I run a small web design agency and provide our services to clients across many countries. So we do need reliable hosting to host our clients’ websites.
In our several years of doing business, we have had the opportunity to work with many hosting providers from across the globe. One of the primary considerations for us in deciding on a hosting company has been the level of support they provide to customers.
Most companies advertise themselves to be available 24×7, but for us, the most important thing has been how readily you can reach a live support personnel in that company. And of course, the amount of help they offer when you actually need it the most.
I remember more than a decade back, we were hosting with Softlayer, now IBM Cloud, and one fine day, all our sites went down. We reached out to them through a support ticket, and it took several hours for a reply from them. And mostly it said that we were supposed to take care of our own server and they cannot help. Their intervention or support would cost us several hundred dollars per hour. Which was too expensive for us at that time.
We learnt a big lesson that day, which also changed the course of our business. We stopped providing hosting to resellers and in turn only provided hosting to our direct design customers from that day onwards.
Of course, we switched our hosting providers. It was obvious that they were too big for us and didn’t care much for small companies like us.
Switching Hosting Providers Is A Mammoth Task
We don’t want to switch hosting providers often because it involves too much effort and coordination. First, you need to scout for the best hosting companies out there. Make a list, speak to them, and see which company fits the bill better.
Then purchase a package from them, and get your branding done wherever possible. And carefully shift each of the hosting accounts one by one. And ensuring that there is no downtime in the process. Once done, you need to double-check that each site shifted properly without errors.
It takes too much energy and effort, and you can understand that if not absolutely necessary to move, we would rather stay with the same host.
Human Customer Support is the Main Criteria for Choosing a Hosting Provider for Us
Over the years, the main criteria for choosing and sticking to a host have been the quality of support they provide. Whether you get to speak to a human, on the phone or through chat, is of paramount importance. Someone who can understand and have empathy. Who will have the wisdom to handle the task in an appropriate manner. Someone who will understand the gravity of the situation.
We have also learnt well to buy managed servers, rather than unmanaged ones. So if anything goes wrong, the hosting company is bound to solve it for us. Though the initial cost of such a solution is higher on a day-to-day basis. But the peace of mind and the assurances it offers is worth the price you pay.
Currently, we are using ScalaHosting as our service provider. They are usually good. Not sure how big of a company they are, but one thing that I like about them is the 24/7 human support that they provide. I usually interact with them through chat. And every time I need support, I get to talk to someone there within a couple of seconds, which is huge for me. And especially since the amount I pay is much less than what other similar companies are charging.
One of the US-based companies that we work with hosts all its sites with WP engine, so I also have a account which I use to interact with their support team. I must say they also have an impressive support team, ready to sort out all your issues. However, they are much, much more expensive.
Many Hosting Companies Are Moving Towards AI-Based Customer Support
Recently, I had a bad experience with Scalahosting. One of our primary sites had gotten infected with Malware and they just sent me an email saying, their terms have been violated and therefore they blocked its public access.
And since I didn’t see the email, my site was down for almost 2 days. It was very disappointing. Now, this is the kind of attitude I would have expected of a company that didn’t care. Or a cheap company that only hosts insignificant or nonimportant websites.
I was not happy, so I decided I would move. And the cycle started all over again for a good host search. I soon realized that most of the popular hosting companies had fully automated their Chat Support with AI.
One popular company that particularly caught my attention was Hostinger. Their Support chatbot is called Kodee. And they have a button for the chat labelled, “Ask Kodee”. I interacted with Kodee Chatbot, and surprisingly it was good. Much more faster than a human can ever be. And chat did not seem robotic, and seemed quite human-like.
Giving me accurate information regarding plans and everything. I asked it if a human was available at all. It said they were and I could talk to them once I purchased. It sounded convincing enough and I purchased a plan from them.
Immediately, I got an email with all the login details for setting up sites etc. I wanted to setup my own nameservers and wanted to know what branding options are there. The panel looked confusing, and there were so many questions, as anyone would have during the initial phases of onboarding. Once this phase passes, then you hardly ever need to contact support. So support during this phase is critical.
So I initiate a chat, and there is Kodee again. I told her I wanted to talk to a human. But you just cannnot bypass her. She will be answering all the questions. Now, we were going round and round. I still tried for another 45 minutes trying to make sense of everything.
At last, I told her that I was looking for a more personalized service. And it seems like I have made a mistake purchasing from them. And that I wanted a refund.
She told me where I can find the refund button. And the refund button was not there. She then gave me a tutorial on how to initiate a refund. I followed it and still no refund button to be found. The instructions said, if you don’t see a “refund button” that means you are not eligible for a refund.
I thought I made a big mistake, paying yearly upfront. Then I asked her again to connect me to a human. Surprisingly, this time around, she did connect me to a human being. I told him I was looking for the refund link. He pointed me precisely to what I needed. I clicked on the link to initiate the refund process. In a couple of days time, the amount got refunded back to my payment method.
At least I can give them credit for refunding the amount to me.
Personalized Service is Becoming Rare & Expensive
With Hostinger, it was like we need your money but we don’t want to interact with you. The personal human touch was completely missing. I guess, you can eliminate it or automate it to a certain extent. But complete elimination of the human touch is not possible. It is not natural.
However, I have seen this trend of partial or complete Support automation happening with Hosting companies with very large customer bases.
Many companies do offer personalized service but it is not cheap.
So, for the time being, I have decided to hold onto my current cloud hosting service provider, Scalahost, where I still have the opportunity to chat with a human being, when I need to.
So which companies do you host with? And what do you like about them? Let me know in the comments below.
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