rvonder
09-19-2007, 06:54 PM
Just some friendly advice for anyone considering 4Smartphone: I'd strongly suggest that you avoid this company and instead choose almost any other provider. Here's why:
I have had 4Smartphone's hosted Exchange 2003 service for about a year and a half, and use it to keep my desktop, laptop, and Treo 700w in sync. I was a very happy customer, and even referred friends to them. The service worked fine, and I've never had any serious problems. As they offered only prepaid annual contracts, I'm on what was called the 'Mobile Pro' plan for $83.88/year, which works out to $6.99/month. My current agreement runs through the end of Feb. 2008.
4Smartphone recently added new servers running Exchange 2007, and new or renewing customers can now subscribe only to that service. At the same time, they more than doubled their prices -- the equivalent new 'Mobile Pro Plus' plan jumped from $6.99 to $15.95 per month (the "special launch price" is a mere $13.95/month)! They also switched exclusively to month-to-month agreements.
Those of us on prepaid annual contracts (ie, most current customers) assumed that 4Smartphone would at least continue to provide the services we paid for until our expiration date, at which point the new prices and terms would apply. Like many users, I was happy with Exchange 2003 but was willing to migrate to Exchange 2007 if that's what they wanted.
So imagine our surprise when we received emails stating that the Exchange 2003 servers would be shut down "in the very near future", and that we had to create new accounts under Exchange 2007 and migrate our mailboxes. No problem there, but here's the kicker: they also said "we will credit your balance toward the Exchange 2007 service that best suits your needs" -- with the new inflated prices starting immediately. In other words, they are simply ignoring all of their existing annual contracts and expect users to pay more than twice as much in order to receive the service they already paid for! In my case, it's like saying "you paid us for 12 months in advance, but we've decided to give you only 7 months -- oh, and if you want service for those remaining 5 months, you'll need to pay us twice as much."
Many customers (me included) have written angry emails demanding that 4Smartphone honor its contractual commitments with us, but they simply send form-letter emails refusing to do so. This is clearly an illegal breach of contract -- but more importantly, it's an incredibly unethical and cavalier way for any company to treat its loyal customers.
Since many of us first learned of 4Smartphone through recommendations on forums like this, I felt it was equally important that anyone considering them in the future know how the company treats its customers so they can decide accordingly. 4Smartphone obviously doesn't care about keeping its customers, and is betting that a majority will simply accept their actions without protest. But I also think they underestimate the power of the Internet as potential new customers research which service to choose.
There are a number of alternative hosted Exchange services with more competitive pricing. I hope mentioning this isn't against the rules, but if anyone's interested, there is a long and growing thread about this whole situation including a discussion of those alternatives over on the Howard Forums at http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=1238374.
Rob
I have had 4Smartphone's hosted Exchange 2003 service for about a year and a half, and use it to keep my desktop, laptop, and Treo 700w in sync. I was a very happy customer, and even referred friends to them. The service worked fine, and I've never had any serious problems. As they offered only prepaid annual contracts, I'm on what was called the 'Mobile Pro' plan for $83.88/year, which works out to $6.99/month. My current agreement runs through the end of Feb. 2008.
4Smartphone recently added new servers running Exchange 2007, and new or renewing customers can now subscribe only to that service. At the same time, they more than doubled their prices -- the equivalent new 'Mobile Pro Plus' plan jumped from $6.99 to $15.95 per month (the "special launch price" is a mere $13.95/month)! They also switched exclusively to month-to-month agreements.
Those of us on prepaid annual contracts (ie, most current customers) assumed that 4Smartphone would at least continue to provide the services we paid for until our expiration date, at which point the new prices and terms would apply. Like many users, I was happy with Exchange 2003 but was willing to migrate to Exchange 2007 if that's what they wanted.
So imagine our surprise when we received emails stating that the Exchange 2003 servers would be shut down "in the very near future", and that we had to create new accounts under Exchange 2007 and migrate our mailboxes. No problem there, but here's the kicker: they also said "we will credit your balance toward the Exchange 2007 service that best suits your needs" -- with the new inflated prices starting immediately. In other words, they are simply ignoring all of their existing annual contracts and expect users to pay more than twice as much in order to receive the service they already paid for! In my case, it's like saying "you paid us for 12 months in advance, but we've decided to give you only 7 months -- oh, and if you want service for those remaining 5 months, you'll need to pay us twice as much."
Many customers (me included) have written angry emails demanding that 4Smartphone honor its contractual commitments with us, but they simply send form-letter emails refusing to do so. This is clearly an illegal breach of contract -- but more importantly, it's an incredibly unethical and cavalier way for any company to treat its loyal customers.
Since many of us first learned of 4Smartphone through recommendations on forums like this, I felt it was equally important that anyone considering them in the future know how the company treats its customers so they can decide accordingly. 4Smartphone obviously doesn't care about keeping its customers, and is betting that a majority will simply accept their actions without protest. But I also think they underestimate the power of the Internet as potential new customers research which service to choose.
There are a number of alternative hosted Exchange services with more competitive pricing. I hope mentioning this isn't against the rules, but if anyone's interested, there is a long and growing thread about this whole situation including a discussion of those alternatives over on the Howard Forums at http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=1238374.
Rob