how we handle problems.  Instead of hiding the problem and keeping the customers in the dark, we could be more transparent and let customers know exactly what happens.

This way, we will not only pacify our customers, but could actually delight them!

I don’t have much experience on this and am not qualified to speak on this issue. I also don’t have very good solution to this. But I have a very naive idea.  if a customer refuses to pay up, just let him go and do not pursue after the money. Perhaps I have done something wrong that he refuses to pay up. Even if it’s not my fault, at least I have done something to help and bless his business.

You will surely not agree with my suggestion to let the customer go, to bless and not to curse, to look beyond our existence (we don’t exist just to make money), to thank the customer for giving business to us in the first place and for the money he has paid, to wish him well and never do anything to sabotage, even to continue to serve him If he ever comes back in the future.

There is a Chinese word called 舍得 (meaning “letting go”) which consists of two characters – 舍 and 得. Perhaps only when we learn to let go (舍), do we learn to how to truly gain (得).

Yes, I know I am naive   How about you?  What will you do?

For example if you fill up an enquiry form on my web site, you will not only receive a confirmation by email, but a thank you message by SMS instantly as well.

In another example, if you make payment for a product, you will receive a confirmation message by SMS immediately. You will also receive a follow-up SMS exactly one month later, reminding you of my brand

Some customers think I send out every SMS message manually from my handphone. But sooner or later they will find out it’s all automated. I can’t be sitting there to sticking to my phone to send out every SMS so quickly in response to every enquiry, 24 hours a day!

How to create such autoresponders by SMS? There is actually nothing complicated. You just need to subscribe to a bulk SMS messaging system, and then program your system to send out SMS messages using the system’s application programming interface (API). My system has been so programmed to make heavy use of SMS for customer service, branding and marketing as well.

There are many SMS bulk messaging service providers out there. Each SMS message sent costs money. Some charge very cheap rate per SMS, but your message might not reach your recipients at all. So don’t just look for cheap providers.

For me, I’m happily using Redisoft SMS System at the moment. Their system is good and stable. Macrokiosk is another good choice. Are you using any better provider? Please share with me.

Giving instant feedback to your customers can “wow” them and make them think your response is so prompt. So surprise your customers by innovating your online business by SMS today!

But recently they have been having some service problems with that provider. They contacted me and migrated everything back to me.

When they left me, they took their one domain name away. But when they came back, their business has grown and now they returned with three domain names!

I’ve been wondering what problems they have been facing with that provider. If it was not because of those problems with the provider, I guess perhaps they would not switch provider again. I heard a businessman said that one business can beat another not because of its own strengths, but often because of the folly of the other.

But why did the customer return to me and not choose yet another provider? Perhaps this is due to the policy to continue serving customers even though they have left. Or perhaps they subscribed to my mailing list before and so have been hearing from me by email and know what my hosting services are up to.

So it’s good to bless (and never curse) customers even they leave us. Those who bless others will be blessed, perhaps even three times more

I’ve also been running web sites for years. So I’m also a hosting customer. As site owner, I have sought services from web designers and other service providers. I have come to learn more of what customers need, problems and dilemmas they could face.

Being a hosting provider and a hosting customer at the same time gives me a little vantage point to see from different points of view. I came from a technical background and I’ve learned to be more business-oriented. I have learned to sound less like a techie to customers but to speak their language.

I’ve seen conflicts and misunderstandings between customers and their providers. Some customers even appointed me to argue with their providers. Common issues are such as domain name ownership, domain/hosting transfer, web site copyright, web site maintenance, overcharging, or simply provider missing in action.

If you follow my blog, you may wonder why sometimes I tend to speak against people in my own industry, including web developers and even hosting providers. Now don’t get me wrong. Most providers are good. But there are those who shortchange, overcharge or take advantage of customers, or are not totally honest, or just outright unethical.

Compared to other countries, customers in Malaysia are not very IT-savvy. And sometimes we the IT providers can simply curi ayam (shortchange) them. I admit I also had done wrong before.

I wish to see people in my industry excel in business but serving the customers well. I don’t quite like the way some providers are competing now, such as harvesting customer database from the Internet and stealing customers from competitors.

Good ethics means good business for them, in the long run. We could do better in our business than we do now. If only we could truly listen to what our customers want, and create our own blue ocean business, then we don’t need to resort to unethical means.

I got a new customer recently who chose to host with me. They have a web site which was done up by a web designer, who charged them over RM10,000.

Recently we found out there is some error in the web site code, that some functions are not working properly. The customer asked the designer to fix it. He refused. He said he had already “signed off” the project and passed on the whole web site back to the customer.

Will he fix it? Yes, he agrees to fix it but only with extra payment. I tried to talk to him on behalf of the customer, to no avail

I don’t know about others. But I guess he should fix the error, since it originates from his work.

