Running a hosting business or any business for that matter, can be very frustrating. So far I've been lucky, the main frustrations have often been financial - things costing twice as much as predicted and taking twice as long to setup (this isn't a major frustration though as the business plan should and does cover these things). I work hard for my customers, and for the past few days I had a reseller customer with a nameserver problem. He was trying to create custom nameservers for his reseller account but for some reason the nameservers weren't working. We talked him through step by step how to set the nameservers through his domain control panel. Then he became very angry and was becoming very rude towards us because despite our best efforts to figure out the problem, we had no idea what was wrong with his account and could only come to the conclusion that it was a problem with his domain name...only to then be informed that he didn't actually own the domain name he wanted the nameservers set for, so hadn't infact completed all the processes that he said he had and had no way of setting his nameservers - this same guy was repeatedly telling me how stupid I was for not being able to sort his nameservers for his domain (but the domain didn't even belong to him and he had no access to it).
Then another reseller customer, who hadn't even created a hosting account for his domain name sent us an offensive email asking why his domain name wasn't directing to his site (What site?? he hadn't even created the hosting account for a site!!)
I never try to sell my reseller hosting service as something that anyone with no experience at all can do, and I have A LOT of patience for my beginner customers who don't know what they are doing but ask even the simplest questions in a polite manner. But when I get customers hurling abuse at me, calling me stupid (as if they know more than me) and being generally rude, when they haven't created a hosting account, or when they don't even own/have access to the domain they want hosting - that is very frustrating!

:bawling: things like that are starting to drive me crazy!!

I really like serving my beginner customers who are nice and polite, but the beginner customers who think they are not beginners and then start being rude, thats a huge frustration for me.

I'm not asking anyone to go into any specifics, but please let me know I'm not alone here!?

I have to say that the biggest frustration by far is client's not reading the TOS. Or saying "I never read that thing" if we suspend them for violating it. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Netrilli
I have to say that the biggest frustration by far is client's not reading the TOS. Or saying "I never read that thing" if we suspend them for violating it. :rolleyes:

That's when you use the "PAL" approach :D

Whelp the most frustrating thing is balancing a hosting company with a job. One day I want to be able to survive solely off of the money the hosting company brings me!

Originally posted by hysteriaweb
Whelp the most frustrating thing is balancing a hosting company with a job. One day I want to be able to survive solely off of the money the hosting company brings me!

Its a good feeling when you get there, but everyone you know will still ask you when you are going to get a real job - another frustration!

whats the PAL approach?

speaking of TOS.... sandanista, I was just thinking of adding a note in my TOS regarding "Support Abuse"... I have heard enough stories here as well as my own experience in high-end retail to know that some clients can be jerks...

unfortunately there are some (I repeat some... I have had some great really clients in my time as well) that think that whether they pay $5 or $5000 that they own you and that they can treat you as they wish

but please don't let these sorts of people discourage you... if it reaches a point that you can't take it then cut them off... I think your piece of mind means more then their monthly fee's


;)

Originally posted by cnm72
speaking of TOS.... sandanista, I was just thinking of adding a note in my TOS regarding "Support Abuse"... I have heard enough stories here as well as my own experience in high-end retail to know that some clients can be jerks...

Yep, I have this in my TOS already, so I might enforce it. I first had to enforce it when we started receiving racist abuse, even though the racism didn't effect any of the staff dealing with the customer, I have staff who it would have offended + even if I didn't I would have still terminated the account because I have the right to choose who I do business with and I don't deal with racists. The abuse I was getting recently wasn't quite as bad, but has still left me annoyed, especially as it wasn't our fault in any way!

Originally posted by cnm72
whats the PAL approach?

Finally someone asks!

PAL = point and laugh :D

Originally posted by cnm72
whats the PAL approach?

speaking of TOS.... sandanista, I was just thinking of adding a note in my TOS regarding "Support Abuse"... We have a section called "Torturous Conduct" that addresses that. :)

Torturous.. lol nice choice of words ;)

One of my frustration (this only happened once) was when a customer accused me of not answering a support question when in fact I replied to all her 10 or so emails. It was unfair. I politely told her that I was giving support to all her queries about why her domain won't resolve. She was impatient to wait for her domain to appear . After I told her that, she apologized and she's been one of loyal customers.

