IPS: Bad Management?
How do you treat customers? What is the bottom line when paying customers are concerned? In my humble opinion, there are two over-generalized ways to treat customers: the right way, and the wrong way.
The right way should stem off of that “customer is always right” theme. Of course, the customer is hardly ever right. But I think it’s important to make them feel like they are being heard, they are being understood, and that something is being done about whatever the hell they’re complaining about. Along with these basic ideas, you should treat your customers with the respect they deserve.
The wrong way to treat your customers is pretty much the complete opposite. For example, if a customer made a negative comment about an upcoming product, say it was called “IP.Dynamic”, the wrong way to handle the situation is to ban them from your customer forums, say it was forums.invisionpower.com.
Now if you haven’t got the hint already, this entry is basically a rant on the way IPS handles their customers, specifically one customer named Gregg Heifetz. After one negative comment, the IPS team saw it fit to actually ban him. The comment was simply a personal opinion; it wasn’t rude, it wasn’t racist, it wasn’t anything bad at all.
Quote: Gregg Heifetz
The sooner Matt gets Dynamic out, and nobody buys it, the sooner the focus of the company can go back to improving, bug fixing, and speeding up the forum. Sorry, IPB, that’s just the way I see it.
So he doesn’t think that IP.Dynamic looks like a good product. Big deal. Why not just delete his post like you do with the other negative comments? Why in the hell does he deserve to get banned? This is probably one of the least negative comments I’ve seen with people complaining about online products.
Moving on… Gregg, coming back to find that he is banned, shoots a message off to Charles Warner (IPS President) and asks why he was banned. Mr. Warner’s reply is as follows:
Quote: Charles Warner
That wasn’t negative feedback it was a rude, abusive statement designed to damage the company.Not to mention you have multiple 2.0 series boards running without a license.
We do not ban people for negative feedback. There are plenty of people who post more than you do but none that go as far as you.
I highly suggest you quietly fade away.
I read this reply and I seriously wonder what is going through Charles’ head. I didn’t find the comment rude, abusive or damaging. Nor do I think it’s going further then anyone else has gone before; in fact, I think it’s quite a light comment. The most I’d go to say is that Gregg is just one of those customers that doesn’t need what’s being created, so he makes a shallow comment. Call him ignorant if you’d like, perhaps that’s true. The comment isn’t the most helpful criticism ever conceived, but I definitely don’t think it warrants a ban.
The one line that really flabbergasted me was “I highly suggest you quietly fade away”. Here is a paying customer that got banned for a fairly shallow negative comment being told to cut his losses and be on his way. Now that is no way to treat your customers.
By now you’re probably wondering why I’m sticking up for a software pirate (“Not to mention you have multiple 2.0 series boards running without a license”). You must be thinking, “No wonder this guy is upset! He’s stealing their software!”. The sad truth is that Gregg was not running multiple boards — he wasn’t even running a single board! Gregg replies to the original message stating this, and Charles’ says:
Quote: Charles Warner
As to point 3 I apologize as it seems I mistook you for another customer.The other points stand. A lifetime license is not refundable. Technical support is available in the client area. We have never provided support via the forums a fact which is made clear all over the site. We also make the fact clear we reserve the right to restrict access to the forums if we so choose.
Besides, if you truly do not use the license, as you mentioned you would not need support.
If you are accusing your customers of theft, then I hope that you make sure they actually did steal something. Check, double check and triple check that you have your facts straight. The last thing you want to do is falsely accuse a customer of theft.
And what about his other comments? Is that any way to treat a customer after you just falsely accused them of something they didn’t do? Way to go, Charles’, that was a first class apology.
Now that’s only two parts of the IPS-Gregg communication trail. You can read more about this on WHT, where Gregg started this topic. You’ll notice that there are no IPS representatives denying the accusation, and that after Gregg said he was going to the BBB — they finally gave him a refund.