Yes he is right that when he signed off the project, the customer approved his work. But they are not technical people. They do not know how to test out every page and every script on the web site to find out whether it’s working or not. They don’t know they have overlooked anything or not.

If I were this designer, I would first check why the error exists and whether it comes from my work. If yes, I would fix it without any charge.

What do you think? Should the designer fix the error?

The web design firm had developed my friend’s company web site for a few thousands ringgit.  Every year, my friend has to renew their domain name, hosting and web site with them for over RM1,000. Her domain name has also been registered under the email address of the web design firm.

However, my friend was not satisfied with their service but had no choice because she had no control nor access over his domain name and web site.  She ended up paying hefty amount to the provider every year without gaining any real benefits in return.

Now her yearly term with the web design firm expired and the web site got suspended.  I came in to help her talk to the web design firm.  We sent an official letter to them to reclaim the domain name, ensure they give us a copy of the web site and the web site is submitted to search engines as promised.

However, dealing with them has not be a pleasant experience.  They refused to do anything unless we first pay them the renewal fee.  Moreover, the way they treat the customer is regrettably terrible.  They can even criticize and badmouth my friend when talking to me.

The relationship seems to be beyond repair.  Even if my friend renewed with them, they are bound to bump into problems in the future.  I think she better switch to a new provider.

First, the web design firm should not have registered the domain name under their own email address, at least not without informing my friend about it.  Being able to manage domain expiry for the customer is not a very good excuse.  Doing so gives them a leverage to hijack my friend’s domain name and web site.

Second, their customer service is one of the worst I have come across in the industry.  They should treat customer well, speak gently, respect the customer, even if sometimes the customer can be wrong.  Had the way they talked been nicer, we could have reconsidered their service.

Third, the quality of the web site developed by them is not at par with their reputation in the industry.  It is also not well optimized for search engine marketing.  No wonder my friend got very little traffic and enquiries over the years.

Fourth, they said they would give a copy of the web site in images only, and that if we get others to do the web site, we will have to redo it.  Oh my goodness, do they meant they would only give us screen shots of the web site without the source code to make changes?  What has the customer paid them thousands of ringgit for?

Fifth, the domain name and web site had been paid up by my friend and should belong to her.  These should be given to her years ago, not “upon customer request only” as claimed by them.

Sixth, by requiring my friend to renew with them first in order to give her back what is hers and what should have been given much earlier, they are hijacking her web site.

I feel so disappointed for we have such a web design firm in the industry.  Perhaps there are also other customers being victimized in the marketplace.  Have you come across such cases before?

In order to facilitate smooth domain transfer out of me to other providers, I need to do the following:

• Unlock the domain if it is locked.
• Reveal the domain transfer secret code (EPP code) to customer to be given to the new provider.
• Approve the domain transfer when the new provider initiates the transfer.

If customers decide to transfer out, I’ve learned to give full cooperation to do the above, to the extent of advising them what to do to ensure smooth transfer, even continuing to support them although they are no longer customer.

Unfortunately, I sometimes come across uncooperative domain name resellers who drag their feet to let customers transfer out to me. In some cases, they are just not proactive enough to advise customers what to do. For example, they will only do this or that only when customers ask them to do so.

I see no reason why I should slow down the process if one customer decides to transfer out. I’m glad that he or she had chosen me as a provider and let me serve him/her. Now that s/he has found a better one, I should thank him/her for the business s/he had given me and I should happily send them out, just as I happily received him/her.

In many cases, I wish to serve my former customers in case they have any need. For example, there are some customers who continue to seek advice on Internet marketing, search engine optimization and web development issues. And it’s even free of charge.

It can make economic sense. Some former customers even came back to me after having found their new provider unsatisfactory. Even if they don’t come back, some have become friends.

It’s OK to lose a customer. But we can gain a friend. I believe a business exists not only to earn, but also to serve and to bless.

For the great services in the first year, we have decided to renew the subscription for another year. It’s proved your excellency of good service.

By Mr Zolkeplee Basir, Kombinasi Bakti Sdn Bhd

Thanks sir and all customers who have been very supportive and understanding! I strive to serve you better!

Find out what other customers say here

Indifferent - If I don’t care what customers say or need and go my own way.

Unresponsive - If I don’t respond to customers, or take my own sweet time to respond.

Outdated - If I am still offering something that is as good as those in the 90′s!

Self-centered - If I still possess that production-oriented mindset, only interested to sell my services instead of finding out what customers really want.

Never learn – If I simply never learn from mistakes but make them again and again.

Never involve customers – If I never consult or at least inform customers early on important changes that could impact on them.

Customers can be very good teachers. A customer complaint, if handled well, can turn out to be an opportunity. When a customer cares enough to complain (instead of just quietly walks away), he or she is giving us a chance to rectify the situation to serve him or her even better.

Customers have taught me this in a number of tough cases. Thankfully some complaining customers turned out to be very loyal customers until now!

Let’s serve our customers well and not sin on any of these