Fed up with ModernBill

[bluenotemkvi]

ModernBill finally ticked me off enough to start looking elsewhere. I've tried several other billing systems and settled on ModernBill a year or so ago - after dealing with the constant issues, things just not working, and nonexistent support, I'm reconsidering that option. Lots of people on webhostingtalk.com recommend WHMCS. Here go the questions:

 

-Importing accounts from ModernBill, how well does it work? I have a fairly small number of clients (well under 100) and it wouldn't be too big of an issue to move them over by hand, but I'd like to know what my options are.

 

-Whether I import my clients manually or with a script, will their accounts automatically be suspended/unsuspended as necessary? With ModernBill, most of the accounts that were imported from elsewhere or manually entered are not every suspended on the server. Their billing account is suspended, but that doesn't do me much good at all. Assuming I set up my server correctly and provide the correct username, will this work? All shared hosting clients are on DirectAdmin servers if that makes any difference.

 

-Domain registrations and renewals - do they actually work with WHMCS? ModernBill keeps billing my clients for domain renewals and then not actually renewing the domain. Sometimes this has been caused by my eNom account not being fully funded (whoops). If that happens, will WHMCS automatically retry, or at least generate an email or some other notice to me that the renewal didn't work so I can process it manually?

 

-SSL certificates through eNom - looks much better than SSLCenter through ModernBill. How automated is the process? When clients purchase, do they go through the whole process on my site, or are they redirected elsewhere?

 

-If there's a licensing issue, what happens to the public pages on my site? ModernBill has more than once gone stupid with the licensing and presented all of my clients with a lovely orange error message that my license had expired (on an owned license, no less). Not good for business.

 

-On the licensing tack, if I go with a leased license for now, can I upgrade to an owned license later? I would prefer to just pay it all up front, but only after I've had a few months to make sure it works for us.

 

-Some of my clients have PayPal subscriptions for their hosting. Will WHMCS credit those automatically? Will I need to insert the subscription ID into the database somewhere, or can it match based on the email address? What if the PayPal email is different from the customer's email?

 

-Some of my clients prefer to mail a check. Is it possible to generate invoices at different times, either on a per-client basis or a per-payment-method basis? For those who have automatic billing to a credit card, I like to give 7 days notice of the charge. For those who pay with a check I generally give 30 days notice so they have plenty of time to mail the check and we have plenty of time to input that check into the system. ModernBill can't handle this, can WHMCS?

 

-From reading the knowledgebase it sounds pretty easy to bill clients for one-off services. Most of our work is web programming and design, hosting is really just a sideline as a convenience to our clients. Is it really as easy as it sounds? Is there an API that would allow me to create an invoice automatically out of our existing time tracking software? This would of course require some custom coding but we can handle that if the API documentation is complete and correct.

 

-Security and encryption - how are credit card numbers stored in the database? Obviously they are two-way encrypted or you wouldn't be able to charge them each month, what encryption scheme is used in the database?

 

As a side note to the devs, I was initially turned off of WHMCS because I assumed from the name that it only supported WHM (like WHMAutoPilot). I'm not sure where the WHM in your name came from but I'm sure I'm not the only one to make that mistake.

 

Thanks for any answers you can provide!

[DataHosts]

Let me start by saying I too came from MB and never looked back. Welcome to the last billing solution you will ever need for not only hosting...but more.

 

 

Importing accounts from ModernBill, how well does it work? I have a fairly small number of clients (well under 100) and it wouldn't be too big of an issue to move them over by hand, but I'd like to know what my options are.

 

Imports: Clients, Invoices, Transactions, Hosting Accounts, Packages and Domain Pricing

 

Whether I import my clients manually or with a script, will their accounts automatically be suspended/unsuspended as necessary? With ModernBill, most of the accounts that were imported from elsewhere or manually entered are not every suspended on the server. Their billing account is suspended, but that doesn't do me much good at all. Assuming I set up my server correctly and provide the correct username, will this work? All shared hosting clients are on DirectAdmin servers if that makes any difference.

