A spat with tech support

[Pete]

I created a new account with a reputable hosting company the other day. Everything went smoothly and I had no communication with them prior to a minor question this morning.

As you can see from the typos I was in a rush when I was writing to them, and I can understand that maybe I was being a bit pushy. But I feel their response to a new customers first enquiry was out of proportion - do you agree? It's left me feeling a bit surprised and rather uncomfortable about the prospect of working with them in the future (363 days worth of paid hosting left).

I'm not sure what to do.

Department: Tech Support
Date: 09/08/2007 11:03
Subject: Tempoary access before domain transfers over - how?
Status: Closed
Urgency: Medium


Peter Hartree
Client
Posted: 09/08/2007 11:03

I'm trying to access my site root on the web so I can create a mirror of my site before I change the domain to point at your servers. How do I do this?

From the KB I found:
"Meanwhile you can access your files by browsing via the server's IP address followed by your user name. Details of how to do this are contained in your welcome email."

But there's no mention of this in the welcome email.

Hosting company Support
Staff
Posted: 09/08/2007 13:49

Hi Peter

That entry relates only to cpanel accounts. I'm afraid it isn't possible to do the same with the Plesk account you have although ou can preview individual files using the Plesk file manager. Our support videos will show you how to use file manager

http://www.hostingcompany.co.uk/clients/tutorials.php#

Kind regards,
Hosting company (hostingcompany)


Peter Hartree
Client
Posted: 09/08/2007 14:14

Erm... this is quite a serious problem. How am I supposed to transfer a live website over to your server? It's a WordPress based site and I have to test it in its entirity before I transfer the domain and it goes "live" on your servers. I need a fully functional temporary access location to do this - as far as I can see the Plesk file manager only offers a WYIWYG preview?

I'd assume this as a basic feature of any hosting solution - if you cannot provide this I will need to cancel this package and go elsewhere. I now consider this ticket to High urgency because I've told my client that the website will be updated by Monday afternoon.

Hosting company Support
Staff
Posted: 09/08/2007 14:44

Dear Peter

When you log into Plesk you can click the 'Site Preview' icon under the hosting header which will allow you to preview the site - how much you can preview depends on how you have coded your paths to links and images.

However I have to advise you tat your tone is wholly unacceptable and if you respond to this or any other ticket in this fashion it will be closed without any response.

At no stage prior to purchasing the account did you contact us to ask if this feature was available and we are not responsible for your failure to do this, for any assumptions made on your part or for promises you made to your client without checking if you could deliver on them.

As for cancelling the account you are of course free to do so but we would not issue any refund as the account functions correctly and as this account is for business purposes - i.e. you selling on to another party - it is excluded from the Distance Selling Regulations which apply strictly only to purchases by private consumers.

Kind regards,
Hosting company (hostingcompany)


Peter Hartree
Client
Posted: 09/08/2007 15:35

Thank you for your quick response. As there are now two issues to be resolved, I will separate my reply into two parts:

Firstly, the original problem: I have succesfully located the Site Preview icon beneath the header icon on Plesk ( I notice that it is not available in the File manager as I was directed earlier). It seems I can only preview the homepage via this button - is that correct? If it *is* possible to view other pages please could you explain how?

Secondly, please could you elaborate as to what aspect of my tone you find "wholly unacceptable". I wrote my previous communication fairly rapidly - but I don't feel it was at all unprofessional. In fact I'm rather surprised at aspects of your response which I feel are quite agressive - not exactly how I'd expect to be welcomed as a returning customer.

Hosting company Support
Staff
Posted: 09/08/2007 16:01

You should be able to view pages linked to internally provided they are using local links i.e. /link.html if your script is using absolute links you will not be able to do so - this is the case with all control panels.

Re your last response, your demands that we treat your inability not to preview the site as 'high urgency' because of promises you have made without checking your facts are unacceptable as are your 'threats' to cancel your contract for the same purpose and we will not deal with anyone on this basis.

Kind regards,
Hosting company (hostingcompany)

[Phantom]

your demands that we treat your inability not to preview the site as 'high urgency'

you never *demanded* they treat it as highly urgent, you said you *consider* it to be highly urgent which isn't the same as demanding *they* consider it to be urgent too. you have the right to consider it to be whatever you want, it doesn't make it a demand.

they seem slightly boobish based off of that response.

