[ErinH]

So my attempt at upgrading our website to a BluDomain site totally didn't work. I had been warned by a few other people that the customer service at BluDomain had been lacking lately, but I had no idea...

I ordered the site 12 days ago and got my payment confirmation pretty quickly. I had a few questions about the process, but instead of finding a phone number on their website I found a form to fill out to wait for someone to call me back. To their credit they did say it could take up to 36 hours (and it did take that long), but when I received the call I couldn't even hear anyone on the other line. It was crackly and too faint to hear. I got a followup email from them without a phone number, but just another email address that I could send my questions to. So instead of them calling me back after realizing the connection was bad, I had to go thru the whole phone call request AGAIN. I decided against this and just sent a few email questions that were answered only after sending 3 more emails a few days apart.

This was my favorite part of the initial email that I got: "NOTE: I always reply with an exact date things will be completed on our end, if for some reason that date comes and goes something is wrong. Please email me immediately. I never miss any timeline I set."

After 12 days, I still haven't gotten this so-called "reply".

I don't know what to do other than cancel my order at this point. I can't imagine going through all this trouble if I need to contact them in the future. Please be aware if you are looking to purchase a BluDomain site, it may be a lot harder than you think to even get set up! I have been extremely frustrated with their lack of responsiveness.

[Tara Sharma]

tami, on April 7 2008, 10:06 AM, said:

i've just purchased my 6th template - mine was delivered in less than 6 hours.

i understand what your going through - many people are having these problems and i dont know why. they spent a lot of time and money schmoozing people at the convention last week.

are you hosting with blu? i have a feeling that a lot of people who do not host wtih blu, get put at the end of the line for some reason - its justsomething i have noticed, whether its true or not, i dont know.

i had decided to go wtih big folio but i tried contacting them and got either no answer to their phone, or recorded messages asking me to leave a message. because of the time difference, i can't leave a message because i didnt wnat them calling me in the middle of the night. so i just stayed with blu.

Tami,

I love your new blu template....its awesome. I was hesitant to go with them for my first website thinking it wasn't necessary, but I'm so glad I did because the look is awesome, I think very professional. Anyway I love your new template, so artistic and fun. Very cool images as well, so edgy...

Tara

[Eric Hegwer]

You aren't the only one:
http://www.sportssho....html?tid=28416

[smittengreta]

Not to dispute anything that is being said here, because I have seen it over and over, and I just don't understand why so many of their customers are left hanging, but..... I just have to speak from MY experience... I shoot weddings with a partner who wanted to go with a Blu template for our business. I was hesitant and explained to her all the bad stuff I had heard, but she really wanted to go ahead and purchase the template and get our site set up... so she ordered the template, and to my great surprise, we had it within 24 hours. And we do not host with them.

[davidjay]

I believe that things will get more sporadic for companies operating with their business model. It just isn't sustainable so like we're seeing and hearing now of many many people with troubles I think it's only gonna get much much worse.

I would avoid them at all costs for a multitude of reasons this only being one.

[Shane Snider]

Good heavens, tami. Is that really you in your avatar?

Sorry. Carry on, people.

[ChrisH]

I'll add to Erin's thoughts:

Sadly, blu was the only company that had a template that met our needs. I would have loved to work with portfoliositez because they were super fast and responsive, but I just didn't like the templates offered. We also don't have the revenue or cash to create a custom site through flosites or similar. ShowItSites seems promising, but it isn't ready yet and we are having more clients visit our site now so we really need to step up to a more professional look.

Anyone have any advice on this? A secret Blu number that I can actually talk to a person? This has been super frustrating. Sorry, I just needed to rant and since we can't get in touch with Blu, I had to let it out here. Nothing like a company holding on to your $400 and you waiting around powerless...

You guys might be right about us not hosting with them. Not sure on that one. I like maintaining control over my server. We store lots of documents and stuff on there. Not to mention, we get a lot more space and throughput for less money.

Ok, I feel better now. Thanks.

DJ,

Please say your ShowItSites are going to have better service than this. Hopefully even a phone number where the paying customers can call and talk to a person. On a side note, I love the design idea of ShowItSites. I was hoping that was the direction your software would go when I heard about it way back. With the programming abilities in Flash, super customization through a GUI should be possible and you have proved that. Glad someone with your power in the industry is making it happen! I really appreciate what you do and have done for our industry.

