Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : What Cheap Hosts Offer The Best Support?

[Sturm]

I'm talking $5-$10 a month. Who has had experiences with a host where the tickets are answered within an hour or two?

[Rochen]

I think you can find a lot of quality hosts within that price range which will easily meet your ticket response times. Things like customers forums are also a plus point to look out for, as you can generally get an image of the company from existing customers

[addaction]

Originally posted by rochen
I think you can find a lot of quality hosts within that price range which will easily meet your ticket response times. Things like customers forums are also a plus point to look out for, as you can generally get an image of the company from existing customers

Well some hosts don't leave it up to other customers to give you support so they don't have a forum. Having a forum is just an easy way for a host to avoid support requests. They leave it up to the other customers to help someone out. That's not our business philosophy.

Anton

[eHostSpace]

one good idea:

get a host who's had a representative playing around in this forum. he knows what to expect if he doesnt do well

[Artashes]

HostMatix.com (which is my host) has been totally amazing with support.

Trouble tickets were answered within the range or 2-15 minutes. Also, one important detail. I've used a few hosts before Hostmatix.com and the respect I was getting as a client from ex-host providers is nothing compared to how Hostmatix serves me.

Anyways, I hope this is the kind of information you are looking for.

Good luck,

[theqase]

I will recommend Jatol (www.jatol.com)

they have had one downtime spell in which was their Noc's fault and they repaid us in one month of hosting... they are excellent in support.. each of the 'admins' have IM support names... so you can reach atleast one of them at any time... i have had a few problems due to my stupidity and they were right there to help me get the problem fixed... they are very friendly as well.. there is also a forum as well as a ticket system for support... i used the forum as well as other and problems are solved there... i have never needed to use the tickets.. because i was able to do it over IM or the forum...

i have been with them since july and i am very pleased with their service...

iv you have any questions pm me and i will try to answer them...

and no i am not a representative, or endorsed to say anything about jatol.. .this is done on my own free will

[NexDog]

I think for $5-$10/mo, you should aim for tickets being answered within six hours. As an example, we have 2 plans below $10/mo although we don't distinguish between plans when we answer tickets. Mostly, tickets are answered within a few hours, but I think to say within 6 is reasonable. Look for a host that also offers 24/7 Live Chat support and test it at odd hours.

[Sturm]

Do you or anyone else know of any who offer 24/7 live chat support? This sounds much better than doing things by email.

[NexDog]

A couple of hosts here do, including us. But be careful, just because a site says 24/7 support doesn't mean that support is Live Chat even if they offer it. We manage it by having 2 offices - 1 in the US and one in Australia. There will be the occasional hour or so when it isn't available due to maybe having one staff member on duty who needs breaks etc....

[Aussie Bob]

Originally posted by addaction
Well some hosts don't leave it up to other customers to give you support so they don't have a forum. Having a forum is just an easy way for a host to avoid support requests. They leave it up to the other customers to help someone out. That's not our business philosophy.

I don't think that's what Rochen was saying. Some hosts don't have a forum because they don't have the client base to warrant one or they lack the courage to have one.

We have a forum *cough* and most of the support issues goes through the Support forum. For sensitive support, clients use the Helpdesk.

What Rochen is saying, is that you can get a feel for how happy the clients of the host are by accessing their forum. He's not saying that forums take away responsibility from the host for tech support. It's actually the other way around. When you do most of yourt support in public, then this adds more responsibility because you know that many others are watching you work.

[Dajo77]

I think it's a major plus if host has a support forum. As Aussie Bob said, if it's something little i'll post it in the forums, otherwise i'll email or use the helpdesk. Besides a forum lets me know more about how a host treats it's customers, and how the customers feel about the service they are gettting.

If I don't feel i'm getting decent customer service, no matter how well the hosting and prices are, i'm out of there. I think it's the most important, you can tell a lot about the quality of the hosting by the support because you know they care about their business.

[alchiba]

Originally posted by NexDog
Mostly, tickets are answered within a few hours, but I think to say within 6 is reasonable. Look for a host that also offers 24/7 Live Chat support and test it at odd hours.

If there's someone online 24x7 for live chat support then I can't see why a ticket can't be handled in under an hour. Why would anyone wait 6 hours for a ticket when they can ring in right away through a chat?

[NexDog]

Really? What if that Live Chat is dealing with 8 chats at once? I've had busy days where I had at least 4 people on chat for 5 hours straight and I was the only one on duty......

[NexDog]

Also, say if chat is going ballistic and someone has a complex issue that can't be dealt with immediately - a ticket has to be submitted or the tech will just forget.

[alchiba]

Originally posted by NexDog
Really? What if that Live Chat is dealing with 8 chats at once? I've had busy days where I had at least 4 people on chat for 5 hours straight and I was the only one on duty......

Well of course in cases such as that then you wouldn't necessarily be able knock out a ticket or two between chats. There's always a "what if" scenario. Not all days are days from hell.