I immediately jumped on a support chat with HostGator (the company which hosts this server). It took me about 20 minutes to get on a chat as since HostGator has been sold they can’t seem to hire enough technicians, and it can take a while to reach someone. I finally did, and the gentleman who was running the chat was extremely friendly and as helpful as he could be. But the problem is he is the first level support person. They are great for helping you with things like email and other simple settings and issues. But in all honesty, any halfway complicated issue is beyond their knowledge and/or capabilities. Typically they will open a ticket for you or tell you to request a reboot or things like that. So then you have to wait for the next level of support to actually look at the issue and handle it.
So what I am proposing is that web hosting companies have two levels of support chats, one to handle the minor issues and then have another for the more difficult problems. And so you don’t lose a bunch of time when you have a server down or other serious issues, the first level person should pass it along to the next level on the chat, instantly. That person can actually jump in reboot, look into more serious issues, hacking etc.
This would save so much angst for web hosting clients. As with many web development firms, I have several hosting accounts, but I still have to rely on hosting vendors to manage the day to day tasks. They are the experts in the field, and they are the ones we turn to. But in today’s world we have so many more issues affecting us, and the threat of hacking is real and it’s never a question of if you’ll be hacked, it’s a question of when. So we really need help from hosting vendors.
Bottom Line: Having a two level support chat will definitely help. But we also need better handling of major outages. We have seen a few of these in the last few months, lasting as long as 9 hours or more. We are bombarded with calls, and text messages, but can’t get through to webhosting companies as they can’t handle the volume. There has to be a better way. For one thing when a server is down, there should be an immediate email blast detailing the situation so that we can pass the information along to our clients. In that email needs to be an estimate as to when the issue will be resolved as that is what our clients need to know.
I say yes if a client is asking you to something you know will fail.
Granted, I am not the arbiter of all things web, but some things I know will fail. I know as sure as I know the sun will rise in the morning. I recently ran into this very situation. Someone I have known for a while wanted to modernize their site. I won’t go into specifics as my goal is not to insult the man. Lets just say the idea wasn’t good 10 years ago and has even less value today. Much less….
I don’t like to insult people but if I am hired for my expertise, I need to operate with a my conscious in tow. That is, it is my job to ask the question, what value does this add, can this succeed? In my case I try to steer people in a direction which will be more profitable. In the situation I mentioned, I did propose an alternative, one that I think would work better and actually have a chance to make money.
I think I hurt the guys feelings, as I got a terse response back and don’t imagine I will be hearing back from him, probably ever. Though I sincerely felt bad, I know I did the right thing trying to save him from himself. As I said earlier I can’t go into details. Lets just say if I called you up an ask if you wanted to invest in the Edsel, what would you say? Or how about a dial up internet service? (no, neither were his idea, but it is almost as bad) Worse, he wanted to try and sell something you can get for free. (No, not that ;))
One things is guaranteed, he will find someone to take on the project, no matter how poor the idea is. His money is green and not every web company will be as honest as I try to be. Also some feel it isn’t their place to tell a potential their idea is bad no matter how asinine. I disagree.
While I am a for profit entity, I thinks grabbing the quick payday is a poor strategy as your clients fail and repeat business is not coming your way or are referrals. I think my strategy works, as I have a 98% client retention rate.
Honesty pays, period.
