Black Friday 80% Honored For Orders Placed During Timeframe!

[dwrunyon]

Brent has just announced that anyone who actually placed an order during the stated time frame of 5am till 9am Central will receive the 80%... check it out:

Hi Everyone,

We are going to honor the 80% off for anyone who placed their order between 5am-9am. In order to take advantage of the difference please open a ticket by emailing sales@hostgator.com to request we refund the difference.

As you can imagine we are beyond swamped. According to alexa "hostgator" became the number one searched term on the internet beating out walmart, best buy, newegg, and even facebook. We had over 1,000 people in our billing system at a time trying to order. The amount of traffic we saw was 5x greater then an above average slashdot affect.

I knew the billing system would most likely fail to handle the amount of traffic, but what somewhat surprised me was that the hostgator website itself went down.

A few things to keep in mind......

In affiliate commissions alone we will be paying out over 2x the amount of total money collected.

On a whole it will be impossible for us to ever make a profit off anyone who placed an order at 50% let alone 80% off.

We do not have anywhere near 50% profit margin so when you take 50% off we are are losing money before even considering affiliate commissions.

Financially this offering made no sense in any shape or form. If we had offered this deal to existing customers it would have most likely put us out of business. I'm extremely sorry to all current customers who feel you were cheated.

So why did we do this deal?

The amount of exposure and brand awareness we gained from running this deal is priceless.

We are stealing thousands of customers from competitors who would have never of thought about switching to hostgator.

We are able to do something crazy every once in a while without putting ourselves out of business.

I'd love if you all could help me spread this posting to other forums and blogs that have similar discussions going.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Brent Oxley

My opinion is that 50% is still a *very* awesome deal... it's sorta strange to me that so many folks have gotten so badly butt hurt over not being able to pretty close to *steal* hosting, but it seems that those who recognized the 50 as being still worthwhile will be rewarded.

[tcremer]

Thats great... except most of us people who could not complete our order with the 80% off due to the site being down or timing out where so frustrated that we decided not to order at all...

So don't think a lot of the people who should have the 80% off honored will get it honored.

[dwrunyon]

Originally Posted by tcremer

a lot of the people who should have the 80% off

That right there indicates a sense of actual entitlement that is non-existent... the only people who "should" have the 80% were the people who managed to be first to fill one of the specifically enumerated spots. There were absolutely zero guarantees that waking up and all that was going to result in getting the deal, but everyone *was* insured of the 50% at any time during the day, with the 80 looking to me like a special extra bonus treat for anyone who both put forth the effort *and* was *lucky* enough to still find a slot open. I mean, it flat out said "while supplies last", so there are no other *shoulds*, IMO.

[tcremer]

I think you know exactly what I meant...

I filled out my order exactly at 5:01 am... just fyi. And yes it said while supplies last, but it didn't say that there were only 100 80% off accounts. As hostgator stated they are an "international hosting company" so giving the 80% off a 4 hour time frame was very misleading. With that few 80% off deals, even a hour would be misleading...

But Hostgator made a mistake, they know that, and hopefully wont make the same mistake in the future. IMO this was just a cheap marketing stunt...

Still will use hostgator in the future, but can understand that many people felt cheated.

[dwrunyon]

Originally Posted by tcremer

so giving the 80% off a 4 hour time frame was very misleading. With that few 80% off deals, even a hour would be misleading...

Not (from at least their view) when you considered past campaigns... if you are generally used to getting "dozens" of signups on The Big Day, then 100 is a pretty nice chunk... todays performance caused a surprise dwarfing of the figure!

Originally Posted by tcremer

IMO this was just a cheap marketing stunt...

Hell YES for good cheap marketing stunts though, no? I think they can be awesome, especially when you are like me and cannot afford to execute an *expensive* marketing stunt! Of course, with the new TV campaigns in the works, HostGator will definitely be producing some of those as well... should be *interesting*!

I had a nice lit up feeling some months ago when I was forced to make an excursion into the nearest big city from here (which definitely aint no big city), and my wife said "look, HostGator!" and I saw one of the new billboards, then came online to discover that several folks had been noticing them, and *making mention*... it was really *rippling*! Awesome stuff to witness and experience... it truly is.

But nothing will *ever* cause *cheap* marketing stunts to go totally obsolete! Of course, for sure 50-80% revenue that's definitely not going to be there for at least one year (and in some cases 3!). plus affiliate payouts, and taking the operating expenses for simply *providing* this opportunity, and this one's not *that* cheap. Regardless of frugality, it's *definitely* a marketing stunt... a truly spectacular, even *legendary* one... I have no doubt that it will be remembered for years to come!

[rec9140]

I was not aware that HG was doing any thing for BF till this showed up in the feeds... so

IF the promotional materials used on the site didn't mention that this was LIMITED ie: While Supplies Last or Limited to first x customers or something or both or more then I think there is an issue.

