Docuharbor is A Bad Service

Still No.3 when you search for Docuharbor in Google

2006-02-06T14:21:00.000-05:00

If you want to check out what else I have been doing in the last year check out:

Tanning Moisturizer -- the best site for information on sunless tanners especially tanning moisturizers.
Running Shoes Research -- designed to provide reviews on all manner of running shoes from Nikes to Asics to New Balance.
Binomial Marketing Experiment -- daily coverage of the ongoing saga of Patrick Byrne and his CEOship of Overstock.com
Something Awesome (And notawesome.com), where I post only things that are awesome

Docuharbor Jumps my Reply

2005-04-06T19:53:00.000-04:00

I got this before I even replied. Still not sure how to reply to the original message, and this one lacks clarity and is a little more presumptious. Time has been less than abundant for me, but I move slower than Docuharbor, apparently.

Hi,

It appears you do not wish to respond to my emails regarding this subject.

Regards
[GB]
Head of Support and Customer Care Manager
Comodo CA Limited - Invent ² Secure

Formulating a Reply to Docuharbor

2005-04-04T20:41:00.000-04:00

Got an email from Docuharbor management (as well as a vague/somewhat threatening or maybe just weird comment on my 2nd post), asking for my information, and the emails. I'm not sure how to reply, and also thinks it strange they are asking me for my info. I mean, they should have copies for all these emails no?

It's a positive signal about the company, without a doubt, indicating they care about the customer, or the very least that "Google is a Bad Service" is the 2nd result that shows up when you google their company name. I'm still trying to determine my next step but will keep this blog up to date with all correspondence.

Here is the 1st email, I have fixed how it was formatted:

Hi,

Having read your comments on this page I would like to find out more information. The Docuharbor product is a product which Comodo absorbed as part of the acquisition of UserTrust. The comments within the email you received were outside of our usual Customer Care experience, which I am head of. So, I would be interested in getting a copy of the email that you received so that I can investigate further and so that same situation is not experienced. Also, my apologies if the email you received did not address your refund requirement.

Regards
[GB]
Head of Support and Customer Care Manager
Comodo CA Limited - Invent ² Secure

Yahoo > Docuharbor

2005-04-02T10:54:00.000-05:00

My Yahoo Mail Plus account was coming up for renewal in mid-April. Not only did they email me to let me know the exact date, but when I was cancelling they explicitly let me know how much time I had left, when I had to cancel and what the situation was. Not only they did not play any "Gotcha!" games, they, a giant company with hundreds of millions of users and a $50bn market cap, were upfront and transparent. This is how it's done. Point Yahoo. Additional demerit Docuharbor. If the largest portal can treat its customer well, surely a tiny online fax company can. I'll post the screenshot when I have some time.

Customer Retaliations Begin Against Playersonly.com

2005-03-31T14:36:00.000-05:00

My friend has started a related site -- same mission statement, different company. His focus is on the sports gambling site Playersonly.com.

Link to his new blog:
Playersonly is a Terrible Place to Gamble Online

As I wrote previously, we plan on rolling these up under a "Customer-Retaliations.com" umbrella, which should happen in the coming weeks. Improved customer relations and firm-to-customer accountability should happen in the coming months/years. For now, we'll be content with our page 1 placement for googling "Docuharbor". Yet another race for pagerank has commenced.

Look 6 Links Down; Docuharbor's Day has Come

2005-03-29T13:06:00.000-05:00

Google Results for "Docuharbor"

It is only a matter of time. Two weeks to get to page 1 = Accountability.

Docuharbor -- The Suck Spreads

2005-03-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

This post was alternatively titled "Synergies with Lawler's Rule Result in Docuharbor Beginning to Head Down The Long Tail to Destruction (Because It is a Bad Service)". The Long Tail creator linked up my friend's blog which referenced my site and our shared dream for the future. Here is the link:

Long Tail Finds Its Way to Docuharbor is a Bad Service

He summarizes my main aim well -- accountability for niche operators/businesses. Obscurity will no longer protect you from _______ is a Bad Service, if you demonstrate that you are, in fact, a bad service.

