Something of a bad experience

[Kerin]

I held a reseller account with Noxik for some time; I have a penchant for starting web-oriented projects at random and then losing interest and starting another, and it was more economical to have a reseller account rather than to have many seperate accounts.

All in all, I had over 50 accounts, 45 of which belonged to friends for personal-site use.

Recently, I had all sorts of email trouble, cpanel trouble, and folders were CHMODding themselves and not allowing the account owners or myself to change them; it was irritating.

Noxik unexplainedly went down around a week ago; their mailservers do not work and there is no site at www.noxik.com, which irritated me to no end.

So I came to hostgator, as the websites i administrate have been down for some time, and i could not wait any longer.

So I signed up, paid, and waited. After nearly an hour, I IMed the hostgator3 tech as follows:


Kerin (8:02:29 AM): hello.
Kerin (8:02:40 AM): do you have a moment?
gatorsupport3 (8:02:41 AM): hi
gatorsupport3 (8:02:43 AM): sure
Kerin (8:04:22 AM): alright. i just signed up for a "swamp croc" account, and i didn't realize that it was not a reseller account. i payed with paypal and it went through, is there any way i can send extra money or get my money back so that i can resubscribe with the plan i need?
Kerin (8:04:41 AM): i do not believe that the account has been created yet, only the billing has taken place.
gatorsupport3 (8:05:30 AM): well did you receive the welcome email and did you check if your account is activated
Kerin (8:06:02 AM): i did not get the welcome email.
Kerin (8:08:26 AM): my email was aegith@verizon.net, the paypal was orders@bestfriendscollection.com
gatorsupport3 (8:08:43 AM): ok, please let your account get acivated first
gatorsupport3 (8:08:50 AM): then once it is activated
gatorsupport3 (8:09:12 AM): you can upgrade to our reseller packages at http://hostgator.com/upgrade.php
Kerin (8:09:25 AM): will this incur any sort of double payment?
gatorsupport3 (8:09:51 AM): no
Kerin (8:10:01 AM): alright then.
Kerin (8:10:05 AM): thank you for your time.
Kerin (9:50:22 AM): excuse me
Kerin (9:50:31 AM): but how long do paypal orders usually take?
gatorsupport3 (9:51:15 AM): you mean to get processed?
Kerin (9:51:23 AM): well, yeah.
Kerin (9:51:31 AM): set-up and ready to use or upgrade.
gatorsupport3 (9:52:10 AM): they should be done in 20 minutes to 30 minutes at the max
Kerin (9:52:30 AM): well, i signed up two hours ago, and i haven't recieved the email ;x
gatorsupport3 (9:53:26 AM): you should get a reply soon. you can also email sales@hostgator.com for any problems faced
Kerin (9:53:49 AM): alright
Kerin (1:05:20 PM): mm. i do hate to keep bothering you, but my account is still of the nonexistant variety.
Kerin (1:05:34 PM): please note that i am talking to you on the assumption that you can do something.
Kerin (1:06:15 PM): if you can not actually do anything other than to tell me to wait, i suppose that i will write an email detailing my troubles.
gatorsupport3 (1:06:17 PM): one moment reading
gatorsupport3 (1:06:23 PM): lol you type fast
Kerin (1:06:44 PM): yes. i type an obscene amount. ;-)
gatorsupport3 (1:07:08 PM): :-) well allow few hours you will get your welcome email
Kerin (1:07:27 PM): i have allowed five hours thus far, sir. ;x
gatorsupport3 (1:08:03 PM): paypal order may take 12 hrs for setup
Kerin (1:08:39 PM): christ. what do you people do over there, drill holes in the heads of furry woodland creatures?
Kerin (1:08:55 PM): that is an obscene amount of time.
gatorsupport3 (1:09:26 PM): may I know your domain name that you used for signup ?
Kerin (1:09:33 PM): you may.
Kerin (1:09:38 PM): aegith.net
Kerin (1:10:04 PM): the email address was aegith@verizon.net, should you need that.
gatorsupport3 (1:14:04 PM): you pay with paypal right
Kerin (1:14:14 PM): aye.
Kerin (1:14:23 PM): the paypal email was different, however.
gatorsupport3 (1:14:32 PM): what is that
Kerin (1:14:47 PM): it was orders@bestfriendscollection.com, i believe.
gatorsupport3 (1:15:10 PM): you will be setup shortly
Kerin (1:15:15 PM): thank you so much. ;x
Kerin (1:15:32 PM): i'm sorry to be such a bother, but this is really quite important.
gatorsupport3 (1:16:02 PM): understable :-)
Kerin (1:38:52 PM): out of curiosity, what amount of time do you forsee it taking?
gatorsupport3 (1:44:46 PM): for ?
Kerin (1:45:01 PM): my account to be setup and such. ;-)
gatorsupport3 (1:46:02 PM): when did you place the order ?
Kerin (1:46:39 PM): hmm, i guess you're not the guy i was talking to earlier, then?
Kerin (1:48:28 PM): well, i placed my order at around eight AM today.
gatorsupport3 (1:52:03 PM): please wait for some time
gatorsupport3 (1:52:12 PM): it can take 10 hours for account to be setup


Now, I realize that it was my miscalculation to pay via paypal, and he explained that to me, but he offers no information of any sort and is just being unhelpful. Lord, this is irritating.

Then there's the issue of my purchasing the wrong package; I do not particularly wish to pay for a month of swampgator hosting in addition to the aluminum reseller (as i assume would occur when i upgrade) but all in all that was my mistake and i suppose i can't be angry at anyone other than myself.


That is all. I'd suggest to anyone who comes to hostgator that they avoid paypal payment if necessary, and to avoid this particular tech.

[GatorJustin]

I am sorry for the delays you have experienced thus far. Unfortunately, when people choose to pay using Paypal, we must rely on their system to provide timely notification to us that payment has been received and processed.

Our FAQ states that when paying via Paypal you should allow up to 10 hours for your account to be set up. I realize that many people don't read FAQs these days, so I'll see what I can do about adding a note to the actual payment page so there can be no confusion in the future.

Can you tell me approximately how long it took for you to receive your account welcome email? Was it over 10 hours?

[Kerin]

I just recieved the following email:

Welcome to the hostgator family!








BTW That's the funniest reason to join I've ever read. =)



Your gong to be a fun one to host. lol



| Domain: aegith.net
| Ip: 67.18.54.31
| UserName: ******
| PassWord: ********


| NameServer1: ns3.hostgator.com
| NameServer2: ns4.hostgator.com


Please read www.hostgator.com/gettingstarted.html for all the information needed to manage your account.

Sincerely,

The Hostgator Team






And with these precisely disarming and friendly words my unquenchable angst is sated. My reason to join was a long story which i don't really recall the details of because my memory is like a goldfish only less often swallowed alive by college kids.

It is now 4:55, clocking in at nine hours total since i placed my order.

And i read the FAQ afterwards and noticed that. Again, I am somewhat chagrinned.

Many thanks, noble alligators and assorted crocodiles.

[GatorJustin]

Glad you're all set up. Enjoy your new server.

-Justin

[Kerin]

that I shall, dear sir.

Kerin...you are quite a fun one to have on the forums, I must admit! Welcome to HG!