How fast is your provider in replying to your problems?

[MarkB]

The two hosts I use both respond within 24 hours (with a couple of exceptions), so for the most part I'm happy. BUT, when it's something critical (ie, my DNS was screwed up when they set up my account for example), I expect a reply within a few hours and NOT to be reminded not to use the 'urgent' option on their ticketing system

The few times where I've had to wait a few days for a response were fortunately not critical.

And I don't mind auto-responders with "we have received your message"; at least then I know it went through, and I have something to show when/if they tell me they never received anything

Ok. Rambling. I stop now

[Mark Hewitt]

My provider usually responds within 24 hours. Though I did have to hassle them constantly for 6 months about one topic, but they got it sorted in the end

[orca]

Well, I'm VO and I'm impressed how fast they usually reply. I had it just today that I had the answer in my mailbox the same time as the confirmation email came...

[George L]

with VO i have had replies within 15 mins at times.. but normally between 8 - 24 hrs depending on the time of day (timezones )

[Steve Machol]

My current host - VenturesOnline - almost always replies within an hour to any request. And has been mentioned, they sometimes reply even as I get the confirmation email! VO is far ans away one of the premier web host6ing compnmaies around.

On the other hand my previous host was terrible in customer support. They sometimes responded quickly to minor questions. However anytime there was a serious problem (an all to frequent occurence) they would often take days to respond. And even then the responses tended to be extremely unhelpful, preferring instead to either deny a problem exists or blame the customer.

[Philipp]

My provider (Tera-Byte) replies last time within 4 Minutes . Their average is ~30 minutes.

[George L]

Originally posted by s.molinari


But what do you consider to be acceptable? 1 hour, 12 hours, 24 ?


Scott

taking timezones into consideration, for USA based webhosts i'd say within 24hrs is acceptable. If it was an Aussie web host i'd say within 4 - 8 hrs

[ethank]

My provider is my employer, so its as much time as it takes me to run to the operations department and harass them

Ethan

[Me2Be]

When I go through regular support channels, I usually get an answer within an hour -- however, I have a direct line (phone and email) to one of the supervisors in the tech department if there is an emergency and I don't get a response from the regular support channels in 10 minutes

I love Verio

[The Prohacker]

I am my host :P

If something breaks, I notify myself about it, and I have myself fix it...

So response time is usually great...

[mjames]

I say my host replies within 24-48 hours.

[Grumble]

The company I work for deals with a provider called Business Serve here in the UK and they are probably the WORST providor EVER. Some fun examples of their rubbishness include:

Keeping me on hold for over 15 minutes EVERY time I call.

Disconnecting 3 of our domains for unpaid pointing fees which were paid 3 days before they cut us off and then neglecting to tell us.

DNS problems vitually every week.

Stroppy, uncommunicative, unresponsive and generally unprofessional staff.


Also: We pay over £120 a year for webspace and domains on each site, yet they still force us to use their dial-up number to access the FTP server. Something which Id expect from a free hosting service but which is disgusting from a supposedly professional hosting firm.


I think next time I have to call them Ill just say "Hi, could you tell your server technicians to stop downloading porn and mp3's for half an hour so I can access my website please?" As I KNOW this is what they do as Ive spoken to people who work there.....

[auto]

I have never had a better host than my current host - hosting matters and i've been thru 6-7 hosts in the past 8 months. Have been with HM for 4 I think. Previous hosts were preventing my site to grow at the pace it wanted to... HM is more than ready
Annette and Stephanice are just great to work with, they are very professional and very responsive, when I contact them, its mostly because I have some kind of a little request [point a domain, etc.] and not because of a problem.. there are hardly any of those with HM

[bmilder]

My host (f5) often responds within minutes to support tickets. The support is truly incredible. The owner has been known to stay up all night fixing the customers' problems.