Regus

Below explains the complaint in detail (further below, I have pasted Regus' responses)...

From: Chris @ PricingWire
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2020 3:39 PM
To: 'Account. [protected]@regus.com'
Cc: 'Chris @ PricingWire' ; 'Bothell CanyonParkWest' ; 'Toni Lind Baker' ; 'Jeff Walker' ; 'Sandra. [protected]@regus.com'
Subject: Account PricingWire / Account # 98554XX

Hi Regus Help Team,

I am following up … as I proactively reached out to local staff at the Bothell, WA location … and they have informed me that Day Use Members can resume booking Day Offices.

Perhaps you can see past [historical] interactions I have had with Regus Support … in case you cannot I will attempt to briefly provide context for my email today.

Email Objective
Resolve the unsatisfactory and unethical offers and responses previously provided to me by Regus.

Background / Context
Here is a brief history of events …

• initially tested Regus day-office service without a contract

• decided to sign-up for a 1-year, 10-day-use-per-month Membership

• shortly after becoming a member discovered there were a lot of unhappy Regus members / customers

• In February, I proactively followed Regus' directions to terminate my contract to prevent it from auto-renewing
o was open to renewing manually … just did not want to be auto-renewed
o received email confirmation that contract / account was terminated and would not be auto-renewed
 agreement will end July 31, 2020. Further, your account will not auto renew
 Termination verification CRM:[protected]

• Regus locations were closed due to COVID-19 in March, I was unable to use 5-day-uses that I paid for
o Indeed, I understand this was out of Regus' control … but ethical business practices would be to offer Regus Day-Use Members the ability to use the unused day-uses-they-paid-for when facilities are open again … and perhaps include a requirement that those day-uses are used by _ [ date ]

• Regus charged my CC $300 in March for April, knowing their customers would not be able to use the service customers paid for

• I contacted Regus, requesting a refund for April ($300) … and hoping they would extend my ability to use the 5-day-uses I paid for, but was unable to use due to closure

• Regus replied with two (2) "offers" … with both offers … only providing refunds of payments (for services-paid-for — but-not-provided) if customer agreed to pay for an extended term of months.
o e.g., Regus will refund 1-month, if you agree to a pay for 3-more-months (refund $300, if you pay us $900)
o e.g., Regus will refund 2-months, if you agree to pay for 6-more-months (refund $600, if you pay us $1, 800)
o Regus acknowledges the case for a refund, but had decided to hold the refund hostage unless the customer agrees to pay them more.
o not sure how Regus leadership could conclude to use the words "Special help for Customers" in these email responses … as it was an attempt to manipulate customers and take advantage of customers for monetary gain in a difficult time for their customers
 ref: Special help for Customers - COVID-19 CRM:[protected]

• After additional attempts / follow-ups to Regus Help-Support … to confirm the above really was what they were offering their customers
o including the willingness to pay as long as I was credited / comp'd the day-uses I paid for … to be available to use in the future once facilities were re-opened
o I mean really, that seems more than understanding by a customer paying for $300 per month for service that Regus cannot provide
o and after Regus declined these more than reasonable arrangements s
o I was compelled to ensure that Regus could no longer charge my CC $300 for a service they did not intend to guarantee that I would receive
o I also disputed the CC charge of $300 by Regus for April, as they knew I would not be able to receive the service I was paying for

Next Steps
As mentioned at the beginning of this email, I proactively contacted the Bothell Canyon Park West location and was pleased to hear they are now open to day-use / day-office reservations.

Here is what I believe to be more-than-fair and acceptable looking forward ….

1. The March 5-day-uses I paid for and have been unable to use.
• I am willing to forfeit these as a demonstration of understanding that Regus was caught-off-guard by the COVID-19 stay-at-home-orders
• again, I do believe the right approach is to comp me those days for future use, if used by _ [ date ]

2. The $300 CC payment that Regus charged for April, while knowing I would not be able to use the service I was paying for.
• This should be fully refunded, the dispute acknowledged as appropriate.
• No customer should be required or coerced into having to agree to pay 3-times or 6-times more to receive a refund for services they paid for, but did not receive.
• I do not agree to any extension of the term of my agreement with Regus (again, this is truly and clearly unethical and should never have been how Regus conducts business).

