Friday, December 1, 2017

All good things come to an end

Apologies for the recent issues and slowness with our site. We don't like what's happening, and we would actually fix issues quickly if things were fully in our control.

Let us explain.


So what happened?

Billsup is hosted on a business pro hosting plan with arvixe, which means that arvixe, as the hosting provider, control the server capacity, resources, and admin privileges on our servers, while we (Billsup) have to rely on them to fix uptime issues. We chose them 6 years ago due to budget contraints and arvixe had great value and reviews at the time.

We used to love arvixe as did many others until recently when they changed owners. They are no longer reliable as many of you have experienced - in fact the recent data loss, migration mistake, and outages can be directly attributed to their lack of competency.


In detail...
  • Oct 13: arvixe emailed us saying that they will upgrade our admin panel (We thought okay, cool, zero downtime).
  • Nov 16: arvixe emailed us again and said server migration is complete and redirecting traffic to new server (eh? migration? but cool, zero down time!)
  • Nov 17: Server is down. Apparently arvixe didn't configure the new server properly - wrong config files, missing binaries, SSL certificate missing, wrong redirects, the list goes on 😅  no help from arvixe after numerous chats and tickets. We spent hours troubleshooting and fixed these configuration problems.
  • Nov 18: realized our brand new server has a database that's 8 days old. Apparently they cloned our databases to the new server on Nov 9 but didn't start redirecting traffic to new server until Nov 16. Again no help from arvixe after numerous chats and tickets. We again spent hours recovering your data.
  • Nov 28: 😡 Unstable server performance and responses, and lack of support from their live support or sysadmins, even until now.
We're sorry that our users had to endure this pain with us 😖 😭


What's next?

1. Build an export feature

We want to make sure all your bills can be downloaded so you feel safe. This should be available within 3 weeks.


2. Move away from arvixe

As arvixe is no longer reliable, we plan to move away from it even though we still have another year of contract with them. In case you didn't know, we moved to AWS for a short while a few years ago, but we just couldn't bear the cost. This time, we will try to migrate our services to azure for a more stable experience and keep it running there for at least a couple months. This will take a few days to a week, so bear with us while we move over.


3. Retire our services

Wait... what?!? Well, it has been 6 years since we started Billsup. Between the mobile app compatibility and hosting issues, along with the changing world of technology and needs, we felt that we couldn't dedicate the time or financial resources to continue to provide a high quality and stable service for you.

You may feel all sorts of emotions - anger, frustration, sadness - well, us too. It has been an extremely difficult decision to make as we use Billsup for our own bill tracking, and we have spent endless hours and sleepless nights building and maintaining the system. For those geeks out there who are just curious, we will be later blog about our algorithms here.

Before we go, we want to make sure you can download your data, and also find a new home for your bill tracking. Here are some apps to try if you liked Billsup:


We are thankful for our supporters over the years, especially those who have stuck with us since the early alpha stages,
Your friends at Billsup

22 comments:

  1. Just wanted to say that I've been using Billsup probably since the beginning. It has helped me and my friends / housemates greatly in keeping track of expenses and fair shares.

    I sent a donation recently and I would encourage anyone who found the app / site as valuable to do the same. I think the best way to reconcile debts is to get everyone in your party who has the app and compare the latest bill entries.

    Sorry to see you guys go, thank you for keeping us informed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry to hear your struggles. Billsup has helped me manage and split bills for the past couple of years without any worry. I know the world has moved on from billsup, now that there are better services available. As you rightly put it, all good things come to an end. I'm glad you had a good time while you had it. Thanks a lot for all your service and passion.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Last 3 years i am continuously using bills up. Its really help me a lot. Now am really very sorry hearing this. Now really am agree all good things come to an end. Hope will see you better position in next time. Thank you very much for your service. And All the very best for your next step.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry to hear this. I want to appreciate all your efforts right from the beginning and your concern towards the user data, well done Billsup team.Thank you so much for your service.

    ReplyDelete
  5. How and when i'll be able to download my bills?

    ReplyDelete
  6. One of the best shared bill services. I have tried many, but you have remained the best. Sad to see you go. Now how do I get to download my existing data?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An export feature will be available before end of the month to allow users to download their transaction data.

      Delete
  7. Sorry to see you go. But many of my friends owe me and I don't know how much until I export my data. Please hurry up with it so I don't lose the money.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you clear your browser cache and go to https://billsup.com, you should be able to view your debt balance and transactions.

      An export feature will be available before end of the month.

      Delete
  8. Hi, when should we be able to export the expenses that are already entered on Billsup.com?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An export feature will be available before end of the month. Meanwhile you can still go to our site to view your debt balances.

      Delete
  9. Is it possible for you guys to export and mail it out to the individual emailID's ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An export feature will be available before end of the month to allow users to download their transaction data.

      Delete
  10. When we will be able to export our bills? Billsup folks please let us know when export will be available. My friends owe me lot of money and now i have no way to look into it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you clear your browser cache and go to https://billsup.com, you should be able to view your debt balance and transactions.

      An export feature will be available before end of the month.

      Delete
  11. Thank you BillsUp. I have been using it for 4 yrs, such a friendly app.. Once again thanks for all ur efforts..

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've been using your app for almost 5 years. Thank you for the time and effort put in, you have helped our family track expenses immensely. Good luck to you guys in your future endeavors

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you for the service. I started using Billsup when Billmonk went down and you were the only ones offering to import that data. The features provided by billsup cannot be matched by any other apps even after after 6 years. If you happen to have any other products please keep me informed.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I switched from billmonk to billsup about 5-6 years back. Since then, have been using it for all expense share. From roommates to outings to parties to groceries. I thank you for incorporating some suggestions I had made long back. Showed that you guys really cared about the customers. Thanks for your services. Best of luck for your future endeavors.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I have been using Billsup, or Billmonk as it was called since 2010. It has been easy to use, so much so that I still use it with older friends although newer friends use Splitwise. I will miss you folks, thank you for your service!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Been using Billsup since almost 5years. Thank you for all your hard work in making bills tracking so simple. You guys are best, for not jus creating an app for all us, but for being so supportive and sharing each n every update to us. I wish you the best in everything ! Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks this service were great. I wish we can keep it alive for long.

    ReplyDelete

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