At this point, my goal is to roll this site under an umbrella site with the same meta-objective. I hope it will become a fruitful experiment in the economic implications of the Age of Search Engines for the consumer and his/her relationship with businesses. And hopefully it will be fun. Here is my friend's blog that was linked by Long Tail -- Lawler's Rule.

New Online Fax Comparison Site (No Docuharbor though, maybe because it's crap-in-a-fax?)

2005-03-22T14:15:00.000-05:00

Just really a side by side comparison of the two biggest online fax shops. Better than the Savetz one just because it lacks referral links and ballot box stuffing type polling.

Meixler Tech Fax Tale of the Tape

New Fax Machine Contender, Better than Docuharbor (how could it be worse?)

2005-03-20T17:56:00.000-05:00

A litte more digging has led me (still far away from Docuharbor.com) to another physical Fax unit. Actually it's another AIO (all in one) offering from HP. I'm just looking for the best values, this model is a little cheaper, a little less feature rich but has user feedback that is slightly more positive. The one thing I can say unconditionally is that it far far far better than using the Docuharbor, which is like asking for it.*

http://arstechnica.dealtime.com/xFS?KW=HP+OfficeJet+4215+&FN=Printers&FD=6

I'm still researching and trying to find someone who actually owns one that I can see, so if you do, let me know.

* "it" being "to be defrauded and compelled to start the Docuharbor is a Bad Service website and then being bummed to find out that it's already been started by the Me and that your only options are to cry into your bowl of ice cream...or become a contributor to my site"

Sketchy Online Fax Site that has nothing to do with the Docuharbor

2005-03-19T16:05:00.000-05:00

What's up with this place?

Not Docuharbor, not sure what it is.

The Phone Company's Remote Printing Service
Welcome to the TPC home page. The TPC service is a collection of FAX servers you may use to send a fax to many locations around the world.

Anyone have a clue? I don't. Doesn't look like they can defraud me though.

And how does Epinions.com always manage the best pagerank, even for things they don't really review or cover? As a former Epinions "Expert" cum "Advisor", I have no idea. Maybe all the money they stopped paying to their writers they started paying to these guys.

Fax Machine that will save you from the Docuharbor

2005-03-18T17:33:00.000-05:00

Obviating the need for an online fax service is the best decision for someone who will be doing more than a handful of faxes. A physical fax machine will also protect your wallet from the the Docuharbor.com infection. Asking around people who have faxes, this seems to be the best value that does the job:

HP OfficeJet 5510 Direct Thermal Printer/ Fax/ Scanner/ Copier

It kills a couple birds with one stone, can be operated without being attached to a computer and despite the flakiness of certain HP products, their printers are still top notch. Having seen it, it's compact size needs to be mentioned. At a price of $100-120, it's the equivalent of a full year worth of Docuharbor's barebones service, and less than 30% of the cost of a full year of the subscription tier that someone who does a lot of faxing would need. So the value is there.

I'll be updating this based on future research and feedback. For now, here are some aggregated reviews, so you can make your own decision. And stay away from the DOCUHARBOR!

Amazon Fax Reviews

CNET Fax Review

Online Fax Services better than Docuharbor

2005-03-17T18:15:00.000-05:00

The easy/obvious answer is all of them. SO TRUE!!! But for online faxing, you really can't beat GreenFax or eFax, two excellent choices that combine value, flexibility and feature rich platforms. eFax is particularily compelling if you don't plan to fax more than a couple pages a month because they offer their services gratis (free) for less than 20 pages. It's worth noting that in all my dealings with these two companies, neither has ever charged me erroneously, nor commited acts which I considered to be financial fraud. Unfortunately, docuharbor has, and I consider them to be an unethical, sketchy online fax company. But that's just my opinion and I only used them for 56 days....while paying for 90. eFax is worth monitoring though, because their TOS could have them end up playing the same "gotcha" game that Docuharbor.com played with me

In all honesty, your best option is almost always setting up your own fax machine/line with your local telco. Their rates are getting more and more competitive and they don't have the same kind of ability (or interest) to assault your good senses and abuse your trust.

