I just had the strangest email conversation with someone. I was wondering if any of you deal with this on any sort of regular basis.

I'm still shocked by the whole thing.

Here's the gist of it - I've cut out some irrelevant parts, but these are basically the emails from this morning's exchange:
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Non-customer: Hi. I don't have any domains registered with you, but I've registered more than a dozen domains with XXXXXX, and they don't answer their support emails. Can you help me?

me: Hi. I'll try, sure. What's the problem?

Non-customer: I have a couple of different problems. I'm having a hard time using the control panel at XXXXXX to change information on my domains. It's timing out on a couple of pages and giving me a server error. I can't find where to create nameservers, and I'm not able to change the owner on one of them at all. I also need help setting up DNS servers. What's a Zone file? What does it mean to be authoritative on a domain? Do I need to have more than one IP address to have multiple DNS servers? I also want to have DNS servers in all the TLDs - .biz, .info, .cc, .ca and any others that exist, and I need to have someone set this up for me. I can mail you my IP information and have you set this up for me today, OK?

me: I'm sorry, but I'm not sure exactly how to help you. Your registrar is not an OpenSRS reseller, so our Domain Manager control panel will not be of any help. You'll need to use your registrar's control panel to manage your domains. The only way we could help you there is if you were to transfer your domains to us. If any of your domains are newly registered however, you cannot transfer them. There is a 60 day period where newly registered domans cannot be transferred away from a registrar. I also don't know anything about XXXXXX's control panel, so I don't know what to tell you. Perhaps you would have better luck posting your question on WebHostingTalk's forums. There are certainly people there familiar with XXXXXX's control panel.

As for your DNS setup questions, we really don't offer that kind of service. I would recommend you either post your question on a forum like WebHostingTalk, or perhaps pick up the DNS/BIND book by O'Reilly. It's a really good reference for understanding how to set up DNS.

I would be happy to create an entry in the .biz, .info, and .cc registries for your nameservers if you would like - though your registrar should handle this for you as well. Please let me know their names and I'll add them if you would like me to. They need to be functioning though before you can use them, so you might want to wait on this until you have actually set them up.

Non-customer: What the ****! If I'd wanted to transfer domains to you, I would have. I know how to transfer domains! I registered my domans with XXXXXX because they are my registrar of choice! Why can't YOU help me with my DNS setup? You help people all the time on forums like WHT? Is it because I've asked you in private, and you won't get any credit for it? Would you help me if I asked in a public place like WHT? Go **** yourself!
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I was floored. Now I try to be helpfull, but this guy is on crack or something.

Am I off base here? Should I set up this guys DNS servers? Should I have offered to log into his control panel for him and try to manage his domains on his registrar's system?

Do you guys get this kind of email on a regular basis?

I'm still reeling.

-t

forget that guy, from the beginning you should have said that you could help him if you went over and transfered all the domain names to your place. Dont let people push you around like that, obviously this guy was trying to get some free support from you. I hate when people act rude about things like that :angry:



Jim

Yeah, we get some emails from non-customers requesting support. We occasionally get them from people asking if we could recommend Win2k / NT host for them too (we're solely Unix).

If I'm not busy, I'll try to help them to the best of my ability, it costs me nothing, it could resolve their situation, and it doesn't do your reputation any harm.

Edit:

Didn't read the bottom bit about the guy being rude. If a non customer is rude, I'd just ignore them.

We've had a couple non-customer support requests. If it's something like yours where it's a problem with something you don't have access to (unless they give it to you), I just explain that we do not handle support for other companies. If it's something that just needs a little explaining, then it's no problem.

Unfortunatley the site that created 'tagboard' was redirecting to hostculture.com for whatever reason, so we had one guy insisting that we were supposed to help him. I explained that we had no affiliation whatsoever with the tagboard creators, nor were we familiar with it, and if he wanted help configuring his account so it will run, to ask his host.
Well he kept insisting that we help him since the old url points to hostculture, but eventually he backed off :rolleyes:

Originally posted by thewitt
Non-customer: What the ****! If I'd wanted to transfer domains to you, I would have. I know how to transfer domains! I registered my domans with XXXXXX because they are my registrar of choice! Why can't YOU help me with my DNS setup? You help people all the time on forums like WHT? Is it because I've asked you in private, and you won't get any credit for it? Would you help me if I asked in a public place like WHT? Go **** yourself![/B]

At this point I would say he is done. Sounds like a nut case actually. :eek:
You did good, to be helpful is one thing, to be yelled at by someone is just crazy.

I would of said something like. We are an active WHT supporter, Post a question there and it will surely be solved.

Other then that tell them that you have support avaible for clients only.

Oh lord.

Tim, that's the kind of email that eats at you. It is them not you, I'd try to forget about it. There isn't anything you can do, and the only way you could have helped him/her is if they transfered the domain(s) to you. Obviosly the person missed that and mistook your reply for something it wasn't. The swearing in the email tells you who you're dealing with. You can sleep tonight :D

It's unreal that someone who is not paying you is expecting you to use your resources to please them only to get blown off because you can't please them. :angry:

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

WOW ?

I would send him the link to this thread ;)

I'm happy to help any non-customer, at our billable rates. :)

just had the same thing with a guy ripping another host because he could not send out email using outlook.

told him their system was probably working well and he didnt know how to use outlook, politely of course

took 2 emails to get rid of him

there is a point to which hosts pursue and are desperate for clients we were there, arent now...

let them know your support is good, but NOT FREE.

dos centavos

You really just have to control yourself and tell them how it is. Explain that if you want our service and expertise then sign up for us.

I don't think someone would curse at you for not helping them but who knows:eek: :eek2: :eek3: :eek4: