Really Bad - So Far [resolved]

[Beautiful-Letdown]

Ok so first of all let me explain the purpose of my site.

My site is a self harm, depression, eating disorders, mental health and a peer to peer emotional support forum it's a Not For Profit organization meaning we make no money from the site what so ever only those kind rare donations from members {we don't even have ads on the site} we aren't a registered charity but we don't make money for what we do.

We help over 100 members on a regular basis providing emotional support and comfort during hard times in people's lives.

As you can understand it's vital our website is up 24/7.

We moved from our old host due to down time, we have been with hosts where after a couple of months the host has gone BUST.

So we began our search for a new host we wanted a large hosting company so it were more reliable we didn't want another soul trader and we wanted one that offered unmetered b/w and disk space just so we didn't have to worry about monitoring our sites usage.

Most importantly we wanted a GREEN web host that would be good for the environment this was a huge plus if we could find a web host like this.

Along comes HostGator, when I stumbled across HostGator two weeks ago I thought it was exactly what I was looking for with the exception of it not being in the UK but I was willing to over look this.

I chose the BUSINESS package, I didn't really need the extra features such as the IP or the toll free phone number I simply thought for such a great service with what seemed to be a great company I was willing to pay that little bit extra and in fact I paid two months in advance.

However day 1 and things started to go wrong I found the customer service appalling being chucked from pillar to post it took hours to upload my large database a job that should have taken two minutes but took far longer because chat told me to open a support ticket where I had to reply for a long period of time stating information I had already verified several times before.

Some of the staff members were rude impolite rushed me and didn't seem to have the time for me.

However some staff members inpaticular SLADE were very helpful and were the politest and loveliest staff members to deal with.

However again back to day 1 the severs haven't been down but instead everyday for two weeks {without fail} the server has run so slow it's shocking it happens everyday cPanel is not able to be reached nor my emails or FTP. The site either takes 10 minutes per page to load or gives me a database error or network times out error.

I have contacted support and each time they have told me that the server technical team are aware about the issues and are always working hard and fast to fix them.

I wouldn't mind this if I wasn't paying the max package and also paid two months upfront and been a loyal customer and patient customer so far.

I have tried to be understanding but this has got to much I am now looking for some form a compensation for all the loss in clients and the access to our "life saving"* services.

I have been a loyal customer but as I am in my 30 day money back guarantee time frame I can happily take my custom else where, I don't want to do this by any means but I think it's about time HostGator show some loyalty and give me some form of compensation in return for time lost.

I could easily ask for my money back my problem isn't the money it's I do like HostGator but for a organization that doesn't make money valuable time is lost and it feels like what I am paying monthly is going to waste when people can't use my services.

So far my customer experience with HostGator has been a very bad one customer service needs improving use WHMCS as a billing system this way there will be less issues with clients being thrown from pillar to post.

SOME staff members need to take lessons on being polite and friendly {after all if it wasn't for us customers they wouldn't have a wage or a job}.

But most of all something needs to be done about the servers everyday since I have been with you my site running this slow and giving me error messages all the time due to the speed isn't good.

HostGator staff have apologized to me more than 5 times actions speak louder than words no "sorry" any more instead prove it.

I feel rude asking for a month free but I think I deserve it due to this experience so far I don't feel I have had value for money.

Anyway I will let the HostGator team decide how much my custom matters to them and whether they want to keep my as a customer, if they do then they know what I want.

Regards,

Richard McKeag

[GatorDHanna]

Hi Richard,

I'm sorry to hear about the rough time you've had with HostGator. I apologize for the inconveniences. I'd like to get your issues resolved for you. Do you have a ticket in with our support team? If so, what is that ticket ID? I'll check into it for you.

And if you don't mind, could you PM me the names of the people who you spoke to / chatted with? If you could send me the good and the bad, I can thank / work with the people accordingly.

Thanks so much for your patience.

[Beautiful-Letdown]

I sent an email in to the appropriate department HostGator have worked with me to find a solution in which I am happy with.

Sadly as I said for a long time I was patient and didn't want to make any kind of formal complaint so I didn't keep a chat log of staff chat logs with me instead I jut thought that it was appalling but had no plans to make a complaint.

However should I have any further contact with HostGator I will be sure to keep records.

I would like to point out it is only a select few staff members I talked with and as I said there were a few inpaticuar I remember SLADE and a few others who were just amazingly polite, professional and sympathetic.

Rick

[GatorDHanna]

Rick,

I am glad to hear that you got your issue resolved and I've marked this post accordingly. If you ever run into any issues in the future, don't hesitate to let me know. I will ensure you get a resolution. I will also pass your kind words onto Slade and his supervisor.

Thank you again for your understanding.