Ok.... I've read through the history of posts... So i'm not going at this with a complete "Newbie" standpoint.

but, hostrocket.com....

After a while of looking and comparing they do have some of the better features vs. cost.

$10/month
350mgs storage
15gb transfer

I have read all of the horror stories about HR and CS...
So I was wondering if anybody either knew what the reality of all of the horror/good stories about hostrocket or any viable alternatives.

So is hostrocket.com
:love: or :kaioken:?

I had hostrocket for the longest time and the only reason why I canceled is because I couldn't afford them anymore. I highly recommend them. There uptime is great, features, tech support, but I do not recommend paying yearly. The reason for this is because when you pay yearly and they update the features in the economy account you don't get those new features. You get the old one.

You can get a better sampling by visiting our forums... you can probably gather a decent list of current customer email addresses right from there and ask them directly, most of them are pretty nice people and would be glad to help. The same goes for just about any host.

-Brendan

You can get a better sampling by visiting our forums... you can probably gather a decent list of current customer email addresses right from there and ask them directly, most of them are pretty nice people and would be glad to help. The same goes for just about any host.

From what I read here often, your company removes negative post, so how does that provide fair evaluation?

Studio64, do yourself a favor and do a search on HR (like you have) and make your own opinion. The threads turn into ordeals. From what I have seen, they are either loved or hated. There is never any gray.

Thats why I suggested he email our customers directly... Our forums are there to help our customers help eachother. If people need a problem fixed etc, they should use our ticket system.

-Brendan

Originally posted by UmBillyCord


From what I read here often, your company removes negative post, so how does that provide fair evaluation?

UmBillyCord .. you really have an attitute problem .. from what you "read" .. you don't even have experience with the company, but neither the less you won't let a chance to bitch pass by you ... :rolleyes:

Carlos, are you here just to enlighten me. :rolleyes: Please show me where I was "bitching". I can't seem to find it.

I figure with over 1200 post, you must have *read* the same things. Sorry you missed them. I tend to believe things when I read them on a few different occasions. And since I have been reading post since Nov of last year, I thought I would help someone here who has 2 post and is a newbie. There are two sides to everything. In this case I disagree with HR in that their forums would give Studio64 a fair evaluation.

I will say this since you seem to think I was attacking HR - I would host with them. I think they are a good company which grew very fast and had some growing pains. But that still doesn't mean they don't remove negative post.


Thanks for your post Carlos. :cartman:

<<Removed: First hand info only please>>

Originally posted by TimPD
I never used them, heard some bad things.


I think hosts (competitors) should not be allowed to review other hosts. It is better to remain silent then comment on something that you have never personally had experience with.

You might have seen bad reviews about HR, but I'm pretty sure you have seen 'good' reviews too. IMO this post does not qualify as a review.

BTW, I'm not trying to attack you or anything. ;)

- Sorry that I went off topic.

I have a neutral opinion about hostrocket... and yes I was a customer... so if you want an honest and neutral opinion then email me. I wont post here because I dont like getting involved in these types of debates (unless Im pissed :D)

From what I've read in previous posts the issue w/ HR is that you either love it or you hate it.... Right now I'm willing to roll the dice and take my chances b/c they simply have better prices for a better product...

If you can point me in the direction of a better product or give me a good reason not to choose HR I would be glad..

Sorry Brendan...

But, on the positive side; I completly respect the fact that you do post to this board and is a very strong reason why I am leaning towards your company b/c it appears that you are proud of your product and enjoy defending it, which shows charecter and your desire to make your product work and profitable.

:nuts:BTW, where can I pick up a copy of this BBS Forum, I love it..:nuts:

N/M just found the link at the bottom of the page... Where it should be :-)

I was left with the feeling that they just dont really care about their customers.

While that might seem ludicrous, its the feeling I was left with.

I did experience deletion of posts on their forum.

While it doesnt sound like a problem, while watching this it was noted that glaring positive posts were left, negative were removed.

Oh well, they sucked and glad I moved.

I had a number of problems when I was with HR, nearly all of which had to do with communication. But, I have friends with sites at HR that are still there with no problem at all. They love the place.

There are a few people around here (and around the HR forums) that hold out some sort of personal grudge & just want to trash HR. There are also a few people fighting just as hard on HR's side. The problem is that any thread here about HR turns into a major flame war between just a couple parties who all think they are "right", but are too caught up in the fight to actually have anything worthwhile to add.

