I have a confession to make. I’m technically challenged. When it comes to blogging I can handle the writing end and maybe even a little widget and plugin installation, but when it comes to the nitty gritty, I haven’t a clue. I generally hire people to design my blogs and to handle the issues I can’t.
In November, I was thrilled to be able to announce I was revamping my popular Freelance Writing Jobs blog from a single blog into a network of six blogs. Imagine how it feels watching a small blog grow into the number one online community for freelance writers? This was a thrilling and scary time for me. At the recommendation of my trusted tech guys, I moved over to a more reliable hosting company. It was a company that came highly recommended, received good reviews and they patiently answered all my questions when I called.
A tale of two servers
A couple of weeks after the move and upgrade, I received a notice from the host. My site is too busy, processes are running and it’s affecting the other websites on the server. Could we look into it? Indeed we could. My tech guys looked into it and fixed the problem. Or so we thought. In mid- December the host sent another notice. My blog network is too busy for the chosen plan, I had to move to a dedicated server. This must be done within 24 hours or my service would be yanked. Feeling I had no choice, I paid hundreds of dollars (that I couldn’t spare during the holidays) to get this done. Some of that money, by the way, had been earmarked so I could give my bloggers an end of the year bonus. Sorry, guys.
Life went along swimmingly until the other day. I woke up to find my blog network gone. A note from the host informed me my site was still too busy and since this has been going on since November they had no choice but to remove my site. If I wanted to remain on their service, I had to pay hundreds more dollars to get upgraded to another server.
What the eff?
Now. I did everything this hosting company asked of me. I had my guys look into and fix any issues and I upgraded when asked to upgrade. Since, after the upgrade I didn’t hear anything for almost two months, I assumed all was well. Don’t I at least get 24 hours to make a decision?
Apparently not.
I consulted my tech guys once again. Not only did they pinpoint the issue, the assessed there was no need for my blog network to even be on a dedicated server because it’s not that big. The traffic is good, yes, but I’m not Darren Rowse or CopyBlogger. Still, my guys said they found the problem and if they installed a caching system the issue would be resolved. Brilliant. Life could return back to normal.
Not so fast…
I sent a note back to the person who sent me the bad news and asked if he could put my site back up so I can fix the issue. “No” he wrote back. “We’ve been dealing with this since November.” He said the systems admin team would review the situation but it didn’t look good.
So I called the hosting company and spoke to a man name Les who could have used a lesson or two in good customer service. I explained the situation to Les who was less than helpful.
Les: There’s nothing I can do.
Me: We pinpointed the problem. I just need a few hours (or less) for my guys to install a plugin.
Les: There’s nothing I can do.
Me: May I talk to Justin who has been sending me emails.
Les: No. Justin isn’t available.
Me: He sent an email five minutes ago.
Les: He’s not available.
Me: May I speak to someone else then?
Les: No one is available.
Me: Les, surely there is someone else who is available besides you. A manager, a supervisor, a systems administrator? I need to tell someone we know what the problem is and it’s a quick fix. There has to be someone with the ability to make decisions available.
Les: No one is available.
Me: I paid a lot of money to upgrade, I did everything you asked. Surely there is someone I can talk to.
Les: No one is available for you.
I hung up in frustration. No one would talk to me, no one would help me, and no one would respond to my emails anymore. I had a few hissy fits and went outside and played ball with the dog for a while to calm down. The I went inside to start my day job.
I called the host again during my lunch hour and got someone a little more pleasant and helpful, but couldn’t do anything for me. He told me I had no choice but to upgrade and they wouldn’t be putting my site back up because it was too busy, they were afraid I would crash the server. Thus: my tech guys couldn’t install the plugin. “How come, ” I asked him, “that it wasn’t so busy it would crash the server when I went to bed last night, and now it is?” My new BFF at the hosting company couldn’t answer this, nor could he tell me why I was pulled without at least 24 hours notice. He did, however, help me get my files back.
My tech guys did have the backup from the upgrade and put the old blog up at the old server and that will do for now. Now, I’m not claiming ignorance. Indeed we had issues since November, but I was under the impression these issues were fixed. Since upgrading to the new server I never heard from the hosting company again. No one told me there were still issues and no one told me my small blog network, receiving up to 4,000 visitors a day was too big for the VPS server. I have been working with this company all along and doing everything they asked, so why not work with me in return?
Surely after spending hundreds of dollars in two months, at least a supervisor or the Systems Admin guy who contacted me in the first place could talk to me on the phone? And why did Justin in Systems Administration refuse to respond to my emails after I told him we could fix the problem. Why did the hosting company refuse to respond to my emails until I wrote to them asking to have access to my files?
