I don't host commercially, but I have some websites I host for friends and stuff...but I run into this question/problem every now and then.

QUESTION:
How come my site is down?

Of course, I check on my connection, it's working for me. I ping the server and everything seems fine.

How do you explain that it may be a problem with their ISP? Without sounding like you're passing the blame, etc...

Thanks.

Be as polite and honest as you can... :D

I've said;
"I have 3 monitors monitoring the server, and I've checked from multiple ISP's and have had a few other people check it. It's been fine for them. So I'd check with your ISP to see if they know of a router or fiber that has gone wacko."

I dont know if there is a good way. We had one today we lost business to because he kept saying he site would go down for www.hisdoamin but the ip worked. We tried explaining everything even our network status page did not prove it.
some just already place the blame at you

I've had that more times than I can count. All I think you can do is advise them that it is up from where you are, test several connections and advise that the monitoring software that is being used also shows it as being up from several places. Just remember to put yourself in your customers place - that it's frustrating not being able to work on your site or think it's down. So be kind and straightforward and you shouldn't have a problem.

Just my experience.

-David

Thanks for the replies...but I'm still kinda where I started.

MarkD's situation is what I was referring to earlier. How do you explain to a technically challegened person that it's not your fault? I mean, you can explain all you want about IPs, proxy servers, multiple servers, monitoring till your blue in the face, but if that client still says, "but my site is not working and it's your fault!" What do you do?

I'm hoping one of you has a good analogy to convey to the client that he/she can easily understand the problem. Or do I just say something like, "The Hosting Gods are not pleased, we need to find a virgin sacrifice!" :D

lol.. I think I would go with that comment.

And if these were friends that I was helping out for free I think I'd be forced to smack them with extreme predjudice. :D

Paying customers on the other hand, all you can do it tell them that it is up from your location and other locations from where you've tried. Possibly give them a proxy site to go to that will show them that the site is actually up? They should contact their ISP and see why they are having problems accessing the site and assure them that everything is okay on the server's part.

Just explain to them that you have no problems accessing their site. And if they could please send a traceroute so you can help them diagnose where the problem is.

How's this for an analogy then:

It's like your website is inside a room with lots of windows, the vast majority of them are clean and can see your site perfectly well, from where I am I'm looking through a clean window and so is my monitoring company and other people that I've asked to check your site. Unfortunately one of the windows is dirty and sometimes it's so dirty that you can't see your site through it. That's the window that you're looking through. The problem is that I don't control who cleans the windows, that's upto the company that provides you with internet access. Your site is still there and the vast majority of people can see it fine, there's probably a problem with your ISP at the moment, once they come along and clean their window you'll be able to see your site again.


A bit simplistic maybe but if someone's completley non-technical it'd better than trying to explain routes, routers, ip addresses, DNS etc.

I just say as nice as I can, site is down nuthing you can do about it until i get the connection working again.

Use sites like samspade as well as anonymizer to show them that it is up and that other websites can access your site, so the problem must be on their end.

Process of elimination :)

Originally posted by thewanderer
How's this for an analogy then:

It's like your website is inside a room with lots of windows, the vast majority of them are clean and can see your site perfectly well, from where I am I'm looking through a clean window and so is my monitoring company and other people that I've asked to check your site. Unfortunately one of the windows is dirty and sometimes it's so dirty that you can't see your site through it. That's the window that you're looking through. The problem is that I don't control who cleans the windows, that's upto the company that provides you with internet access. Your site is still there and the vast majority of people can see it fine, there's probably a problem with your ISP at the moment, once they come along and clean their window you'll be able to see your site again.


A bit simplistic maybe but if someone's completley non-technical it'd better than trying to explain routes, routers, ip addresses, DNS etc.
That's a nice story, but I don't do Windows hosting - I use Linux!

Originally posted by thewanderer

A bit simplistic maybe but if someone's completley non-technical it'd better than trying to explain routes, routers, ip addresses, DNS etc.

No, that's perfect. Once I start mentioning routes, routers, IPs...I start to see their eyes glaze over. Houses and windows, they can understand. Thank you.

howstuffworks has a few really good (with illustrations as well, though for some they will need flash) explanations on how the net works, how DNS works, etc. Try pointing them there. It can't hurt to have a 3rd party saying the same thing you are.

Originally posted by mindgasm
I don't host commercially, but I have some websites I host for friends and stuff...but I run into this question/problem every now and then.

QUESTION:
How come my site is down?

Of course, I check on my connection, it's working for me. I ping the server and everything seems fine.

How do you explain that it may be a problem with their ISP? Without sounding like you're passing the blame, etc...

Thanks.

Well we just tell them, show them some other traceroutes from various places and just lay it out as it is.

Course every now and then one might run over here and complain how rude we're being. :rolleyes:

step 1. let them know you can see their site and describe it
--how else would you know what it looked like if you couldnt see it?


step 2. when they continue to complain that you server is destroying their 5k/day income assure them you can see the site and so can the rest of their clients.


step 3. when the refuse to believe you and the whining gets so lound you cant take it anymore tell them the truth which is there is nothing more we can do since we can see it and we know you know we can see it since we dscribed it.

step 4. when that fails offer them one of your kidneys

step 5. if they dont accept the organ offer, lie and tell them it will up in the morning.

step 6. repeat steps 1-5 of course of this goes on to day 3 then you're screwed cause your out of free kidneys.



of course you could do what we do, cut to the chase tell them you can see it, desribe it, and the second a but or hmm or what about comes out of their months tell them hasta la taco..

Try suggesting 2 simple things:
refresh and reboot!
sometimes it works wonders!

I tell my clients clear your cache and reconnect.

If it still doesn't work I tell them their dial up or dsl provider is having difficulties which should be resolved shortly.

Hmm... now that I think about it my husband and I use clear your cache and reconnect in our daily routine. I remember making that statement at bestbuy last week when he was trying to convince me he needed a $3000.00 home theater system, he used it on me last night when I told him I wanted him to add one of our linux box's to our windows network in our office.

I still don't see why we cant have a linux box in our win2000 prof. network I just want to use it for testing before uploading to the servers.