charging policies during 'suspended' period
Hello cPanel community!
We've been purchasing cPanel licenses from a third-party provider for some time, and we've encountered an issue with the billing process. It seems that we are being charged for a period during which our licenses were not active, and we recently discovered a gap in service. When we inquired about this, we received the following response:
"Please note that even if the services are suspended, then we need to pay. If we do not pay, the service can be terminated."
Our understanding so far has been that licensing fees are typically paid in advance for the upcoming billing period. If a license is not renewed on time, the services may be suspended, but the provider should not charge for the period during which services were suspended.
We are seeking clarification on this matter to make informed decisions in the future. Can someone confirm if the response we received is in line with standard cPanel licensing practices? We appreciate any insights or guidance you can provide.
Thank you in advance for your assistance!
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When you say "licenses were not active" and that the "services were suspended" - can you clarify what you mean by this.
1) Do you mean the VPS the WHM server was running on was suspended/inactive (i.e. not accessible to the internet at all)?
2) Do you mean client accounts on them WHM server were suspended (so should bring you down a "billing level" or become the next option)
3) Do you mean the WHM server was up and running but had no accounts on it?
Just doing a quick search on https://cpanel.net/legal-store/ (which relates to DIRECTLY purchased licenses from cPanel Inc - your agreement with your reseller will differ and their agreement with cPanel will probably differ), I see no mention of licenses being able to be suspended - only totally terminate/expire: which means that the WHM software will need to be totally erased from the machines.
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Hello and thanks for your comment!
The phrase "services were suspended" is a direct quote from our license provider's response when we sought clarification. I'd be happy to provide more detail about the "licenses were not active" aspect. Allow me to explain:
We operate two small VPS servers, one for live use and another for testing, where we manage a Laravel application. While SSH access works well for app management, the server itself is dependent on cPanel and WHM for overall management. Unfortunately, our provider struggles to keep track of license durations, prompting us to request invoices on a monthly basis. After payment, we receive a license for one month.
Due to the nature of our internal processes (billing handled by the accounts department with some delays), there was a lapse of one month where we did not request invoices. Consequently, there were no active licenses during this period. Although the Laravel app itself remained operational as we managed it via SSH, the absence of an active license meant no access to WHM and cPanel through the web browser. Upon requesting the next invoice, we were billed for two months with backdated dates.
I hope this clarifies the situation. If you have any further questions or insights based on your experience, we would greatly appreciate your input.
Thank you again for your assistance!
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Hello rbairwell, sorry probably should've mentioned you in the response, my apologies as I'm new here. Could you please take a moment to review the response above and share your thoughts if it makes any sense to you? Thank you in advance!
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Hi Nishu Ali : like yourself, I'm just a customer of cPanel : but as a systems administrator who has been using cPanel now for around 20 years (!) and I thought I'd get you to hopefully clarify things a bit before cPanel staff chime in (and perhaps ask the same question(s)).
I think what has happened is what is detailed in https://support.cpanel.net/hc/en-us/articles/5730776581143-I-just-renewed-my-license-why-do-I-need-to-pay-again-on-the-1st- : but hopefully cPanel staff will be along soon to clarify.
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Hi rbairwell, thank you for your insights, and it's great to hear from someone with such extensive experience using cPanel!
I've taken a look at the link you shared, thank you very much again for your time and assistance in shedding light on the matter!
So in light of the recent information, I think it's better to wait a month and see how the next billing cycle unfolds. I'll reach out again if we encounter any further developments.0
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