As a customer, I don’t want to be frustrated. As someone who has no clue about the technical side of things, I was in tears. What was happening? How come these problems aren’t getting resolved? How do I know all parties involved aren’t yanking me around trying to get more money from me? I had no answers. I felt clueless and helpless and no one from the hosting company did anything to help me feel better. In my 44 years I’ve had to deal with utility companies, schools, township bureaucracies, and even the DMV, but no one has ever made me feel as small and useless as this hosting company.
I like to use situations like this as a model for my own behavior. Every day I deal with many terrific people, but also a few who are difficult. It would be so easy to blow them off or act as if they’re the problem, but what if they’re feeling as helpless as me? People reach out for help because they truly need it. For any kind of a business to succeed, they have to be helpful, attentive and needed. I wasn’t made to feel like an important customer yesterday, and I hope I will never let anyone leave a customer service situation feeling the same way.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh! That company is horrible! Honestly, it does sound like a scam to me. I’m sorry you had to go through that! You need to post the name so we can all avoid them! Also, I would log a complain with the BBB. I hope you can find a better host!
Aw, Deb, I’m so sorry you had to go through all that! I hope you’re going with a different host if you’re switching again. Those guys sound terrible. Good luck! I’ll keep following!
That’s too bad. I had issues with my hosting company some time ago. Some tech support people do not understand customer service. Without the customers, you have no business.
I’m learning all I can about HTML, widgets, and plugins. I would like to be able to design my own website and take care of it, but it’s more feasible to find an “expert” and let them do this. I plan on surrounding myself with people who can help me out and vice versa.
Un. Real. I would have totally been in tears. Glad to know what happened though. I was going through withdrawals.
It is the law that if you ask for a supervisor, you must be patched through. Plenty of companies ignore it.
Take this post and put it into a letter to the CEO of the company. CC the letter to the BBB in the area in which the executive office is located, along with CC’s to the Attorney General of the state in which the executive office is located and the Attorney General of your home state.
That will get the wheels rolling for an investigation into possible fraud charges — which is what this sounds like, they tried to grift you for more money.
At the very least, you should get some of the unnecessary money spent for the upgrades back and they may be fined.
It’s worth the 15 minutes it will take you to do the letter.
I agree that you need to name this company, so that anyone interested in working with them will go elsewhere. You don’t have to do it in public if you’re worried about being sued (another attempt to get lots of $$ from you!), but I’d suggest you find some way of letting people know in private what the name is.
And keep documentation of everything. Write down everything you can remember about the phone calls you made, in as much detail as possible. Have all the ammunition you need if these guys do try to come after you because of their bad service and the fact that you mentioned it.
Geez, what a hassle. And unnecessary unhelpfulness. I was really wondering what was going on when I finally did see your site and the most recent post was from November. Hmmmm….something is really amiss.
Sounds like there are some people (comments above) with some good suggestions for lodging your complaint and making your voice heard. If you keep this to yourself, other good people will surely go through this same hoo-ha and get extorted hundreds of dollars, etc etc.
They’re probably hoping you just assume it’s all your fault so you won’t complain to anyone about their abhorrant behavior. Good luck!!!
Good suggestions from up above. I want to add one more. Write a review of the company and your experience as a customer. It doesn’t have to be long if you don’t have the time. Not everyone reads this blog and people always flock to review sites to see what other people think of companies, products, and services.
Too bad you had to go through that mess; but you’re still here for the readers/friends, etc.
Deb,
I’ll echo the above statements and say that you should name the company. Whether you do so is of course your call, but an honest review of this exchange would be a good thing to get out there for the public to read.
I have a little bit of a tech background, not extensive at all, but what it sounds like to me is more ineptitude than fraud. Your blog, with the statistics yoiu quoted for visits, in no way requires its own server. That customer service experience you had was amazingly bad. There is a major problem these days, in the tech sector and all other areas too, where people just don’t understand how to communicate with others anymore. You can chalk this up to a lifetime of email, IMs and text messaging, or probably a number of other things too. This is frustrating to many people… but particularly to writers who by their very nature know exactly how to communicate.
Anyway, a well written concise review of your experience with most of the personal feelings removed is more than warranted. Also, a letter written to the CEO/owner of the company might pay off too because odds are this is no where near the way he wants his company or customer service department to operate.
Good luck getting this resolved.
What a nightmare, Deb! Hopefully you won’t have to go through it again.
Gosh, Deb, this is horrible! I am so sorry this happened to you.
I had a similar issue with an old hosting company. Since I’ve moved to the new one, I haven’t had a problem at all (thank goodness!). It’s pretty ridiculous that people are like this. I do my best to make people feel like they’re actually human and that their opinion or problem matters. I know you do, too. It’s sad that other people can’t do the same for us.
