Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Website Host Changed Yet Again!

In an uncharacteristic departure from my usual happy, peppy self, this is a "rant warning." Here goes....

My "bootedman" website went down when there was a server issue at Hurricane Electric on September 4. They were unable to resolve it quickly enough for my preferences -- eventually, it took them 60 hours to fix it.

Because I had encountered numerous times of service outages (but none as long as the last one), I decided to migrate my website to a different web host, "DWHS Hosting". It took about eight hours to migrate my site on September 4 - 5, and it got up and running nicely and seems to run quickly. So far, so good.

However, I learned on September 5 (which was a U.S. national holiday) when I had a technical problem that their customer service is unacceptably slow. You cannot call them on the phone -- you only get a recording saying how important your call is, and promises that someone will call back. They never did.

Then on September 11, I encountered another serious problem, and submitted several "support tickets" to explain what was going on -- only to get a reply via email many hours later with no solution and blameshifting the problem to my ISP.

On September 12, I submitted more updates about the problem, and I finally got a response asking if I had Skype. Sheesh... I don't want to Skype with anyone -- I just want the problem fixed. Arrrggghhh! Okay, don't use DWHS web hosting. Their service works fine when it works, and as long as you do not need technical assistance. If you do, forget about it. They have poor customer service. While DWHS is U.S.-based, I think their "customer service" is only one person. I have had to migrate my site again to another web host.... uggghhh. I hate this. What a mess.

I would go back to Hurricane Electric in a heartbeat if they could give me a better promise of up-time. But they are honest, and cannot make such promises.

Before finding another web host, I called the potential new company's support line to test it, as well sent them an email. In both instances, I received a prompt and courteous reply by a U.S.-based, English-speaking human being. How refreshing!

By the way, if you sent me an email or tried to use my "write to me" page on my website yesterday, the email may not have been received or the mail form may not have worked. Please try again. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Life is short: keep going until you get it right and get some form of response in a timely manner.

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