Will I be banned for complaining and moaning about outages??

[Nick_S]

Hi all, daft question as it may be, but..................... (sorry if it turns into a sleep inducing write up here)

A year ago I set up a car owners club, brought a hosting package and a couple of domains. I/still am a noob to all this stuff but just about get by

Anyway, all was fine for around 6 months then we started to get a few outtages here and there, which started to get gradually worse. Luckily a member that works in IT offered to come on board and be an Admin about 3 months prior, so he got involved dealing with the hosts but reported back they weren't being very helpful with telling us what was wrong.

I signed up to their help forums to try and get an insight to what was going on, but my posts got removed, and eventually, me who was paying the fees, got banned for and I quote "un-neccessary (s/p )complaining"

Anyway, things got alot worse, we went of the air for 2 days while they changed servers (un-announced I might add) and lost quite alot of info.

We had enough and changed to different hosts, but we've suffered on going slow server response and just lately we're off air for a whole weekend. Their status page just said "some customers might be experiencing intermittent connection problems, we are aware of the problem"
We've still not had an explanation, so we are looking to move again, but we're a bit fed up. These 2 both charged us the yearly hosting cost upfront. The current one we are with has only been running 3 or 4 months so we stand to lose.

I see we can have monthly billing here?? so I take it we could stop if we received bad service?? (not saying we would, but we're not very trustworthy at the moment)

We would be looking at the 'baby' package.

Many thanks for taking the time to read and maybe respond to this.

You treat your customers a little better??

Many thanks
Nick

[gwyneth]

I can't speak for HG but in the past year, I can remember one person being banned from the forum, and she was slinging verbal abuse at everyone...some real temper tantrums.

[Nick_S]

LOL That made me laugh, I have those, but in a quiet padded room

I had a moan, but that was my last post before I got banned. This was caused by them repeatedly deleting our posts when asking technical questions. It wouldn't have been needed if their 24/7 tech support was actually 24/7 instead of 8/7

[jojoyohan]

I can't really recall anyone being banned or even having posts removed (mine have been edited though it was warranted). There are multipage threads with complaints about certain things and nothing happens to those members who have posted their opinions.

[Sam]

Only person i can remeber getting banned was The_Mule and the person that was being abusive & racist to a live chat operator

[GvilleRick]

One of the things that is different about these forums is that there are negative comments as well as positive. I've seen other forums where any negative comment was immediately removed.

That said, moaning about outages in the forums will do little good. If you do notice your server is down you should submit a ticket as soon as possible. There are times when it may look like your server is down when it is not. If it is indeed down then a ticket will be neccessary to verify the outage so that you can request a refund should the downtime exceed the guarantees.

[Nick_S]

Support tickets always raised immediately, but having no response after 6+ hours lead me to post on the support forums. Perhaps I expect to much??

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by _Sam_

Only person i can remeber getting banned was The_Mule and the person that was being abusive & racist to a live chat operator

TheMule wasn't banned...not only did somebody say that the last time it came up, I just checked one of his old posts and one of webdev's rants, and hers said 'banned user' and his didn't.

[esl]

Originally Posted by GvilleRick

One of the things that is different about these forums is that there are negative comments as well as positive. I've seen other forums where any negative comment was immediately removed.

That said, moaning about outages in the forums will do little good. If you do notice your server is down you should submit a ticket as soon as possible. There are times when it may look like your server is down when it is not. If it is indeed down then a ticket will be neccessary to verify the outage so that you can request a refund should the downtime exceed the guarantees.

Well said. I only remember one person being banned. (which they should have) Just don't offend people and keep it clean and all should be well. I have had an excellent history with HostGator.com.

[nexia]

Originally Posted by Club Aristo

Support tickets always raised immediately, but having no response after 6+ hours lead me to post on the support forums. Perhaps I expect to much??

sure you may be awaiting for a quicker answer, but actually, it all depend on the topic of the ticket.

if you ask for support on server bugs, usually they have to wait until one of the techies is online...

if you ask for personal features, they need one of the PR guy upthere...

and if you ask for some FAQ, they always have to find the proper answer.. and usually, they get the best answer, even if it takes time.

remember also that if it can be 8:00 AM at your location, they may be at 8:00 PM somewhere else... they also have lives to live!

the only account that is a yearly one is the smallest one, and for the price, even if you use if for 3 months it worth it. the fees are monthly and there is no problem cancelling... but i would wait for answers instead of complaining that there is none... i'm personally an expert on bothering the guys up there, and they always answer me quickly...

last time is this week-end, when i decided to switch back from reseller to regular user... i posted the support ticket like at midnight, and 3 minutes later the gal was asking me my details to make it quick... in the morning, my switch was made, all my domains were moved, and i had no problem creating backups and retreive my emails before dropping the old account - they let me take my time and droped it after the task... precise and respectful.

[Wayne Sallee]

Yea, I know what that kind of censorship is like. I and a bunch of others got banned from my current host forums because we made a comment about the host putting advertisements on our websites. So the host banned a bunch of us to cover up their tracks, and even changed the TOS after the fact to make what they did look right.

I am now looking for a new host that is open and honest and does not try to cover-up like my current host has.

So I take it that HostGator is nice to it's customers?

I like the fact that I can sign up for the monthly plan and not pay any extra fees. Then I dont' get locked in to a host that turnes out to be a lemon.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Wayne Sallee

So I take it that HostGator is nice to it's customers?