[Steve D.]

davidjay, on April 7 2008, 07:14 AM, said:

I believe that things will get more sporadic for companies operating with their business model. It just isn't sustainable so like we're seeing and hearing now of many many people with troubles I think it's only gonna get much much worse.

I would avoid them at all costs for a multitude of reasons this only being one.

Chris Harvey, on April 7 2008, 09:01 AM, said:

I'll add to Erin's thoughts:

Sadly, blu was the only company that had a template that met our needs. I would have loved to work with portfoliositez because they were super fast and responsive, but I just didn't like the templates offered. We also don't have the revenue or cash to create a custom site through flosites or similar. ShowItSites seems promising, but it isn't ready yet and we are having more clients visit our site now so we really need to step up to a more professional look.

Anyone have any advice on this? A secret Blu number that I can actually talk to a person? This has been super frustrating. Sorry, I just needed to rant and since we can't get in touch with Blu, I had to let it out here. Nothing like a company holding on to your $400 and you waiting around powerless...

You guys might be right about us not hosting with them. Not sure on that one. I like maintaining control over my server. We store lots of documents and stuff on there. Not to mention, we get a lot more space and throughput for less money.

Ok, I feel better now. Thanks.

DJ,

Please say your ShowItSites are going to have better service than this. Hopefully even a phone number where the paying customers can call and talk to a person. On a side note, I love the design idea of ShowItSites. I was hoping that was the direction your software would go when I heard about it way back. With the programming abilities in Flash, super customization through a GUI should be possible and you have proved that. Glad someone with your power in the industry is making it happen! I really appreciate what you do and have done for our industry.

I just love one of their templates (George) and no one offers a similar one for the price. I have been so close to calling them to order it despite all the negative feedback but this thread closes it, I think it will be show it sites if I can get huge 1960 pixel size images on there. I am playing with the demo and stuggling with it, can't wait fo the video demo. Freedom club discount I hope???

[Aaron]

tami, on April 7 2008, 07:06 AM, said:

are you hosting with blu? i have a feeling that a lot of people who do not host wtih blu, get put at the end of the line for some reason - its justsomething i have noticed, whether its true or not, i dont know.

I don't host with blu and they were very responsive to my website issues.

I switched my url and hosting this year and received awesome customer service- I even got a response in less then 10 minutes and same day respones with other questions.

[eikonphoto]

tami, on April 7 2008, 10:31 AM, said:

thanks tara, what i love about it is it is a limited edition template - only 100 will ever be sold!

Hi Tami
Just an FYI - I got my Bludomain site during their first year when they touted that they only sold the template to one phototgrapher in each state.
Make sure whatever they are saying is in writing in your contract with them. Needless to say, a slight color change and swopping out a font or two and they remarketed my template all over again ...... probably still out there in some form.

[Karen Barnes]

My experience with their customer service has sucked. I have never been able to find a phone number to contact them, and I've asked about this at other forums as well.

When I ordered my site, it transferred me to Paypal. I paid. It never transferred back to Blu. No acknowledgement of my order was ever sent. I spent over a week emailing them and panicking that I had just donated $400 to the internet abyss. Finally, they emiled me saying my site was ready, with no mention of my attempts to contact them.

Then, they emailed me saying I had a "concierge" who I could contact during the first week for assistance. I emailed the concierge repeatedly with no reponse. At the end of the week, I received an email thanking me for using the concierge service, and saying that, since I had no questions, they were ending it.

A couple weeks ago, one of my galleries vanished. The title was still there, but it linked to a different gallery. It disappeared in my control panel, so I couldn't temporarily delete the name until it was repaired.

I filed a support ticket with Blu. I immediately received an email saying they were at WPPI, and if I needed help to email them. I emailed them at the address provided in the email they had sent me.