In the end, if you like what you see on their site, sign up. It's the only way to find out if they will work for you. If it turns out that HR doesn't fit you, you can always leave and move to another host. But, if they do work for you, then enjoy.

With the exception of their billing software getting hacked and somebody getting my CC info (which they promptly informed us about and I was able to 'take care of my stuff' before anything was done with my number), I've had nothing but the greatest of experience with HR. I'd recommend them to anybody that needs virtual hosting (can't comment on dedicated packages). I believe they've also replaced the billing software with something more secure, and possibly even an in-house system (so that shouldn't be a concern anymore)

Originally posted by ledjon
I believe they've also replaced the billing software with something more secure, and possibly even an in-house system (so that shouldn't be a concern anymore)

Just to confirm, the new billing software is an in-house system completly written by us.

Scary =)

I _was_ hosted by hostrocket (I posted my complaints a while back).

I will say this. Their support needs a lot of work. There are only a few of them that really understand what customer service is all about. Brendan not being one of them. He is _always_ right and is usually rude about it. And if you're a regular to this forum I'm sure you would notice the amount of times he has to edit his own posts because of his unprofessional comments.

Right, yes, agree.

HR has been told ohhhh so many ways. I will say this, they are starting to listen a bit, probally because of a drop in signups but I have heard they are starting to poll their users more actively and be more effective publicly in their own relm. As I have mentioned to Brendan directly, be consistent, be consistent BE CONSISTENT.

Pick one policy on your forums, pick one policy for communication and protocals through the helpdesk. After I had a conversation with Brendan on two different forums leading to a "Maybe we made amistake" yet another NEW post was posted about an account being removed before it was downloaded. And again it was miscommunication. That is a term that means, we misunderstood but dont want to say it which would mean they were wrong, but hey YOU WERE TOO!! NAH NAH!

The customer is ALWAYS right.

When a customer leaves you HR and requests your domain information to be changed with specific information, and you change it to it, but then change it back months after your customer has left shows tactics everyone should be aware of.

Yes Brendan I know about it, and yes your support has been asked AGAIN to change it to what was requested 4 months ago.

Hmm tired of this HR crap, go away hr

Originally posted by Samuel Mann
The customer is ALWAYS right.


For the love of god, will you please-stop-saying-that :)

Each and every time you make that statement you bring back customer traumas that I have burried deep in my mind back to the surface :(

I would pay 50 bucks to see Brendan wearing a Sweatshirt that had the words Screenprinted on the front, and his big smiling mug looking at the camera and the sweat shirt reads?

The customer is ALWAYS right ALWAYS

Hello,

Support responses should be becoming better and faster now as HostRocket has been adding new members to it's support staff, and the will continue to as we grow.







=======================

David Laube

HostRocket.com Support

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Thats really robotic of you.

Who are you Dave? What is your experience? Are you interested in introducing yourself here?

Hi All,

As his signature states, Dave is a member of HostRocket support, as I am and as Brendan is.

I can add to his statement by saying we have made many improvements in our support system, including adding additional support staff and giving our ticket system an overhaul. Our ticket system now includes a ticket rating of each ticket where the customer can rate each and every ticket response. And believe me, we take these very seriously. We try very much to keep our customers happy and satisfied with our services and we make these improvements based a great deal on customer feedback. We continually stive to provide the fastest, yet most efficient support we can.

Samuel Mann - On behalf of HostRocket, I apologize for any and all poor support or customer service you received. Please feel free to email me privately at melissa@hostrocket.com.

Originally posted by HRDave
Hello,

Support responses should be becoming better and faster now as HostRocket has been adding new members to it's support staff, and the will continue to as we grow.

=======================

David Laube

HostRocketAd.com Support

+++++++++++++++++++++++

I was speaking to Dave LOL, not you Mellissa

But hey rock on!

The customer is ALWAYS right ALWAYS

Not true. That is why businesses have the right to refuse service to anyone. You host with us and are extremely rude, demeaning, threatening, or abusive to our system, you are booted instantly. Businesses are run by humans. Threat them like it, and you will always be right. Abuse the privilege of "The customer is ALWAYS right", and you can go elsewhere.

Duh man


YOUR customer is always right. If they are abusive they arent your customers any more

Damn, this is such a difficult concept for these freaking companies to understand.

I am putting food in your mouth guy as a customer.

I think it is you who is missing the point.

A customer who makes threats against your company, for example, IS a current customer. They can they say the same BS you are "The customer is ALWAYS right ALWAYS". We terminate this customer, so you see - s/he wasn't always right.

