Here's my story, it's a pretty long one too so please bare with me.

I recently signed up with a new hosting company for a reseler plan, for which I pay around $15/month, 48 hours ago. I won't give the name of the company but it has a good reputation on this forum.

After signing up and paying for the account I had to wait around 5 hours to receive an e-mail from them. In the e-mail, I didn't get any nameservers (but I remembered the nameservers were mentioned in the signup form so I used those), they didn't tell me which was my dedicated IP address (although I asked and payed for one at signup), they didn't give me any temporary address where I could log in to WHM until the nameserver changes take place (which can be up to 72 hours). On top of this, altough they asked for a username and password at signup, they changed both my username and my password. The new password is 7 characters long (the one I used was 17 characters long) and was sent to me in a plain unencrypted text e-mail.

They did claim tough that my domain resolved to their server and my website it's up and running, which obviously is not true, and could not have been true after just signing up with them since I have to change the nameservers in order for the domain to resolve to their server.

After waiting around 24 hours for the nameserver changes to propagate, I sent an e-mail asking for my IP address and for my private nameservers (yes, the plan comes with private nameservers but since they didn't said anything about the nameservers in the welcoming e-mail I used the ones they gave me at signup) and received an answer in about an hour telling me that I will get my private nameserver information in a 2nd
email that will be sent to me shortly.

I waited another half a day for that email with my IP address and my private nameservers but it didn't come. So I posted in the same ticket once again explaining them that I need the IP to log in to WHM and cPanel and start moving my files (until the nameserver changes take place). I am waiting for about 5 hours for someone to answer to this ticket but, alas, it seems they are all busy.

Now, without giving out the name of the company, so that your answers will not be biased in any way, what would you do ? would you wait another 24 hours or would you ask for a refund ? Does this company sound professional to you ? Is it normal NOT to receive the information for your private nameservers, the dedicated IP address for your account or any temporary address where you can log in to cpanel before the nameserver changes take place ?

Right now I'm thinking about asking for a refund. What would you do ?

First off, what does there TOS say as far as setup time for there accounts, usually they say something about that. Personally I would be nervous if I were you in this case as it seems they have things pretty confused and not setup properly. However it could be a simple problem with email or something to that affect and they could have sent out all the info and you never received it. It really is your call as to how long is to long to wait...

Does your company offer live chat or phone support ? If I were you then I would rather try contacting them on live chat or phone support and ask their support to escalate me to their customer care manager.

If this does not work, then I would definately get my account cancelled and ask for a refund. Customer support is a vital need for good hosting, and if it lags there then it lags everywhere ..

Hey, thanks for answering and giving me your input.

Lubby, I decided to wait a day more, but they still haven't answered my ticket, and haven't sent that second e-mail so I canceled the account and asked for a refund. Remains to be seen just how long will it take for them to answer my help desk ticket where I ask for the cancelation of my account and for the refund.

ThinkSupport, in order to get in touch with them for the Emergency Phone Support, I have to contact one of their technicians and give them my phone number so they can call me. Unfortunately their forum has been down for the last three days, and since no one seems to answer my help desk tickets, I'm having a really hard time contacting one of their really high trained technicians and giving them my phone number.

In case anyone wonders the company that I'm talking about is SonataWeb.Net . To their defense, I found out (by poking around their site) that the username and password I was asked for during signup were not for the WHM/cPanel, but in fact for the billing system, so they did not change anything.

I tried to e-mail Terry before signup and now once again, but I still haven't heard from him. If anyone from SonataWeb.Net could be so kind to contact me (over e-mail, or by answering the help desk tickets I currently have opened with them : NCW-831656, ZFZ-471474) I would really appreciate it. I really hate having to post such a story on this forum, but I really have no other way of contacting them (Terry doesn't answer the e-mail, no one answers the helpdesk tickets, their forum is down, and I don't seem to find where do I have to give them my phone number so they can call me).

I hope however everything will be sorted out and that this will turn out to be just a case of misunderstanding.

Regards,
dg.

One option is to do a whois on the domain and see if there is a phone # there.

Regards.

What the hell? We had full intentions of giving a refund just we we're busy doing support. Never had to deal with someone so impatient before.

Damn...

inogenius - What the hell? We had full intentions of giving a refund just we we're busy doing support. Never had to deal with someone so impatient before.

That's a winning response...:uzi: .................:peace:

Darnit. I made a grammar error in there.

The poster has his refund now that things have slowed down. Good luck in the future.

Hi Terry,

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and for replying. Like I said before, I really didn't want to post this here, but I hope you understand that I did try to contact you and SonataWeb by all the means your company provides. I just got the refund from your company.

I would like to clarify a few things though.

We had full intentions of giving a refund
I never accused SonataWeb of not having intentions to give me a full refund, I was sure you will provide a full refund. I was just curious how much would I have to wait until someone would answer my helpdesk ticket regarding this matter.

we're busy doing support
Not for me you're not, and the fact that my helpdesk tickets were open all this time, and that my e-mails went unanswered, until I posted here, should prove that.

Never had to deal with someone so impatient before.
If you call me impatient because I waited three days for the creation of a reseller account, waited 24 hours to get a reply to a help desk ticket, because I was still waiting to get a reply to the e-mails I sent you, then I am truly sorry, and I sincerely apologize, but I consider that lack of communication on behalf of your company.

I would like to wish you and your staff happy holidays.
Regards,
dg.

If you call me impatient because I waited three days for the creation of a reseller account, waited 24 hours to get a reply to a help desk ticket, because I was still waiting to get a reply to the e-mails I sent you, then I am truly sorry, and I sincerely apologize, but I consider that lack of communication on behalf of your company.

You shouldn't be apologizing! You didn't do anything bad.

They probably missed your tickets, or didn't get the time around to handle them.
If no harm was made, just move on :)

I opened a reseller account with SonataWeb 6 days ago and the service could not have been better. I had a number of questions about IPs and Andy answered them all within minutes. So far I'm a happy camper.

Yeah, don't really know what is your problem with SonataWeb. They are a growing company and I think they are quite good compared to some of the big names here.

At the very least, their support staffs are knowledgeable and I don't have to deal with tech support that behaves like idiot.

No, no, this was our fault. We dropped the ball with this particular client from signup by incorrectly setting up his account, and then I totally threw up an airball when I completely forgot to send out his private nameservers. Hopefully the refund will take some of the bitter taste out of his mouth.

At the very least, their support staffs are knowledgeable and I don't have to deal with tech support that behaves like idiot.

You are bang on target, that is what makes sonataweb a superb host. I really admire them for providing such excelent support service:gthumb:

It seems that Sonataweb are having some troubles at the moment. I have a similar story with similar probs. My biggest gripe is the time it takes for Sonataweb to answer a support ticket and the vague and in my case contradicting answers given by 2 of the staff. Terry, please just answer the tickets. Im tired of changing hosts (3 times in the last month) so Im hanging in there while you guys sort out what I hope to be a temporary bout of chaos.

There aren't any unanswered support tickets though? There are some billing tickets, but those aren't urgent by any means.