I received a reply saying that I needed to file a support ticket. I replied that I had, and that it had told me to email them.
I received a response saying that the guy emailing me was the one who gets the support tickets, and that if I had filed one, he would have received it. I again said, no, I filed one.
He replied that I had accidentally filed a "new customer inquiry form". I explained that no, I know what the new customer inquiry form looks like, and it doesn't ask if this is a 911 issue and what the problem is with my site. Gah.
He answered that if I wasn't willing to file a support ticket, he wouldn't be able to help me.
Grrr. I offered to file a second one, if that would resolve the issue.
He then replied to my support ticket saying he would have the programmer look at it "ASAP".
I replied to our email conversation that I had seen his reply to my ticket, so I was assuming he had located it, and that I wouldn't file a second ticket.
He replied that again, if I wasn't willing to file a ticket, he couldn't help. WTF?
It then degenerated into a few more emails of him going back and forth between replying to my support ticket, and then emailing me as though I were an entirely different person, insisting that he hadn't received it.
When it was finally fixed, he was still arguing with me about not receiving the ticket, and said we should have a phone conversation to resolve the argument and that he hadn't been trying to irritate me, but thathe genuinely hadn't received the ticket. I had even emailed him a link to the ticket, with HIS name in all the responses.
Wow. That was long.
Guess I'm still pretty irritated.
I feel your pain. Good luck resolving it.

[bsteffine]

Anyone remember the movie "Love Story" from the 70's? That film gave us the ever-popular line, "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

Blu loves there customers soooo much, they never have to say they are sorry.

No matter what goes wrong in your relationship with them, it will always be your fault, and chances are very very good you will never receive an apology. This is, perhaps, their greatest weakness.

[davidjay]

Chris Harvey, on April 7 2008, 10:01 AM, said:

DJ, Please say your ShowItSites are going to have better service than this. Hopefully even a phone number where the paying customers can call and talk to a person. On a side note, I love the design idea of ShowItSites. I was hoping that was the direction your software would go when I heard about it way back. With the programming abilities in Flash, super customization through a GUI should be possible and you have proved that. Glad someone with your power in the industry is making it happen! I really appreciate what you do and have done for our industry.

You bet! Education/Training and support will be a huge focus for us. I'll actually be going around the country in a couple of months (and for a couple of months) doing free trainings and some the Showit Crew will be there too. We have just been setting up phone support as well so look forward that coming shortly after the launch. :)Rock on!DJ

Steve D., on April 7 2008, 10:30 AM, said:

I have been so close to calling them to order it despite all the negative feedback but this thread closes it, I think it will be show it sites if I can get huge 1960 pixel size images on there. I am playing with the demo and stuggling with it, can't wait fo the video demo. Freedom club discount I hope???

Good choice! ...and with Showit Sites you'll be able to customize layouts and/or use existing ideas that you like from other sites and easily implement it....and YOU BET about the big images! FULL SCREEN and we're gonna put up a new beta once we have a few layouts "Style Groups" in there (in the next couple of days) and I'll do another demo then....and yes we have an insane promotion that's gonna happen for Freedom Clubers so be ready for that!:)DJ

[Alex H]

bsteffine, on April 7 2008, 12:22 PM, said:

Anyone remember the movie "Love Story" from the 70's? That film gave us the ever-popular line, "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

Blu loves there customers soooo much, they never have to say they are sorry.

No matter what goes wrong in your relationship with them, it will always be your fault, and chances are very very good you will never receive an apology. This is, perhaps, their greatest weakness.

Did anybody get a chance to say them that they suck in person at WPPI this year? I almost did but since I am not a customer, I didn't.
They make nice web sites...

[Alex H]

Personally, I can't stand subscription type of services when I can get things and pay it once. They look like money suckers and in long run you will pay much more if you keep using them...

[Ann Pasquini]

davidjay, on April 7 2008, 12:52 PM, said:

You bet! Education/Training and support will be a huge focus for us. I'll actually be going around the country in a couple of months (and for a couple of months) doing free trainings and some the Showit Crew will be there too. We have just been setting up phone support as well so look forward that coming shortly after the launch. :)Rock on!DJ Good choice! ...and with Showit Sites you'll be able to customize layouts and/or use existing ideas that you like from other sites and easily implement it....and YOU BET about the big images! FULL SCREEN and we're gonna put up a new beta once we have a few layouts "Style Groups" in there (in the next couple of days) and I'll do another demo then....and yes we have an insane promotion that's gonna happen for Freedom Clubers so be ready for that!:)DJ

Sounds great, DJ! The big draw (for me) for Blu sites is the cost - they're so inexpensive! Will the ShowIt Sites be competitive? It helps those of us just getting started to look really cool and professional without having to spend an inordinate amoutn of money.