IF the promotional materials only stated: 5AM to 9AM CENTRAL US TIME then any one who ordered during that time would be a valid order.

Now it sounds like that there was a bigger demand for this than expected which the server side was not able to handle. Thats a problem that HG has to determine how to resolve. Which is no doubt going to upset and anger some. How do YOU prove and HG BACKUP that you attempted to order and pay at 5:01AM CENTRAL and the server ate it, the payment server went belly up etc.. Thats a lot of log work to do on something thats ALREADY A HUGE LOSS.

Their solution to cut the LOSSES on this, any order in that time frame at the 80% rate versus taking a bigger loss to research logs and weed out things.

I know of several persons who went to a large retailer in the US to get deals on computers and other electronics, arrived at 3AM to get in line, was informed there was NO LINE for that item(s) as they had given all the tickets out for the item at 8PM the night before! Thats wrong, but this is not the first time this BS has happened with this entity. The ad states it starts at 5AM, then you should have to be there at 5AM to take your chance in line like everyone else. I got lucky that last year I was willing to get up at 3AM and get in line and I was 3rd! THIRD! I got my laptop, and was happy. I skipped the madness this year except for what I could do online or in advance. When I went to get other sundries at the local super center (Hint!) there was a PALLET of the $498 compuers and 3 of the $398 in the aisles. Don't know about the laptops didn't look. All the cheapo LCD's were gone, and they could keep them! NO VGA IN! Not every one use HDrMI.

What is the point of all of this????

I think HG has learned a valuable lesson to be VERY SPECIFIC about what the offer is and its limitations. Wording the promotion as STARTING at 5AM CENTRAL US TIME, 80% off EVERYTHING. SUPPLIES VERY LIMITED! FIRST COME FIRST SERVED. When SUPPLIES are EXHAUSTED its gone! Minimum 80 for the event. Most news print ads have this last line along "minimum 10 per store, no rainchecks, styles may vary by store." etc.. Matter of fact a lot of states REQUIRE it. Why? Just for this type of stuff. As well as to be MORE PREPARED in the future.

As for the one post about people being "entitled" you know what I am tired of hearing that! Yeah I am sure there are some upset people over this, and had I tried and the payment system or something else failed I would be upset too BUT honestly is there much I could do? ? NO. Should HG have been more prepared, YES. Theres always some group thats trying to "game" the system. Like the people on FW trying to buy stuff at Target before BF then get the price adjusted afterward. Target specifically covers this in their policy, and NO DICE! Take your chances like the rest of us!

Just like you get in line and your 51 out 50 to want the x deal.

The comment about HG being an "international hosting company" well to be blunt.. I think HG would do well to cut the international stuff loose. No this is not some US xenophobic neocon reactionary thing. Just looking at the publicly available data shows that non US users are a bigger headache to HG in support cost, back end business costs to verify etc.. Ditch'm!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am not a happygator, I am on an exit strategy from HG. I have my reasons, and to be honest this just adds fuel to the fire. Add in the recent public release of an email that HG was up for sale...Add in winslobber hosting, customer service issues that I see continue to grow, missteps like this....HG and I are NOT on the same page business wise. I wish HG well in the future, but I take in to account more things than I have in the past with vendors, and HG is just not making the grade as in the past.

[virtvir5]

Wow! You want 'em to "ditch" ALL of us non-US customers?! Would you also be in favour of tearing up all "free trade" agreements, many of which were actually sought at the behest of major US commercial concerns?

Somehow I doubt the overall validity of your cost-benefit assessment, and I strongly suspect that HG management might also have a somewhat different view of their own best interests in the international context. Most forward-thinking companies seem to think that expanding markets are a good thing globally, if not absolutely vital to their own long-term health and continued growth.

[rec9140]

Originally Posted by virtvir5

Wow! You want 'em to "ditch" ALL of us non-US customers?! Would you also be in favour of tearing up all "free trade" agreements, many of which were actually sought at the behest of major US commercial concerns?

Yes. FTA do nothing but hurt the US as low cost labor in Mexico and other countries TAKES JOBS from the US. No you can not pay auto workers $35/hour or textile workers that, and expect to meet the price points retailers like Target, and most notoriously WalMart DEMAND. You can't compete "fairly" when your the only one playing by the rules(treaty) and the rest continue on with their sub standard wages, conditions etc...

No US company can build electronics at the costs FOXCONN has.. Why? Pay and conditions... There is a reason why Foxconn people are committing suicide! No matter what spin a certain government puts on it, and the massive PR cover ups that are done to hide the truth. You think honesly that your going to get out of the country alive with evidence of the TRUE conditions at Foxconn.

Why are these treaties sought by US interests? ? ? GREED, or more rightly PROFITEERING! Its not about being a responsible corporate entity. Most companies don't even have that word in their vocabulary.

