My Latest NotSo StableHost Experience

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Posted by Shortaru, 05-15-2012, 06:46 PM
Complete with screenshots! In the wee hours of the morning, a slightly inexperienced forum admin made a full site backup instead of the separate backups for database & files shortly before she attempted a site upgrade. The upgrade did not go well, and she came to me to restore this site backup. After looking through WHM and not finding the restore option (presumably due to having a reseller account, which I understand is common), I submitted a ticket for assistance with StableHost support. (See Screenshot #1, my apologies but I do not know how to embed them inline with this forum software) As I had barely climbed out of bed and woke up to this mini-disaster (the site had already been down for several hours), I apparently neglected to mention that boardforus.com was a client account of my reseller hosting account, so I updated the ticket. (See Screenshot #2, my apologies but I do not know how to embed them inline with this forum software) In this response, I actually submitted the wrong domain name as the one under the reseller account. As I said, I had barely woke up. But shouldn't support staff have access to these details? (See Screenshot #3, my apologies but I do not know how to embed them inline with this forum software) Support then became more interested with pinging domains than restoring backups. But then, shouldn't they be able to see what domains are listed on my account? Isn't that pretty standard for... y'know... administrative tasks? (See Screenshot #4, my apologies but I do not know how to embed them inline with this forum software) After hours of ping-pong replies back and forth over minutia and the backup still not being restored, my patience grew a little short, but I maintained a bit of composure. However, I escalated the ticket afterwards (which usually means it will be seen by somebody that has more skills than a canned reply monkey), in the hopes that the backup could simply be restored and everybody could go on with their lives. However, Anthony A., a senior administrator that has handled other tickets that were escalated to T3 by the canned reply monkey support staff decided to dick me over for daring to escalate a ticket myself, so I called shenanigans. (See Screenshot #5, my apologies but I do not know how to embed them inline with this forum software) Anthony A. of course refused to do a simple backup restore. (To be continued in my next post) Attached Thumbnails
Posted by Shortaru, 05-15-2012, 06:49 PM
See Screenshot #1, my apologies but I do not know how to embed them inline with this forum software) Fighting back my frustration, I did the research on exactly how to perform a full site restore and provided a step by step request for the canned reply support monkeys to be able to follow, in as polite a manner as possible. However, Anthony A decided to CONTINUE screwing me by merging the two threads. TL;DR> Stay away from StableHost if you require any sort of support at all. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Shortaru; 05-15-2012 at 06:53 PM.
Posted by Tyl3r, 05-15-2012, 06:53 PM
Sorry to hear this... You escalated your ticket to our management team, instead of trying to explain what you needed. We misunderstood due to the fact you had the same domain name but in a cancelled service, your original email wasn't clear that you wanted it under your reseller... you just mentioned you wanted to restore it.. Our policy is once a ticket gets escalated to a manager (by the customer) we no longer touch it, it even states that in the disclaimer when you escalate it.
Posted by Shortaru, 05-15-2012, 07:00 PM
That's no excuse for merging a new thread that provides step by step instructions of my request to get my site back online into an escalated ticket. I call b/s, sir.
Posted by rv_irl, 05-15-2012, 07:01 PM
To be honest, I had a bit of trouble following the ticket as well, so I'm not surprised there was a bit of misunderstanding. I really think this is something you two can handle privately, I didn't see it warrant such a review. It was just one misunderstanding that could be resolved with a bit of effort. I'm sure the host has better things to do than play games with a customer. I don't understand why some customers believe something is being done out of spite or on purpose. What does anyone have to gain by being spiteful? There are processes that StableHost is following, escalations taking 24hrs isn't unheard of nor unreasonable. Merging tickets sometimes does help keep things on track and relevant especially if both issues are related. It shouldn't change the speed of the resolution or have any impact on you. I think it's important that you just calm down a little and take a different approach and understand hosts don't have the time to mess around. All respectable hosting companies do their best to resolve issues the best they can and just like any industry, things go wrong, misunderstandings happen and in those situations it's good to start again and try a different approach. Losing your temper, writing a negative review so quickly while the issue hasn't even reached resolution yet is certainly not an approach I would recommend. Give them a chance to put things right and when the issue has been resolved, if you feel it warrants a review, then write one.. All the best in getting your issue resolved Last edited by rv_irl; 05-15-2012 at 07:05 PM.
Posted by Tyl3r, 05-15-2012, 07:01 PM
Yep, we merged the two tickets together. They were the same issue, you just wanted a faster response so you opened up a duplicate one. It doesn't really work that way, sorry...
Posted by Tyl3r, 05-15-2012, 07:02 PM
Yep, sadly we usually fire customers that do that... They are not worth our time
Posted by Shortaru, 05-15-2012, 07:04 PM
I wanted the situation resolved. I provided everything necessary to do it. There was no call being obstinate.
Posted by Shortaru, 05-15-2012, 07:09 PM
1) Companies don't "fire" customers. That you don't know this speaks volumes about your own professionalism. Customers are not your employees. You are ours by proxy. A company may refuse service, but that's not "firing" us. 2) Refusing service over their own incompetence is certainly StableHost's right. However, it also speaks volumes about a company that refuses to make a situation right and resorts to "taking their ball and going home" when they can't handle a simple problem. 3) There's already plans to move to another provider. We would simply like our site back online so we can do so with a minimum of hassle. A 1.4 gb backup will be annoying to send to the new host manually. Hopefully this can still be accomplished and StableHost won't sully their name even further.
Posted by Shortaru, 05-15-2012, 07:15 PM
I completely agree. That is why I made that effort (refer to the first reply in this thread and the accompanying screenshot). I did everything possible to resolve the issue, it was StableHost that wanted to continue it.
Posted by JixHost, 05-15-2012, 08:44 PM
I do agree that a very small percentage of clients should be notified that the incumbent host "can no longer be their hosting provider" and given a time frame to transfer their data out. I think it needs to be conveyed delicately and not presented with emotion or an antagonistic fashion. Years ago SprintPCS sent out 1000 letters to their clients notifying that they will no longer be able to be their wireless provider so this tactic is nothing new and has to be part of any business plan. I know that there are some here that will preach that they would never, ever do that be in all honesty, every provider would have to have some limitation or level of acceptance. Ivy league collages don't become Ivy league by accepting and keeping everybody.
Posted by kpmedia, 05-16-2012, 02:13 AM
Horsefeathers. The customer is not always right, and companies have a right to pick who they serve. I've had to fire incompetent clients about once per year for the past decade, because they're impossible to work with. Some industries (like web hosting) are so inundated by stupidity that they have to fire customers on a far more frequent basis. Given the profit margins on some hosting services, an abusive/ignorant/impatient customer is not worth the $5 or even $20 he brings in monthly.
Posted by Shortaru, 05-21-2012, 09:07 PM
Way to take a statement out of context. How about reading the rest of the post? Notably, where I said: <> Last edited by foobic; 05-21-2012 at 09:18 PM.
Posted by kpmedia, 05-22-2012, 05:56 AM
Nothing is out of context. Fire, refuse service, throw out the front door -- all semantics. Same difference.

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