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DreamHost's $7.5M billing accident: "Um, Whoops."
If you were a large company that subsists on customers paying monthly or yearly subscription fees, what's the worst possible thing you could do? While a number of things come to mind, automatically billing customers for a year in advance by mistake has to come in at the top. Now, how about when you're a hosting company that has a reputation for being a little too casual, a little bit unprofessional? Yikes.
Today is not a good day for DreamHost.
Last night a mistake was made that caused virtually every single DreamHost customer to be billed for a full year of hosting up until December 2008. This caused automated charges to be processed against these customer's credit card or other accounts from a few hundred dollars, to literally thousands of dollars. By their own admission, this was a $7.5M mistake. Seven and a half million dollars.
Calling that a mistake is an understatement. The right term starts with the word "cluster" and ends with something that's not printable here.
Given that DreamHost has a bit of a PR issue in that their cool and casual reputation is starting to look a little juvenile and irresponsible, how would you expect them to respond? Probably not with "Um, whoops," but that's exactly what they responded with.
Double Yikes.
DreamHost, it's time to grow up. The cool kid or class clown loses his charm when it becomes clear he's just a screwup.
Comments
30
Subscribe to commentsDavid BurchJan 16th 2008 10:13AM
I was triple-billed. My reply email bounced. My control panel was down, so I couldn't log in and see the details or log a support ticket. No phone number to call. Goodbye nightmarehost, hello bluehost.
kingkool68Jan 16th 2008 10:44AM
Kudos to Dreamhost for having a sense of humor and not trying to be an uptight prick like all the other douche-bag hosts out there.
What do people expect when you pay $7.95/month for shared hosting? If people are running businesses on Dreamhost they should seriously look to upgrade somewhere else. I'm a Dreamhost customer because I know what they are, a hosting company for personal sites, not anything I rely on for my lively hood.
Funny story: I got billed, but my credit card on file had expired a while ago. Looks like the joke is on them! This was all pur dumb luck on my part.
I still love 'ya Dreamhost!
TurboFoolJan 16th 2008 11:52AM
I'm a DreamHost user and lover, and I have to side with them here. From what I've heard, they'd handling this very well. Big SNAFU, but they're doing their best.
zParachaJan 16th 2008 1:37PM
I am a DreamHost user and I think they handled this situation properly. They made a terrible mistake and should learn from this but I don't think following up with a little funny email is wrong.
Owen LinderholmJan 16th 2008 3:54PM
Huh -
I'm a Dreamhost user and while I understand being upset at being misbilled (as I was) I actually much prefer the direct and clear explanation than the typical 'businesslike,' 'corporate' mealymouthed responsibility dodging that most companies engage in.
I strongly suspect that those annoyed here would have been just as annoyed if they HAD gotten the 'businesslike' non-explanation - they're the kind of people who are ALWAYS annoyed.
Dreamhost has its problems but this isn't one of them...
dtrainJan 17th 2008 6:28AM
As usual, it seems like the more you got screwed by Dreamhost's little oopsie-pants, the more pissed off you were at their "Lol, I made a booboo!" version of events.
I'm sure all you "get over it" types would have been eager to forgive if your overdraft had kicked in and charged you £60 that may or may not someday be reimbursed.
I'm with Jason -- hang them high; they suck.
JulesJan 19th 2008 1:50AM
This is my take on the Dreamhost 7.5 Million Dollar Whoops!
http://www.juliesjournal.com/2008/01/18/the-dreamhost-75-million-dollar-whoops/
JenJan 19th 2008 4:43PM
I would normally be happy to "get over it" but I'm unfortunately between jobs right now, and money is tight. Their "oops" that they said had be refunded Tuesday afternoon posted to my account yesterday, causing a $35 overdraft fee. According to my bank, the refund is sitting with Visa, and therefore won't post to my account until Tuesday (due to MLK day on Monday), and they can't do anything about the overdraft fee until the money posts. My repeated attempts to contact Dreamhost have fallen on deaf ears, so I'm essentially penniless until Tuesday. This is not an "oops" to me, this is a disaster.
RidJan 21st 2008 1:37PM
I completely sympathize, I am just saying a mistake like this is a human error, not a problem in the way they operate the company. I am sorry you had the overdraft fee, but had it been AOL, Amazon, Verizon, or any other company that has overbilled customers, the overdraft fee would never have been refunded.
DogugotwJan 20th 2008 9:19PM
Thank heaven for corporations that:
A) Take credit for their mistakes
B) Explain what happened
C) Fix the immediate issue
D) Implement corrective actions to make sure the problem doesn't happen again.
E) In plain English.