[sarahA]

Well to be fair to the hosting company, having the opportunity to preview a site before it goes live isn't necessarily a standard thing, it's deemed standard by most as cPanel usually allows it, and therefore assumption has caused the problem here. By reading the posts, if you have WordPress running and you're using absolute links then this feature would be of no use to you regardless anyhow, unless you updated WordPress to use the IP as the domain as opposed to your clients domain. I don't know how the site preview works in Plesk (only touched it once and that was enough!) but if you can easily update your WordPress template files to use links relative to the root then by the sounds of it you should be able to run through the site. Alternatively can you not set it up locally to check it over instead?

As for communication with support, this is the down side of typing responses as emotions can be read wrong and when you threaten cancellation by the second email I guess it doesn't come across well. I don't think you were impolite, perhaps it was a bad day for the support?

And 'working with them', unless you intend to continue requiring support, which I'm guessing you're fairly clued up anyhow, you probably won't have any further discussions with them. Last time I contacted my host was because I messed up my paypal subscription to him! If the server is running well, all systems go, then you shouldn't have the need to contact support unless you have questions about using Plesk (which, whilst not as good as cPanel, can be got used to fairly quick).

[Mr Anderson]

All seems fair to me. If I buy something without checking it's suitable then it's my fault; and updating a support ticket, even in an imaginary sense like here, to urgent won't make the product suitable.

[Pete]

Thanks for your thoughts so far.

I'm sorry, I should have put: I accept I should have checked the features more carefully and agree that I made a mistake there. I can get over the lack of the cpanel preview feature, it's just I'm worried that the company could get so upset so easily. I deal with nightmare clients all the time but I'd never threaten to ignore them unless they were being really abusive. It's not how I hoped the relationship would start.

[keri]

All seems fair to me. If I buy something without checking it's suitable then it's my fault; and updating a support ticket, even in an imaginary sense like here, to urgent won't make the product suitable.

couldn't agree more

I can get over the lack of the cpanel preview feature, it's just I'm worried that the company could get so upset so easily

I am guessing you have only ever used cPanel then, as every other control panel i have used doesn't support it, you might want to moan to plesk about the "lack of preview feature" rather than your host. I'm sure the host didn't get upset, after all it is you that has a handful of days to move a site not them.

[Granty]

Out the host.

[Tanthalas]

Out the host.

cPanel and Plesk, on DDN.  C'mon, you can figure this one out.

[sarahA]

Pete look at it from a business point of view. Hosting is not very profitable once you need to supply support. A basic hosting package is around £25-30. The minute someone requires support, that time eats into any profit made from the £25-30 (which is very little after you factor in server costs and setup time). Okay, not a reason for someone to get annoyed, however your second ticket would have annoyed me and probably plenty of hosts who are no doubt getting similar comments and threats (of closing the account). In this instance the support guy clearly just came back and tried to put a lid on the situation. A few may have come back simply saying 'go ahead ahead and cancel then however you won't get a refund as per our terms and conditions' and stop trying to help or make suggestions. Mind you, looking at the response times, half an hour to a few hours is pretty good, 1 and 1 can take days from what I've heard!

But, as I said before, you're calling it a relationship between you and the hosting support. Regardless of how your first 'conversation' went, would you honestly need to contact the support again? I'd see how the server goes, how the uptime is, speed is etc. and make my decision from that. Plus, as I mentioned before, perhaps you caught someone on an off day. These hosts work 7 days a week sometimes and if something else is going through their minds, or they're having a bad day for whatever reason, it can creep into their work. Sure it shouldn't but it can do, it does in mine. I've spoken to clients in the past like that, they've seriously wasted my time and I want them to realise that.

[Notorious MCSE]

Out the host.

cPanel and Plesk, on DDN.  C'mon, you can figure this one out.

Marty Mcbumflip?

[Charisma Bypass]

I'd have dumped your account right after the second email.  You are wasting their time and your own.

Min you, maybe that's why I don't host sites any more


HTH

[chavalier]

(363 days worth of paid hosting left).

is this a £25 - £30 hosting account?

[dsmyth]

(363 days worth of paid hosting left).

is this a £25 - £30 hosting account?

I'd say it's a £30 account from the information given...

[Pete]

Thanks for your comments. I'm going to stick with the company for now and be more careful about the way I write in the future. I'll leave the company anonymous because I don't think this experience is truly representative of them, so I'm not sure naming them would benefit anyone. If you really want to know send me a PM, or use your powers of deduction.

[Dave]

What about setting clientname.mybusiness.com as a parked domain and checking that everything works, then just change the domain name in the config file (if this is necessary for wordpress?)