Originally posted by hysteriaweb
Whelp the most frustrating thing is balancing a hosting company with a job. One day I want to be able to survive solely off of the money the hosting company brings me!

Same thing here. I was already 1/3 - 1/2 into it when I had to change directions because of things heading different ways in my personal life. So, I started at zero again. Different approach now - more dedication for sure.

One of the most frustrating moments was, when the buyer of my clients let everything slip. No communication at all with the customers. He just left them in the dark for many months.

Originally posted by Amdac
Finally someone asks!

PAL = point and laugh :D


lol... I have to try that... I am sure that it works wonders to defuse a situation on your end...


:)


yep sandanista... I think you need to put the foot down... become the ENFORCER

:bkick:

did you say that really ugly word racism???... as in rasist content on their site? idiotic, neanderthal, low self esteem havin' losers...

It wasn't the content in their site it was the content in their emails. I'm assuming he thought that none of us fell into the categories he was being racist against (which we didn't but other staff did + thats irrelevant anyway I think - if someone is racist towards anyone, I don't want to deal with them). Completely random and spontaneous, the customer started throwing racist comments at us from the very first question they asked to long after we had resolved their problem (which was a problem caused by them, not us).
All got far too much, so they had to be terminated! :flamethr:
(the account, not the client)

Originally posted by sandanista
...But when I get customers hurling abuse at me, calling me stupid (as if they know more than me) and being generally rude...

When I was a Telephone Customer Service Representative at Neodata Services in Boulder, doing magazine subscription fulfillment, basic training included how to not take abuse, without being abusive in return. I find myself referring mentally to Neodata's 'best practices' often. As an experienced sole proprietor, I empathize with sandanista's situation. The tendency is to take it or PAL, neither of which results in customer loyalty over the long term. My baptism by fire was the holiday season, Neodata is always far busier from Thanksgiving to New Year's (Nov 26 - Jan 1). The customers who have routine issues are stressed more than usual (in some cases) by the season, add a few extra minutes of hold time and an TCS rep who is paid by production. Now imagine the additional stress of customers whose orders were bungled. Role-play with me: (JJ was my TCS alias, and customers hear you :) )

JJ: :) GQ, this is JJ, how may I help you today?
Customer: :angry: <<ranting tirade on how we've screwed up his Xmas>>
JJ: :cool: I'm sorry you've had a bad experience, would you mind telling me what you need me to do in order to correct it?

Notice how I've ignored the invective and expletives, and re-asked my original question. Normally, my second question would be zip code, to narrow down the DB search while listening to the problem, but we're off the script, now!

Customer: :mad: <<continues rant>>
JJ: :rolleyes: (interrupting) :cool: I would appreciate if you would change your tone, please, I'd rather help you than hang up on you! <-- not empty threat!
JJ: (dramatic pause, not too long) :) Could I have your zipcode please?

The irate customer will instantly cool their jets when they realize you're a pro who is trying to help, who will stop helping if they don't chill. You must resist the urge (in email as well) to sink to their level. You must resist as well the notion that the customer is always right - don't take abuse from anyone.

Fast-forward. At this point, 'JJ' has defused the situation, and changed the offending misspelling of the name (for example). Most people are a bit sheepish at this point for having yelled...

Customer: :blush: Thanks, sorry...
JJ: (interrupts apology) :) It was our error. (sometimes, don't say this if it wasn't) To show our appreciation of your business, would you like an extra month added to your subscription at no charge?

50/50 tossup as to whether someone will take this, depending on whether their outrage was justified. If it wasn't, unless you're dealing with a real jerk they won't accept the free issue. Either way, the keyword is loyalty. The small number of real jerks are gone, the others potentially turn into valuable, loyal customers despite your bad first impression of them.

My biggest frustration has always been customers who know better, yet still don't do their own backups.

Originally posted by BigBison
My biggest frustration has always been customers who know better, yet still don't do their own backups.
Or backup and leave it on the server ..DUH!

I do not mind working 24/7 to solve a customer's real problem, but I really have a problem dealing with abusive customers. :bawling: I really have tried for over 5 years to learn how to deal with it but I can't. Wish I could be diplomatic like BigBison. Especially when they start flexing their muscles at me.
At some point I let the customer go if the abuse continues. *SHRUG*. I rather enjoy my job and will not let someone ruin it for me when its not worth it.

lucky for me it has only been a few of those to date :)

I find it hard to narrow down to just one :D

We have customers that re-open tickets just to get the last word in, or rant some more, even after their minor issue was solved.