 

You setup the suspended withing WHMCS. If I am correct in understanding your question it is will the accounts suspended in MB be suspended in WHMCS up importing? To be honest I am not 100% sure, but I would venture to say yes because it imports the hosting accounts, and MB keeps the record of (un)suspended accounts in that table.

 

 

Domain registrations and renewals - do they actually work with WHMCS? ModernBill keeps billing my clients for domain renewals and then not actually renewing the domain. Sometimes this has been caused by my eNom account not being fully funded (whoops). If that happens, will WHMCS automatically retry, or at least generate an email or some other notice to me that the renewal didn't work so I can process it manually?

 

WHMCS has had flawless record with domain registars. I myself am looking at NetEarthOne for this as I have heard nothing but great reviews about them from WHMCS users, and non-users.

 

SSL certificates through eNom - looks much better than SSLCenter through ModernBill. How automated is the process? When clients purchase, do they go through the whole process on my site, or are they redirected elsewhere?

 

Unable to answer as I do not use ENOM. However, I believe it is all withing WHMCS

 

If there's a licensing issue, what happens to the public pages on my site? ModernBill has more than once gone stupid with the licensing and presented all of my clients with a lovely orange error message that my license had expired (on an owned license, no less). Not good for business.

 

WHMCS uses a local key licensing system with periodic remote verification checks. What this means is that once every 7 days, your WHMCS system will contact our server to ensure it is being run in the correct location and that the license is still valid. Your WHMCS system being online is not dependant on our server being online during the time the local key is valid.

 

Should our licensing server be down on the day your next verification check is due then the system will allow up to 3 days for a connection to be made. If after this time, the system is still unable to verify your license with our licensing server then your WHMCS Admin Area will become inactive until it can contact our server again.

 

Your WHMCS Client Area will always remains online even if you have an invalid or expired license to ensure your clients access is not interrupted.

 

 

On the licensing tack, if I go with a leased license for now, can I upgrade to an owned license later? I would prefer to just pay it all up front, but only after I've had a few months to make sure it works for us.

 

Submit a ticket to Matt in your client area and ask about a refugee special coming over from MB. I would honestly just buy right out after doing the trail. Why waste the time....worth every penny!!

 

Some of my clients have PayPal subscriptions for their hosting. Will WHMCS credit those automatically? Will I need to insert the subscription ID into the database somewhere, or can it match based on the email address? What if the PayPal email is different from the customer's email?

 

Any users who are on PayPal Subscriptions will be imported as such along with the subscription ID for their hosting account which will allow WHMCS to automatically handle the payments that occur for those accounts.

 

 

Some of my clients prefer to mail a check. Is it possible to generate invoices at different times, either on a per-client basis or a per-payment-method basis? For those who have automatic billing to a credit card, I like to give 7 days notice of the charge. For those who pay with a check I generally give 30 days notice so they have plenty of time to mail the check and we have plenty of time to input that check into the system. ModernBill can't handle this, can WHMCS?

 

This would need to be manually done as Invoices are generated by 'x' amount days prior to the due date. You set this up within the Config

 

From reading the knowledgebase it sounds pretty easy to bill clients for one-off services. Most of our work is web programming and design, hosting is really just a sideline as a convenience to our clients. Is it really as easy as it sounds? Is there an API that would allow me to create an invoice automatically out of our existing time tracking software? This would of course require some custom coding but we can handle that if the API documentation is complete and correct.

 

If you can code it then it should work. The API is very powerful if you understand the logic.

 

Security and encryption - how are credit card numbers stored in the database? Obviously they are two-way encrypted or you wouldn't be able to charge them each month, what encryption scheme is used in the database?

 

Encrypted. For Offline CC processing payments, you will be asked for your CC Hash which can be found in your configuration.php file

 

As a side note to the devs, I was initially turned off of WHMCS because I assumed from the name that it only supported WHM (like WHMAutoPilot). I'm not sure where the WHM in your name came from but I'm sure I'm not the only one to make that mistake.

