WE NEED EXPLANATIONS, NOT "IT'S FIXED"

SavageSinister · #1 03-04-2005, 06:43 PM

I was on my way out the door to an important client meeting when I got a phone call from a panicked client telling me that his site was down, and that he'd checked, and that mine was down too.

So I run back inside and check. Sure enough, virtually every site I host (close to 50) displayed the cPanel "No site configured for this address" screen.

So I IM support. I email. I call. I freak out.

The IM session, in its entirity:

[16:38] SavageSinister: Hi -
[16:38] SavageSinister: Um
[16:38] SavageSinister: Where are all my sites?
[16:39] gatorsupport3: please let me know your domain name
[16:39] SavageSinister: sinistervisions.com
[16:39] gatorsupport3: ok checking
[16:39] SavageSinister: You don't understand
[16:39] SavageSinister: ALL MY SITES
[16:39] SavageSinister: like, 50
[16:39] SavageSinister: That's just one
[16:40] SavageSinister: http://www.alanmclark.com/
[16:40] gatorsupport3: please let me check that
[16:40] SavageSinister: Do you need primary reseller account info?
[17:24] gatorsupport3: no
[17:24] SavageSinister: Any idea what the problem is yet?
[18:19] SavageSinister: Hi - I see the sites are starting to come back up - what happened?

Note the time stamps; also note the complete lack of response.

The response to my email was as follows:

============================
Hello,

We have checked your website and they are working fine. You can access your accounts cpanel using the cpanel port with 2082 and you can access it like this http://mercenarystudios.com:2082/. So please check this and let us know if the problem persists so that we can investigate further.

If you have any more problems or questions please let us know.
Thank you.

Warm Regards,
Josh,

============================

This was around an hour after I emailed, and AFTER everything was working again.

Not only does this email have nothing to do with my issue (I know how to access cPanel, thank you), it in no way acknowledges that anything was wrong, much less provide an explanation.

The phone call I placed the first time, I was told to email support, but that they were also aware of a problem. When I called back to request an actual explanation, I got an answering machine.

Figures.

This is par for the course with HostGator. There is never an explanation provided and, often, they'll fix a problem and then claim "what problem? It's fine - see?"

What the hell am I supposed to tell my clients whose sites were down? That it didn't happen - they're fine, see?

britbob · #2 03-04-2005, 07:08 PM

Welcome to the club, I`ve give up trying to pursuade them to at least tell us what is happening.

Whenever there is an outage `your sites are up and running` simply is not goode enough. It leaves resellers with nothing to tell their clients, and making us look stupid.

Times I`ve raised tickets, to be told `your site is up and running` or words to that effect. It`s like your trying to say `there is nothing wrong with your site, are you stupid`.

I have noticed when there is any dowtime, those `your site is up and running` replies always arrive when the site is indeed back up and running

I did post a thread which every one agreed that the reseller support needs improving drastically. Unfortunately, no one from HG commented and the thread has sunk away into the forum.

sgt0121 · #3 03-05-2005, 11:29 AM

Exactly, I've been here for close to 9 months now, and no matter how much we plead it falls on deaf ears.

This is just one of a few things that are starting to push me away from hostgator. The support is generally fast, and the servers are great but their communication, STINKS!

#4 03-05-2005, 02:03 PM

Hi. I am sorry to hear about your woes and despite my own grievances from time to time I have to say hostgator is as good as it gets unless you do this yourself, and as you will find when you do, do this yourself. That there are a whole host. [Pardon the Pun] of problems that come with it.

I like it here and while there are problems as there are with all things we just have to muddle through it. If your a big mailer/Spam derelict, and have a big issue, have thousands of dollars on the line then you will have problems anywhere you go. Yahoo mail, groups, etc; goes down frequently think about that. What do they lose?

I have about 12 sites running right with Hostgator and I have backups both online and off to counter any problems, a web server in the background. Customer service and how you explain that is your issue. CP panel is great if not so helpful with explanations in some cases. But we know that is third party right? So far I have seen nothing but 100% uptime and not a thing wrong about uploads/downloads.

I don't know everything and that's a fact. But what I do know from on the ground experience is that it takes much more than a reply from support. If you are unhappy and I have been that way sometimes too. Then it's really for you to decide. I seriously looked into many reseller programs and this is by far the best. I am sure that one day I will have my server online and host myself. I am sure too that I will have all of the headaches and nightmare dramas too.

Sincerely and with respect.
Chipfryer.
Design/Programming/FlashMX/Dreamweaver/Netobjects Fusion/HTML 4.0/Apache 2.0/3D Art.
A+Certified Tech engineer.

sgt0121 · #5 03-05-2005, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chipfryer

Hi. I am sorry to hear about your woes and despite my own grievances from time to time I have to say hostgator is as good as it gets unless you do this yourself, and as you will find when you do, do this yourself. That there are a whole host. [Pardon the Pun] of problems that come with it.

I like it here and while there are problems as there are with all things we just have to muddle through it. If your a big mailer/Spam derelict, and have a big issue, have thousands of dollars on the line then you will have problems anywhere you go. Yahoo mail, groups, etc; goes down frequently think about that. What do they lose?

