SSL probs again

[freeflyer]

what is it with EUK and SSL . I've got nothing but praise for EUK servers, and support in general, but SSL certificate admin (and the billing dept in general).. nightmare. The worst i've encountered.

I've had problems with nearly every one i've ordered. One of my clients who i recommended use EUK last year (business hosting account) had a TERRIBLE time ordering their SSL , it took days and days, nothing but problems, and to be honest a complete cock up.
This year was time for their renewal.. and they get an invoice for a rapid SSL which isnt even used (they opt for a better one), an invoice for the actual correct SSL was invoiced and paid several weeks ago, but last night the SSL expired and still isnt operating with emails being sent back and forth again trying to sortit out.

So, whats the prob? why is a simple renewal (or SSL in general) so difficult? Why the need to send the details again and why does this request for details get sent AFTER the SSL expires? Why isnt this process automated and why can EUK not keep a diary of SSL renewals and once the invoice is paid just renew automatically?

This is really really bad guys. Sort it out.. i've got other SSL's coming up for renewal on my VPS and i dont want to go through similar hassles as before.

[Karen P]

Once, SSL is installed with the details, the details cannot be amended. That's the reason we request details so that there should not be any error at the time on or after the installation.

I understand that providing same details again and again is quite frustrating. However we do not save details in our system. Right now, I have added SSL details to your account for some domains and have sent you an email as we need details for some of your domains to be added to our system. We ensure you that we won't ask you for the same details at the time of renewal.

[freeflyer]

Its not so much the details, it's the fact that the SSL renewals arent automated in any way in advance apart from the billing dept, so the SSL expires and the first you know of this is when its down, so you email to ask whats going on, and THATS when you get asked for details. Thats too late !!

Customers dont know they need to provide details every year, they dont know about the control panel addition. As far as they're concerned they get an invoice for an SSL renewal, they pay it, and that's that. But, come the experiation date/renewal crossover date, the SSL isnt there ! And it normally takes several emails and about a day to sort out. During that time, you've lost a days worth of orders. Sorry, but this IS a problem, and has been ever since i've been using EUK, which is a shame as its the only thing which lets it down so far, but it consistently does so.

There needs to be some sort of procedure put in place, as currently there simply isnt one.

[John]

Hello,

I'm having a meeting tomorrow with an SSL certificate provider who can offer us more automation for this.

I'm aware that renewal notices are not properly sent at the moment, and this is something we are working on.

[freeflyer]

okay, another issue, not necessairly major though... but annoying, yes.

Another SSL renewal, invoice sent at the beginning of january , paid several days later. The client area control panel says it expired on the 10th Jan, actual expiry date was 17 Feb.

18th feb, no SSL again, of course now we know why, eg details issue as above. And seeing as it was a Truebusiness ID, support asked for me to go through the entire verification process again including company details, letterheads, logo's etc etc.. something which quite frankly i wasnt prepared to do and didnt hold much confidence in for it to be sorted correctly and quickly. Instead i've just asked for a quickSSL instead.

Why though all the hoops again? Rapid SSL have a 'renewal' option on their products, so can this not be used to renew each time? I'm assuming it couldnt be used in this case as the SSL expired again, rendering it invalid, but in future why cant EUK just use the renewal process offered by rapid?

I know EUK dnt make any money on SSL certificates, but i'd be willing to pay extra for the admin if it was administered correctly.. just please, sort it out.

[John]

Hi,

There is currently no way to have an auto renewing SSL certificate. That isn't something unique to us, it just simply doesn't exist. This is due to a check needed to be done each time to ensure that the company is who it says it is, and that nothing has changed (company address, etc). I had a very long meeting with an SSL company yesterday about automating the process as much as possible. I have received a new WHMCS module from them (currently not available to the general public) which will automate the process as much as possible. This will be done by ensuring the needed notices are sent out well in advance.

Currently we rely on going through thousands of payments confirmations each month looking for an invoice which mentions SSL. With all the good will in the World, some of these are going to get missed when you have as many invoices as we do.

[freeflyer]

i switched from donhost to EUK.. they managed renewals without asking for details again?

[John]

They are likely just copying your billing details and using that. That is very dangerous, especially if you have multiple domains in your account or if you are hosting websites on someone elses behalf (customers).

We will always need to ask for details, but the task is to get it completely automated, so that no staff intervention is required at any stage. This is what we are currently working towards.

[freeflyer]

i switched from donhost to EUK.. they managed renewals without asking for details again?

[freeflyer]

okay so are we to assume then that the only way to renew an SSL is to actually let it expire, then on that day reapply?

[John]

Not at all. There is nothing which states you need to let it expire and then reapply. It is either a matter of reconfirming the details using an automated script approx 30 days before hand, or just simply generating a new CSR and replacing when ready. There is no need for it to first expire.

I will have our developers setup this new module tomorrow and we will begin testing. The aim is to simply make sure that everything which needs to be done is indeed done automatically, rather than hoping a staff member doesn't miss an invoice confirmation.

I should add that we do currently have thousands of SSL certificates and the problem maybe comes up 1 in 10 times. I'm sure that is of no consolation to those it effects though.

[freeflyer]

okay thanks john..

regarding the 1 in 10 thing, maybe i've just been unlucky, but this issue has affected me several times in the past year . oh well.