I was reading recently a post on WHT about a customer complaint that he paid $8 /month for a VPS with a certain host, and he was upset he only got 200Mhz per core on a quad core setup (800Mhz total), and not the “entire” cpu … !
That was the kind of post that makes me real happy that I dont work on Sales .. otherwise I’d tell that individual to shove it, take their money and go look for hosting elsewhere.
Lets do the math shall we ?
We know the host is using Quad Core 2.4Ghz CPU’s, and they offer “equal share CPU” .. this means they are putting (2.4ghz / 200Mhz = 12) 12 VPS’s per server, that on itself makes me doubt the sanity of the host, if they sell 12 of their $8 /month plan, it means the server brings in only $98 /month .. for Quad Core .. thats insane.
Why is it insane ?, because these are the kind of people that later on are wondering around trying to sell their businesses at any price, due to the fact their profit margins are so slim, they realize they can make more money per month by selling fries at the Mc Donald’s Drive-Thru than Web Hosting, and second, I am a firm believer you must be a very profitable company at all times, you OWE it to your customers, otherwise they are not safe with you as you are just a bankruptcy in the making ready to go off at any time (ok, I know I am generalizing here, but look at the amount of bargain basement hosts going bely up the past 5-6 years and tell me I am wrong..).
And the delirious customer ?, well, he is a by-product of the bargain basement offering, simply put, $8 for a VPS ?, such product should no exist, it creates a false statement that this technology can be sold at a certain price bracket, and that is just not true, problem is, customers expect it, and then when they get it, they want more, and again expect to be given more .. period ..
Rant Over …..
The way I see it, the problem is customers like the one you mentioned who will pay $8/month for a VPS, *and* expect it to be fast and well-supported.
You get what you pay for; if you’re only paying $8/month then don’t expect a big share of the host machine’s resources, and don’t expect much in the way of support.
Unfortunately, too many people have this “entitlement attitude” these days and expect to get everything for next to nothing.
Oh, by the way, I don’t like this comment form – clicking back into the comment box after already having entered a comment removes it – not good.
I have been on this industry for 10 years, and the entitlement feeling only seems to get worse, to the point of delusion.
It’s the same thin regarding OS’s .. anybody used to Linux (free) now complains that they dont want to pay for OSX or Windows … we live in a society where people just want it all, but dont wish to work for it.
And you are correct, this comment form is a pain, I’m re-designing the entire site soon and fix this.