Your website should always be up and running and there is no arguing that fact. You should be able to have a site that is available at all hours of the day and it should also be accessible from any place on the map.

And yet, sometimes, you may do everything that is expected of you – and then some more – but still find your site has gone down and you know there is nothing you can do to fix the problem on your end. So, where is the only place you can turn to get the issue resolved and your site back again? That’s right; it’s your hosting provider’s customer support.

Now, if you have made a good choice in selecting a web hosting provider with great customer support, you can get your site up within a matter of minutes. If not, it could spell something bad for you. So, how do you make sure you don’t choose a provider with bad customer support, hopefully before you sign up with them?

Here are a few tips:

Front-line Assistants Only:

A company that takes its customer support seriously will have, at least, two levels of customer support.

Staff at the first level will help with gathering as much information from you as possible regarding the issue and then suggest some basic, straightforward solutions. These could include letting you know where a certain feature can be found, what its limits are, how to get more information about it, etc.

If the problem can be resolved with these basic suggestions, well and good; the ticket is closed. If not, there should be a second-level of customer support where your problem is escalated to for resolution. These staff members are usually experts at what they do: systems administrators, web developers, programmers and IT security experts.

If you find yourself having to deal with the same first-level support tech, even after several suggestions and recommendations on their behalf have resulted in no change in the situation you find yourself in, you can rest assured you’re dealing with hosting provider that doesn’t have the necessary manpower in place.

They will probably tell you the problem is irresolvable and close the ticket.

Outsourced Customer Support:

Some hosting providers outsource their customer support – sometimes to staff located in another country.

Now, when the support staff is adept at doing its job, there is no problem. But, when you have to keep repeating your issues – even after you have been asked the same question over and over again – you will realize that there is a gap between the support staff and those that are located on main site.

This gap is usually cause by miscommunication between the two staff members or teams. It could because of a language barrier, it could be because of technical mix ups (as many outsource support companies have more than one client) or it could simply mean the hosting provider is dealing with an inefficient outsource service provider.

Whatever the reason, you will eventually get nowhere near the resolution of the problem because you will not be able to deal directly with the person concerned with resolving your type of problems.

NOT 24-7-365 Customer Support:

Almost any web hosting providers’ website will tell you that they offer round-the-clock support every day of the week. It is like that statement (in one format or another) comes with all webhosting-provider website templates – they all have it.

But come the day when you really do need their help you find yourself staring at an email inbox that has every email you could expect, except the reply from your hosting provider regarding your problem. You try calling them, but you either don’t get anyone to pick up or you’re put on an indefinite hold. You try the chat window and it’s the same thing… your turn never comes or the tech staff aren’t there when it does.

It’s a brick wall and your complaints will fall on deaf ears.

Now, if you have already signed up with a hosting provider that puts you in any one of the three scenarios mentioned above, you will simply have to cut your losses and move to another provider – the litigation and legal wrangling aside, that is.

But, here’s how you can avoid getting yourself in such a mess before you become a client:

• Contact customer support and ask them if they do have the experts needed to handle advanced, more critical problems. A decent hosting provider will have nothing to hide and should let you talk to such a person. Make sure you don’t have to pay extra for their services, while you’re at it.
• Email support or get in queue for a chat. See how long it takes for someone to reply to you. Make inquiries using simple basic questions regarding hosting and what you can expect.
• Take note of how well the staff member understands your questions and whether or not they are giving you direct and precise answers.
• Try calling afterhours, on weekends and holidays – is any one there?
• Finally, research the company on the internet. If there are too many complaints from disgruntled customers, move on.