HostRocket affiliates not been paid yet

[dannyb785]

Hi,

I'm getting the runaround, and have been for a month. Numerous phone calls have gone unanswered as well as emails. Affiliates says you need $130 to get a payout AUTOMATICALLY on the 15th of each month. Well, before 11/15/08 I had $150 and as of typing this it's 12/23/08 and I haven't gottena word from anyone at hostrocket.

I really love the service, but if I'm not gonna get any response, nor get paid for my commission, you can guarantee that I won't be referring a single other person from here on out.

[dannyb785]

I think I'm going to update this every day until something happens.

So yesterday when I called, I was promptly directed to the "affiliates" department.

Today when I asked for the department, I was told there wasn't one, but that I could email the person in charge of it all which was the person who initally emailed me back over a month ago(Holly). So he gave me what I guess is her personal email address so I emailed it. Let's see what happens...

[dannyb785]

January 2, 2009

I was on hold to speak to HR for about 20 minutes before deciding to hang up. Before that, I'd been waiting 5 minutes and then the call was dropped(it was a landline so I know it wasn't an error on my end).

I emailed Holly again, asking for some sort of assistance or even a reply. I feel like I'm being pushed aside. Is it really good business practice to advertise a benefits program and not pay it out when it's been earned? At least my thread isn't being deleted to "cover it up". Something needs to be done.

If anything, just cancel the affiliates program. Better to not have anything advertised than to say "we'll give you $xxx if you do this" and then never pay it out.

[dannyb785]

January 5, 2009

I just called HR asking for Holly and I was promptly forwarded to, what I suppose is, her number. It rang a few times then, gasp, went to voicemail. I left a very nice message asking to get a call back and left my name and number.

Then I sent holly another very polite email telling her that I've been trying to reach her for some time and haven't received any confirmation on her receiving my voicemails or emails.

And if this issue is beyond Holly, I understand completely, it's just that when I've called before for the "affilialte department", I've been told it's holly and also in the past(before I was owed money), when I had an affiliate question, she(holly) promptly replied with an answer and also would say "email me any time you have a question"

So if I'm supposed to be asking for someone else, I'd like to know, but nobody has said anything yet.

[jazzfit]

Maybe all friend in here, can go to customer support for ask some question.
But i trust hostrocket will pay you all. This company is big company..so don`t worry, Friends

[dannyb785]

Originally Posted by jazzfit

Maybe all friend in here, can go to customer support for ask some question.
But i trust hostrocket will pay you all. This company is big company..so don`t worry, Friends

Spam? Either way, I don't understand half of what you sad, and the other half is ridiculous. HostRocket might have a lot of customers, but they aren't big in terms of staff or company size. I talk to many of the same customer service people every time I call.

I will trust that they will pay when I receive my money.

[dannyb785]

January 9, 2009

Today was weird. I called and reached a guy with a voice I'm familiar with(he's answered many, if not all, of my previous affiliate calls).

I asked if Holly was still working there and he said yea so I asked why she hadn't responded to a single email or phone call in the past few weeks, he said she was out of town. So I asked how long she'd been out of town, and he said "a few days". And that she'd be back "around monday or tuesday".

So I asked if he had a supervisor over him that I could speak to and he was like "He's pretty busy, it'd probably go to voicemail like Holly". And I asked if the supervisor was really that busy that he couldnt take my call and he said yeah, and then he changed his mind to be positive and was like "yeah, it would go to voicemail".

So then I had an idea. I'd call and pick a different selection(sales, billing, technical support) and speak to a differet person to see what they said. So since I'd picked sales before, I called back and picked billing.

The same guy answered. Then I hung up and called and it sad press 0 to speak to an operator. I chose that and guess who answered. He did. He said his name was preston. I told him I'd like to leave Holly one last voicemail.. so he transferred me, and I left it.

I'm beginning to wonder if Holly even exists. The only contact I've ever heard from her was a question she answered back when I didn't have enough affiliates to earn a payout yet. Maybe if I register a new account and ask a question, she'll appear and answer it, since that account wouldn't have any signups.

I'll call back monday and see what happens...

[dannyb785]

So yesterday afternoon, I got this email:

"Sorry for all of the missed connections. I was out of the office for much
of December and was also on vacation all of last week. I actually got
your voice mail this afternoon and wanted to get back to you and let you
know I will get that check sent out for you tomorrow. Again I apologize
for any inconvenience on your part and should you have any other questions
please do not hesitate to ask."

Wow, inrteresting. It wouldn've been nice if the phone operator would've told me she was out of the office all those times. It still seems weird to me.

Also, something weird, the entire time I've been emailing her, all the emails went through, no problems and then when I went to reply to this one, I got an immediate automatic reply saying "I'm out of the office til Jan 12". So I'm wondering why I never got any of those previously.

Well, I'll still have to wait and see if I ever get a check.

[dannyb785]

Well, today I emailed Holly asking for a confirmation of the address the check will be sent to and she replied with the correct address and gave a check # as well, so it's looking like my opinion of HR's affiliates program is positive again. Of course, I can't be 100% positive til I've recevied the money, but this is quite a good start

[leafgreen]

Danny I had basically the same long runaround and time wasted chasing money. This should not be necessary. I won't go into it all, but I still haven't been paid. I have nothing good to say about an affiliate program that treats its partners like this.

[dannyb785]

I just wonder if I ever would've gotten a response if I hadn't pestered them so much. Of course, the check was "sent" I think tuesday so I'd say i should have it by this tuesday. If not, you can bet I'll begin the same process again.

[dannyb785]

January 20, 2009

Guess what came in the mail.. a check! Finally!!! Of the amount it should be.

One last step: cashing it. Hostrocket, you've gained back my confidence in you. I don't think I'll be using the affiliate system anymore, but I do have a higher view of HR now than I did a few weeks ago.

[dannyb785]

January 22, 2009

end of the saga. Went to the bank today, cashed the check. While I'm certainly happy that I got it and the drama is over, I can't help but wonder if they couldn't handled it better.

Like what happened to the checks being sent automatically?
And what happened when Holly first said 'accounts payable' was going to send the check?
And then the few weeks where I asked for Holly and I was transferred to her number, but it turned out that she wasn't in the office for most of the month?
And then the weird phone call w/ the guy who said his manager was "very busy" and that he knew, for a fact, that it'd just go to voicemail?

All questions that, while I'd like to know them, in the end don't really matter. I got the money, I'm happy, I'm going to continue using HR, and ultimately, their customer service with technical issues has always been very helpful so I really can't complain.

End of story.

[uday1583]

Well that really sucket if they are not paying affiliates on time. Well, I am glad I read blog first in this site before becoming a member. Thanks

[dannyb785]

Originally Posted by uday1583

Well that really sucket if they are not paying affiliates on time. Well, I am glad I read blog first in this site before becoming a member. Thanks

If you had enough potential to refer people, I still would, but just keep in mind that you will probably not get paid on time like the affiliate faq describes. As you saw, I had to be a pain in the butt for quite some time. Plus I dunno if this thread helped the process.

[Etta Sapphire]

You are basically an independent contractor with the company. You promote/sell their products and/or services and bring new people into the company to do the same. You are paid based on your sales.If you are thinking of joining an affiliate program, be very careful about the companies you join. There are a lot of scams out there. There are also some good solid companies that can help you earn a substantial income.