Knowledgebase
Changing your hosting plan
Posted by Paul Woodland on 07 January 2014 01:33 PM

If at any time you wish to change the hosting plan that you have with LiquidSix Hosting to one of our other plans, our staff can arrange this for you. This article explains how the procedure works from a billing point of view. From a technical point of view, there is no disruption to any services when changing from any of our shared plans to any other shared plan, or from any of our reseller plans to any other reseller plan. Changing between shared and reseller (or vice versa) is possible, but is more complicated - please speak to our staff and we can guide you through your options.

Please note that although this article is provided for customers that wish to be informed, we calculate the cost of the change for you, so you do not need to work it out yourself unless you wish to. Simply contact sales and they will give you a quote with no commitment.

The first thing to do when looking to change plans is to establish whether this is an upgrade, a downgrade or a crossgrade. To do this, first look at the amount that you are paying for your existing plan (just the plan, exclude any extras such as domains, SSL certificates, extra space/bandwidth etc. Exclude VAT when calculating this.). Now, look at the cost of the new plan when paying on the same billing cycle (i.e either monthly, quarterly or yearly). If the two prices are within 10p (£0.10) of each other, then this is considered a crossgrade. If the new price is higher than this, then it is considered an upgrade. If the new price is lower than this, then it is considered a downgrade. If you now know which of these you need, please see the right section below. Otherwise, please read on for an example.

For this article, we will use the example of a customer who was on one of our older hosting plans that are no longer sold (the .Net Special Single plan), who is paying £4.95 a month. The customer is considering 3 different plan choices:

Example 1. Moving to the Bronze Single Domain plan (£2.49 a month, £6.99 a quarter, £24.99 a year): The customer compares the old price (£4.95 a month) to the monthly price of the new plan (£2.49) and the new one is lower, therefore this is downgrade.

Example 2. Moving to the Silver Single Domain plan (£4.99 a month, £13.99 a quarter, £49.99 a year): The customer compares the old price (£4.95 a month) to the monthly price of the new plan (£4.99) and it is a difference of 4p (£0.04). As this is less than 10p difference, this is a crossgrade.

Example 3. Moving to the Silver Multi Domain plan (£7.49 a month, £20.99 a quarter, £74.99 a year): The customer compares the old price (£4.95 a month) to the monthly price of the new plan (£7.49) and the new one is higher, therefore this is an upgrade.

 

Performing an upgrade


When upgrading a plan, we issue a credit for the remaining number of days on the existing plan at the time the upgrade is performed and this is taken off the cost of the new plan. The difference is then paid. For this section we will use the example of someone upgrading from the Silver Single Domain plan, paid yearly at £49.99, to the Gold Single Domain plan, paid yearly at £99.99. The existing plan was last renewed on the 5th September 2013, and the upgrade is being performed on the 6th January 2014. 

Example:
  Remaining number of days on the plan: Days between 6th January 2014 and the next renewal date, the 5th September 2014: 242 days 
  Total number of days in this billing cycle: Days between 5th September 2013 and 5th September 2014: 365 days 
  Credit for remaining time on existing plan: 242 days / 365 days multiplied by the cost, £49.99: (242 / 365) * 365 = £33.14
  New Plan Cost: £99.99
  Difference to pay: £99.99 - £33.14 = £66.85

The customer would then pay the difference of £66.85 and the plan would be renewed for a year from the upgrade date. On each anniversary of the upgrade date, the customer would pay the renewal cost of the new plan of£99.99. 

Please contact sales if you would like to perform an upgrade.

Performing a crossgrade

When the cost of the two plans are within 10p (£0.10) of each other, we consider them to be the same price for this purpose. To move between the plans, you just need to contact sales who will change you to the new plan. There will be no payment due. When the original plan would have expired, you will instead be billed for the new plan at it's normal cost.

 

Performing a downgrade

When the new plan is cheaper, this is a downgrade. A downgrade can be performed at the end of the billing term that you have committed to (i.e either a month, quarter or year). You can request the downgrade at any point by contacting sales, and the plan will be changed to the new one for you immediately, with the billing changes not taking effect until the end of the billing term. As you have already paid for the more expensive plan, you may wish to continue using this, and only contact sales to do the downgrade at the end of your billing term (it must be done before the renewal is paid for). The cost of the new cheaper plan will be charged on the date that the existing plan expires, and on each anniversary after this. As such, there are no refunds for downgrades, as you have a commitment until the end of the billing term.

 

What to do about extras

When changing plans, the extras that you have (e.g extra disk space and bandwidth blocks) are not considered. These continue to apply to the new plan and renew on their renewal dates. If after changing plan you decide that you no longer need the extras, you can cancel them at any time so that they will no longer renew. There are no refunds for cancelling extras before the end of their term.

Changing billing cycle at the same time 

If you wish to change billing cycle (either to monthly, quarterly or yearly) at the same time as doing an upgrade/downgrade/crossgrade, please contact sales. When calculating whether it is a upgrade, downgrade or crossgrade, please use the price of the new plan for the cycle that you currently have, not the one you wish to change to. Then take a look at the table to see how the change in cycle affects it:


Change to longer cycle             Change to shorter cycle       
Upgrade New plan cost is the cost for the new cycle Contact sales as depends on situation
Crossgrade             New cycle will take effect from the next billing date New cycle will take effect from the next billing date
Downgrade New cycle will take effect from the next billing date, at the lower plan cost New cycle will take effect from the next billing date, at the lower plan cost

 

If you have any questions about changing your plan, please contact sales and they will go through your options and provide any quotes needed.

 

 

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