 

The name WHMCompleteSolution (or WHMCS for short) was initially chosen because WHMCS was designed to integrate only with cPanel & WHM. However, since then, due to the demand from web hosts using other control panels who wanted to use WHMCS to manage and automate their companies aswell, a modular system has been introduced to allow WHMCS to be used with many more control panels. While it is no longer only for WHM users, we still believe the name WHMCS to be relevant as it is and will continue to be the Web Hosting Manager's Complete Solution.

.

[WebzPro]

Was with MB 4 for over four years and finally moved because of the downward decline of proper development. Wish I would have made the move a year ago.

 

We did the import ourselves but to import credit card information you need to pay to have WHMCS do that import. Well worth the extra price. As for as PayPal goes because of PayPal set up old subscription payments will still be sent to ModernBill but when you do the credit card import ask Matt to install a little script he has that will forward the info to WHMCS and record the payment. This has worked perfectly. Only time it has not is when the subscription ID varies from the original do to clients changing subscriptions while in the ModernBill system. Simple change the subscriptions ID in WHMCS to the current and the following month it will record correctly.

 

A bit of advise, don't walk, run as fast as you can from MB. You won't be sorry.

[datawebcorp]

I evaluated all the hosting management systems, and when I discovered WHMCS I thought to myself "This is too easy, I must be missing something". Not so. WHMCS has it all and it just keeps getting better. The support is GREAT too.

 

As for leasing vs. buying: I choose to lease. This is because of the frequency of updates and enhancements. Owning costs $300+ and then $45/yr for updates. For $18/mo I get the unbranded version and all the updates.

[mike25]

I will also give WHMCS a big thumbs up. After constant decline with MB 4, the buyout, and a license issue that MB ignored for several days locking us out of MB, we made the move and I wish I had done it MUCH sooner. Not only is Matt a great guy, he is prompt and very helpful. We moved 6000 clients from MB, and had a few minor issues, but overall the transition was much smoother than I had expected, and the support with WHMCS was far better than what I had experianced at MB, even when they where at their peak several years ago.

[Sitetech]

I'm a Old MB5 user. Jumped in June, wished I had done this 2 years earlier when I started with MB5 . WHMCS is not perfect, but it works which you cannot say of MB5. Bug are minimal with whmcs and support is much faster than MB (if you get any allready).

 

Go for it

[Lesli]

Another former MB client who's VERY happy with WHMCS.

 

Owned versus leased:

Owned: $345 for purchase + two years of support (original 12 months, additional 12 months)

Leased: $432 for 24 months

 

By that reckoning, WHMCS owned licenses pay for themselves in a year and a half. I used my previous (pre-MB) billing system for five years before I finally outgrew it - so I don't anticipate that I'll switch away from WHMCS any faster than that. WHMCS has the flexibility to grow as my business grows, it's enhancing its functionality with each release, it's not losing pre-existing functionality, and the admin interface is easy to understand (unlike MB5).

 

Plus, as many other ModernBill (or whatever Parallels is calling it now) users have commented - WHMCS' biggest plus is that unlike MB with all its hype and hope, WHMCS works now, today, immediately.

[susan88]

I have been using MB4 for a number of years and interest to move to WHMCS.

But I have question:

* Regarding MB import script, how well does it work? I have about 700 client on MB with 3 cpanel server.

* Does WHMCS support integration with Cerberus Helpdesk? I am using Cerberus integrated with MB4, it works very good.

* Does WHMCS support multiple currency? I am using paypal and even though I have changed the currency to other currency in MB4 it seems to pay me in dollars with the same amount (not converted).

 

susan,

[chickendippers]

The import script works pretty well; it will certainly get all your clients, hosting accounts and invoices which are the important bits. We did have a problem with it missing out some domain names, but I think that was just due to MB's crappyness.

 

I don't think there's a Cerberus integration from WHMCS, but you shouldn't let that stop you switching. You'll regret it.

 

Point 2 sounds more like a PayPal configuration issue.