I agree with Devon. Hey, you might get some of that money back and be able to give your bloggers a bonus after all!
*smiles*
Michele
Deb, you must have been just frantic… I know how I get when my site is down and it isn’t pretty. Glad to see you’re up now.
Anne
Deb,
Life can really be frustrating when people simply refuse to listen and help you out (especially when the problem is so simple and obvious it’s sitting right in front of their nose). Sorry for the terrible day, but it looks like you turned the experience into a positive lesson, which is quite a commendable step. Every time you think about how angering and frustrating the experience was at least you can take solace in the fact that you walked away with some new insights and betterment for yourself. I wish I could do that–things like that where I’m overcharged or given the runaround will bother me for years.
Hope everything is smooth sailing from here on out!
Holy cow! I was wondering yesterday what was up when I couldn’t get on…and I too am so sorry you had to go through all that.
I wholeheartedly agree with the comments above that recommend you a) Out the hosting company (but, as suggested, more privately on review sites if that makes you feel less vulnerable), b) Contact the hosting company’s big boss to let him/her know what the eff, indeed, c) Rest assured that, from what you said, you were in the right all along and did as you were asked; *they* are the ones who sound fishy, inept, or a little of both.
So glad you’re back up–to me, that speaks absolute volumes about your professionalism and dedication to this site. Bravo, Deb. Way to keep the old chin up.
I sympathize with you, Deb.
There are good people out there, and there are also the bad ones. Your experience with this hosting company sucks and must have been a nightmare!
Into each site some “rain must fall”, so they say.
I’m sure this little technical glitch would soon be resolved.
I was worried yesterday, too. First I just couldn’t log on and thought, “OH, NO, Deb has banned me! I’ve been banished!” Then I started thinking about servers and hosts and got worried. I hate that you’re having to deal with this group of clowns, and I hope you can scare some sense into them soon.
Sorry for your troubles…if you ever feel the need for frustration again, try dealing with health care and insurance issues. My daughter needs back surgery, and jumping through all the necessary hoops is a full time job. And I swear that everyone I deal with must be a “Les” clone.
How awful! There is nothing worse than not being able to get through to anyone when you know what the problem is. It sure sounds like they were trying to get more money for nothing, though . . . even if there was a problem, your site wasn`t so big as to need so many upgrades, right? I think you should definitely report them.
Sorry to hear about your hassle. You didn’t deserve that. I’m surprised your tech guys would have recommended such losers. Your guys seem top-notch. The hosting company, not so much. I hope things go more smoothly for you in the future.
I hope that you get your money back. And I too agree that you should write a letter to the CEO and Better Business Bureau. My husband did this for our cell phone provider that was messing us over and it did resolve the issue quickly.
Sorry to hear what you are experiencing now.
If you ask to talk to a manager or supervisor, the person on the receiving end of that request, must put you through to the correct person. I have experience with this aspect of business.
I would contact the host company and explain to them that if you are not put through to a supervisor, you will be contacting the BBB. If the supervisor will not allow you to fix the problem, informhim that you want a refund for all your troubles and move off the host.
If they refuse to refund your money, which seems like you were scammed anyway, report them to the BBB anyway.
I think you were smart to know when to play ball with your dog. My experience as a tech writer tells me that techies often don’t even know that they’re bad at communicating; ineptitude on a grand level could be the problem. A review on this would be a boon to all would-be bloggers and website owners. I hope your money gets refunded and that you have some time to unwind.
Couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get your website to come up the last two days. I really have come to enjoy starting my day with your website. Glad you are back up and so sorry that you had such horrible time with your server and their representatives.
Gail
What a nightmare!!
I am really thankful that you are a persistent and resourceful person, because I really missed your site. I’m so glad to see you again!
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Hi, Deb:
This scares the beejesus out of me, like you, i am only somewhat tech savvy. I’m pretty well versed on the front end of WP, but not the back end. And unfortunately, we are at the mercy of these host companies, if something goes wrong.
It’s like dealing with car mechanics. Oy!
Sorry to hear of your troubles, the way your host dealt with it, was/is truly scary. Shame on them.
Hope you get this resolved. And switch.
I’m with those who would appreciate knowing the company involved. They have no legal leg to stand on if you name them because your recounting is entirely fact and personal experience.
As a web technician I frequently deal with web hosts, those my clients inadvertently went with and those I personally recommend. I think the opportunity to avoid a trouble hosting company is valuable to all your readers.
I’m sorry to hear about your own issues with hosting. The lack of communication or any semblance of a chain of command is terrible. That is not how business should ever be conducted.
This experience also re-emphasizes the importance of regular backups.
Sounds like the classic case of geek guys who know a lot about the technical side, but not so much about how to handle the customer service issues.