Microsoft bCentral
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The Truth About Microsoft bCentral

Rich provides his commentary, personal views, gripes and 'at-a-boys.

"Should I encounter a moment of clarity, I hope to have it recorded in these journals."

Opening Entry 07 May 2001

bCentral is the push, the emphasis, the one more thing, the straw that b . . .

They are the reason I have this Monday morning free to start a journal.  Keeping a journal is something new to me.  I've heard it's a good way to vent.  To let off steam so life's little aggravations will not simmer inside like a beef brisket which becomes a rock in the pit of your stomach.  So why not vent publicly?  Maybe I need a disclaimer in the event I offend someone and they sue me.  OK.  Here it is: "The statements contained in these and other journals provided on this WEB site are the personal views and opinions of me.  My personal views may not coincide with material facts as perceived by others."

Not exactly legal speak but much clearer than the 30 pages of gibberish I needed to claim to have read and understood in order to agree to give bCentral $29.99 monthly to begin hosting the Herbalife pages I'm trying to develop.

I choose bCentral because - here's an 'at-a-boy - of the 1/2 dozen inquiries I made about WEB hosting, bCentral was the one company that actually took the time to respond to my e-mail about the details of what's offered for hosting and credit card processing.  The most I got out of the other places was an automated message saying how a cheerfull account rep would contact me 'shortly' or my questions would be answered within 24 hours.  Oh . . . one of them referred me to their 'how-to' guide, available for free in PDF format.  Well, DUH!  I already read your guide, thank you, and I guess I was just too stupid to get the missing details I was asking about.  Maybe if I was psychic.  But this belongs to someone else's 'truth about' journal.

So bCentral races ahead of the competition with the (implied) promise of outstanding customer service.  I take a chance and sign up.  Let's just plow ahead and see what develops.  Not very patient, am I?

Here's what I found so far:

  1. They send an email stating - oh, by the way, your service might be available within 24-48 hours.
  2. Oh, by the way, the service you signed up for only allows 1 email address.  You need to pay extra if you want more then one.
  3. "The resulting site is fully customized to YOUR business style and needs . . . " but Oh and by the way, if you want to use that shopping cart, you can only have one product per page.
  4. Oh and by the way, that one e-mail account won't work right away either.
  5. Oh and by the way, that 24/7 phone support we wrote you about - that we said was available free - or was it support via phone OR on-line chat available 24/7 - doesn't matter - you can hold for the next available operator.  Maybe one will be available Monday thru Friday for 6:00 am to 6:00 pm Pacific time.

Feeling better now that I've vented, Rich will now try again to make some progress with the new WEB hosting service.  It's now 11:00 am Central.  I think that makes is 9:00 am in Microsoft land.  And everyone has had a chance to drink their morning coffee.

New Flash:

Johnson Bank calls in with a quote to provide credit card processing through ViaClicks - $139 one time setup charge, 3.25% plus .20 cent transaction fee for MasterCard, 3.17% VISA.  This is just the merchant account.  I know, this is someone else's journal again.  Well guess what, not everyone gets their own journal.

10 May 2001

The opening entry for bCentral will also be the closing entry.  After 1/2 dozen e-mails during the morning to find out why I couldn't get past the temporary address, I called customer service to find out what's up.  I was informed these things take at least 48 hours - business hours that is, which don't count Sunday.  Being these folks were too busy to answer me e-mails during the morning, I cancelled - good Grief, I'm SO impatient.  

Today I signed up for hosting at teammediaonline.com and will add a "Truth About TeamMediaOnline" page to report progress.

26 May 2001 When auto-responders go bad . . .

Here is the e-mail I received from bCentral today:

Dear Rich:

After several attempts, we have been unsuccessful in processing the credit card we have on file for your Microsoft(R) bCentral(tm) Business Web Services subscription. Because of this, we have suspended your access to edit your site.

We urge you to update your credit card information right away to restore your access to Site Manager and to insure your Web site remains available to your customers and visitors. IF WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED UPDATED CREDIT CARD INFORMATION BY FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2001, WE WILL DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT AND ERASE YOUR WEB SITE.

You can immediately regain access to your account in one of two ways:

1.Online

a) Go to http://bcentral.cq0.net/r/default.aspxxxxxxxxxxx (You may be prompted to log in when you reach this page).

b) Click on "Billing Information" in the left navigation bar.

c) Then click on "View CC Info"

d) Under "Your Credit Cards" click on "Edit"

e) Change the necessary information, and then click on "Update"

f) You're done! Your credit card information will be updated and access to your bCentral account should be reinstated in just a few minutes.

2.By Phone

Simply contact us at 1-866-361-7931 between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific Time Monday through Friday (except holidays) with your updated credit card information. We'll reinstate you over the phone and get you back online with us in no time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Be sure to update your credit card information right now and regain access to your important bCentral services.

Seems Rich has conspired with one of bCentral's customer support reps to cancel his account and erase his payment info.  Too bad this fact hasn't reached bCentral's automated customer service systems.  This does remind me though, that I must visit Network Solutions and see if my other domain name katsherbs.net has be release by bCentral so I can point it at katsherbs.com.  This is the domain name that I was apologetically informed I am STUCK with.  When I tried to access it at Network Solutions the first time, I couldn't, because bCentral still had it tied up somehow.  If they don't release it, I'll need to disput the charge for it on my credit card - that might get it released.

Last week, I got a call from an automated live customer service person who was curious to know if I was delighted and how things were going.  When I told him, he said 'Oh!' and hung up.