[2006-08-08]

12by12daily - Urgent Update

Hi Everybody.
I would like to start by saying that despite all the negativity in forums etc, the majority of members are being paid, and are being paid on time. Everybody who has not yet been paid wants to know when they will be paid. I have an inbox full of emails I have not even had time to read yet, let alone respond to. I have responded to some personally, but it is just impossible to respond to them all.

Unfortunately I have had to delete all those emails and will try to answer your questions below. We have been working 18 plus hours per day to get these accounts straightened out, so that I can pay you all correctly, and on time. Allow me a brief moment to remind you of some of the problems we have had. One day after launching we experienced problems with the server which made it difficult for everyone to surf. I promised that all members who missed out on any surfing for that time would be credited at the time of their payout. We then had a problem due to the enormous growth of the program, and the inability of the server to cope, which meant that many members who upgraded had their upgrade credited multiple times.

These had to be fixed manually. We had other members whose upgrade did not appear at all, and these also had to be added manually. Then when it came time for the first lot of upgrades to expire, the expiry feature did not work properly and the payments did not go to pending as they should have. I take responsibility for all these problems. The only thing I will say is they were not planned, and all the testing we did before launch indicated that it would not happen. Unfortunately it does not matter how much testing we do before launch, we cannot foresee what will happen when the system is put under a heavy load. We are a new program, and all new programs have some teething problems. It seems that the more successful the program, the more severe the problems. What this means is that practically every account in the database has incorrect information.

We have been working 18 hours a day to fix these problems and paying people at the same time. Not everybody has been paid on time, as their accounts have yet to be corrected. Some members seem to think that sending me abusive and threatening emails will speed up the process. It doesn't. I apologise for not having communicated with you better over the last week or so, but it is difficult to tell you what is happening, until I am sure myself. I do not want to be quoted as saying something, and then not being able to back it up with the necessary action. I am now in a position to put an accurate timeframe on fixing these problems.

It will take me five days to fix up the remaining errors and get payouts all up to date. After those five days, all payouts will be made on time once again.

As I mentioned above I do not have time to answer all the emails, so I will answer the most common questions here.

Q. Why haven't I been paid?
A. Due to the fact that each and every account needs to be audited manually we are behind in some members payouts. All these problems will be fixed within five days, and payouts will then revert to the normal 7 day schedule.

Q. My account is incorrect, can you fix it please?
A. We know your account is incorrect. We are currently working on fixing all accounts. Please no more emails about this.

Q. I have signed up but have not received an activation email.
A. We will activate all accounts in this situation from the db twice a day. Please try again in 24 hours.

Q. Why can't you just pay me the amount pending and fix it up later?
A. We need to fix these problems now, or they will just continue to get worse. Please bear with us, we really are working as fast as we can.

Q. I have had two upgrades expire and have not been paid. Do I need to upgrade again to be paid?
A. Yes, and No. If you have not been paid for two expired upgrades we will pay you for the first one. You will need to upgrade again in order to be paid for the second one.

Q. I have just had enough, can I get a refund.
A. No. The terms you agreed to specifically state that no refunds will be offered.

Thank you all for listening. Please, do not send emails if your question is answered above. Our time is more constructively spent if we are correcting accounts and paying people. Paying people is what I enjoy most, so please let us get on with it.

David

Added by: tw2