April 16th, 2007
New wait list process
A load of feedback came in on our cashflow post. The majority of comments at the blog and forum are on board with a 3-month prepayment for new signups. Several folks also expressed a desire to pay more to move up in line. Over the weekend, we implemented a new wait list format and signup page which we hope is fair to everyone:
- new signups will require a 3-month prepayment
- if you cancel before the first month, we’ll refund your prepayment minus the first month’s cost. Just like before, the commitment is one month.
- the wait list will be ordered by prepayment term, then signup date. What this means: longer prepayment term = better wait list position.
- Prepayment terms: 3 months (default), 6 months, 12 months, 24 months – 10% bonus for annual prepays
- wait listers receive an email with a link to a status page that includes a time estimate. On this page, you can modify your prepayment term to improve your position (if needed).
- everyone who signed up in March has immediate priority. If you signed up in April, the prepayment term will affect your position.
That covers our new process. The good news: this setup should help everyone get a Slice faster – and that was the goal. Again, we truly appreciate the dialogue on this issue. It gave us an excellent feel for what people would be open to and new thoughts as well. So please do continue, let us know if this works for you.
PS – if you are already on the wait list, you’ll get an email soon with a link. No need to add your name again.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM stubblechin
Good work guys.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Duc
How soon is soon (about the email)?
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM MikeH
Was just going to ask the same thing.. Anyway, I hope the email arrives soon :)
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM David Crowther
I think the three month prepayment is a great idea, but I don’t agree about prioritising the waiting list by length of prepayment.
I signed up just under two weeks ago and was expecting my Slice this week. I even told my client who has been very patient so far. Suddenly I’m informed I have another 4 weeks wait from today!
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Abdur-Rahman Advany
I ordered second of april :( Instead of waiting 1 week ill have to wait 3 weeks (is this based on new estimations or did the waitlinglist change?). Ill just have to wait : )
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Abdur-Rahman Advany
Just saw that if I sign-up for 1 year that I get pushed to the begin of the list.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Patrick Schless
I definitely think that the 3-month mandatory pre-payment will be off-putting to new customers. While most (all?) of your existing customers think you’re worth the wait/extra payment, new customers don’t have anything to go by, other than hearsay, and are much less dedicated. Besides that, there’s something psychological about forking over a 3-month payment for a service you are testing, even with the promise that you will return the money if the customer cancels.
The other, more important issue is the prioritizing of the wait-listers based on pre-payment. There are apparently quite a few people willing to wait extended periods of time because they have heard good things about the company. It doesn’t seem fair to tell them that they have to put up greater stakes than (implicitly) agreed upon, just to maintain their positions.
I worry that this plan will speed up the list not just from the influx of start-up cash, but also from people dropping out, frustrated. Many of us, after all, are coming to you because we’re frustrated with our current providers, and you seem like a reliable, trustworthy alternative.
All-in-all, I do recognize that unfortunate times call for unfortunate measures. Hopefully these measures will give you the boost you need to set things straight again.
I, personally, am somewhat in limbo about when I am expecting my slice. I have heard that it will be soon, but I am not clear on whether or not it will be affected by this new policy. So maybe 20 people will prepay extra and I’ll get pushed back some weeks. I haven’t gotten the email mentioned in the original post, so I don’t know, but am anxious to find out. Maybe I am already slated to get my slice, so there’s no email, or maybe there’s some problem… Or maybe (* gasp *) I mistyped my email when I registered and am not even on the list.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Frits
Although I understand your situation and understand it that you need some capital to expand, I don’t find it fair that I keep being put back.
I can’t afford it to pre-pay 6 or 12 months in advanced, so where does that leave me? Keep being pushed back by people with more money..
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM K
Don’t you guys have credit cards?
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM JC
Yeah, my 21 days wait time has become 6 weeks. That’s a big difference even with a 3 month pre-pay. I’m going to have to go somewhere else until this all pans out and you guys have room to grow.
Looks like a great service, but you guys should get a small loan to meat demand. Then the 3 month prepays will pay for it.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM slicematt
Guys who are getting bumped down in the list: I certainly empathize with your situation and understand why you are frustrated. I’m sure this will cost us a few customers, which we wish wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, we had to make a change because the problem was getting worse daily. If we could please everyone we would, but that’s rarely an option. We feel this process is open and in the hands of customers. Behind the scenes we are bombarded with requests to jump ahead in line for bulk payments, larger slice purchases, bulk orders, signup fees, associates of other customers, etc. The new process enables us to point everyone at the wait list and if the demand is there, they can get it sooner by paying more upfront.
Additional thoughts:March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM K
Your openness and good will in communication is definitely a great thing and much appreciated. Ultimately, if people wait around it’s because they want to and they think there’s something worth waiting for! You really don’t have an obligation to satisfy everyone.
I’m glad to hear this too – you guys are on an exciting roller coaster ride!
Best wishes to you.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM moon
For the record, I would just like to add that I think I speak for a lot of fellow happy customers when I say that the great thing about Slicehost is the fact that the company believes in quality on every level, from service to performance. You have my sincere thanks for mataining that principle, even during this time of crazy demand, when you could easily have pursued options that might have diminished that ideal.
I am also blown away by the fact that you guys have kept us posted in such detail on what’s been going on over there. It’s fantastic and much appreciated.
I think you have a put a good strategy in place for your current business situation. You’re in a tough spot right now, cash constrained, but this seems like a plan that makes a lot of sense to get the necessary working capital for continued healthy growth.
Despite some of the griping, I think you’re on the right track.
Lastly, I think it’s worth pointing out to people on the waitlist that this system should eventually reduce wait-times across the board as more resources becomes available. Not necessarily great for you right now, but we all want slicehost around for a long long time right? :-)
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Stuart Moore
I put myself on the waitlist a couple of weeks ago (when it said 14 days) but haven’t yet got the email you mention at the end. Have they all been sent out?
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Brett
Thank you for being so open about the service and process through which you are going. I am an anxiously awaiting slicer and have sold my current client on your services. I am currently at a 3 week estimated wait and have decided to use that as a challenge to have my project in a production ready state by the time my slice is ready. I hope everything goes well for you guys and I can not wait to join the club!
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM tinyau
The current waiting list mechanism is given the priority to the one with more money. Before the current waiting list mechanism is started, my estimated waiting time is about 10 days. After got the email about the new arrangement, I found it’s 4 weeks waiting time. Now, the waiting time is 6 weeks.
If ETA cannot be fixed, I think I have no chance to get a slice.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM S
I tend to agree with tinyau—even after I bumped my prepayment to a full 12 months, I still have longer to wait then when I initially signed up. I understand that precedence should be given to the people willing to pay more, but this seems pretty ridiculous.
I guess my biggest concern is the lack of consistency—it seems like it’s pretty much impossible to accurately predict when a slice might be ready for a given reservation. Indeed, every time I check in on mine, it’s estimated to take longer.
I’m sure you appreciate the influx of cash, but this system really needs to be rethought, or at least made more transparent. Right now it’s pretty much a total mystery as to when resources might be available.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Geoff
One thing that bears repeating: Matt and Jason have indicated that the wait times are pretty conservative (worst-case scenario?), the availability of slices should start improving, and that if this system doesn’t work or has major flaws it’ll be revised. Good look to all in line for their slices.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM tinyau
Geoff, hopes it’s true. But I found my waiting become longer again, changed from 6 weeks to 7 weeks now.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Devon
In the chat room, Jason told me the Waiting list time doesn’t include the fact they buy more servers each time. So it’s actually less than what it says. :D
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM alex
And what about slice upgrades, are they put to the waiting list as well? I remember you promised to make up\downgrades available via CP…
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM joe4444
customers who already have a slice can add a slice immediately and/or upgrade within 24 hours (usually). there is a pool of open slices reserved for existing customers.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM slicematt
You can now upgrade via the control panel.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM tinyau
The waiting time become longer again, changed from 7 weeks to 9 weeks now. I think it’s time to review this new wait list process. Otherwise, I think I will never get my slice.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Bob
After a fair amount of initial research and a lot of good feedback from Slicehost’s customers, I have decided on going with Slicehost as my provider. Unfortunately, my timing apparently sucks because I have been caught in the new ever-changing (for the worst) wait list format. I signed up in early April with an initial wait period of 4 weeks and after the new scheme kicked in, it went to 9 weeks!! Then it continued to fluctuate between 9 to 4 weeks, today it went back up to 5 weeks.
This is obviously not working out because there is a good chance I will NEVER get my slice. Guys, you should have cleared the existing pipeline before implementing the new scheme, not just arbitrarily decide to cut off at March. At least that would have been fair that all the requests before the new scheme kicked in are satisfied first because we are unfairly penalized for an unknown new scheme when we signed up.
Now, it just looks like another big corporation kicking less-well-off customers to the curb. This goes against everything I heard about slicehost. I have to say so far I am very disappointed and am looking elsewhere for options. I would still like to go with slicehost but honestly I don’t think i will ever get a slice.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM madra <a t rel="nofollow"> madra <dot> net
one thing that worries me about the queuing process is that the email i received to confirm my reservation of a slice says “When a Slice is ready, you’ll receive an email with a sign-up link valid for 48 hours”
now given that [according to many comments above] the waiting times seem to be subject to quite a bit of fluctuation, i’m a bit concerned that my ‘your slice is ready’ email might arrive [for example] on a friday when i’m going to be away from the office over the weekend, or during some other time when i’m without my email for a day or two.
48 hours isn’t much of a window in which to respond, given that none of us know exactly when our ‘slice ready’ emails will arrive. i’m sure i’m not the only one who occasionally tears himself away from the computer for the weekend ;-)