I'm currently w/ hostgator... have been w/ them for years.

When things work, it's awesome. When things do not work, I get lightning fast replies from folks that clearly did not read my entire message and it takes about 30 messages back and forth to get something resolved. I've had a problem w/ vanishing e-mail for over a month and I am tired of not getting e-mails, especially when the sender doesn't get a bounce-back.

I have lost clients and I know there are better deals (space/bandwidth) for the money, anyway.

I have only enough customers to break even - that's fine w/ me, but I cannot afford to lose the ones I have. I just need enough clients so I break even and can host all my other personal crap for free. :-)

What I am looking for:

WHM
CPanel
PHP
MySQL
(basically all the features that are available w/ HostGator - and more if possible)

PLUS
Quick turn-arounds on help tickets that actually listen/read your complaint and address it properly instead of jacking around for days at a time (can you tell I'm a bit irritated?)

I don't care if it's the best deal w/ bandwidth and space in the world, if the customer service sucks or the turn-around time is measured by a calendar instead of a stopwatch, I am not interested. I don't care if it's via e-mail support only - I don't have to talk to someone, but I do need people to respond in a timely manner and get stuff fixed when it croaks.

Anyone who can provide personal experience/recommendations/warnings will be appreciated.

Moving my customers is going to be an ***-pain. I have multiple personal domains, so I can move one domain over to a reseller, copy their sites and have them change their DNS to make it easier, but I'm figuring I will have about a month-long transition moving them over to coordinate w/ all these folks, etc.

I'm a one-woman shop. No phone, no brick-n-mortar and only about 30 paying customers, if that. I do not want to have to play wet-nurse to my customers. I want to be able to set it and forget it... but everytime hostgator goes paws-up on something, I am screwed and I lose customers like rats jumping from a sinking ship.

I am so tired of dealing w/ this crap over and over again. Hostgator used to be perfect, but I am never told what the problem is when/if they fix it - it just magically starts working again and no one fesses up - so the next time it goes south, it's the same dance. This is no way to run a business. I am tired of this and need a good solution. I have been loathing the prospect of moving all my sites somewhere else, but I just cannot stand this any longer.

I would love to hear from folks who have been w/ a host for a year or more and who can cite examples of turn-around times, cust. service experience, etc. I do not expect any server farm to experience 0% downtime - but I do expect quick recovery/response and clear, concise responses to issues that actually address a problem, fix it and explain how it was fixed.

Currently, I'm spending $49.95/mo for 30GB space and 250GB bandwidth. I am hoping not only to find a better host in the reliability dept., but also a better deal. I have found better deals ("on paper") just via Google, but would prefer to get a word-of-mouth recommendation.

Thank you!
Shelley

Just to suggest incase you have not done so already you can try doing some searches here, I'm sure there are atleast a few comparative (hostgator vs somehost) that may help you find something along the same lines but with better support

As you mentioned, while you may be able to find some good deals through google, you can never trust the reliability of the source without verifying with other sources (and WHT happens to be a great medium to verify with other sources, just as you are doing!).

Moving to a new host, especially with reseller accounts, can be very painful, but your new host should try to make it as painless as possible. Now days, it is quite common to find hosts that will transfer your accounts for you (within reason, and with your volume of accounts, I would say hosts that do offer this will gladly help you move your accounts) as long as you're moving to the same platform; I assume you want to go from cPanel to cPanel.

I wish you best of luck in finding a new reseller host and migrating your clients! :)

You are seeking better hosting and a better deal, be careful though of temptations by hosts who seem to offer 20 times more specs for half the price.

I would advise that price be lower on your priority list. I would shoot some presales emails to reseller hosts such as resellerzom and hostdime and see what they can offer and if they can help you in moving your sites for you.

Good luck..

Hello Shelley


Currently, I'm spending $49.95/mo for 30GB space and 250GB bandwidth. I am hoping not only to find a better host in the reliability dept
That will be a hard job, indeed that's a very good deal, you're already paying a low fee for that plan, if reliability is your main concern, then I suggest you to not go for a the "lowest price", indeed, I would increase my budget for those requeriments.

I would also suggest that you look for a different pricing to features ratio. A good rule-of-thumb is to look at packages where 1 GB of Data transfer is 50 cents or more. Service is usually better and Servers not as heavily loaded.

