All my sites are down - Hostgator where are you?

[tinggg]

Hi

3-4 days ago I noticed one of my landing pages was down, as it was just a page I decided to come back to it after Christmas. Today when trying to add content to another one of my sites I notice that it is down also, I then try my other sites and they too are down - it would appear that all my sites (about 20) have been down for 3-4 days - this is a major issue for me. I contact Hostgator "support" and this is the "help" I get:

Your Chat ID is 161382

(6:02:09 PM) xxxxxx: has entered the chat.

(6:02:15 PM) Nic: hi

(6:04:18 PM) xxxxxx: Please wait one moment while I check on this for you.

(6:04:19 PM) xxxxxx: Your patience is appreciated.

(6:04:23 PM) Nic: ok

(6:06:04 PM) xxxxxx: The error in the log is saying you have a bad network mask

(6:06:23 PM) Nic: what does that mean?

(6:06:38 PM) xxxxxx: Means there is an issue with your .htaccess

(6:07:39 PM) Nic: ?? How could I suddenly have issues with my .htaccess I haven't made any changes to it in months and i'm not sure what the problem could be with it anyway??

(6:08:23 PM) xxxxxx: we recently upgrade to apache 2 and php 5

(6:08:37 PM) xxxxxx: so i would make sure you commands are apache 2 and php 5 compatible

(6:09:28 PM) xxxxxx: Log into your cpanel and then on error logs and you will see the error message yourself

(6:09:44 PM) Nic: and how do I do that?? I believe my sites have been down abut 3-4 days now. Why didn't Hostgator communicate this upgrade to customers?

(6:10:03 PM) xxxxxx: We did on our forums

(6:10:27 PM) Nic: do you think customers are cruising your forums?

(6:10:57 PM) xxxxxx: Yes most of them do if there appears to be a network issue

(6:11:23 PM) Nic: this is ridiculous - how do I fix this issue?

(6:11:50 PM) xxxxxx: You have to look at yout .htaccess

(6:11:58 PM) Nic: and do what...

(6:12:20 PM) xxxxxx: I am not sure this is one of the errors [client 82.4.245.16] /home/xxxxx/public_html/.htaccess: The specified network mask is invalid., referer: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=xxxxx&meta=

(6:12:38 PM) xxxxxx: so actually it looks like your refer to google is bad

(6:13:05 PM) Nic: my refer to google is bad..? what do you mean

(6:13:14 PM) xxxxxx: Read the error

(6:13:21 PM) Nic: I give up

- I have a real problem with the fact that Hostgator does not communicate upgrades and issues that may effect accounts, by email, to customers. Expecting customers to identify a problem with their hosting, then come to this forum to figure out if there's an issue is unreasonable. I have now lost money and traffic because my sites have been down for, as far as I know, 3-4 days

- Also your technical chat support just isn't helpful. I don't know hosting, I expect support to help me fix the problem, not...it might be this...maybe that. Read your error log...what does that mean to me? Nothing. I want help to fix it, I want your hosting expertise to identify what has caused this problem, when I have not made any changes, and offer constructive help to fix it.

I am soo utterly frustrated by Hostgator technical chat support. Can someone from Hostgator, who is willing to help me get my sites up again, please contact me.

Thank you
Nic

[striddy]

Originally Posted by tinggg

I am soo utterly frustrated by Hostgator technical chat support.

Nic, the best and fastest way to get support is to send an email to support at hosgator dot com.

[tinggg]

Ok, thanks David - I thought that's who I was dealing with on technical chat. I will try support at hosgator dot com

[striddy]

Originally Posted by tinggg

Ok, thanks David - I thought that's who I was dealing with on technical chat. I will try support at hosgator dot com

Just noticed my typo. Hostgator not hosegator. Whoops

[tinggg]

After logging a ticket with tech support the issue was fixed; I appreciate that.

[striddy]

Originally Posted by tinggg

After logging a ticket with tech support the issue was fixed; I appreciate that.

Glad it's all working now.

[Goddess Dix]

chat support is best for simple stuff and checking on the status. anything more serious is better with tickets.

also, if you see something wrong on a site, it's always best to open a ticket asap. many issues are harder to track if you wait as the logfile rotate and the techs may not have access to as much info about what's going on.

[globalpro]

As an added option, if you are in the USA, a phone call is really fast. I had a problem late at night I needed fixed ASAP. Made the call and all was taken care of.

Very impressive.

Thanks,

John

[jonel]

I love the ticket system. It's too costly for me call HG, I came from other side of the globe. Ticket works best for me. I had issues fixed in less than an hour, impressive.

[Keith W]

You can call HostGator from anywhere in the world for free using Skype

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by tinggg

Hi

3-4 days ago I noticed one of my landing pages was down, as it was just a page I decided to come back to it after Christmas. Today when trying to add content to another one of my sites I notice that it is down also, I then try my other sites and they too are down - it would appear that all my sites (about 20) have been down for 3-4 days - this is a major issue for me. I contact Hostgator "support" and this is the "help" I get:
...

- Also your technical chat support just isn't helpful.
...

I am soo utterly frustrated by Hostgator technical chat support.

The problem is that Host Gator doesn't have "technical chat support"--there's technical support, reached mostly by the ticket system and email, and there's live chat. Confuse the two at your peril. In my experience, each is very good at what it does, but they have different roles.

Live Chat is excellent at answering questions--what's the relative path, how to write a shared certificate URL, is it me or is the billing system going nuts.

Anything that needs interaction with the server, or work that may take more than a few minutes to accomplish, or diagnostics, is not the kind of thing that goes well when engaging a customer in chat exchanges, and it's not fair to expect it.

It might be compared to dealing with your municipal government. The folks who answer the phones at City Hall can tell you the snowplowing schedule, and possibly why your block was skipped. But getting the water department to realize that your faucets work only between 35 and 42 minutes past the hour, except at 12:10, is beyond the first group's scope, let alone figure out whether you or the city is responsible for the pothole that's half in your driveway and half in the street.