ModernBill Announcement...

[DeanClinton]

Did anyone else get an e-Mail from Parallels slating H9?? Does anyone think that they could have kept some of the details to themselves?

Dear Hostnine Customers,



You received the message below from us about 1 month ago. At the time, we were working with Hostnine to ensure seamless continuation of your Modernbill licenses with you. Unfortunately, Hostnine has been in default of their license payment obligations since late last year. We have extended Hostnine and its management every opportunity to address this situation. However, instead of making the necessary payments and ensuring the satisfaction of you- their customers- they have instead embarked on a negative campaign against our products and services. We think that you deserve better.



In an effort to ensure your satisfaction with our product, we are offering all existing Hostnine customers a coupon to acquire their license key directly from us at the same discount that we give to Hostnine. Please go to:



http://www.modernbill.com/purchase



Use the coupon code: hostnine

You will receive a 40% discount on your ModernBill License.



Also, for those of you who may have received misinformation about the health of our products or company, we can assure you that ModernBill has never been in better shape than it is right now. In a few weeks, we will be shipping the best hosting billing product in our price range. It is the first tangible fruits of our acquisition by Parallels. The product has received a thorough overhaul and many more developmental resources have been added to its product team. It is the first billing product in its price range to receive professional QA services. Most billing solutions- including ModernGigabyte’s- ship without much formal testing between builds. If a product you are considering releases more than one build per month, you should consider yourself part of the QA team. QA generally takes at least 2 weeks of any release cycle. Parallels thoroughly test products before shipping.



Our support team has also been dramatically ramped up. In expectation of widespread demand for our products as we ship a bundled Plesk and Plesk Billing solution, we have been working hard to ensure that your experience in our helpdesk is top notch.



Finally, we apologize for any inconvenience that this situation has been for you. We strive to work with the top tier providers in the industry. Hostnine has been a trusted name in this space and our relationship with them has always been strong. It is unfortunate that circumstances have dictated that we take a new direction.



Jon McCarrick

Program Manager, Plesk Billing/ModernBill

Parallels

[oONightFireOo]

Yupyup...

Just got that email too... It was a little over the top to me. Looked COMPLETELY unprofessional and amateur. It's a shame that such a large company feels the need to try to slam another large company... especially by emailing their clients and talking bad about them... What, are we in middle school?

I actually liked ModernBill - although I thought that the program itself was huge and made things little more complicated then was needed... but seriously? This was stupid. If I would have given ANY consideration to switching back to them, this email would have killed every last one of those chances. Modern Bill... it's time to grow up and get professional!!

~Kevin

[adsejam]

Yes, I got this email too, but I have to agree with Kevin 100% !

[SWG]

If in fact this statement is true: "Unfortunately, Hostnine has been in default of their license payment obligations since late last year", I don't blame Modernbill......

[Ace]

Hi,

You guys need to read the email again. For one, it isn't unprofessional at all. If you're a Modernbill user, you probably should be grateful.

Because of the issue, those who have a modernbill license through Hostnine would probably not have it anymore. Instead of leaving those people hanging, Parallels has decided to offer a direct license (without going through hostnine) with a discount.

The issue is between Hostnine and Parallels... Parallels just decided to extend a discount so that current modernbill users can still have a license even without Hostnine's intervention.

I use WHMCS and I'm a Hostnine customer, so it really doesn't affect me. But still Parallels did the 'right' thing by allowing the licensees to keep using modernbill at a discounted rate.

Keep in mind that the issue is between Hostnine and Parallels and has nothing to do with the quality of service (web hosting + support) that Hostnine is providing us.

Regards

Not only is it unprofessional but it's violating our privacy. They fail to mention that we never received invoices due to the fact that they had a typo in our email address and could not update it properly. I had an hour long phone conversation with Jon about this and explained how we submitted tickets and direct emails about it but never received a response.

We also requested invoices be mailed directly to our office via snail-mail and received them twice (both times paid in full). We are not knocking modernbill at all and the agreement Jon and H9 had was to do a full audit on the licenses to weed out the inactive licenses and get back on track with their new system. As we told Jon we have every intention on paying any out dated invoices that we failed to receive.

I do not know where they come off saying we're hurting their name when it's our customers who want to use WHMCS. We pay every single bill that comes in for servers, licenses, and any other expense related to the company. WHMCS has never had a problem billing us as we actually receive proper invoices, get instant replies to our tickets, and have full management over our licenses.

It seems we're not the only ones having issues with them: http://forums.modernbill.com/showthr...494#post165494

[DiverseHosting]

It seams to me that MB is just in big trouble and desperate to find a way out. Paralell's aquisition of MB just helps to reiterate MB's fears. WHMCS has been creating a cult-like following, just as programs like Quickbooks and even Windows did when they came out (for the first time). Understandably, this concept puts Parallels into a panic mode where they must do anything to retain some of the business they are loosing.

[Ace]

I can see how it's violating H9's privacy. In fact, Parallels should have just sent out the coupon code in case anyone still wanted to keep their license, and that's all.

It was the right thing to do to offer people who have a Modernbill license through H9 the same discount and to keep the license. But now I realize that it was not necessary to defame H9 in the email, and it definitely was not necessary to disclose any private information between Parallels and H9, regardless if said information is true or not.

I wonder how many people still actually want a ModernBill license

http://www.whmcs.com

[jrawly]

Do you not have the same "Data Protection" laws in the US?

If a company that I dealt with advised my customers I had not been paying bills, then that company would have breached the Data Protection Act we have here which is very naughty.

[DiverseHosting]

Yes, we have similar laws. The only problem is that they can be difficult to enforce. In the US, these types of laws are civil offenses, not criminal. I haven't read Parallels' TOS, but I assuming (since most do) that there is a condition that forces all legal proceedings to take place in the jurisdiction of the area that Parallels' corporate office is in. It probably also states that both parties must enter into mediation before any legal action can be taken.

These conditions mean that H9 must spend a lot of time (probably months) at Parallels corporate headquarters (or nearby), and they should probably have legal representation during this time.

While H9 is a large company, I find it hard to imagine that they could, or are willing to, "loose" one of their employees for this long, not to mention that the capital involved would probably be in the tens-of-thousands. I'm not sure that it would be worth it for H9 to pursue any legal ramifications. This is exactly why many major corporations feel that they can proceed with these types of actions, without fear of retribution.


Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, but I do have a degree in Business Administration, which included ~3 years of business law.