I have about 12 sites running right with Hostgator and I have backups both online and off to counter any problems, a web server in the background. Customer service and how you explain that is your issue. CP panel is great if not so helpful with explanations in some cases. But we know that is third party right? So far I have seen nothing but 100% uptime and not a thing wrong about uploads/downloads.

I don't know everything and that's a fact. But what I do know from on the ground experience is that it takes much more than a reply from support. If you are unhappy and I have been that way sometimes too. Then it's really for you to decide. I seriously looked into many reseller programs and this is by far the best. I am sure that one day I will have my server online and host myself. I am sure too that I will have all of the headaches and nightmare dramas too.

Sincerely and with respect.
Chipfryer.
Design/Programming/FlashMX/Dreamweaver/Netobjects Fusion/HTML 4.0/Apache 2.0/3D Art.
A+Certified Tech engineer.

No one is disputing the fact that Host Gator is not good at hosting. What they are bad with is communicating to us resellers what is going on.

My site goes down on average 2-3 times per month, (mySQL databases go down) I email support and they are GREAT at getting it back up ASAP but all I ever get is "check now, it is working"

If Host Gator does not care to keep their customers in the "loop" as to what is going on, then that is their perogative. I would like to provide my clients a feasible answer, and not relay a "it's fixed now".

HG, can we at least get some sort of answer as to why this is happening... is it that you don't want to release the info, is there too many issues going on to know, or what?

vermillion · #6 03-06-2005, 05:09 PM

I had a problem last week, everything was down. I got on chat, 10-15mins later, Monica, i think it was, had it fixed. When I asked why she told me, no problems, easy explanation, the http came to a halt for some reason and needed restarting. Simple enough. I've had great luck with this place.

97transam · #7 03-09-2005, 11:20 AM

I ran multiple-room with multiple servers for a large company until the "downsizing". A half dozen of them were website and email servers. They needed to be up "100%" of the time. Unfortunately, sometimes the server would appear to be running by monitoring equipment and software tools, but the web services were not presenting web pages. Never given the "time" to troubleshoot "why" but under the gun to get the websites and or email going again, it was just easier to reboot the server. The objective was reached in that the web services were returned, but at the cost of not having an explanation. That sucks on one hand, but who cares on the other. Full attention to the "why" would not be given unless one server began to increase it's frequency of fouling up. Until then, if the server came back up from the reboot okay, it was then time to run off to the next "crisis" in the company. Like the CEO not understanding that he needs to dock his laptop in order to get on the network...

Even if I had an explanation as to why, it would be a waste of breath to relay such information to someone like the CEO who cannot understand why he needs to use a username and login at the office in order to be on the LAN and get to the internet when he doesn't have to do such at home...

To me it's just the nature of the beast and I don't let it bother me.

Jme574 · #8 03-13-2005, 08:12 AM

Bellow is a perfect example of an explanation. It comes from a place where another one of my other sites are hosted. Every time there is a problem, they post something like this. I realize that HG might not know the exact problem, but that is where better communication with the datacenter comes in. If Host Gator gave us this type of info when there is a problem, then those of us with resellers accounts could give this information to OUR customers and keep them happy.

Quote:

Today, 05:44 AM

We have a situation that has just developed at one of the Datacenters.

This is affecting the following servers.

63,64,65,69,70,71,72,73,80,81,82,86 and 87

A issue with an electrical circuit has forced the DC to shut down power to several areas of the Datacenter. The problem appears that a wire that feeds a main circuit has become overloaded and required an immediate take down for replacement.

This is an unfortunate event, however for the safety of the Datacenter they were forced to pull off power and upgrade this wiring for this circuit.

I am being told this will take 1 - 3 hours.

Updates when I have them.

Quote:

Today, 06:05 AM

Ok things are progressing.
Power has been restored to one section of the DC.
All the servers are back up expect the following:
65,80,81,82
Also, some may wonder why the backup batteries did not work or why the backup generators didn't work.
It is because this issue affected the circuit that carries power to the servers. Regardless of what power it is, this circuit carries the power. Whether it is AC power from the utilities or backup power from batteries or power from the diesel generators. It all goes down thru this circuit. This circuit , a 3-phase, 480 Volt feed to the Power Distribution Unit feeding parts of rooms D and E.
Updates to follow.

Quote:

Today, 06:14 AM

All servers are back except one.
Server65 is running a FSCK.
I will update when it's up.

Serra · #9 03-18-2005, 03:42 PM

I too am having problems getting things explained to me. I have a problem that I can't gpg on any account I setup. If I contact support, they fix it right away. I tried to get them to tell me what they are doing, but they just can't communicate it to me.

They told me that my key folder had the wrong permissions on it and changed it to 777. (I fixed that insane change), but when I returned it to the original settings, it got a different error that I had when I first started, so they did something more than fix the permissions.

I've tried several times to get them to explain what they have done, but I never gets a good response. I still can not fix gpg to work on a new account without their help. It is insane.