A Tech Support Experience
My website was down for a bit this afternoon so I contacted tech support at powweb (my web host). My site came back up during the first 10 minutes of our chat, but I wanted to know what caused it to go down. Here is (part of) my conversation with tech support:
Kim: Ok – it seems it might be working now
Tech Support: Great!
Tech Support: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Kim: Well, just wondering – do you know why the site sometimes goes down like that?
Tech Support: I have run a tool in your account and resolved the issue.
Kim: So is there anything I can do to prevent it in the future?
Tech Support: Kim, you will not experience the issue again.
Kim: What caused it? Was something wrong with a database? I notice a lot of down server time and I want to make sure I am not doing something wrong.
Tech Support: No, Kim. There was no issue with the database.
Kim: So what did you have to fix?
Tech Support: I have run a tool in your account and resolved the issue.
Kim: Can you not tell me what the tool does or what the issue was?
Tech Support: It was a tool to fix the issue with the permissions.
Kim: So those sometimes get off set on their own?
Tech Support: I appreciate your patience. I am researching on the issue but I will return in 3-4 minutes with some more information.
Kim: Thanks!
Tech Support: Thank you for holding.
Tech Support: There was permissions issue in the account. Hence, you had experienced the issue. I have run a tool and resolved the issue. You will not experience the issue again.
Kim: So you don’t know how the permissions settings got off?
Tech Support: It was due to a technical glitch.
Kim: So this tool prevents the glitch from ever happening again? Cool.
Tech Support: Yes.
Kim: Great.
Ugh. So. Worthless. They won’t tell me ANYTHING. All* of my conversations go like this.
But it is good to know I will not experience the issue again. Phew. No more glitches for me!
If you are self-hosted, which webhost do you use? Do you like their service?
I’ve been using powweb since summer of 2006. I have had a lot of little issues, but not too much website down time overall (so maybe it’s not that big of a deal). I like having tech support chat as an option, but they kind of suck. But at least it usually gets the problem fixed.
*I am not exaggerating. They are all this bad.
Themocracy
I hate calling for support – for anything. I don’t host my blog so I just let blogger so whatever and hope for the best.
This is exactly why I make Jason call any time there is anything technology related. He can usually talk enough lingo to get SOMETHING out of them.
Of course, maybe you could pay more for the “premium North American service” (not kidding. That’s a thing Dell really does charge for) and get someone who could actually explain things…
I’ve never used a webhost personally, but we use GoDaddy for my professional organization and haven’t had any problems that I know of.
I know that Steven’s host (for his consulting site) has a fee that you can pay for something like that, and expedited service. I understand, kind of. Kind of 😉
I am lol-ing over that conversation. Like… what the heck?
At least you tried to get some information out of them! So there’s that. 🙂
Im with bluehost, and so far I havent had to call them. My blogs been down a couple of times, but never for more than maybe half an hour. Honestly, Im too lazy to call, so when it happens I just cross my fingers and hope for the best.
Are you sure you’re not talking ot robots? 🙂
Ha! I think I am. The first thing they always say is “I am sorry for an inconvenience this has caused.” It makes my blood boil (that it’s so cookie cutter).
I’m so excited for you and Dave!!!
I tried using the PayPal chat a couple of weeks ago to resolve an issue. I’m fairly certain I typed “You’re worthless” at least once. 🙂
I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve not had wireless service on my work laptop for well over a month. Tech support (in India) determined it was a hardware issue. Local IT sent my laptop out for repair and in the process LOST my hard drive. I got a new computer, but no hard drive. And still no wireless. On Monday, tech support (in India) said I did not have authorization to use wireless. WTF? My boss had to send an email to them giving the go ahead to grant me access (again). Today I got an email stating my issue had been resolved, but I still don’t have wireless. Tech support determined it was a hardware issue. ON A NEW COMPUTER. They referred me back to local IT. I said last time we went through this, you recommended sending my laptop out for repair and local IT lost my hard drive. Tech support promised me that wouldn’t happen again. I said, you’re in India, I don’t think you can really promise that.
*big sigh*
Oh, and the whole reason I need wireless? When I work from home, I can’t connect to the network on my laptop because our VPN doesn’t work with ComCast for some reason. ARGH.
(sorry to vent, this isn’t about host issues but the general ineffectiveness of IT support)
That is totally bizarre. I would think the no wireless thing would be something your IT staff could fix in house!
Did you ask Comcast about the VPN thing? My coworker couldn’t get her VPN to work at home either so she has to tether internet from her blackberry!
I know a company is terrible when they claim to be a “leader” in hosting, yet I’ve never heard their name before. I’m familiar with at least 40 or 50 hosting companies…
Their about page has no content, the blog hasn’t had a post on it since 2008! And, the most important thing on their blog… “No more sexy model” on their home page… wow, are you sure they are still in business?
I checked into pow web tech support a bit more. Their main forum tech has made thousands of posts and many of them seem to be very solid… he also writes a very detailed blog that gives guidance to paraplegics.
If you really want to know what happened to your website, I suggest posting in their forum, “croc hunter” should be able to tell you everything you want to know.
Great idea. I didn’t even realize they had a forum. Thanks – I’ll do that the next time I have an issue! 🙂
That sounds frustrating! He’s sitting there quoting a script he probably has and you ask an honest question!
Let us know if you find anyone better!
It sounds like you were chatting with a bot that is programmed to respond based on key words in your responses. It’s hard to say though. When I chat with certain companies online I can tell they at least have prewritten sentences that they can just click on or something, such as “I have run a tool in your account and resolved the issue.”… that seemed to appear every other line in your exchange!
I hate dealing with tech support/customer support for computer related issues. It’s so frustrating!
Ridiculously frustrating. Ugh.
Oh my gosh- that would drive me bonkers!!