JeroenW
New Member
First of all, i apologize for writing in english. I'm from Holland and eventho i can read German, i cannot write or speak it.
In july 2005 i finally found server4you.de. I thought they were a trustworthy provider, after having been with several bad to very bad providers before. Server4you had great value for money. So i decided to take a 24 month contract with them and pay yearly. My server is a PlusPower. I decided to get this long contract term for the following extra features:
PremiumHardware (see following quote from the website)
https://www.server4you.de/de/dedicated/showplan.php?products=1
Hover your mouse over the PremiumHardware option:
PremiumBuy (see following quote from their website):
Both options were free for me since i had a 24 month contract and paid yearly.
I was quite happy with Server4you for 2 years. Okay, there was some occasional downtime, but that is to be expected if you pay low prices. The downtime was well within their uptime guarantee. Also the support was good. In other words, i was a very happy customer.
Then came may 2007. I wrote to their support department about the PremiumHardware feature. I was wondering what the procedure would be exactly. I didnt get an answer.
Then, in june i asked them again (and told them my contract renewal would be in july). And then got the answer that i should CANCEL my account first and then tell the sales department that i cancel because of the PremiumBuy so that i would get a new contract. I found this to be very very strange so i asked again a few times with a similar answer.
And then came july 13th (yes... friday the 13th). I was billed for another year. And i did not get new hardware. So then i got worried and asked them if cancelling now would not make things worse. Then i got the following answer:
And then i got very angry. Their sales statement on their website said the following:
"Alle 24 Monate erfolgt automatisch ein kostenloses Hardware-Upgrade auf die aktuellste Serverhardware der jeweiligen Kategorie"
And now, when it was too late to do anything about it, that automatisch turned out to be nothing automatically at all.
There is nothing in their contract that said anything about me having to cancel to get my new hardware. So then i called their sales department for 30 minutes. And it was like hitting a brick wall. The person on the other end (server4you) insisted that i had to cancel, and that she could not do anything for me at all. Then in the end she discussed this with her supervisor and then told me that, as an exception, i could upgrade to a higher account version (UltraPower X2). That way i could have new hardware, in my current contract year.
I was already expecting to pay more for my new contract period, since PlusPower X2 has become more expensive than the PlusPower in 2005. I was fine with that as that is normal when renewing a contract. However, UltraPower X2 is a LOT more expensive, and gives me too much server power. I was thinking.. they make a mistake, and solve it by asking a lot more money from me for something i do not need??
Then i asked them to simply upgrade me to the new PlusPower X2. And they denied... they would only allow it if i would get a new contract, in addition to the contract year i already paid. So if i take another 24 month contract, then it would actually be 36 months before i can get new hardware again!
This was starting to become really unbelievable. In just one week time they have transformed a happy and loyal customer into an angry and disappointed customer. I wonder why.... if they would have lived up to their promise of "automatically giving me new hardware", they would have earned more money (since that account option has become more expensive) and they would have me and my support again for another 24 months. So my guess is they dont want happy customers and they dont want to make any money.
I wonder if any of you here had similar experiences with server4you. And if it is true in Germany (as that sales person told me) that i have to cancel my contract in order to renew it and get the features they advertised for on their website. That it is normal in Germany that they do not have to mention that in the contract?
Here in Holland, we have to specify everything in a contract as it is legally binding. It binds me to a company, so that i pay my dues on time, that i do what they expect me to do. And that in return the company (server4you) is binded to me to deliver that which i paid for.
Any ideas? To me, it looks like they are misleading people by putting raving texts on their websites for things they cannot and will not deliver.
In july 2005 i finally found server4you.de. I thought they were a trustworthy provider, after having been with several bad to very bad providers before. Server4you had great value for money. So i decided to take a 24 month contract with them and pay yearly. My server is a PlusPower. I decided to get this long contract term for the following extra features:
PremiumHardware (see following quote from the website)
https://www.server4you.de/de/dedicated/showplan.php?products=1
Hover your mouse over the PremiumHardware option:
PremiumBuy (see following quote from their website):
Both options were free for me since i had a 24 month contract and paid yearly.
I was quite happy with Server4you for 2 years. Okay, there was some occasional downtime, but that is to be expected if you pay low prices. The downtime was well within their uptime guarantee. Also the support was good. In other words, i was a very happy customer.
Then came may 2007. I wrote to their support department about the PremiumHardware feature. I was wondering what the procedure would be exactly. I didnt get an answer.
Then, in june i asked them again (and told them my contract renewal would be in july). And then got the answer that i should CANCEL my account first and then tell the sales department that i cancel because of the PremiumBuy so that i would get a new contract. I found this to be very very strange so i asked again a few times with a similar answer.
And then came july 13th (yes... friday the 13th). I was billed for another year. And i did not get new hardware. So then i got worried and asked them if cancelling now would not make things worse. Then i got the following answer:
And then i got very angry. Their sales statement on their website said the following:
"Alle 24 Monate erfolgt automatisch ein kostenloses Hardware-Upgrade auf die aktuellste Serverhardware der jeweiligen Kategorie"
And now, when it was too late to do anything about it, that automatisch turned out to be nothing automatically at all.
There is nothing in their contract that said anything about me having to cancel to get my new hardware. So then i called their sales department for 30 minutes. And it was like hitting a brick wall. The person on the other end (server4you) insisted that i had to cancel, and that she could not do anything for me at all. Then in the end she discussed this with her supervisor and then told me that, as an exception, i could upgrade to a higher account version (UltraPower X2). That way i could have new hardware, in my current contract year.
I was already expecting to pay more for my new contract period, since PlusPower X2 has become more expensive than the PlusPower in 2005. I was fine with that as that is normal when renewing a contract. However, UltraPower X2 is a LOT more expensive, and gives me too much server power. I was thinking.. they make a mistake, and solve it by asking a lot more money from me for something i do not need??
Then i asked them to simply upgrade me to the new PlusPower X2. And they denied... they would only allow it if i would get a new contract, in addition to the contract year i already paid. So if i take another 24 month contract, then it would actually be 36 months before i can get new hardware again!
This was starting to become really unbelievable. In just one week time they have transformed a happy and loyal customer into an angry and disappointed customer. I wonder why.... if they would have lived up to their promise of "automatically giving me new hardware", they would have earned more money (since that account option has become more expensive) and they would have me and my support again for another 24 months. So my guess is they dont want happy customers and they dont want to make any money.
I wonder if any of you here had similar experiences with server4you. And if it is true in Germany (as that sales person told me) that i have to cancel my contract in order to renew it and get the features they advertised for on their website. That it is normal in Germany that they do not have to mention that in the contract?
Here in Holland, we have to specify everything in a contract as it is legally binding. It binds me to a company, so that i pay my dues on time, that i do what they expect me to do. And that in return the company (server4you) is binded to me to deliver that which i paid for.
Any ideas? To me, it looks like they are misleading people by putting raving texts on their websites for things they cannot and will not deliver.