We have customers that do not understand the difference between ordering a domain, and a hosting account...So, they either think that when they signup for hosting, the domain comes with it, or if they order a domain, the hosting comes with it.

So, when they submit tickets, it's usually about "why isn't my domain propagating, it's been a week now?" only to do a whois, and find that they never registered the domain they placed on the account.

Another is clients who "think" they know what they're doing, then turn around and screw up their entire account by deleting the public_html folder, or some other such nonsense, and then submit a ticket about how their site is down, and they now hate your guts for it, and how you're the worst hosting company in history, because they deleted their public_html folder. lol

I will always go out of my way for our clients, but some of the emails I get from our tech staff about a certain few of our clients simply send me through the roof sometimes.

In regards to lightening the mood. I accidentally took an extreme approach to this, with one of our clients. I was sending a "cheer up" joke to one of our tech staff members, as he was having somewhat of a bad day. The problem was...the entire time, I was typing it in the wrong email box, which instead was sent to a fuming client (ironically about nameservers for a domain that did not exist, and he wished to contact management)

The client received the following, and replied with nice "lol" and a "thank you" for making him feel better (he has now been a client for approx. 2yrs)

"Tech Support By Dr. Seuss
If a caller gets you down,
simply try not to frown...

instead..

Here's an easy game to play.
Here's an easy thing to say.

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort.
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your Windows in the trash,
And your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash,
Then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on the mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
And your screen is all distorted by the side affects of Gauss,
So your icons in the windows are as wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
'Cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!

When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk,
And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary RISC,
Then you'll have to flash your memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM,
Quickly turn off your computer and be sure to tell your Mom!"

I was embarrassed, but the client seemed to like it lol

Someone should "sticky" this post. It's a very good example.

Thanks BigBison

Originally posted by BigBison
When I was a Telephone Customer Service Representative at Neodata Services in Boulder, doing magazine subscription fulfillment, basic training included how to not take abuse, without being abusive in return. I find myself referring mentally to Neodata's 'best practices' often. As an experienced sole proprietor, I empathize with sandanista's situation. The tendency is to take it or PAL, neither of which results in customer loyalty over the long term. My baptism by fire was the holiday season, Neodata is always far busier from Thanksgiving to New Year's (Nov 26 - Jan 1). The customers who have routine issues are stressed more than usual (in some cases) by the season, add a few extra minutes of hold time and an TCS rep who is paid by production. Now imagine the additional stress of customers whose orders were bungled. Role-play with me: (JJ was my TCS alias, and customers hear you :) )

JJ: :) GQ, this is JJ, how may I help you today?
Customer: :angry: <<ranting tirade on how we've screwed up his Xmas>>
JJ: :cool: I'm sorry you've had a bad experience, would you mind telling me what you need me to do in order to correct it?

Notice how I've ignored the invective and expletives, and re-asked my original question. Normally, my second question would be zip code, to narrow down the DB search while listening to the problem, but we're off the script, now!

Customer: :mad: <<continues rant>>
JJ: :rolleyes: (interrupting) :cool: I would appreciate if you would change your tone, please, I'd rather help you than hang up on you! <-- not empty threat!
JJ: (dramatic pause, not too long) :) Could I have your zipcode please?

The irate customer will instantly cool their jets when they realize you're a pro who is trying to help, who will stop helping if they don't chill. You must resist the urge (in email as well) to sink to their level. You must resist as well the notion that the customer is always right - don't take abuse from anyone.

Fast-forward. At this point, 'JJ' has defused the situation, and changed the offending misspelling of the name (for example). Most people are a bit sheepish at this point for having yelled...

Customer: :blush: Thanks, sorry...
JJ: (interrupts apology) :) It was our error. (sometimes, don't say this if it wasn't) To show our appreciation of your business, would you like an extra month added to your subscription at no charge?

50/50 tossup as to whether someone will take this, depending on whether their outrage was justified. If it wasn't, unless you're dealing with a real jerk they won't accept the free issue. Either way, the keyword is loyalty. The small number of real jerks are gone, the others potentially turn into valuable, loyal customers despite your bad first impression of them.

