revamp the tech department!

[shane2peru]

I need to know where I can file an official complaint, and who I can talk to that actually has a little authority for WebHostingBuzz. I will say that I have been very pleased over all with WebHostingBuzz, however the service of their tech department is sorry! I'm going on day three of an unresolved ticket! It just sets there all day long and no one touches it, then just before I go to bed, someone responds to it, and the next morning I get it. I respond and it sets there all day long and no one touches it until night. Now I do live in South America, but I'm on the same time zone as CST part of the year and EST the other part. Where is the tech support located???? China??? on the other side of the earth? Why night time support when you are located in the USA, it is absurd to have tech support located on the other side of the world. I could understand if it was located in California, or the west coast, and have a 4 hour delay, but this is just a sorry way to handle your customers needs. Maybe I should look for a company that is located in the continental USA!

Shane

[Matt R.]

We have techs in 3 countries, and it's fully 24x7.

You can email teamleaders@webhostingbuzz.com to issue a complaint.

[shane2peru]

We have techs in 3 countries, and it's fully 24x7.

You can email teamleaders@webhostingbuzz.com to issue a complaint.

Matt,

Thank you for your response. Understand I'm pleased overall with WHB, just the tech support has gotten on my nerves lately with their very slow responses. I usually don't need much tech support, but when I do need it, I NEED IT. Thanks.

Shane

[wildjersey]

I have the same frustration. I've been with WHB for over 3 years now, and what started as excellent tech support has dissolved into abysmal service in the last year. I've got THREE open tickets at the moment. The only response I've gotten is to monitor the whbstatus boards, which I have been doing, but they RARELY post any updates to tell you what is happening. It's been weeks since my email has been reliable (missing emails, emails arriving weeks late), and I am on day 2 without any email at all. I work with schools in the states, which are opening this week, so I am really upset that my email service is down at this crucial time for my business. I'm also trying to work on a website revision, but cpanel is toast at the moment - I can log in, but my domains are gone.

Debbie

[shane2peru]

I'm impressed!!! I had a tech issue that was solved within a few hours, and response time was impressive! One thing that I noticed was that the same tech replied to my responses. That is a good thing. I don't like to be a complainer, and tell my kids all the time to quit complaining, so I figured I would reply to my thread and say thanks for revamping (or apparently so) the tech department. Also if that is not a change, I would make that like to make that a suggestion, that whatever tech initially responds to the ticket, they should be asigned to the ticket to the end. If it goes out of their technical ability then it should be re-assigned to a tech in a higher position. - That is just my thoughts. I appreciate the quick fixing of my problem this time, and hope it keeps up, I also hope I don't have to submit anymore tickets.

Shane

[Matt R.]

Shane,

Thank you. In any high volume helpdesk inevitably some things may get a little delayed but our processes are smart and effective. The same tech will try to deal with your issue but they do work 8 hour shifts, so it is not always possible.

We only employ techs of the highest ability on the front line, there is very little that they can't do and need to escalate.

Matt

[JasonD]

Personally, in my greatest opinion, as a stranger to the help department, the service I have been given ultimately determined my decision to stay here.

Lets just say that I was strongly in the mind to depart the frustration that my assigned server had been giving me. The help department, and assisting staff's actions, led to my lengthened stay as a customer.

All I can say is this... "When it rains, it pours!"

I was soaked, and nearly drowned! They gave me a boat, rain-coat, paddle, and a portable heater to dry my wet shoes!

Give them your trust, and time, and all will worked out. ASAP where possible.

[Jef S.]

I'd like to say, from the inside looking out, that I couldn't be happier with our front line support.

When dealing with any geographically diverse support department, there will be some snags from language/cultural barriers, but I know from working with our team on a daily basis that our techs are pros.

I'm sorry you don't feel the same way, but if you're having problems I'm never more than a phone call away. I was born and raised in Orlando, Florida and I like to think I have a pretty firm grasp on how to handle any issues you'd have. And if there is something outside of my abilities to resolve, I can certainly relay your concerns to an admin or senior tech to get those issues resolved quickly and with minimal headaches on your part.

[tjplaw]

I know this would be a lot of work on the part of the tech folks, but someone needs to come up a quick check list of the most common problems account holder are experiencing, kind of like a Q&A before contacting tech support.

I've been an account holder for 3 years, and have contacted support maybe 4 times, the problems were always out of my control.

Website owners need to learn to make every effort to fix the most common problems on their own. It can be done.

[Jef S.]

someone needs to come up a quick check list of the most common problems account holder are experiencing, kind of like a Q&A before contacting tech support.

We have a wiki that we've been working on for awhile now, hopefully it should be in production soon.

[JasonD]

Beyond the WiKi, right on the LIVE SUPPORT page, and the HELP TICKET submit page... (Before we can submit a ticket.) There should be a "Top 10 current issues.", So they can select 1-10, or 11 (None of the above).

Yes, being able to select all 10, if they apply. (Might also help to better determine urgency, and help you target specific things that need attention, without having to read every ticket right away.)

Just a simple IFRAME, that would pass a value into the ticket, or pass a RUSH number, to the tech department, holding the same ticket number, as a cross-reference. (Could even direct them to the correct department, or alternately, direct them to LIVE SUPPORT, if it is something they might be able to tend to.)

[theplatelady.com]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum but I have been a customer of WHB for about 2 years now. I must say I have been generally satisfied with the service, but also somewhat concerned about server security.

I have spoken with Tech Support about my concerns several times in the past without any real indication that they were taking me serious or that they intended to see that the problem would be fixed anytime in the near future.

Today I ran a DNS report for my WHB hosted website at http://www.dnsstuff.com and this was one of the results:

"Your domain does not have a SPF record. This means that spammers can easily send out E-mail that looks like it came from your domain, which can make your domain look bad (if the recipient thinks you really sent it), and can cost you money (when people complain to you, rather than the spammer). You may want to add an SPF record ASAP, as 01 Oct 2004 was the target date for domains to have SPF records in place (Hotmail, for example, started checking SPF records on 01 Oct 2004). "
I have found in the past that I got spam addressed to my email address that also looked like it came from my email address.

The only other part of the test my website failed was the Open DNS Server test. This was what the results said:

"ERROR: One or more of your nameservers reports that it is an open DNS server. This usually means that anyone in the world can query it for domains it is not authoritative for (it is possible that the DNS server advertises that it does recursive lookups when it does not, but that shouldn't happen). This can cause an excessive load on your DNS server. Also, it is strongly discouraged to have a DNS server be both authoritative for your domain and be recursive (even if it is not open), due to the potential for cache poisoning (with no recursion, there is no cache, and it is impossible to poison it). Also, the bad guys could use your DNS server as part of an attack, by forging their IP address. Problem record(s) are:

Server 216.139.67.74 reports that it will do recursive lookups. [test] Server 216.139.67.75 reports that it will do recursive lookups. [test] See this page for info on closing open DNS servers."

My suggestion is that security be increased to fix these problems, but I don't know how to get the message across to anyone who can do anything about it. It didn't seem like tech support even understood what I was talking about, so I finally just gave up on them.

Is anyone even aware that these problems exist?

Thank you

[Matt R.]

DNSReport isn't entirely accurate on a lot of these. For SPF records, we set them up upon request and are happy to set one up for you also.

[Alan B]

SPF records are not required. It is not a security breach if they do not exist. It's your choice as domain registrant whether you want one or not. Be aware that if you create an SPF record, the list you create of authorized outgoing mail handlers must be inclusive, otherwise mail from a non-listed server will be rejected.

Open DNS servers should be corrected. DNS Report is usually accurate about those, as I've found from dealing with various hosts.