Why is this always stated?

[DonHouston]

OK I been in the industry now for roughly 5 years. Over that time frame I have seen prices drop dramatically for consumers and yes while I do read the stories or horror stories on companies who can not meet standards I have also noticed that not all the companies were Low end companies. I have read stories on Godaddy and HostGator as well.

My company that I work for offers low prices, With OUT compramising our support or dedication to our customers. To me I was raised that the customer was the top priority and I strive to meet every need. Honestly I know your thinking it's imposible to meet every need, and your right, it is. But if I can not meet that need I still work with the customer to figure out the alternative. I think it is wrong for people to say that the budget is to low or that for that price your not going to get support. That would be like saying that GM is no longer a good car because they are struggling to stay alive, or because they offer an unpresidented sale that no one else has thought of. I do not know many host's out there and it is not my place to bad mouth another host. We in a way as Hosting companies are collegues and for that I carry the utmost respect for you. Yes every company has its problems and I will admit that but we here one bad thing and thats the end of it I mean that company has that bad rap for life. Why is that. Is it possible that has a company you have to bad mouth another company in order to gain clients? Yes I know we all compete for the clients on these forums and the best offer wins, I tip my hat to all who have won a client. But I am tired of hearing this all the time, oh, this company has crapy support because there prices are low. Thats just not true. I believe that just because you pay low prices for hosting it does not mean you have to sacrafice your support. When I had a server issue I was reachable 18 hours a day untill it was resolved. Meaning the only time I was un reachable was when I went to bed for the night. I worked 7 AM - 12 AM for two weeks straight. Our average response time was less than 30 mins, and I was on the IM and clients were able to get in touch with me. I know this may not be the place to say this but IMO thats what it takes. I do not care if you offer packages for $2 a month or $50 a month, your customers should always be tended to and treated like #1. ALL of them no matter what they pay. Am I perfect, Hell no I am as far from perfect as the next guy. Is the company I work for perfect, again I have to say No. I am not going to sit here and make us look like #1 because truthfully I do not know every company out ther and I don't know who offers what. My goal is now and has been for the last 5 years, to make sure my client, I do not care if he/she pays $1 a month or $10,000 a month, is take care of and treated like they are important. If I can not find an answer I ask for help or I read forums. I do my research. So please stop saying you get what you pay for, because it really does not matter what you pay. When I started I started at Godaddy and to me they were not the best or close to it. I got tired of waiting I got tired of the games and I got tired of trying to find answers that I could not find. But I know people that are happy with Godaddy and for that I can't say anything. Just because I had a problem does not mean you will.

 

[shockie]

part of the reason that prices have drop dramatically is because the cost of hard drives, bandwidth, etc have been dropping exponentially - not because companies are firing customer support employees exponentially. good luck with your company.

 

[DonHouston]

Where did I mention the firing of staff?? You lost me on that.

 

[shockie]

explicitly nowhere; it's between the lines (ie "...With OUT compramising(sp) our support or dedication to our customers...")

if it makes you feel any better, i can change what i wrote to "... - not because hosting companies are paying cheaper, less dedicated and motivated staff."

in any case, you do realize that hard drives, bandwidth, etc. are all becoming cheaper for the hosting companies themselves, right? so ceteris paribus, prices to end users will naturally drop as well.

 

[DonHouston]

Oh all the time I see this. I do not doubt that we are going to see TB drives in the future and so forth. Thats not my main concern, the concern is mostly the fact that people say that cheap hosting lacks good support. Thats my main issue.

so ceteris paribus.

I just finished my Econ Class at the universtiy I attend. I had to laugh when I seen this my instructor use that phrase all the time :hehe:

I know the market is going down, I get people who want 250 GB DS and 1 TB BW for 5.00 all the time. But right now I just don't see the market using that much space, unless your a big site like NP. WHT. Microsoft ect. Now if your a known site that has 15,000 hits daily then yes 1 TB might be somethingt to look at, although if you were a large site like NP or something I would imagine they are on a dedicated server. At least I would think they are. :imho:

 

[shockie]

oh i see... yes. right now i'm paying for a combined ds of 200+ gb and 2.3+ tb of bw and it's definitely more than enough.

 

[DonHouston]

Yes that is for a dedicated server, But I have request for sharred hosting for that high

 

[LaneHost]

It's not meant to mean that all low price hosting you wont get good or great support. You are the perfect case, I'm sure you offer excellent support for your customers, but not every lower priced hosting company do at lower price points because they can't afford to stay in business to offer that level of service to their customers hence why that is said.

 

[DonHouston]

In this business, Good Support is going to make or break you. Yea I can remember when I had two or three clients. And like most things I feel that good support is going to be a key to obtain more. Am I a Large company? No actually I am a lot smaller than what I had wanted to be (less than 100 clients) but, I feel that I can obtain more in the future. Yes there are the fly by night companies and all they want is $$$, but this is not the only industry where you will find that.