Support Reccomendations

[brandon]

Here are a few key recommendations based on the two days I have been a customer:

• Peak/Off-Peak - Someone (not HR staff) mentioned that I might expect different support performance during "non-peak" hours. With a 24/7 support commitment and customers all around the globe, wouldn't it be wise to offer the same level of support during all hours? A lot of my work is done in the afternoon... or at 3:00am. It would be nice to have consistent support throughout all hours.
  
  
• Quick Ticket Response - Another hosting company that I deal with has a support staff member respond to a ticket immediately once they get it. Often it will just be a "I'm looking into it now, I will get back to you shortly." message, sometimes it will be a tad bit more detailed. Either way, it doesn't have to be anything long. The benefit to this is that I know that my ticket is being worked on by a support staff member. It also reminds me that people are actually on hand 24/7, it isn't just a marketing line used on the website.
  
  
• Demeanor of Support Staff - I saw this mentioned in another post in this forum. Last night I submitted a ticket (SVQ-258070). All that was required was a restart of the FTP service on my server. For whatever reason, this took 2 hours to diagnose and complete. Prior to submitting a ticket, I was using the Live Chat feature to discuss the issue with a support rep. Responses were taking forever, and after sitting in the chat for a long time and the support rep not being able to give me even the slightest indication of what was going on, I expressed my displeasure in a non-abusive way and ended the chat. The ticket resolution response included the commentary, "Next time please be more patient in chat." .. Rest assured, I do have patience, but not when I'm having to waste 2 hours in an evening trying to get help for a simple FTP problem.

On that note, I am enjoying the experience as a HostNine customer overall. I hope my future experiences with the support staff are a little bit more efficient, though!

Brandon