I need advice...Host not responding to tickets

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Posted by wolvyreen, 03-01-2012, 05:09 PM
Hi, I will not be mentioning the hosts name here yet as I do not want to create a bashing session. I just need advice. I have opened a very urgent ticket for my host to restore 13 accounts. This reason the accounts need to be restored is because the host migrated us to a new server but the migration seemed to skip 13 of these accounts. I don't know why. I have backups so that is not the problem. The problem is that I have been begging all day for this restore to start for these 13 accounts. The host is simply not answering me on my tickets. So I opened a second ticket (which I HATE doing) just to get the attention on the first. They haven't even responded on the second ticket. They just ignore it. So 13 of my sites are down. I have angry clients and it feels like they couldn't give a damn. I tried calling them but they only have a sales department that takes calls. Not their support. They don't have live chat either. What am I to do here???? Can someone please advise me? Thanks Wolvy
Posted by Brinkster, 03-01-2012, 06:00 PM
Has it been at least 24 hours and have you attempted to fix your coding it might be faster.
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-01-2012, 06:03 PM
I am not going to respond to this one! really.....this wasn't caused by me.... What coding?? the sites weren't migrated...there was no coding to be fixed.
Posted by bear, 03-01-2012, 06:05 PM
Though I don't understand why it would take all day and still be ignored, this would be enough for me to grab a new reseller somewhere and use the backups to get them up and running. Later, I'd migrate the remaining accounts to the new host and leave them. The people that paid me to host are more important than anything else going on. But that's just me. I don't mind delays (with good reason), but will not be ignored. Did you actually read his post?
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-01-2012, 06:09 PM
That's exactly my thoughts. I opened the ticket early this morning and it is now 00h00. The accounts only got restored 5min ago. I suspect the host might have seen this thread. I HATE being ignored!
Posted by KMyers, 03-01-2012, 06:21 PM
Hello,
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-01-2012, 06:24 PM
That's true, but they started this migration during office hours on Wednesday. It ran the whole day and skipped 13 accounts. So this morning(Thursday), I notice 13accounts were missing so I opened the ticket and they didn't fix the problem until 20min ago. I am so frustrated!
Posted by Collabora, 03-01-2012, 06:24 PM
Hey wolvy, anyone that's been following your trials and tribulations know what host your talking about
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-01-2012, 06:28 PM
Yes, but I don't want to seem vindictive so I don't mentioned the name. most people anyways will not know.
Posted by bear, 03-01-2012, 06:53 PM
Until now.
Posted by Server Management, 03-01-2012, 07:00 PM
Chances are they was still restoring accounts on said server hence you was missing afew accounts...
Posted by Forward Web, 03-01-2012, 08:23 PM
If I were youl I would have just restored the accounts your-self (since you have the back-ups). That would solve the immediate problem with your customers. Then second, I would start looking for a new web host. Although I do understand that things happen, I also believe that customers should always be kept in the loop. 24 hours without a response (to me) is unacceptable, especially regarding critical items such as sites being down. <> Last edited by bear; 03-02-2012 at 01:47 AM.
Posted by SunShellHosting, 03-01-2012, 11:20 PM
If the client restore the accounts manually, there is a chance that he may loose the mysql databases or emails/forwards. Therefore, it is better if the admin restores the backup.
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-02-2012, 01:47 AM
The backups that I had were FULL backups that can only be restore if I move to a new server and bla bla.. you know the way cpanel works. I am on shared reseller hosting so I can't restore a FULL backup myself.
Posted by Forward Web, 03-02-2012, 02:24 AM
Ah, I see. I was under the impression you had back-ups of your MYSQL as well, not just the full cpanel back-up.
Posted by iHubNet-Matt, 03-02-2012, 02:53 AM
You are a very decent client in my opinion. You have not even mentioned their name or bash them. But I am not sure if your host deserves you as a client. Also did they give you any explanation for the delay after getting those accounts restored finally ?
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-02-2012, 04:04 AM
Their response only came lat last night. They said that if I respond on the ticket asking them for an update, my ticket gets bumped to the bottom of the queue. So basically, even if my ticket is HIGH, I cannot ask for an update because it will always be put at the bottom of the queue. I don't know if WHMCS works like this but maybe it does. However, I still feel that waiting an entire day for the restores is crazy. During that whole time these sites were down and it feels like "why should they care, its not their site" syndrome. As of this morning, there are still 2 sites that are not restored. sigh....another day of angry clients....and I can't even ask for an update
Posted by Martin-D, 03-02-2012, 04:10 AM
You know I've yet to find a hosting company where this is actually true - it's usually used as an excuse to stop customers hounding techs for answers. I only know this as I've done it too (in my previous life) both with WHMCS and Kayako. Neither of them push tickets to the bottom - it all depends on your sorting order.