Well some of the most frustrating thing I have over here at my side are when :

1) I have to provide "commercial" like based support even when we are a free web hosting company.... and getting screwed and sometimes even threatened by the customer that he would switch host.
Personally I never BAN anyone from MSN Messenger unless the person really blows my top... This was what happened...

[Customer] : The speed is very SLOW!
[GalacNet] : Sorry for the delay, we normally experience heavy traffic with XXXX and you have accessed at that time which a lot of other users are also running.
[Customer] : Can you speed it up?
[GalacNet] : I am afraid we can't...
[Customer] : Why do you give so little space? No cPanel, no eMail addresses?? .... ( and he rattles on )
[GalacNet] : We have strict company policies to follow when we offer these services, and we are unable to provide those services.
[Customer]: But I want it!
[GalacNet] : I am sorry I can't provide that.
[Customer] : Can I have it?
.
.
And goes on and on with me repeating my answer for a few times.... And After that

[Customer] : XXX company provides this! I will go over there and get a hosting package instead! Yours Suck!
[GalacNet] : I am sorry you felt this way. We will terminate your account now so that the resources can be freed to host other users. Thank you for your stay with us.
[Customer] : What?!?! No No! I thought you would get jealous and give me more stuff...

A few days later, he continues to bother me with the same things over and over again.... After this continued for several times I checked his account..... it was blank... empty... nothing there at all...
Suspended his account and BANNED his MSN ID from mine....



Next....
2) Advertising customers that think my site is "GOD"
Well we do have a lot of hits and a good PR but then... advertising is really very very unpredictable.
You may get tons of customers and you may get nothing at all...

There was one where he complained that he got ZERO clicks to his site and he wanted a refund.
Complains that the stats I gave was fake and all that stuff....
And after all this rattle and "screaming" I asked him the ultimate question :)

[GalacNet] : May I know where is your Advertising Link located?
[Customer] : Oh. Its the $5/mth Text link at the very bottom of your sites....
[GalacNet] : ......
Well I did not refund him, gave him some tips on advertising and how and where he should do it and got back more "screwing" and he left to never return :P


Gosh... did I write that much :o I think I will stop :P Will never stop if I continue. LOL

Originally posted by BigBison
Customer: :mad: <<continues rant>>
JJ: :rolleyes: (interrupting) :cool: I would appreciate if you would change your tone, please, I'd rather help you than hang up on you! <-- not empty threat!

Ideally, the customer realizes you're a worker bee who can help. Some people forget that an angry bee might sting...

Customer: :mad: <<doesn't take JJ's advice>>
JJ: :angry: <<disconnects without a word>>
JJ: :smokin: <<takes smoke break to chill...>>
JJ: :liplick: <<now having some fun with irate customer's account>>

Yeah, there are certainly times when I miss being Jeff Jones! Unfortunately, when it's your company you don't have that luxury - that is, if you're at all interested in having a sterling reputation. I know there is such a thing as a customer one would rather not have. Some people just don't get the message that you won't take their abuse. In such a case, don't ever provoke them into verbal abuse to justify terminating their account. Stake out the high ground, and give it to 'em straight so hopefully they'll learn before angering their next host. If you have a 'tortuous conduct' clause, point to it or otherwise be clear that their attitude is responsible for the following consequences: termination and (limited) refund.

Why refund? My policy has always been to not burn bridges. I've had my fair share of customers move on. The measure of almost any business' success is repeat business, including those who have left and then come back. Cancel the account and issue the refund promptly. Put aside the anger you're feeling which makes you want to delay. Another good policy is to not let the door hit the customer on their way out. Did you register any of their domains? Pay extra close attention and make sure the transfer isn't held up, particularly if your company lists itself as admin contact for its customers' domains. You may justifiably hate a customer's guts for legitimate reasons. It isn't an excuse for any shenanigans on your part. I'm going to pick on fuitadnet's recent acquisition by Empire Host, with the caveat that what I'm about to describe happens all too frequently with webhosts.

