Why I stay with hostgator.. good laugh

[Walkerhost]

Years ago I came to hostgator after using many other hosts(like 5-7)... I got the reseller package and have had a couple hiccups here and there with my site and every time their techs helped get me running again fast... so I tell everyone they should use hostgator.

The last 2 days I have been working on my friends website.. switching it over from a custom HTML to a PHP/SQL based Joomla CMS system.

Not only did I have to manually edit the PHP settings on the server to get it to work.. and look up the name of the SQL server because it was not local host... but today I had noticed some sluggishness... so I contacted them.

My transcript follows :
(keep in mind the script is from the bad host... not hostgator)

Some sensitive info has been snipped… last names, acct names, etc.

info: Thank you for contacting support. Please be prepared to answer your Security Question when we begin chatting. To enhance our security protocols, we'll need you to provide the answer to your Security Question at the beginning of our conversation. If you have not yet set your Security Question and Answer, please log into your account now to set it up. Thank you. Please hold for the next available operator to respond.
info: You are now chatting with 'Andy'
Chris: I don't have the info on the security question because I am merely helping my friend rebuild the domain in question... however my question doesn't need any editing done or anything else security related... I am just getting tons of SQL and PHP functions timing out right now... is your utilization real high at the moment?
Andy: Hi, how are you today?
Chris: Good and you?
Andy: I'm great, thank you.
Chris: So basically my question is just what is the CPU and Memory utilization look like on the SQL server at the moment? I am trying to determine if his site has a problem or if your server is overloaded.
Andy: To protect your account from unauthorized changes, can you please verify for me the answer to the Security Question:
Andy: What was the name of your High School?
Chris: let me ask matt really quick.. he owns the site I just help him build it.
Andy: Could you please provide me with the last four digits of your credit card on file, so that I can authenticate you as the owner of the account?
Andy: Thank you for holding.
Chris: I am asking him... I am not the owner... I am the admin... I don't need you to change anything I just need you to tell me the utilization on the SQL server
Andy: In order to verify answer to the Security Question, please refer the following steps:
Andy: 1. Log into your control panel using with the account username and password.
Andy: 2. Click ‘Set Security Question’
Andy: 3. Click ‘Existing Profile’ and select name.
Chris: <SNIPPED FOR SECURITY>
Andy: Thank you for the authentication.
Andy: Could you please provide me the exact URL where you are receiving the error?
Chris: normally I could ask him but he is up from his desk right now... we work together.
Chris: www.<snipped>.com/joomla basically anything I do there when I click on something I stand the risk of getting an error or it not responding... it was fine last night and this morning but for the last hour it has been acting up.
Chris: if I hit the old site that doesn't use PHP and SQL everything is fine... and I know your SQL server is seperate from your web server... so my guess is the SQL server is being slammed.
Andy: May I place you on hold? I am going to research this for you right now and it should take about 3-4 minutes. I'll be back as quickly as I can.
Chris: sure thing
Andy: Thank you for holding.
Andy: I was able to access the Joomla Web site at the URL : www.<snipped>.com/joomla without any issue.
Andy: I guess it's a temporary issue caused to you.
Andy: Could you please clear your browser cache and cookies before accessing the URL?
Chris: it's not just me... had a couple people near me test it... it will work and then you try 5 times ina row and it will fail... What's the CPU utilization on the SQL server at?
Andy: Are you referring to the MySQL host name?
Chris: yes your mysql server... joomla uses mysql... and if your mysql server is overburdened joomla becomes unstable and will time out.
Andy: Okay.
Andy: Your MySQL host name is: <acct name snipped>.dot5hostingmysql.com .
Chris: that is correct.... so what is the CPU utilization at on that server right now?
Andy: Please hold on while I check this for you.
Andy: Thank you for your patience, I am still testing the issue, I will be back with some more information in 5 more minutes.
Andy: Thank you for holding.
Andy: On our platform, the CPU speed is:1.60GHz.
Chris: little slow... but it might be fine... what's the utilization on it? The percentage of the CPU that is currently being used by active processes.
Chris: Someone sitting next to you probably has a screen open monitoring this all day... CPU, Memory, hard drive, and bandwidth utilization are all typically monitored.
Andy: Yes, but we cannot check all those which you have mentioned on our server. Due to our server architecture.
Chris: How do you know when the server has been impacted by a virus then?
Andy: Our server is secure and it will never hacked at any time.
Andy: I only have your first name. Can I have your complete name for our records?
Chris: Chris <snipped>.
Andy: Thnak you!
Andy: Sorry for the typo* Thank
Andy: Do you have any further questions?
Chris: Your server is not secure... no server is secure... it can be "pretty secure" but nothing is ever 100%... not even with every patch loaded and good anti-virus software behind 10 firewalls. You have to be ready for an attack.
Chris: No I guess I don't.
Andy: Thank you for chatting with us. Please feel free to contact us at any time. We are available 24x7.
Andy: Bye!
info: Your chat transcript will be sent to <snipped>@gmail.com at the end of your chat.

As you can see... they NEVER answered a simple question even after asking like 5 times... said they COULD NOT answer it... and when I questioned them on being able to manage a virus attack without that info they said they were IMMUNE.... in thier infinite wisdom they are 100% IMMUNE to ALL VIRUSES on every single site built on thier systems that are built by people THEY DO NOT KNOW THE SKILL LEVEL OF.

They scare the $%$# out of me... I requested my friend switch providers to hostgator instead of these dudes when his contract is up.

I'll even go so far as to say I think at first the reason why he wasn't answering is because he didn't know what a CPU was.. what utilization meant, and what a SQL server does. I was about to ask just to see how dumb he really was... but after he made the virus comment I didn't need to get any more info to see how dumb he was... he laid it all right out on the line for me with no prompting... hahaha

P.S. My buddy Matt was not availible to find out what high school he went to... I got that info from a social networking site we have in common... technically I could have made changes to his acct without owning the acct just by using facebook... which is also really damn scary.

[GatorFord]

We always strive to provide the best support experience we can no matter what the medium. It is pretty scary some of the support outfits and hosting operations they have running out there with no verification. We're glad you're happy with HostGator, and thanks for your continued business!