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-02-2012, 04:22 AM
Thats so annoying if what you say is true! I have to say it again that I HATE HATE HATE being ignored by service providers! Dammit, I pay them for a service and the least they can do is keep me in the loop. I am still waiting for the 2 accounts....sniff.... my clients are so pi55ed at me....I can't believe they haven't threatened to leave yet.
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-02-2012, 04:26 AM
This is the response I just got from the tech support:I CANNOT wait another day for these accounts!!! this is ridiculous!! After explaining to them that I cannot wait ANOTHER day, they didn't even respond and just put the ticket on hold again ignoring my urgency!! So I replied with this.Now I am tired of keeping this quite. For those that don't know, this is EZPZ. I don't know where they are going wrong but they are really dropping in their reputation in my opinion! Last edited by wolvyreen; 03-02-2012 at 04:39 AM.
Posted by Bullten Webhosting, 03-02-2012, 05:59 AM
Well if someone is not answering through ticket, why dont you try contacting them using phone call? They must be having the number in their contact page or do a who.is check to find out if their number is available there.
Posted by Martin-D, 03-02-2012, 06:15 AM
That, to me, is enough of a reason to move. Nothing like this should have to 'wait' for any reason not relating to hardware/resource issues. Clearly they're not doing this full-time and are fitting it in around their other life. I would strongly suggest you move as soon as this is sorted.
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-02-2012, 06:22 AM
My original post stated the following:After that last response to them, they have now restored the accounts by getting another tech to do the work. This is what should have been done originally!
Posted by JLHC, 03-03-2012, 03:53 AM
AFAIK after a client reply or bump the ticket, it will reset the "Last Reply" time to a low value, which can cause the ticket to be handled later as most host will want to handle longer waiting tickets first.
Posted by iHubNet-Matt, 03-03-2012, 06:24 AM
Yeah that is true, it will reset the time and the support guys might deal it like a new ticket.
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-03-2012, 11:58 AM
then this doesnt sound like a host problem but a WHMCS problem. if a ticket is set to high, and a client replies and it isnt the first reply, it should flash or something alerting the host that the client has made a post.
Posted by SunShellHosting, 03-03-2012, 12:13 PM
Unfortunately, there is no such feature in WHMCS and we can't implement a custom one as whmcs is a closed source application. WHMCS uses images for showing a ticket is medium or high This and This If you check both, you can understand that it is very hard to see the difference between the two. To be honest, I don't notice or care these images when I open the whmcs admin interface for replying tickets. It is ticket's SUBJECT that gets my attention. In our case, the ticket 'priority' field has no priority.
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-03-2012, 12:27 PM
What I meant was for the WHMCS team to make that change in their system. If I open a ticket, and set it to HIGH, then the host should immediately see a new ticket is opened that is HIGH. HIGH tickets should jump to the top of the queue regardless of other tickets unless they are also HIGH. After-all, it is the hosts responsibility to control their clients from opening unnecessary tickets with HIGH status. now if the host is currently engaging with the client that has a high ticket and the clients responds on a comment from the host, the ticket should not wait below ANY OTHER ticket that is set to MEDIUM or LOW. It should automatically jump to the bottom of the list of all HIGH tickets. Not to the bottom of the entire list.
Posted by bear, 03-03-2012, 12:41 PM
Images are not "closed source" and are completely editable/replaceable. As they are GIF images, what's to stop you from making your own and animating or recoloring it so it draws attention?
Posted by Collabora, 03-03-2012, 12:42 PM
A help desk can get into big trouble if they operate according to priorities of end user. Just about every user thinks priority should be determined by who is submitting the ticket: if they are submitting it then its high priority. The tech will give priority according to system status, usually downtime for site, for example as a yardstick for priority. Thus a non-functional site will take priority over a billing issue no matter what the end user marks in ticket.
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-03-2012, 01:05 PM
Oh I totally agree but HIGH statuses should always take precedence over MEDIUM and LOW and MEDIUM should always takes precedence over LOW. Regardless of the content ... unless of course the host feels the content is not worth a HIGH or medium it is in his best interest to manage it with the client. HIGH should be SEVERE problems preventing critical business functions such as server down or email down. MEDIUM should be performance of function degraded or severely limited such as server slow or emails delayed but working. LOW should be NON-critical problems or product use questions
Posted by DWS2006, 03-03-2012, 11:10 PM
Normally, I can see backup restoration as a low-medium priority situation. Especially if the restore is just for the purpose of migrating in a new account etc. But when the restore is needed as a direct result of an error by the host, that should be high priority.
Posted by wolvyreen, 03-04-2012, 03:22 AM
very sensible answer. I agree
Posted by kneadingu, 03-05-2012, 04:01 AM
That's hilarious.