A great resource for online faxing reviews and your online faxing needs is this link: Fax Roundup. Except that that guy has referral links, as well as sponsored links, so he probably is completely biased and bought like a monkey in a suit.

Two even better resources are the tech bargain sites, Techdeals.net and Techbargains.com, wherein you can find listings for deals on hardware, and, occasionally, fax machines. Very pro-consumer and I've honestly saved thousands of dollars over the last 4 years that I have used them. Just remember to buy what you need -- you aren't saving money if you are getting a great deal on something you will never use.

10 Reasons Not to Use Docuharbor

2005-03-16T18:45:00.000-05:00

You will probably be charged erroneously by docuharbor. Based on my experiences this turn of events is 100% likely with docuharbor. Sketchy accounting practices that change in the middle of the contract.
There are tons of free fax services that are actually free and work better than docuharbor.com.
Docuharbor consists of what I consider to be inferior usability, a feature poor product and sluggish load times.
Fax machines can be bought for cheaper than a 6 month subscription to docuharbor.
Fax machine/scanners can be bought for cheaper than a 1 year subscription to docuharbor
Docuharbor values your current dollar more greatly than it values your future dollar as evidence by my experience.
The company of Docuharbor also put little to no value on their customer or their relationships with their customers.
These last two two trends are indicative of businesses (like docuharbor's) that are burning cash, could face liquidity issues and/or could cease to exist as a going concern. If docuharbor.com were to enter into a liquidation scenario, a user could potentially lose all their documents and information with no notification (!!). Or not! It could go either way.
How can you trust a company, (aka the Docuharbor) with the task of hosting your private documents when you can't even trust them to bill you fairly or be transparent? The service industry is built on trust.
After using them for 56 days and being charged for 90 days, I would never ever use docuharbor again. In fact, after using them for 56 days, I would start an anti-advocacy site directed against them. And I plan to do just that.

Docuharbor Presents Their Version of Customer Service...And I Present Mine

2005-03-15T17:16:00.000-05:00

My Reply to the Docuharbor:

From: [Me ]
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 3:22 PM
To: Docuharbor
Subject: RE: Account cancellation

So I take that to mean you will not be crediting my Visa card $9.95 and that you do not value any future business from me more than you value $9.95? Yes or no?

Sincerely,
[Me]

Docuharbor's reply to my reply:

[Me],
We followed the user agreement that you agreed to when you created a docuharbor account. [As] the user agreement state, non-use is not valid reason for a refund.
A refund is not forecoming.
Regards,
[docuharbor.com]

And so, as the "as the user agreement state", bad customer service leads to customer retaliation. It's the really REALLY small text in the Terms of Service, it may even look invisible at first, but it's there and it's only gonna get bigger.

Welcome to the Internet, Docuharbor.com , I look forward to meeting you again, in the search engines, the long race for pagerank.

Docuharbor is a bad service: My Email

2005-03-14T12:40:00.000-05:00

This was an email I sent after being charged, in a way in which I consider to be fraudulent (charged for 2 months before I even used 1 month of non-free service).

How is the billing cycle March 1st? I started this service on January 5th, 2005.
Did my (free trial) billing cycle start on January 1st, 2005?
I had a free 30 day trial, which going at the earliest, expired on February 4th, 2005. Did my billing cycle actually begin on February 1st, 2005, so that I was paying while my trial was still free?
56 days passed between the point I began your service and the date at which I cancelled. A 30 day trial eats up 30 of those 56 days; I was billed for the next month, and I only consumed 26 of those days and cancelled. How could I be billed an additional month?

This doesn't seem to be a reasonable business practice. This is a service I would otherwise use and had intention of using in the future. If taking $9.95 of my money for something I did not consume, something I cancelled in time and something you didnt give me is worth more than my future months of usage, then you have lost a customer and a future revenue stream. If you return my $9.95 to my Visa card (not a credit to docuharbor account, that's a free loan to you), then I am likely to return more than that to you in the future. It's your company's choice.

Sincerely
DIABS