The choice of web hosting, for some, is almost an afterthought, but having a good hosting provider is just as important as having a good web designer, web developer or SEO expert. I dealt with a hosting provider yesterday on behalf of a client, and was appalled at the service provided.
My client asserts that they were billed for their domain renewal but not for hosting. They didn’t take too much notice at the time, and settled the bill in a timely manner. The next thing they knew, their website was down. On contacting the host and paying the bill, the website remained down.
Most reputable suppliers have the ability to suspend an account for non-payment, so that the website is still on the server but will not be shown to the general public. In this scenario, the hosting can be unsuspended on payment, and the website is available again. The company I dealt with yesterday immediately deletes your website. If we had not maintained a backup for the client, they would now be facing the prospect of having their website redesigned from scratch.
I attempted to get the site back up an running and it soon became apparent that while the hosting had been paid for, the account had not been unsuspended so I couldn’t access the control panel or upload the website files. I duly opened a trouble ticket, and noticed that I could not view the details of the ticket after submission. Indeed, I could not view any of the tickets I had submitted on my client’s behalf in the past. A number of hours later, the ticket had disappeared off of the system, zapped by magic or by human hand.
At this point I called support. The phone rang for an indeterminate period before being answered. On asking for support, I faced another long wait in complete silence. The tech support guy was ratty and unapologetic and the whole experience left me stunned.
Tags: hosting, Web Design, Web Development