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Heroku Class Action

herokuclassaction.com

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Re: Heroku Class Action

#51

Post by bcgraham »

gamblor956 wrote: post #46
marcamillion wrote: post #29

Ok this is going too far. Did Heroku make a mistake? Yes. Did they mislead and lie to their customers? Yes. But is it worth pursuing a class action lawsuit that could ultimately ruin them - if not financially, but force their mgmt team to focus on this damn suit rather than fixing the damn problems? Hells no. I hope RapGenius is not the lead plaintiff in this, otherwise I will be very disappointed. I applaud them for…

Heroku is owned by SalesForce, a publicly-traded multi-billion dollar company. It has annual revenues in the hundreds of billions. They have the resources to handle the suit and fix the "damn problems" at the same time.

Salesforce does $3-4b in annual revenue.

Re: Heroku Class Action

#52

Post by lsc »

aneth4 wrote: post #25

My startup is heavily invested in and tied to Heroku. We don't have the resources right now to get off of the platform quickly, but plan to as soon as possible. Like Rapleaf, we have spent an enormous amount of effort optimizing and searching for the causes of latency, and overpay for dynos to reduce but not eliminate the chance of latency issues. Heroku has always told us it's our fault. While I have no interest in…

So, uh, what was the thought process when choosing a PAAS provider? I mean, step back for a moment, and ignore the specifics of Heroku; they are a PAAS provider with no completely compatible competitors, is that not so?

Whenever I choose service providers (or choose to outsource services) my first thought is "what happens if I have to switch away from them?" Even if you think my first rule of business is too cynical, everyone has problems, and if you are locked into a provider while they are having problems, well, you have a problem.

I mean, PAAS seems like a great idea for people who want to write apps but not be sysadmins. But personally? I don't understand why anyone would sign up with a PAAS provider that was unique. I mean, if you have to re-write your app to change providers, you are locked in, in a terrifying way.

Re: Heroku Class Action

#53

Post by redthrowaway »

Polemic though this site may be, my understanding of the situation leads me to believe that it makes no false claims.

If this is so, Heroku has a problem on its hands: its behaviour is such that it has alienated current customers and, more importantly, dissuaded potential future customers from employing the platform.

Heroku's challenges seem threefold:

One, they need to get their infrastructure in line with their branding, or vice versa.

Two, they need to assuage the doubts of current customers and offer them convincing reasons to stay.

Three, their image and reputation have taken a nosedive. I can't see well-informed potential customers considering Heroku without taking this saga into consideration. This would appear to be the most difficult, and the most important, challenge to solve. Heroku needs image rehabilitation in a big way. The only way I can see them achieving that goal is through increased honesty and engagement with their potential customer base. Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything from them that suggests they're adopting that strategy.

Re: Heroku Class Action

#54

Post by wilfra »

jpdoctor wrote: post #43
aneth4 wrote: post #25

My startup is heavily invested in and tied to Heroku. We don't have the resources right now to get off of the platform quickly, but plan to as soon as possible. Like Rapleaf, we have spent an enormous amount of effort optimizing and searching for the causes of latency, and overpay for dynos to reduce but not eliminate the chance of latency issues. Heroku has always told us it's our fault. While I have no interest in…

> While I have no interest in recovering money through a class action lawsuit I note that there are zero words devoted to what fraction of the money will leave the coffers of the lawyers and actually make it to the customers.

That's regulated by law.

Re: Heroku Class Action

#57

Post by talklittle »

aneth4 wrote: post #25

My startup is heavily invested in and tied to Heroku. We don't have the resources right now to get off of the platform quickly, but plan to as soon as possible. Like Rapleaf, we have spent an enormous amount of effort optimizing and searching for the causes of latency, and overpay for dynos to reduce but not eliminate the chance of latency issues. Heroku has always told us it's our fault. While I have no interest in…

> Rapleaf

You mean Rap Genius?

Re: Heroku Class Action

#58

Post by marcamillion »

gamblor956 wrote: post #46
marcamillion wrote: post #29

Ok this is going too far. Did Heroku make a mistake? Yes. Did they mislead and lie to their customers? Yes. But is it worth pursuing a class action lawsuit that could ultimately ruin them - if not financially, but force their mgmt team to focus on this damn suit rather than fixing the damn problems? Hells no. I hope RapGenius is not the lead plaintiff in this, otherwise I will be very disappointed. I applaud them for…

Heroku is owned by SalesForce, a publicly-traded multi-billion dollar company. It has annual revenues in the hundreds of billions. They have the resources to handle the suit and fix the "damn problems" at the same time.

So the size of their purse determines their legal liability? What difference does it make if it is a big multi-billion dollar company that does a few billion in revenue or a startup? If this were Dropbox, would people want to see a clas s action lawsuit too? Doubt it.

Regardless, the point has been made. They need to compensate those customers - but this lawsuit is frivolous, opportunistic and going too far.

Re: Heroku Class Action

#59

Post by marcamillion »

redguava wrote: post #37
marcamillion wrote: post #29

Ok this is going too far. Did Heroku make a mistake? Yes. Did they mislead and lie to their customers? Yes. But is it worth pursuing a class action lawsuit that could ultimately ruin them - if not financially, but force their mgmt team to focus on this damn suit rather than fixing the damn problems? Hells no. I hope RapGenius is not the lead plaintiff in this, otherwise I will be very disappointed. I applaud them for…

They blatantly lied about how a core part of their service worked for years. It was raised to them previously and they didn't change the docs nor the way their system worked. This negatively affected a lot of their customers in many ways (overspending on heroku, time wasted, lost customers and revenue). When Heroku's customers have incurred significant costs and/or losses because of Heroku's false claims, I don't see…

They didn't "blatantly lie"....they lied. They built their product 1 way and it morphed into another architecture as they grew. They made decisions that optimized for their financial benefit, but I wouldn't go as far as to say they "blatantly lied". Let's not get too carried away here.

As a long time Heroku user, I was pissed when I heard this...but they have done so much good for my own development career and freelance gigs, that this is easily forgiveable with a slap on the wrist and a partial refund to customers that have paid a lot over the years.

More than likely, they just never realized how big of a deal it was - because they were busy expanding. A few customers (few being relative to their total support requests) probably did inquire and some manager probably developed the response that they are aware of the problem, but not dealing with it right now.

It's not as if they built the company on the premise that they are going to say 1 thing and do something else.

This is just something that fell through the cracks as they grew.

Let's not blow it out of proportion.

Re: Heroku Class Action

#60

Post by marcamillion »

dreamdu5t wrote: post #45
marcamillion wrote: post #29

Ok this is going too far. Did Heroku make a mistake? Yes. Did they mislead and lie to their customers? Yes. But is it worth pursuing a class action lawsuit that could ultimately ruin them - if not financially, but force their mgmt team to focus on this damn suit rather than fixing the damn problems? Hells no. I hope RapGenius is not the lead plaintiff in this, otherwise I will be very disappointed. I applaud them for…

When material damages happen as a result of fraud or breaking an agreement, then the party shares liability for those damages. This is the right thing to do. Heroku made their bed and now they must lie in it.

Right...so compensating some of those customers - no biggie....I am down with that. But a class action lawsuit? Come on meng.
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