I emailed Phil Cohen, Betfair's Head of Customer Services, about the recent problems, and this was the reply he sent me:
As you have mentioned we have experienced some site stability issues recently. Over the past few weeks we have made a huge number of technological improvements to the site. We completed a major project by moving our data centre to a new and improved facility as well as releasing more than 30 new product improvements.
It is now apparent that during this period of intense activity we put the system under a lot of strain - at the temporary cost of the reliability our customers have come to expect. This period of concentrated technological change has now passed and our technical team has systematically been through the key areas of the site, to stabilise the platform.
We know that Betfair's success is predicated upon our customers' confidence in our service and whilst we can never guarantee that there won't be some issue with the site, we are confident that the issues causing Betfair's recent bouts of instability have been identified and dealt with.
Jeff
Recent connection issues
I think all this long term improvements to our customers stuff is a smokescreen.
From the digging around I have done it appears they have built their own datacentre in ireland. If they transfer the majority of the business over there the they will pay 10% less in tax. I am pretty sure thats the real reason why they have moved. All this major technical upgrade stuff is just a smokescreen IMHO
From the digging around I have done it appears they have built their own datacentre in ireland. If they transfer the majority of the business over there the they will pay 10% less in tax. I am pretty sure thats the real reason why they have moved. All this major technical upgrade stuff is just a smokescreen IMHO
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oddstrader
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i agree, the motivation has to have been financialjimrobo wrote:I think all this long term improvements to our customers stuff is a smokescreen.
From the digging around I have done it appears they have built their own datacentre in ireland. If they transfer the majority of the business over there the they will pay 10% less in tax. I am pretty sure thats the real reason why they have moved. All this major technical upgrade stuff is just a smokescreen IMHO
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JollyGreen
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These days Betfair is run by bean counters. When they started they had a great focus on customer service but now they only look at the bottom line.
They have been planning this move for a long time and when I learned of it I just knew there would be problems.
I know it's the same old chestnut but without competition they will continue to abuse the goodwill of their clients and they will try and justify it with replies like the one sent to Jeff.
I worked in several large companies and sat in high level management meetings. The bean counters always won the argument because of the short term profits. They never looked long term and ultimately it cost them more. Sadly that loss was caused by competition and as mentioned, Betfair are not facing any!
They have been planning this move for a long time and when I learned of it I just knew there would be problems.
I know it's the same old chestnut but without competition they will continue to abuse the goodwill of their clients and they will try and justify it with replies like the one sent to Jeff.
I worked in several large companies and sat in high level management meetings. The bean counters always won the argument because of the short term profits. They never looked long term and ultimately it cost them more. Sadly that loss was caused by competition and as mentioned, Betfair are not facing any!
The phrase 'poisoning the well' comes to mind!JollyGreen wrote: I worked in several large companies and sat in high level management meetings. The bean counters always won the argument because of the short term profits. They never looked long term and ultimately it cost them more.
In my experience, lots of salespeople also have that attitude. They're more interested in this month's commission than in ensuring that the customer places repeat business!
Let's hope Betdaq pull their finger out! Betdaq, where are you?!?JollyGreen wrote:Sadly that loss was caused by competition and as mentioned, Betfair are not facing any!
Jeff
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JollyGreen
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JeffFerru123 wrote: The phrase 'poisoning the well' comes to mind!
In my experience, lots of salespeople also have that attitude. They're more interested in this month's commission than in ensuring that the customer places repeat business!
Actually the problem is not always caused by the sales person. Some people in sales take the short term view but they generally don't last long. The big problem comes from the bean counters like the FD or General Manager and they will scrimp on certain products to increase the margins. The clients learn of problems caused by this short sighted attitude after the event and they either want an upgrade for free or they never buy from us again. The bean counters don't look past the end of the meeting so they don't care. I was a Sales Director but my protests always fell on deaf ears but later it was my arse getting kicked when suddenly clients were defecting to the competition!!
Hi JollyGreen
Just to clarify, I'm not tarring all salespeople with the same brush. I realise many are conscientious. However, I've also worked with salespeople who couldn't care less about the customer (or the customer service staff who had to sort out their messes!).
Jeff
Just to clarify, I'm not tarring all salespeople with the same brush. I realise many are conscientious. However, I've also worked with salespeople who couldn't care less about the customer (or the customer service staff who had to sort out their messes!).
Jeff
JollyGreen wrote: Actually the problem is not always caused by the sales person. Some people in sales take the short term view but they generally don't last long.