Don't get me wrong. 99% of the time they are right. But we refuse to be held hostage by that 1%. They can go play god elsewhere.

I am putting food in your mouth guy as a customer.

Yeah, poisoned food is not wanted though.

Umm no, you still missing it.

You are picking out a specific situation where you have a nightmare customer.

Then saying, SEE THERE! they werent right!

You will do better in your business understanding that I am not talking about your specific situation.

I am takling about a customer that pays you for services. Period

I suppose you could come any number of negative examples, but when comes down to it, if you consider them a customer THEY ARE RIGHT

If you do not consider them a customer, well turn the page, not talking about them get it?

I suppose you could come any number of negative examples, but when comes down to it, if you consider them a customer THEY ARE RIGHT

Nice caveat. :D

Originally posted by Samuel Mann
Umm no, you still missing it.

You are picking out a specific situation where you have a nightmare customer.

Then saying, SEE THERE! they werent right!

You will do better in your business understanding that I am not talking about your specific situation.

I am takling about a customer that pays you for services. Period

I suppose you could come any number of negative examples, but when comes down to it, if you consider them a customer THEY ARE RIGHT

If you do not consider them a customer, well turn the page, not talking about them get it?

I have to agree with UmBillyCord here - you cannot say the customer is ALWAYS right, because they are not. They are right the majority of the time, but not 100% of the time. They can be in the wrong.

Originally posted by voxtreme-matt


I have to agree with UmBillyCord here - you cannot say the customer is ALWAYS right, because they are not. They are right the majority of the time, but not 100% of the time. They can be in the wrong.
NOPE lol, they are ALWAYS right.


The sooner you realize why, the sooner you will deal with your harder customers better.

They are ALWAYS right, from their perspective they know better, they know what they want, you have to give it to them or teach them. Let them find out they are wrong, YOU DO NOT TELL THEM THEY ARE WRONG, hence, they are ALWAYS right.....ALWAYS

You people are missing the point completely. You're talking about specific situations. The "customer is always right" just means _treat_ the customer like he or she is always right.

I honestly hate the webhosting business, mostly for this reason. Not enough human contact. My work is customer service, but the only difference is I look the customer in the eyes and have to do business with them. The majority of you people do business over email.

I've been dealing with webhosting providers for about 5 years now and almost all of them hate to be wrong and admit it.

A simple "sorry about that, it won't happen again" and you would be so much better off than "uhh well if you did 'this' it wouldn't have happened". Even if you know you're customer is a moron and doesn't know wtf is going on, my god don't treat them like that.

I recently read a reply from Matt from Site5 and it was a perfect example of how you should do business. I wish I had the time to fish it out and show some of you.

Yes the customer is always right. He's paying for your service. Bend over backwards.

edited

Addition: I'm not referring to malicious customers or the ones that commit illegal acts on your servers. Obviously these people aren't real customers.

Originally posted by Randy
Addition: I'm not referring to malicious customers or the ones that commit illegal acts on your servers. Obviously these people aren't real customers.

Ok, now this is getting interesting.

So, can we get a defination of a REAL customer? I always assumed this was someone that was paying me and was hosted on one of my servers.

I meant if they commit illegal acts, they obviously won't be real customers for long.

What about a customer that commits an act that in your opinion is malicious etc. however in their mind it is not. That is the grey area that is hard to nail down.

-Brendan

Originally posted by HRBrendan
What about a customer that commits an act that in your opinion is malicious etc. however in their mind it is not. That is the grey area that is hard to nail down.

-Brendan

Your judgement as a business owner determines before you respond if the customer has done something to warrant them to no longer be a customer.

This should be clearly defined, the only grey area is that you have forgotten how to be consistent.

You are selling a product, that product needs to be supported at a higher level due to its general complexity, as well as its huge potential complexity for the user.

The customer is ALWAYS right. There is NO grey area.

The grey area comes from not being able to distinuish when you have a customer.

When I retained services from your company I felt as though I was not wanted as a customer. The site was a business site "under development". Your services were being looked at for a much larger reason that is currently in fast development and will become something interesting soon.

No grey area, customer is right.

If customer does not act like a customer, you determine if that customer should stay a customer. If not then that customer is no longer a customer and you write them. I suppose greed could be one reason a customer is kept after you have written them off. You know you get burnt out over them, cant take them anymore. instead of forcing payment requirements on your users for that over usage of support, you cut em off and stop treating them as a customer and forget right there, that the customer is always right. That customer may not know that they are no longer a customer. They start getting the hint from the way support responds, and the way issues are treated.

