Mostly Great, But a Suggestion is Coming...

[JBenedetti]

Couldn't decide whether to post this to Reviews or Suggestions, because it contains some of both. But a review it is. You guys can move it in the admin if you need to. It's a long post, but there's a point and a definite moral to the story.

I want to start this off by saying that, overall for the last year or so, I've found Hostgator to be very solid. Especially considering the cost of the shared packages and what you get for the money. Server uptime has been good, support response time usually quick. I'm only posting the following because it seems that you are concerned about quality and seem to have a real desire to be the best, and I feel like telling this story could help you to provide better service, which would in turn help me and my clients, and others like me. Nutshell: I like you guys, but have some gripes too.

Some background here:
My design/development studio does light reselling here. By that I mean that I have a reseller account, but I only use it for friends, family and lightweight client sites. So there are around 15 or so sites on my reseller plan, most of them just friends. *But* I have another 15-20 client sites on various hostgator shared plans right now, mostly swamp and semi-dedicated. So now we're looking at 30 or so sites hosted here-- businesses of all sizes, sites that I have to monitor and work through support issues on behalf of. This can sometimes equate to a lot of support emails sent to support@hostgator.com on behalf of my clients, mostly for minor issues. What's more, my studio supports another 120 sites that we've built over the last 6 years, hosted elsewhere on multiple other hosts. I'm seriously considering getting a dedicated server, moving many of them over there, but have some reservations. I'll explain. This is sort of long, but it's pointless if I don't tell the whole story, as it points to a bigger issue that recurs often, so here goes...

I recently upgraded an active client site to a semi-dedicated plan (once again, not a reseller plan, but a shared plan). Client was preparing for a big national media push. The process was... interesting...

First off, I was really happy that HG offered to transfer the site for me, databases, email, scripts, certificates and all. Support member Chad did a great job working with me via email, moved the site and had it up on the new server in no time. As per instructions, he left the old swamp plan active-- the plan was to move the site files, test at the new dedicated IP, then I would update DNS at the registrar to point to the new nameservers after all the kinks were worked out, then close the Swamp plan. I was expecting some kinks-- would have been unreasonable not to. Just was planning on working through them before the site went live.

The problems started after what I can only guess was a shift change for your tech staff. These events happened over a 36 hour period.

First, no one sent me the new dedicated IP, so I couldn't properly test (this site couldn't be properly tested online using the IP/~username path, too many root-relative image and link paths). Then someone immediately changed the DNS zone record over there at your facility to point to the new server, without telling me. So the semidedicated site's live, no testing.

Then I discovered I had no FTP access. Server was just rejecting connections via FTP. Since whoever moved the site didn't remove the default index.html file (my index was .php), my live site displayed the "No site is configured at this address" cPanel homepage, and I couldn't FTP in to remove it. And no one told me the zone file had been changed-- I just woke up in the AM and decided to check this client's site.. and it wasn't there.

There were numerous other issues (some of which still exist) related to CURL and SSL and differing php versions/modules which I will not list-- most of which I had anticipated and was prepared to deal with-- but not on a live site. The point of this is not the issues themselves, but the simple means by which they could have been avoided.

Here's the point:
If I could have worked with 1 or 2 support reps from start to finish who knew the history of this project, then these issues would have been non-issues-- what issues there were could have been fixed via person-to-person communication while working on a not-live site. Assign the ticket early on to one person or small team. Instead, I went back and forth with what felt like a dozen different support reps, many of whom didn't know what the last person had or had not done. I know how Cerebrus works, and I know the ticket history is there, but not all your reps bothered to read it. Some asked me questions that made no sense. Some responded to issues that had been answered 3 threads earlier, while not responding the the current issue. Sometimes 2 different reps would answer the same question with 2 totally different answers, but both reps would leave other issues in the same ticket unanswered, some of which are still unanswered after... let's see... 48 hours. That's 48 hours of an angry client calling me and wondering when their web store was going to be operational again.

I've had other issues come up like this over the last year (though not as serious), where time was wasted for both of us because of miscommunication.

So the suggestion is this: for sites that require the pipe a dedicated or semi-dedicated plan provides, could we be assigned a customer service/support rep-- even pay extra for one-- during certain kinds of events, like a server move? I would have gladly dropped a hundred or so bucks just to have a single someone to handle this case for me. It would make me feel much more comfortable moving my clients over there if I knew there was someone I could talk to directly when there's something important happening. Plus, it would remove the "Faceless Corporation" aspect from the business relationship, making people like me more comfortable moving large numbers of clients over to you, buying dedicated servers from you, etc.

Further, a sit down with your support staff about reading through ticket histories might need to be discussed at the next company meeting.

I absolutely hate feeling like I'm being a drain on your support staff. As I said, I support 150 clients myself so I know what a hassle it can be. And, I'd say, 75% of the time your support staff is excellent. But there needs to be something in place for special cases-- some sort of option-- because I think it would make things smoother and friendlier for both your staff and customers like me (and others, I'm sure).

[JBenedetti]

To follow up on the issues mentioned in this thread, all outstanding issues were resolved quickly and professionally as soon as system admin Tim G took control of the ticket. It just took awhile for it to get bumped up to him.

[GatorJay]

Originally Posted by JBenedetti

To follow up on the issues mentioned in this thread, all outstanding issues were resolved quickly and professionally as soon as system admin Tim G took control of the ticket. It just took awhile for it to get bumped up to him.

Glad to hear this was resolved and hope you are enjoying the service!