Trends

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So I went to check my websites and e-mail this morning like I do every day and found out that Dreamhost, the company I use to host my websites had incorrectly charged me in 3 bank accounts. Let me tell you, this is not a good way to start the day.

My first reaction was to yell: Nashhhhh, help! Get in touch with Dreamhost… but before we were able to write them an e-mail, we saw in our feed 2 notices from them reporting the problem.

We went to their blog and there it was, a very humorous post talking about their big mistake and stating that they were going to take care of everything.

In the afternoon we got some e-mails saying the money was refunded, although at this point we can’t see that in the bank statement. They had to refund $7,500,000 to their clients.

Their blog right now has over 1600 comments. Some people mad that they tried to explain what happened in a light way, but several glad that they were communicating and being transparent about what was going on, and the fact that they could interact.

I hate that companies can incorrectly bill you and take money away from you, but every time they are transparent about the mistakes and take action to correct the problem, I think it is a lot easier to forgive them, and as far as I could see in the comments, most people feel the same way.

Much better approach because you feel you are not being scammed and you won’t need to spend days trying to prove it was their fault. Like for example, with Pre-paid legal.

Remember?

They took money from my bank account and after 4 months, I’m still waiting for the refund that never happened. No communication from them either. Maybe I need to make one more phone call or send one more fax.

See the point? With one company i didn’t have to lift a finger to have the problem I didn’t cause solved, with the other…..

Which one will I keep being a client and will keep referring to my clients? Any guess?

The best time to change your business model is while you still have momentum.

A lot of small business owners are really scared to make shifts in their business. They fear they will loose what they have, they think people will see their changes as lost of focus etc.

Any good business needs to make corrections and sometimes even change the whole business model. Sometimes, your current strategy is just not attracting the right kind of customer or even revenue.

The thing is, you cannot come and make changes when things are really bad. you need to do them when your business is doing well, when the market perception is good. So you need to always keep an eye in the horizon to see what is coming and take action before the storm is too close.