Reviews are always nice to read but can slant one's judgement. Some good Hosters here at WHT do not even have reviews. Reason being is that people are quick to criticize and slow to praise. Just the way people are I guess. :)

What has HG said about the email problem have they given you a solid solution as to why it has happened? I am sure they could figure it out. You say you have been with them for years I would say try to get the email issue worked out.

What has HG said about the email problem have they given you a solid solution as to why it has happened? I am sure they could figure it out. You say you have been with them for years I would say try to get the email issue worked out.

No - never got a solution. It's always a different answer and it never helps. It's never the same person who answers the replies, and it's like the next person who answers doesn't read all the prior messages which is aggravating because I have to explain something over and over again.

Even when I explained from the get-go that I have left my settings unchanged for 3 years and suddenly I stop getting e-mail, I'd get "it must be in your settings in your mail program" and that makes me madder than a hornet. Nothing has changed on my end. This is a problem that has been ongoing for over 2 months. They just fixed something on their end because I'm now getting a tremendous volume of e-mails that I hadn't gotten in 2 months - but not a word from them on what was magically fixed, what caused the problem, nothing. This makes me look like a dumbass when customers ask me what is going on and all I can say is "I'm looking into it" and when they ask me what was fixed I can only say "I don't know."

How can my customers have respect for me when I cannot give them a straight answer? I cannot respect my host when they don't answer my questions. I expect a problem to be resolved in hours, not days, weeks or months. This is the Internet, not the building of an ark. I have lost over a dozen customers in the past year because of these kinds of problems that go unchecked for over a week w/ no cogent answer from my host - they're always prompt and friendly w/ their replies - but that doesn't help me when the crap doesn't work.

Dear Shelley,

I am truly sorry to hear that you are having so much trouble with HostGator. As a reseller, when you are at the mercy of the people managing your server, I know it can be exceedingly frustrating having little to no control over the situation, and also when your host's staff is seemingly unresponsive (or, in your case, they don't read your support request in its entirety) or simply incapable of resolving the issue. Many people on these forums (both current reseller customers, and providers that started their hosting operation years ago on reseller accounts) can sympathize with you.

With that being said, HostGator is generally a pretty stand up company that is willing to work with customers to resolve issues. However, it does seem like you have exhausted yourself trying to work through this issue with them, so moving on to a new provider might indeed be your best option at this point. There are a number of companies that can meet your requirements - running some google searches and scanning over the "offers" section of WHT is a good way to find companies that you might be interested in hosting with.

Once you compile a list of potential companies, take the time to do research on them individually, and also to contact their sales team directly. I realize that sales response times are almost never a good reflection of the given company's support response times, but interaction with their staff will help you get a better feel for the company as a whole. Voice any concerns that you have about their service to their team directly, and see how they address your concerns in order determine whether or not you think they would be a good fit as your new host and for your websites.

Transferring hosts can be a true pain, but take advantage of this time to find a host that really seems to be the "perfect" match for you. I wish you the very best of luck in your search! :)

Nice response Brendan :D
I, also cannot stress enough the importance of doing the research. While it is OK to check the offers forums here just use caution there as you find ALOT of bottom of the barrel pricing, new hosts, etc. etc. Run co. names through google too.

Its especially important to contact ANY potential host as this will be "your upstream" for support, etc.
You can see how important that is NOW, since you have some clients complaining. Not fun. :(

With regard to an easy and painless transfer of accounts, you should look into a Reseller package that gives you Personalized Nameservers. By using one of your Domain names to setup a Reseller account, with any Hoster, and providing that Domain name as Nameservers for all your Clients to use, DNS changes become very easy.

Example
Your Domain: somewherehosting.com
Your Nameservers: NS1.somewherehosting.com -and- NS2.somewherehosting.com
Yourself and all your Clients would then use your Nameservers.

This means, if you decide to change Hosters then only "you" need to make DNS changes, providing your Registrar with the new IPs for your Nameservers. As all your Clients are using your Nameservers, which has not changed, they do not have to make any changes. Once your Reseller account and Nameservers are setup you transfer all your Client accounts, which many Hosters would do for you free of charge, change your IPs and it's done.

according to my experience will be better if your new host can offer you root access for restoreing of your full backups from the previous hosting.
The second alternative is they to do that without to grant to you root privileges.

according to my experience will be better if your new host can offer you root access for restoreing of your full backups from the previous hosting.
The second alternative is they to do that without to grant to you root privileges.

If the new host gives you, a total stranger root access to the server RUN as fast as you can to the exit...Thats like giving a teenager a condom on a prom date...someone is sure to get screwed in the end...



<SHIVER>