I can pay Juan $0.05/week v. $1,500/wk for John? Pure economics, cheap labor.

Originally Posted by virtvir5

Somehow I doubt the overall validity of your cost-benefit assessment, and I strongly suspect that HG management might also have a somewhat different view of their own best interests in the international context. Most forward-thinking companies seem to think that expanding markets are a good thing globally, if not absolutely vital to their own long-term health and continued growth.

Do a search on here and you can figure it out yourself. They post in some incoherent barely english post. Then whining and crying about having to be verified. Theres plenty of PITA customers, me being one, to go around, but every time I see a post complaining the most, after a few posts it comes out they are NON US.

Why are extra steps taken for foreign customers . F R A U D ! Does it happen in the US? YOU BET! Its FAR LARGER, EXPONENTIALLY LARGER OUTSIDE THE US. Every time we investigate this crap, it always ends back at some Russian or ex-Russian *stan country, and thats the end of the investigation.

Another reason... non US customers bring in the phishers, malware, virus, scamming sites as does winslobber hosting.

"forward-thinking companies seem to think that expanding markets are a good thing globally, if not absolutely vital to their own long-term health and continued growth"

I've heard this, er.errrrrrrrrrr... "line" for years... Yeah a lot of "global" companies were looking for handouts, dumping foreign divisions...and in general have a far LESS GLOBAL to NO GLOBAL presence and are now profitable.

[virtvir5]

Well, I'll limit my response to saying that it's an interesting perpective and I think at least some of us are quite lucky that you're not running Hostgator.

[weserver]

quote rec9140:
"Another reason... non US customers bring in the phishers, malware, virus, scamming sites as does winslobber hosting."

I'm from Denmark and own a webdesign company. Some of my clients are hosted on my HostGator VPS.

I do really recent beeing called a scammer, a phisher, a reason for malware and fraud.

btw. some of the biggest known spammers in the world turned out to be americans !

[likeaboss]

I am quite happy about this... I was one of those people who waited at 5 AM (well, it was much later in my country, so I didn't have to get up early or anything ) for the 80% discount, but I couldn't do a thing as HostGator.com was very slow or timing out.

It was really nice for HostGator.com to honor the discount for all people who placed an order between 5am and 9am. In the end the price I paid for 3 year hosting @ HG is the same as I currently pay for just 1 year at NameCheap.

Only annoying thing was getting my account suspended after I moved my site and domain to HostGator. But that was easily fixed. Frankly, I don't understand how calling in and telling them my name/domain somehow makes it more secure than entering the same info in the signup form or e-mail... But they know best I guess

[EarlyOut]

Originally Posted by likeaboss

Frankly, I don't understand how calling in and telling them my name/domain somehow makes it more secure than entering the same info in the signup form or e-mail...

I've wondered about some of the "security" measures, too. But at least if you phone in, it verifies your phone number and location. If you've told them that you live in Omaha, but caller ID shows a number in Burkina Faso, or "Restricted," they know you're up to no good!

[eurgbp]

This black friday, shopping frenzy did work alright, noticed some increase in traffic. People are moving from other web hosts to HG. This day should be more often

[ldc999]

DEAR BRENT
I TRIED TO ORDER & IN EXACLTLY AT 5AM CST BUT COULD NT DO SO
AS A PROOF I SENT A ONLINE TICKET & ALSO GOT CONFIMRATION REPLY AT 6AM CST FROM HOSTGATOR
STILL I HAVENT GOT ANY COUPON FOR 80% HOSTING
MY TICKETS Ticket ID: GHW-14288897
I HAVE KEPT MY EMAIL AS A PROOF THAT IM GENUINE USER & HAD ORDERED AT THAT TIME SPECIALLY AT 5AM CST
KINDLY ADVICE BRENT

[ldc999]

DEAR BRENT
I TRIED TO ORDER & IN EXACLTLY AT 5AM CST BUT COULD NT DO SO
AS A PROOF I SENT A ONLINE TICKET & ALSO GOT CONFIMRATION REPLY AT 6AM CST FROM HOSTGATOR
STILL I HAVENT GOT ANY COUPON FOR 80% HOSTING
MY TICKETS Ticket ID: GHW-14288897
I HAVE KEPT MY EMAIL AS A PROOF THAT IM GENUINE USER & HAD ORDERED AT THAT TIME SPECIALLY AT 5AM CST
KINDLY ADVICE BRENT

Originally Posted by dwrunyon

Brent has just announced that anyone who actually placed an order during the stated time frame of 5am till 9am Central will receive the 80%... check it out:



My opinion is that 50% is still a *very* awesome deal... it's sorta strange to me that so many folks have gotten so badly butt hurt over not being able to pretty close to *steal* hosting, but it seems that those who recognized the 50 as being still worthwhile will be rewarded.

[EarlyOut]

This is a peer support forum, so this isn't really the place to resolve this issue.