Hi all.
I rent out my 2 rigs on leaserig most of the time. I am very much a "small player". I do this for a bit of fun, but I do like to think I provide value to my renters, when the rigs are leased. I understand how the leaserig system works. I think it's great.
Today I decided that I might rent a few other rigs and throw some hashpower at a few coins I wanted to get a piece of. I'm not particularly skilled or knowledgeable, but I figure what the hell... Why not.
I wanted to show you what a renter's experience looked like. Rig and renter's names withheld.
I leased 7 rigs for various amounts of time, varying from 2 hours to 36 hours. I sank about 0.1 BTC into the exercise, so I'm not losing heaps of money, but ultimately I'm putting "real" money down for services. During these 7 leases :
- One rig went offline for an hour. I noticed it before the owner did, and messaged him. reimbursed 1.5x time. Good result.
- One rig went offline for a shorter period of time. I noticed it before the owner. I messaged the owner. Awaiting response. Still down.
- One rig advertised at speed X was hashing rock solid at .05mhash less than it was rated at. Note - not fluctuating up and down and averaging at the advertised speed, but solid, reliably less than advertised. Messaged owner, who credited me with an extra hour and basically said I should expect the advertised speed + or - .05mhash. While I got reimbursed some, I think that's not right - it should at the very least average hashrate at the advertised rate. Same thing is going to happen to future renters...
- One rig was malfunctioning when switching pools (when the primary pool was dead). It didn't switch correctly to my backup pool when the main pool died, and, it stopped hashing for several hours. I noticed this before the owner did. PM'd owner who credited me with most of the downtime, acknowledged it was an issue with his rig, but then reminded me the leaserig service was in beta, and quoted me the "no responsibility will be taken for rig owners blah blah" from the leaserig website.... Nice service - NOT. It's still malfunctioning, and I still can't point it at the primary pool I want (this rig shows it as "down" when all my other leases are happily mining on it....). It's currently stuck on my backup pool, since I figure I might as well get something out of the lease....
- I'm happy to say the other 3 rigs performed flawlessly, couldn't fault them. And yes I will leave feedback as such when all my leases are finished.
And I still have several hours lease left on some of these rigs too - fingers crossed we're stable now...
Perhaps I'm an optimist, but I think that result is terrible. If I was a member of the public renting rigs for the first time, I can guarantee you I wouldn't be back after that experience!! If we're renting out a rig and being PAID BTC for it, it's our responsibility as a rig provider to provide the best service possible. Reliable, as advertised, and if any issues happen make it right - usually credit the renter with time, BTC refund, or both. Preferably everyone should monitor their rigs - it shouldn't be up to the renter to make sure your rig is working properly.
I realise it's not possible (in my estimation) to provide a 100% reliable mining rig. It's the nature of the beast. You get as close as you can, then "make it right" for anything that breaks. I have credited time (always more than was lost) to several renters since I have been doing this. It's the right thing to do, and keeps customers happy with not only your own service, but the service provided by leaserig.
I strongly encourage everyone renting their rigs out to take this seriously, and understand that you have a responsibility to provide a good service to those paying you for it.... The viability of this service relies upon you doing the right thing.
Thanks for listening to my rant. Flame away if you must.