3. While we are approaching the half-way mark for May, now that you are open for Day-Use Members to reserve day-offices.
• I am willing to complete payment for May via business check only (I do not trust Regus with my CC information).
• Please reply and include / confirm remit to address details (ref: May 2020 invoice [protected]).

4. For the remaining months … as long as the facilities are available for me to use the service I am paying for … I will pay by business check in advance of each individual remaining month of service.

How Regus responds to this email will determine my next steps and whether I am willing conclude Regus is acting in good-faith and ethically … and thus be open to choosing or recommending Regus for future business needs.

Respectfully,

Chris Hopf
Principal - Founder

PricingWire

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Regus Responses... most recent on top...

From: Customer Service
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2020 10:55 AM
To: Chris Hopf
Subject: Special Offer CRM:[protected]

Dear Chris Hopf.

I hope that this email finds you safe and well. I can understand your reaction. We really want to help our customers. Reducing your monthly commitment is in effect a subsidy from our business to yours, something which we are proud to offer.
We are seeing this being widely taken-up by our customers, which means the level of discount has been carefully calibrated.in this way, we provide the maximum benefit per customer whilst also ensuring the sustainability of our own business, so that we will be here to support you in our normal capacity as we come out of this crisis. We are not negotiating on these available offers; the only, best and quickest way to help the majority of our customers is to provide simple packages.
I appreciate how times may be hard for your business, and I encourage you to accept our offer, which you may still do by replying to this email with "Offer approved".

Thank you,
Staci Johnson
Customer Care Executive

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From: Regus Account Helpdesk
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2020 10:10 AM
To: Chris Hopf
Subject: Re: Special help for Customers - COVID-19 CRM:[protected]

Dear Chris,
We absolutely want to support all our customers in these unprecedented times.

I am very sorry that you do not feel this is sufficiently generous. We are proud of the support we're able to offer to hundreds of thousands of companies globally. Mostly, people are very thankful that we're able to work with them.

IWG supports millions of workers. We provide many services to help our customers work efficiently and we are keeping our centers running using small groups of dedicated volunteers from our team members. Thus, we have to maintain our business commitments.
We have a large number of customers that are providing numerous critical services during the current crisis, including the ambulance service, doctors and medical research companies, along with over 250, 000 people that we are supporting working at home.
We have seen enormous growth in support needed in recent weeks, particularly for our mail handling, internet, and technology services with so many people working remotely.

We are not able to negotiate on these available offers; the only, best and quickest way to help the majority of our customers is to provide simple packages.

I hope you will consider one of the options provided previously. If you could please respond to this email with "Option X Accepted" or "Offers Rejected" it would be greatly appreciated.

Please stay safe and healthy.

All the best.

Account Helpdesk

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From: Regus Account Helpdesk
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 10:36 AM
To: Chris Hopf
Subject: Special help for Customers - COVID-19 CRM:[protected]

Dear Chris,

We are pleased to offer you some relief during these uncertain times. Please review the special assistance we are offering you and feel free to reach out to us if you have questions:

What is the special offer?

Offer 1
• 100% credit of your monthly Membership fee for April and for May
• Extend your existing term for an additional 6 months at the same price

Offer 2
• 100% credit of your monthly Membership fee for April
• Extend your existing term for an additional 3 months at the same price

How do I accept one of these offers?
Step 1: Decide which offer above best helps you and your business (Offer 1 or Offer 2)
Step 2: Reply to this email with the words "Offer 1 approved" or "Offer 2 approved" depending on which offer you want, and we will take care of the rest.

We do hope this helps take some of the pressure off during this difficult time and wish you and your family a safe and healthy few months ahead.

Please contact us if there is anything further you need. We are here to support you now and throughout your term with us.

Best,

Brenna H
Account Helpdesk

Please note:
• The above offers are available subject to the account being paid and up to date.
• Due to high volume it might take up to 5 business days to process your offer, once selected. We appreciate your patience.

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