DISQUS

Writing White Papers: Held Hostage By a Customer Service Rep, My Worst Experience

  • Nathania · 2 years ago
    I would contact the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint. And the state attorney general's office. Both where Aplus is located.
  • Tom Chandler · 2 years ago
    Mike;

    Nothings pegs the blood pressure meter faster than web host problems. This kind of "cancel first, ask questions later (much later)" policy seems legion among hosts.

    Makes me wonder what *my* host's policy is...
  • Michael Stelzner · 2 years ago
    It turned out the problem was all the bounces that resulted from my mailed with the third-party provider.

    Because it was between Christmas and New Years, a bunch of folks were on vacation and sent back "I'm out messages."

    For some crazy reason, they were treated as "outgoing messages" because I use an email forwarder (newsletter@ forwards to mike@).

    What insanity!
  • Chris Cree · 2 years ago
    Mike, If this had happened to me I would have had to edit my original draft heavily before I posted it! :)

    Things like this make me wonder if single sourcing my web hosting is a good idea...
  • Kristen King · 2 years ago
    This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I would immediately take my business elsewhere, and I'd write a letter to the head honcho and CC pretty much everyone else explaining in no uncertain terms exactly why they would never get another penny of my money. You're a better man than I.

    kk
  • Mike · 2 years ago
    OMG ! I would be ballistic !

    Hosting has to be run by some of the least personable young people on the planet.

    Knock on wood .... our host, HostGator, has been with us ( yes, I meant it that way ) since '03 and we recently upgraded to a fantastic Pro series server with them, which I guess means we're reasonably happy.
  • Jonathan Kantor · 2 years ago
    Mike,

    You may want to consider going to GoDaddy. I have always had great customer service with them, never waited on hold very long, and their prices are very competitive.

    Hosting services are so competitive that any behavior such as what Aplus showed you should be followed up by immediately switching providers.
  • Mike Murray · 2 years ago
    Hi Michael,

    Thanks for the great post. I've recently had bad experiences with APlus also... I just had to blog about it after reading your post:

    http://www.episteme.ca/index.php?/archives/229-...

    APlus KGB customer service line of the year:

    "I have discussed with our management and our decision is final."

    I moved to Site5, and I'm incredibly happy - they're nice, they listen to reason, and they work with me to make my sites a success. Not to mention that it's lower-cost, higher-storage and higher-bandwidth.

    -Mike
  • Mark Underwood · 2 years ago
    We ran into the same issue with Godaddy. The problem is SMTP relays that are heavily used by spammers. The web hosts are highly proactive in order to avoid being shut down by the major email services (AOL, Yahoo, etc.). Godaddy's limit is 1000/day.
  • Corey · 1 year ago
    That's sad to just shut you down with no questions asked first. Luckily, I haven't run into that problem yet....