Prior to and during the company's sale, the service and support virtually disappeared. The lack of communication and contact bothered the customers, many of whom wished to cancel and move on. These customers, upon re-reading the fine print, could only cancel with approval from the CEO directly, who was incommunicado for several weeks. Customers who complained on the forums about their inability to cancel were subjected to harassment and abuse. When the customer finally did communicate with an FNET employee, I'm sure he started off by ranting. That employee (or rep) is faced with a customer who is irate for no apparent reason, unaware of the treatment the customer had been subjected to (a moderator threatened to sue a customer who called the moderator a jerk) by the volunteer support forum. The customer was then further angered when informed that no one but the CEO is able to cancel his account, and the rep can't provide any information beyond, "keep waiting, we'll get to it".

Back On Topic!

From a consumer perspective, my biggest frustration with the webhosting and ISP industries are convoluted cancellation policies. I'm upset enough to cancel, you shouldn't provoke me further by attempting to forcibly retain my business, or having any barriers which make cancellation difficult. It's unwise. Let me go. If things improve and you once did a reasonable job, I may be back. Act honorably in your business dealings. The bad blood generated by impeding cancellation or being abusive to a customer (for whatever reason) is 'paid forward' to the rest of the industry by consumers once bitten and twice shy. Dealing with irate customers does take a toll on support reps. Despite the benefits and great pay, I quit TCS due to the ulcer the job gave me.

My biggest frustration would be users that simply can't follow instructions. ;)

Originally posted by LP-Trel
My biggest frustration would be users that simply can't follow instructions. ;)

Or the customer hwo replied the email with their username and password asking what their username and password is.
We get one of those every day.

I keep making hte emails clearer but it dosn't seem to help.

OR: the customer who emails you saying:

"I gave a fake email address on the order form can you forward the instructions to my real address."

One major frustration that I've also been getting recently is when a customer asks why I charge $80/month for 3500 MB diskspace and 50 GB bandwidth on a reseller account, when they can get the exact same thing for $5 per year with a host they found that just set up yesterday + doesn't have an address or telephone number and has private whois etc.
The customer then proceeds to tell me that I am ripping them off and they're going to switch to this new host.
This type of frustration doesn't really bother me though as the customer will most likely be back but when this customer then contacts other members and persuades them to join this company as well (which makes me think the member owns the company) that annoys me!

We had someone harrass our live support staff with crap like that.

Our support manager Dan, replied "By all means, go elsewhere"

My biggest frustration is actually a mistake that I made early on. I signed a long-term contract with a data center at what would now be considered a ridiculously high rate. It seemed like a good idea at the time... It's been real frustrating to see my competitors pay half of what I'm paying for the same thing.

However, as long as quality is of utmost importance, I don't think you made that much of a mistake.

You should never try to compete on price alone, as this is the quickest way to go out of business, especially with all of the overselling young kiddie hosts do.

Have the best of both worlds - do both.
I made that decision years ago and its worked out well.
A quality brand with expensive servers and a cheap brand with basic whitebox ones.
Both have their place.

And have your main site and "VIP" subscribers on the main server where the other you place those others thats usually come and go in a few months :)

Not really.
Both need to operate as seperate operations.
We use the same billing and support system for each but the cheaper brand has no uptime guarantee, but it is ultra cheap (and makes a good profit).

Originally posted by hysteriaweb
Whelp the most frustrating thing is balancing a hosting company with a job. One day I want to be able to survive solely off of the money the hosting company brings me!


Yes, that is fustrating. I have it pretty good though, being my job is working with computers, so I am able to check up on things during the day. MOST of the customers, also understand that I am at work during the day. They know that can be a little incovienent, but the also know that I will take very good care of them as soon as I get off of work.

<nevermind> answered my own question. :)

Web hosting is certainly the most difficult job I've ever experienced, especially if YOU are the end of the line and there's no one behind you for support.

I once worked with a UNIX God who was the cheif admin of a big organisation and he tought me the best three lessons of compute support and customer management:

1. When your server goes down, you don't go down with it and stay on the top of instead.

2. When someone complains put sh**t in their mouth (abuse and bad language) you turn your face away until they wash their mouth.

Make it clear to them that staff abuse won't be tolerated and won't get them anywhere.

Don't be affraid to say something like "We would rather deal with polite clients and if you're not happy we can cancel your account and release your domain immediately!".

3. A good admin is like a doctor in the middle of busy ward : no matter how many people are screaming and shouting, you'll have to stay calm and focus on the job.



I have stuck these through rules on my monitor and before I answer any support tickets, I make sure my lessons are read.

Good luck