Update after a 2-3 weeks...

[cthesoup]

I'm in the process of being a former reseller of Dot5 Hosting. I'm moving my customers over slowly, and very gunshy of any new hosts. (Side note: NEVER EVER, EVER DO BUSINESS WITH Dot5Hosting. I would rather put my you-know-what in a meat grinder before doing business with those incompetent fools.)

That being said...

There are 3 parts to this puzzle: Cost - Support - Product

Cost is good. Can't really complain. More than I was paying at Dot5, but then again...I'm moving away from those morons. I guess you get what you pay for.

Product is great. Nice features. I like Cpanel better than the Ensim that I was using at DotCrap. I miss my SSH access, but I can live without it. Glad to see Spamassassin. I use it on my production mail servers at work.

Support - Compared to Dot5...great! However, compared to my expectations...good. My first support request was on the phone. I talked with some guy, who sounded like I woke him up, and that I was bothering him by asking a question. His tone was curt, but he gave me the right answer.

Second support request was over IM. I talked to a Woman (forget her name...started with an M) and she was great. Answered my question. No problems.

Third request was also IM. The tech told me to email support. While I understand the IM support people don't have root, it would be more appropriate for the IM tech to email the admins on the customer's behalf. Instead...I have to explain my problems...again. Never got an answer from support.

4th request over IM. Told me to email support. I also included my problem I never got an answer on. Haven't heard from them in 7 hours, but was told it could take 12 to hear anything. Don't dare call the phone number, because I'm afraid to piss off some sleeping tech again.

I'll write another update when I hit 6 weeks or so. So far, I'm hopeful that I won't need to find another host for a long time. I hope this helps those who are refugees from other HORRIBLE hosting companies make an informed decision about picking up HG. HG seems good. I hope they can keep it up.

Christian

p.s. Please realize, my critical views are due to my CURRENTLY being burned so bad by hosting providers that I'm hyper-sensitive to any problems.

[cthesoup]

Just got the reply to my support question just after I posted the first post. Unfortunately, the responses weren't all that helpful. It seems I have to create a good case to get support. One line responses was all I got.

I gave the requested information....I'll see if anything get's resolved.

Still hopeful.

Christian

[GatorBrent]

What's your ticket number?

If im support opened the ticket then when we answer it im support would get the answer.

[onsite]

I think that his name is Brett. Now 100 % on that but he sounds like that everytime I have called him. He answers but does not sound happy about it. He has been correct when I needed the answer but just does not seem to customer friendly. My problem is sometimes I don't have the time to read the faq's or trouble ticket. I normally can fix something If I am giving the correct answer over the phone. I like phone support. I was with vip-hosting and they were grate until a month ago and then all hell broke loose. Plus these servers are supporting streaming audio and video which two of my clients needed. So far I am happy with the service. I am a little concerned about the speed of the servers but I am still getting everything ported over and have not really tested them. I hope that I can stay here without moving again. I was with vip for about 3 years. Hostgator has more features that I need and half the price. Now let's see if it's half the speed.

[GatorBrent]

We are one of the very few companies that offer 24/7 phone. We are starting to requirie a ticket be opened first before calling in.

The reasons being....

over half the people who call are from other countries most with very strong accents understanding one another is close to impossible.

When a problem isn't documented theres no case history and a problem can bounce forever.

When giving information such as links, and answers phone support is not the best place. We usually have to repeat ourselves 10 times before the person finally understands what we are saying. When a ticket is open it's easier to help the person since the problem / questions are written out in a more understandable way. And the answer they need can be provided correctly.

Not to mention you have some callers who call in when they are lonely. Phone support is really hard to offer to many people take advantage of it. So anyone reading this please open a ticket first before calling you make our lives 10x easier.

[Buckshot]

I understand what you are saying.

But I signed up with your hosting company for it's phone support. I didn't sign up for your hosting company to open support tickets. Had you not have advertise phone support, I wouldn't even went with your company.

Phone support was a huge selling point. I do not need to wait 12 hours for a responce on a support ticket. Thats why I signed up in the 1st place so I wouldn't have to wait for support tickets and could talk with someone by phone.

You should also edit your guarantee on the packages as they list phone support as a guarantee.

Are you phasing phone support out?

[GatorBrent]

We ask for you to open a ticket first, and then call phone support when you need it. No we aren't phasing phone out.

[mediahosting]

Support,

While reading over the last few posts I noticed that most of my concerns are pretty general.

First of all, who ever is on the general phone from the number on the website, not sure who, but they need to be a little more friendly.

Honestly just try to be nice, not an ass. I've posted tickets and waited days, and I guess the tickets have been closed with a one line answer which doesn't help or solve the problem. I understand that may happen sometimes with hundreds of tickets daily.

But I would suggest doing a review of the employees that like doing this support. There are several people that are very nice & helpful. The rest of them that think they are too cool for helping others, and probably need to find a job where they don't have to help others.

Sorry for the frustration, but someone needs to look into this support attitude problem. Would really improve Host Gator overall for the best.

Friendly support means more happy customers, the hosting part is already great, but follow up with the friendly contacts. This post is meant to be helpful constructive critism.

Thanks,
KP