E-mail support
for low cost personal websites
We believe that good quality support goes hand-in-hand with high
reliability service. This section tells you the support you can expect when
you order this product.
You can e-mail us any time you want to for technical support.
The e-mail address for support will appear in your administrative console. Please
include your system number and domain name. All e-mails are normally answered
in the order received. We try to respond to and resolve all e-mail queries within
4 hours of receipt, though in most instances e-mail responses will occur much
sooner. Responsiveness is governed primarily by the demands for telephone support
in any given day, with these fluctuating needs taken care of before responses
to e-mails are prepared. Responsiveness is also governed by time of day. Daytime
and evening e-mails, even when occurring on weekends, are likely to be responded
to promptly while those that occur after midnight frequently slide until after
sunrise.
On all e-mails, please include a phone where we
can reach you if we have questions not answered by your e-mail request. We find
that a telephone conversation can sometimes reduce the amount of time we spend
supporting e-mail customers.
Should you buy a program that includes only
e-mail support?
Most of the low-priced web hosting programs below
$15 normally only include e-mail support for customers. Occasionally, we see
what appears to be a bona fide program at $10 to $15. If we see a program with
telephone support at less than $10, it makes us wonder whether the company is
making a bona fide offer, rather than a deceptive one, because staffing for
proper telephone support is quite expensive. The high expense of telephone support
is why major hosting companies typically have a spread of $10 or more between
their e-mail support programs and their telephone support programs. Conversely,
e-mail support fills in the valleys between call clusters.
We have described the process so that you understand
that the quality of e-mail support can never be as high as phone support, and
that conversely, more will be expected of you as a customer in the support cycle
if you elect to use e-mail support. Let's deal with these issues:
1. |
You must be able to define your problem. In an interactive
process such as phone or chat conversations, the support person asks you
questions about what is happening, and independently tries to figure out
what is wrong Thus, you get the assistance of a professional in diagnosing
your problem. If you are writing to a professional, you must take the time
to think out the problem so that someone else can clearly understand it
and direct you to the correct solution or resource. If you do not clearly
define the problem, or provide incomplete information, you may have to go
through a number of e-mail exchanges, possibly spreading over several days,
before you get to a correct solution. |
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2. |
You must be self reliant and willing to read/learn. While
reading and learning is also required in a phone or chat process, it is
much more important in e-mail support. Generally, the answers to your problems
can be found in the assistance section of our web site, or in other readilly
available sources on the Internet or on your computer. But you must read
and digest these as part of the process. Quite often, once you have read
the correct documentation, you will realize that you do not need to correspond
with our support department at all on the particular matter. |
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3. |
You must be willing to be patient. E-mail is an intrinsically
slow process because it involves the composition of a series of letters,
rather than a rapid 1-to-1 human exchange. If your time is valuable to you,
or you consistently need rapid resolution, then a service with a telephone
support contract will have greater value. |
Support is to the environment administrator
Our support is provided only to the system administrator
of an environment. Users of the environment must contact their system administrator
if they have a problem, and the system administrator (who is probably you) will
contact us if they are unable to resolve the problem.
Operations support included
Support to our customers is of an operational nature.
Thus, if you are having trouble with ftp, using our administrative tools or
other software, or need assistance in setting up or supporting an e-mail user
call us.
Application and hardware
support only available on a
time-and-materials basis
While we may be able to provide you with a second
opinion about where problems are occurring, and save you time this way, our
support is focussed on the services we sell. Our employees are thoroughly trained
in support of these services, but are not trained to assist in fixing users'
broken PCs or incorrectly installed software, Similarly, because of the myriad
of software solutions, we cannot realistically teach you how to write web pages,
fix broken web-page-links, or to debug a a Java-script you have not properly
written with such products.
While such service is available, it is outside
of the scope of our standard service, and is available only on a time-and-materials
basis. The hourly rate of such services will vary with the skill of the individual
needed to solve your problem, but will not be less than $150/hour, with a half-hour
billing minimum. We may also, at no cost, be able to point you toward independent
contractors who can provide these services at lower costs, and may have the
added convenience of being near you.
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