Web Hosting Nightmare

H

HB13DISH

Retired Mod
My Location
Middle East - Israel
My web hosting company from the US decided few weeks to abolish their Basic package option ($8/month) and literally forced customers to have the Small Business package ($19/month), which has a lot of storage space that I hardly need. So I decided to cancel my subscription with them.
Then I started looking for other web hosting companies and this turned out to be a nightmare.
My needs are:
- Windows Hosting (shared)
- Plesk Control Panel
- MS FrontPage Support
- Smartmail for web emails
- Excellent support by true professionals

As I went over at least 100 web hosting websites, I finally decided on what seemed to be the best choice.
So I registered, paid for 1 month with subsequent monthly payments, even though an annual payment would have saved me a lot of money.
And this is when the trouble started...
They switched off by default a very important parameter on my website server, so I submitted a ticket to their support team requesting them to change it.
It took them 48 hours to sort it out !!!
My previous web hosting company had a reasonably good support.
In spite of the time difference between Israel and the US which is about 8-10 hours, I always had some kind of a fast response, even when everyone is fast asleep in the US or during the weekends.
With this new company, all my tickets so far are answered by the same person, who doesn't seem to know much and always asks me for more details instead of dealing with the problem in a professional way, and only at night when I am fast asleep.
Whatever happened to the 24/7 support if they only respond during normal work hours in the US? or should this read 7/24?
They have a shift manager, so apparently there are people who work during the small hours. Perhaps on sales so as to attract more suckers like me.

Anyway it looks like this is going to be the shortest stay with any web hosting company.
I don't expect much help as most members are probably happy with Linux hosting instead of Windows, but just in case you use a really good company with Windows hosting and with fast professional support, then please recommend it as I have to register again over the weekend.
 
HB13DISH said:
Whatever happened to the 24/7 support if they only respond during normal work hours in the US? or should this read 7/24?
Click to expand...



Maybe you had it right the first time, 7 hours every 24 days is what you signed up for.
 
I guess that what you've found is going to be pretty much the norm, don't expect excellent customer service for $8 per month, just isn't going to happen. 24hr customer support normally only applies to overall operation of the server (keeping it up and running), most companies will only deal with individual account queries during their standard working hours.
 
generally, before signing up with certain company, go to webhostingtalk.com and check their reviews there...
 
I don't think that it really matters what the monthly cost is, be it $8 or $30.
If the company has professional support technicians, then I really don't mind how long does it take them to respond (which should be quite fast if they are really good).
What upsets me is that the new support person seems to lack the knowledge to understand a simple request like e-mail send problem and how to deal with it instead of asking for more details.
Anyway, I have just given them the boot and will register with another one that was my second best choice, only they have quarterly payment and not monthly.
When I asked pre-sale questions, I got good response and from several people with the correct answers. So hopefully I might have better luck this time.
When I pressed them for time response for tickets, they mentioned four hours, which is totally acceptable to me. But at pre-sale time, they would promise you the moon if you only register.
 
Tried to order with the next best choice (so I thought)
Selected 3 months payment, and wham, got a $30 setup fee when I could swear that it said free before.
Went back to the source and there is a teeny weeny note (need a microscope to see it) that it is free for 12 months or 24 months signing.
I really hate it when I fall for this kind of tricks. )(-red
Got cold feet and the search goes on.
 
Can you believe it?
I got a message from sales offering me $50 discount if I only sign up for the 12 months or 24 months.
Told them to waive the $30 setup fee or shove it up their servers. :-rofl2
 
A little update.
As I expected, they wouldn't waive the $30 setup fee which means if I cancel within 30 days, this will not be refunded.
So although they offered me a discount of $50, I run the risk of losing $30 hard cash if they turn out to be just another lousy web hosting company.
They had their chance.:)
 
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