What do you consider to be acceptable tech support response time?

I'm in the process of moving to a new host (which in my experience is when the reliance upon support is the heaviest and most essential). The first few days were fine. The last 36 hours have just been absolutely horrible. The site "live support" has never been "available" any time of the day or night since I first went to their site. The phone number listed on the web site is never answered. I have a support ticket that I have not received any response to in 24 hours, despite followups on my part (the first after waiting 18 hours).

Am I being unreasonable in expecting an email response within 4-6 hours (or at the minimum the following morning if I post in the middle of the night)?

I don't want to mention the host's name at this point, since they've received quite positive feedback here, and this may be an aberration.

I'm just real afraid I may have chosen another poor provider. This is all one big crapshoot. :(

Ventingly,

-Dan

I'd say a turnaround time of 3 hours+ is acceptable. Maybe faster for emergencies etc.

24 hours for just a response is way too long in my opinion. 4-6 hours like you say is about the time you should have to wait at maximum although many hosts do aim to get replies back in a shorter time.

Acceptable response time is inversely proportional to how much you're paying for service.

<EDIT>
I don't mean bigger plans get better service (unless that is a specified part of the plans), I mean that, for example, a person who pays $50/mo for 1G/10G should expect a quicker response than someone who pays $5/mo for the same plan on a similar network, etc. Quicker response time is one of many measures of better customer service.
</EDIT>

Originally posted by skelley1
Acceptable response time is inversely proportional to how much you're paying for service.
Sometimes....:)

All else being equal of course...

Personally I think 6 hours or less is acceptable but I also agree with skelly

support turnaround really depends on what the host says on their site. If they say 24/7/365 and dont provide it, then something else is being hidden. However, if you consider a host, try just asking them from the get-go and most-likely they will let you know. :) (keyword: most likely)

I consider anything over 8 hours to be unacceptable and the people who assist me with support know that. There are certainly times where a host may require more time to get something resolved...but at a minimum there should be some response or acknowledgement within that timeframe. I would give the host the benefit of doubt and try opening a separate ticket (just incase the first one got bugged/corrupted/lost - happens to me with perldesk one in every 300-400 tickets). I hope you are able to resolve this with your host. I know that switching hosts is a pain.

Originally posted by dharding
Am I being unreasonable in expecting an email response within 4-6 hours (or at the minimum the following morning if I post in the middle of the night)?

Not at all. A few hours at most. A few minutes for an outage. :)

Gary

I agree with Gary 100%. A couple hours is the rule of thumb for me and if there's an outage of some sort, details should flow pretty freely and quickly.

Some sort of response should be forthcoming in 3-4 hrs, whether it's just an acknowledgement of receiving your ticket or email, or a request for more information. Resolution of problem isn't the main issue, as long as the customer knows you are working on it with due diligence and they are kept informed of progress. There are companies that just don't respond at all when there is an issue, until it's been resolved, and I don't feel this is an appropriate action to take.... I would rather know that there is a problem that will affect me for several hours, than to sit in the dark wondering if I will ever be back online again after being down for 5 hrs with no response.
Of course, it helps if you have an off site email address to be contacted on. You can't be notified your server is unexpectedly down,or is having problems, if the email you registered for support is on that server :)

Originally posted by Editor
A few minutes for an outage. :)
Yes. If your server is down, then you should receive some kind of notification within minutes. This depends on your provider's emergency notification and rectification system. You definently shouldn't need to inform them that the server is non-operational. They should know before you or a minute of 2 after you.

Originally posted by DrChaos
Some sort of response should be forthcoming in 3-4 hrs, whether it's just an acknowledgement of receiving your ticket or email, or a request for more information. Resolution of problem isn't the main issue, as long as the customer knows you are working on it with due diligence and they are kept informed of progress. There are companies that just don't respond at all when there is an issue, until it's been resolved, and I don't feel this is an appropriate action to take.... I would rather know that there is a problem that will affect me for several hours, than to sit in the dark wondering if I will ever be back online again after being down for 5 hrs with no response.

This sums it up brilliantly, thank you. That's *exactly* my point. I can understand that tech support can't work on my problem right away; just acknowledge receipt and a *rough* idea of resolution time.

When I say "acknowledge receipt", I'm not referring to the automated email saying "Thank you for submitting a help request. You are important to us and we are striving to yadda yadda yadda bullsh*t bullsh*t bullsh*t..." I mean a real live human response once the ticket request has actually been read.

I'd much MUCH rather receive an email saying "Listen, we're really hammered right now and our lead tech is out with the flu, so it may be a day before we can get this resolved. Would you mind checking back again this time tomorrow?" than listening to crickets chirp.

I'll admit that I'm rather anal retentive when it comes to tech support. I expect prompt responses. I've been with hosts that provide uncannily immediate tech support (specifically American Web Hosting, www.amhosting.net, best tech support of any host I've ever been with; unfortunately they didn't offer a plan I could use any more :bawling: ), and I've seen the other end of the spectrum as well.

In response to the situation that prompted this thread, it appears to have been an aberration rather than the norm at this point. Only time will tell, of course...

-Dan

Greetings:

Our customers expect less than 1 hour turn around time during normal business hours, and no more than 4 hours during non-business hours. Average turn around time during business hours tends to be 15-minutes.

Usually when turn around time is over 4 hours to have a human being respond, it may be an indication that support is not handled in-house or otherwise has to be sent some where else.

Thank you.

Usually when turn around time is over 4 hours to have a human being respond, it may be an indication that support is not handled in-house or otherwise has to be sent some where else.

Such as a reseller? My last host was a reseller and I just accepted a 24hr turnaround time. I'd send in a ticket and check the next day. I think many people want instant response for something that may not need it.. a case of what I call the Microwave generation.

I would definitely give the name of the company. That way if anyone else was experiencing the same problem they could tell you.

I think that is absolutely too long to go without any response.

I would personally say a few hours max for most support issues, and well under 30 minutes for emergencies.

We as a company consider 2 hours the acceptable time frame in which to answer tickets.

I would definitely give the name of the company. That way if anyone else was experiencing the same problem they could tell you.

I think that is absolutely too long to go without any response.

The reseller I was using, 1planhost, didn't always offer 24/7 tech support since their offices are only open 9am-6pm EST. And during the time when ReadyHosting, their host, was having server problems, they removed their phone support number from their site and relied on their helpdesk system to process tickets so getting support was sometimes a few hours within business hours or overnight if the ticket was afterhours. This is why I check support hours now. It was sometimes frustrating and annoying, but for what I was paying, I didn't expect immediate solutions.

Greetings:

"My last host was a reseller and I just accepted a 24hr turnaround time. I'd send in a ticket and check the next day. I think many people want instant response for something that may not need it.. a case of what I call the Microwave generation."

That was very patient of you.

Most of our parent company's customers are businesses where response time matters.

They don't expect fast food time lines; but then again if you had to wait 24 hours for a meal.........

thank you.