It’s up to you to determine how much of Gregg’s story you actually believe. I for one, believe much of it. IPS is still a “small” company (relative to other commercial software producers) so I don’t think an appearance on WHT to dismiss this bad publicity wouldn’t be too far fetched. In fact, Matt (IPS CEO) is known to visit WHT from time to time; and they definitely know about the thread because a dozen or more people sent emails to IPS staff.
I have an IPB license hanging around. I bought it to compare vBulletin and Invision Power Board, and I’m not totally dissatisfied with the purchase. The features are quite good, the support forums are friendly, and Matt is an exceptional programmer. But from what I see and what I’ve seen in the past, IPS really needs to bring their customer service up a notch. This was just a defining example.
April 4th, 2005 at 10:47 pm
Unfortunatley I probably would have done the same thing with an old open source package I developed (it became pretty popular, 15k+ downloads).
The catch is that I was 15 at the time, which is about how old Charles is acting.
April 5th, 2005 at 7:58 pm
IPS are walking a thin line considering the competitiveness of the market.
April 6th, 2005 at 6:46 am
Well I can understand the position of the guy from IPS, I mean he must have worked hard on that IP.Dynamic product whatever it is, and that comment about how nobody would buy it, was bit of a smart a$$ remark, I mean if I were to say something like that to you, I dont think you would be too happy at the comment. And yes customer is always right, but that doesnt also give them the right to tell you off.
I also think they do reserve the right to ban people from the forum. as long as they continue to offer service via email.
However, I agree with you that this was an over reaction.
“I highly suggest you quietly fade away” is a rude and highly unprofessional comment to make to a customer. But then may not be so bad, if he genuinely believed he was using unlicensed versions of their software. Have to take the comment in context. Also ridiculously wrong to accuse someone of that without double and triple checking beyond any doubt.
Bottom line though is, having acknowledged that he made a mistake re the unlicenced software installations, he should have unbanned him and offered a sincere apology. Also unless this was a strong trend, not really fair to crucify someone based on one comment. Have to keep it in perspective.
April 6th, 2005 at 12:22 pm
Like it or not, no matter what market your in, someone is always going to hate what you’re doing. Considering the amount of time that IPS has been in the online applications market, I would have thought they’d be used to it by now. Not to mention, I’ve seen comments far worse then that which was posted by Gregg. (And just to note, Matt Mecham (IPS CEO) is the developer, not Charles.)
This is true, and I believe this as well. The point isn’t if it should be allowed, however, it is that Gregg didn’t deserve it at all. Even after the mistaken identity and the “apology” he wasn’t restored. He can’t even read announcements or security updates.
I could understand the nasty tone when he thought Gregg was using IPB on unlicensed sites. I will give him credit for that, because I would probably feel the same way (though I don’t think I would act like he did). But after the fact, a sincere, polite apology would create a better image for IPS.
April 8th, 2005 at 8:40 pm
(And just to note, Matt Mecham (IPS CEO) is the developer, not Charles.)
I didnt pick up on that, people sometimes react more harshly when someone takes a shot at one of their friends/work colleagues, than they would to comments directed at themself, I know I do that.
April 8th, 2005 at 11:46 pm
But he is the president of the company. No matter what anyone says he cannot act rashly. If he can’t handle himself in situations that make him angry, then he’s in the wrong position.
He has a responsibility to remain professional and to keep an open mind. Resorting to petty bickering is not something I’d want my company president to do.
I believe there are situations where people need to be put in their place; you can’t let people push you around. But this isn’t one of those situations. Charles’ acted in an unprofessional manner and that reflects directly on the company as a whole.
June 6th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Interesting story.
Personally, I have tried out both vBulletin an IPB and I have to say that I like IPB much better now. Although there are one or two features I like in vBulletin.
Anyway, as Chris pointed out, it was Gregg’s personal opinion of whether the product will sell or not. This doesn’t mean to say that he was actively making a bad comment. If I were the CEO/President of IPS I would want to know exactly why Gregg thinks that in order to improve my software.
The coding of IPB and it’s siblings is not that nice. Whilst it may work, it doesn’t conform to the doctype. It is also poorly documented.