This is why I think it is a grey area for you. That is a mistake.

Your customers are in YOUR grey area.

That is a mistake.

This seems to have little to do with the thread (ok, a bit, but remotely)...

I guess Samuel is talking about attitude more than anything, but the customer is not always right, I don't know why Samuel keeps posting this. That doesn't mean you have to tell them they are wrong, or be rude to them.

SMTP server is not down because your customer's ISP blocks port 25. Server is not necessarily down because client cannot see pages. Amazingly, some scripts don't work because of how they were set up/written, not that the server is misconfigured. Etc., etc., etc.

I don't know what kind of clients y'all have, but I don't b.s. my clients and tell them they are right when they aren't. I explain the possible reasons that could be causing the problem and we at least try to pin point the problem and find a resolution that accomplishes the goal (if possible). Sometimes, it isn't possible.

Telling a customer that they are right when they aren't isn't going to solve problems, being honest and respecting them is what they expect and deserve.

Reading it and analyzing it and living it is three totally different things.

When the customer does not understand you teach them. That is not saying they are wrong. You let them figure it out by giving them conversation.

The reason I point out the very simplisitic statement over and over again is because it became aparent to me that many here have forgotten the principle of the customer always being right.

Brendan has boasted to me directly that they have their own datacenter.

Brendan I ran my own datacenter. I was funded by a company in Chicago called Techtronics that was a contractor for ATT broadband drops in and around Chicago.

My funding for the year 2000 was 1.4 million fiscal for the year.

Our primary business was the installation and proprietary software development of a multi node broadband entertainment network.

While you were ignoring this customer posting directly to on your forums I was waiting for yahoo to return my email about them buying space within OUR network.

Your boasting about how huge HR is is relative to your demographics and current customer userbase. To me you were small, and your action and attitude was small.

I have seen develepment on your part brendan, and the part of your company into a genuinely sincere manner that will produce the right amount of energy that you need if you are consistent.

Chicken I understand your point of view, and I agree to a great extent the point at which you choose to see it. Three different ways though.

From the customer, from the proprieter, and the oberserver.

Each sees it one way,

Which one feeds you?

Originally posted by Pilgrim


Ok, now this is getting interesting.

So, can we get a defination of a REAL customer? I always assumed this was someone that was paying me and was hosted on one of my servers.

A hacker can be paying you and be hosted on your servers.

Too narrow of a view

Originally posted by Samuel Mann
From the customer, from the proprieter, and the oberserver.

Each sees it one way,

Which one feeds you?
This doesn't matter, and I'd be repeating myself if I answered this.

I understand why you replied with that, its what you are left with.

Could it be that you are a moderator and so it is an overview of these three things that you are privy, or forced to see that does not allow you to see the sides?

Brendan is in industry
I am a consumer unit
Resellers are both.

And all three spend time here, and are posting about this in the way they see it from their perspective.

Your perspective might be possibly too broad to not see the importance of the semantics in the statement "The customer is ALWAYS right"

It simple does not have the meaning to you as it does to the three groups.

Originally posted by Samuel Mann
I understand why you replied with that, its what you are left with.

Could it be that you are a moderator and so it is an overview of these three things that you are privy, or forced to see that does not allow you to see the sides?


I think he replied with that because it is rather pointless to add more to the discussion.

Take a good look in your own mirror Samuel Mann.

If customer does not act like a customer, you determine if that customer should stay a customer. If not then that customer is no longer a customer and you write them. you cut em off and stop treating them as a customer and forget right there, that the customer is always right. That customer may not know that they are no longer a customer. They start getting the hint from the way support responds, and the way issues are treated.


And 2 days later we find a flame thread on WHT with over 100 replies, many of them from Samuel Mann who is defending this customer against the evil hosting company. I think Brendan knows what I am talking about :D

Besides....that must have been the strangest eyebrow raising statement I have ever read.

It reminds me of unlimited bandwidth. You advertise with the customer is always right, ALWAYS and then in the TOS you say "when you are not right we are just going to ignore you until you go away"

But obviously I'm too narrow minded to see it from all sides ;)

Originally posted by Studio64
So I was wondering if anybody either knew what the reality of all of the horror/good stories about hostrocket or any viable alternatives.

So is hostrocket.com
:love: or :kaioken:?
I think the thread topic is completely lost and won't come back, and at this point, it seems like a good time to close this up. If you are a customer of hostrocket or want to know about them, please start another thread. If you want to discuss the customer is always right, please start a thread in 'running a web hosting business'.