[davidjay]

Alex H, on April 7 2008, 01:04 PM, said:

Personally, I can't stand subscription type of services when I can get things and pay it once. They look like money suckers and in long run you will pay much more if you keep using them...

I agree...if what you're buying is static and stale with no need for interaction or change then of course it would be silly to pay monthly for it.

Websites shouldn't be static and stale. Our sites should be constantly changing and evolving and in order to do that we need to be using the latest technology instead of a three year old template that looks just like a dozen other peoples.

Another great thing about Showit Sites is that hosting is FREE! I think there is a company out there that charges $25/month just for hosting which is a crime in my opinion. So that is part of the reason for the fee and with an evolving product this is the only model that will survive. You can see the others imploding and it's just gonna get worse.

Ann Pasquini, on April 7 2008, 01:10 PM, said:

Sounds great, DJ! The big draw (for me) for Blu sites is the cost - they're so inexpensive! Will the ShowIt Sites be competitive? It helps those of us just getting started to look really cool and professional without having to spend an inordinate amoutn of money.

You bet! ...and you're gonna be able to get a ton of months for free if you sign up in May so stay tuned for that.

[ChrisH]

DJ,

On the hosting topic: Will I be able to connect to the server with normal FTP connections (FileZilla etc...), or is it going to be controlled where I can only use the GUI provided by ShowIt? I really like having the ability to make a folder and store stuff there for myself, not to mention being able to add a cart or some special feature. Also, for the $39/month, what kind of storage space and total transfer allotment will it provide? Now I pay 3.99 for 10GB storage and 300GB transfer. Is it going to be similar? And last question, I promise. What about shopping cart integration? Are you going to support PickPic, PhotoCart, etc... or will you be providing a secret ShowItCart in the future? I know you are a Pictage guy so this is against that, but it is important to a lot of us.

Thanks!

[Steve D.]

davidjay, on April 7 2008, 11:52 AM, said:

You bet! Education/Training and support will be a huge focus for us. I'll actually be going around the country in a couple of months (and for a couple of months) doing free trainings and some the Showit Crew will be there too. We have just been setting up phone support as well so look forward that coming shortly after the launch. :)Rock on!DJ Good choice! ...and with Showit Sites you'll be able to customize layouts and/or use existing ideas that you like from other sites and easily implement it....and YOU BET about the big images! FULL SCREEN and we're gonna put up a new beta once we have a few layouts "Style Groups" in there (in the next couple of days) and I'll do another demo then....and yes we have an insane promotion that's gonna happen for Freedom Clubers so be ready for that!:)DJ

Saaaweeeeet - DJ when you have an IPO for your company let us in on to invest, you are the Golden Boy!

Show it Sites is going to be bigger than Show it the slide show. After Photographers there are a ton of similar businesses it could be crazy huge. I want stock!! Your probably going to have to sell it down the road.

[davidjay]

Chris Harvey, on April 7 2008, 02:43 PM, said:

DJ,On the hosting topic: Will I be able to connect to the server with normal FTP connections (FileZilla etc...), or is it going to be controlled where I can only use the GUI provided by ShowIt? I really like having the ability to make a folder and store stuff there for myself, not to mention being able to add a cart or some special feature. Also, for the $39/month, what kind of storage space and total transfer allotment will it provide? Now I pay 3.99 for 10GB storage and 300GB transfer. Is it going to be similar? And last question, I promise. What about shopping cart integration? Are you going to support PickPic, PhotoCart, etc... or will you be providing a secret ShowItCart in the future? I know you are a Pictage guy so this is against that, but it is important to a lot of us. :DThanks!

Yea! Storage is cheap these days so I don't think we'll run into problems there and as far as I know your space will be able to function just like a server so we'll work to make it compatible with PickPic and the other carts out there. btw...I'm not at all against having a shopping cart on your site I'm only against you doing the leg work yourself but as long as you're streamlining and doing your best to outsource that stuff I'm stoked on whatever solution you're using.

Steve D., on April 7 2008, 03:06 PM, said:

Saaaweeeeet - DJ when you have an IPO for your company let us in on to invest, you are the Golden Boy! Show it Sites is going to be bigger than Show it the slide show. After Photographers there are a ton of similar businesses it could be crazy huge. I want stock!! Your probably going to have to sell it down the road.

Haha! Nice! I'll let you know when we go public but it's so much fun doing it this way so I don't think I'll sell it anytime soon.