They are more than nice to its customers

[gtgeorge]

I doubt you would get banned for complaining, others have complained. Be aware that HG serves a custom error page advertising HG that you can avoid by creating your own. They also now serve a paid to click page for any non existant subdomains on your domain... for instance try http://gmc.websitewelcome.com
(that is unless it is a hostgator.com address )

[Wayne Sallee]

Originally Posted by gtgeorge

I doubt you would get banned for complaining, others have complained. Be aware that HG serves a custom error page advertising HG that you can avoid by creating your own. They also now serve a paid to click page for any non existant subdomains on your domain... for instance try http://gmc.websitewelcome.com
(that is unless it is a hostgator.com address )

That website is not even hosted on HostGator.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

[ghpk]

Nick,
Actually hostgator staff works real hard to keep your hosting experience best. they are always helpful and nice to you.

They don't hide facts, and are available whenever you need support, no matter which time zone you are on. you can call them 24x7, click the chat button they are there to serve.

In my 3 years here i've seen if a customer complains on any issue not being solved, or delyaed the staff or even the Hostgator owner works with you on ticket to get it solved . HOSTGATOR is not like other hosts' deleting the thread or ticket.

hope you enjoy your stay here.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Wayne Sallee

That website is not even hosted on HostGator.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

It is websitewelcome is the domain reseller servers are on

[gwyneth]

There was a experience the other day that I think sums up everything about HG and this forum. A guy was complaining about an issue in signing up for an HG account. Several forum members told him why it was his fault and that maybe he should complete his loudly announced intention of going to another company.

Owner Brent (i.e., a real owner, with a real name, who follows the forum to at least some extent) stepped in, told us that it was actually HG's fault, that he had fixed the situation and we should be nicer to the guy.

In all ways the opposite of what's normal at many other companies.

[Wayne Sallee]

http://forums.hostgator.com/faq.php?...#faq_reseller2

says

"HostGator will never place ads on any of our customer sites."

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Wayne Sallee

http://forums.hostgator.com/faq.php?...#faq_reseller2

says

"HostGator will never place ads on any of our customer sites."

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

They are not placing it directly on your site. They are placing it on the servers hostname and apache's error page

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by Club Aristo

We've still not had an explanation, so we are looking to move again, but we're a bit fed up. These 2 both charged us the yearly hosting cost upfront. The current one we are with has only been running 3 or 4 months so we stand to lose.

I see we can have monthly billing here?? so I take it we could stop if we received bad service?? (not saying we would, but we're not very trustworthy at the moment)

Nick-I've done plenty of host-hopping myself, and have dealt with unresponsive to nonexistant support, lack of communication, and downright antagonism when trying to address significant outages.

That has NOT been my experience at hg.

Support response times varies significantly here, I've found, often depending on the issue, which makes sense. The quality of support is usually good, but can be inconsistent. I attribute a lot of that to HG's rapid growth and trying to build a strong enough support department to address it...However, I've never had an issue that support could not resolve provided I did my part, which was to continue to ask questions and pursue the matter until I was satisfied with the outcome.

To get the best support, I would say:

Open tickets; only use chat for minor questions or, if you feel the need, a status update on your ticket. Don't respond to tickets asking for a update on the ticket, as my understanding is that it will toss you back down to the end of the que. If you don't get all the info you need with a support response, keep asking until you do. And of course, use common sense: I understand being frustrated, but I personally try never to bite the hand that can solve my problem for me.

And if you poke around in the forum, you'll see PLENTY of whining and moaning, man. While I don't find this a particularly effective technique, I haven't seen posts unduly edited or deleted based on complaint quotient. Check out the reviews forum, for example.

And yes, you can cancel your monthly account without being tied into a long-term agreement. Personally, I wouldn't even consider a host that required a year-long commitment, as I consider the need to lock your customers in a big, fat red flag.

Hope you'll join us!

[broughaj]

I signed up with hostgator on the baby plan just yesterday and have contacted support via phone, live chat, ticket system, and e-mail. Every time I have contacted them the response time was reasonable and they have been very friendly. While it's only been a very short time, so far I am extremely impressed - especially compared to my previous host, Webmasters. Their support guys never fully answer your questions and close tickets before making sure the issue is resolved!

[Wayne Sallee]

Originally Posted by Goddess Dix

And if you poke around in the forum, you'll see PLENTY of whining and moaning, man. While I don't find this a particularly effective technique, I haven't seen posts unduly edited or deleted based on complaint quotient. Check out the reviews forum, for example.

I'll probably move here. I've got to decide real soon as my other account is running out. :-)

I wish host gator would allow us noncustomers to read the other forums, such as the reviews forum, and the other forums. I can understand gator not wanting us to post there, since we are not yet customers, but hiding it from us does bother me.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

[Wayne Sallee]

Originally Posted by Wayne Sallee

I'll probably move here. I've got to decide real soon as my other account is running out. :-)

I wish host gator would allow us noncustomers to read the other forums, such as the reviews forum, and the other forums. I can understand gator not wanting us to post there, since we are not yet customers, but hiding it from us does bother me.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

Correction: I see that the reviews forum *is* viewable. It's the general questions forum and what other ones that does not show.

So at least review, network status, suggestions, and general anouncements do show.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

[gtgeorge]

Originally Posted by Wayne Sallee

I'll probably move here. I've got to decide real soon as my other account is running out. :-)

I wish host gator would allow us noncustomers to read the other forums, such as the reviews forum, and the other forums. I can understand gator not wanting us to post there, since we are not yet customers, but hiding it from us does bother me.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

The customer reviews forum IS available to no customers...you just can't see the forums that are for support and should be customer only!

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by gtgeorge

The customer reviews forum IS available to no customers...you just can't see the forums that are for support and should be customer only!

absolutely! it was reading the review forums before i signed up - specifically the negative review-rants and HG responses - that led me to finalize my decision to go with HG. HG didn't appear to be censoring even the most ridiculous complaints, and dealt with even the least reasonable customers (read: NUTS) in a even-handed and professional way.