It’s a Small World After All… Especially Online
April 12, 2010 Posted by Tyler CruzAs most of you know, I switched host companies last year by migrating to HostGator and have raved about how much I like them.
One of the main reasons I love them so much is due to their live chat support. Simply put, it’s phenomenal. Within any point of time on any day, as they’re open 24/7, you are immediately put into contact with a native English support representative who is ready to help you instantly.
I actually use their chat support quite a lot. This isn’t because something is wrong with their service (I’ve never had any problems to date), but simply because I run around 40-50 with them and so I often need help with things.
The other day I logged into their live chat support because I needed PDO enabled on one of my server’s PHP configuration. I could probably have Googled how to do this myself, but it’s so much faster to just ask them to do it for me.
Below is the transcript of what transpired in the chat, complete with typo’s and all:
(2:59:27 PM) Byron Th: has entered the chat.
(2:59:31 PM) Byron Th: Hello, welcome to HostGator Live Chat.
(2:59:31 PM) Byron Th: How may I assist you today?(3:00:22 PM) Tyler: PDO does not appear to be configured on my machine, but shoudl come default with PHP 5.1+, can you enable it for me?
(3:01:19 PM) Byron Th: Is this your primary domain with us? 🙂
(3:01:51 PM) Tyler: No, my primary domain is: Merendi.com
(3:02:16 PM) Byron Th: Thank you very much, one moment while I locate your account.(3:04:41 PM) Byron Th: Hello, Tyler, I know you actually I believe. 🙂
(3:04:54 PM) Byron Th: Very interesting.
(3:05:09 PM) Byron Th: Tyler Cruz, from Vancouver perhaps?
(3:05:30 PM) Byron Th: I am currently checking on that for you by the way. 🙂(3:05:38 PM) Tyler: Vancouver Island
(3:05:54 PM) Byron Th: I’m actually one of your friends and followers how weird.
[I had no idea who he was…]
(3:05:58 PM) Tyler: haha
(3:06:12 PM) Tyler: time to hook me up with lifetime free hosting 😉(3:06:19 PM) Byron Th: I’ve been following you since you did the John Chow! 😀
(3:06:27 PM) Byron Th: Promotion I mean.(3:06:31 PM) Tyler: which one?
(3:06:46 PM) Byron Th: It was about 3 years ago I believe before he raised it to $500
(3:06:57 PM) Tyler: oh you mean paid review
(3:07:04 PM) Byron Th: Yes, correct.
(3:07:07 PM) Tyler: yeah he still charges me an arm and a leg and a kidney
(3:07:40 PM) Tyler: Yeah, the lead programmer I hired for my RobotWarz site is transfering things to my server but needs PDO installed
(3:07:51 PM) Tyler: http://www.php.net/manual/en/pdo.installation.php
[While waiting, I searched for “Bryon Th” in my blog’s WordPress comments and username sections to try to find out who this guy was, when I got his full name.]
(3:09:04 PM) Tyler: Byron Thurman
(3:09:07 PM) Byron Th: Yeah, checking the best process since you are on dedicated. I should be able to enable that for you. It should be installed by default but the php.ini will have to be updated with the information.
(3:09:14 PM) Byron Th: 100% correct Tyler 🙂
(3:09:46 PM) Byron Th: Let me see if I can get that setup for you to save you some time.(3:09:49 PM) Byron Th: For verification purposes may I please have the last 4 digits of the credit card number on file for this account?(3:09:56 PM) Tyler: Oh I see how it is!
(3:09:59 PM) Tyler: jk
(3:10:16 PM) Tyler: can u ask me a different question or do i need to get up to fetch my wallet?(3:10:22 PM) Byron Th: Not like that at all I’m shocked I have you in chat, I’ve even joked about it before. 😀
(3:10:46 PM) Byron Th: I can send a verification email if you would like, we can use that as a form of verification if you can reply back to the email.(3:10:54 PM) Tyler: haha ill get my wallet
(3:11:17 PM) Byron Th: Okay whatever is most convenient for you.
(3:11:33 PM) Tyler: XXXX [censored for obvious reasons]
(3:11:46 PM) Byron Th: Correct, you are verified. 🙂
(3:13:17 PM) Byron Th: I have added the entry for you and it should be working now.(3:13:33 PM) Byron Th: If you have a way to verify like installing a script you’re welcome to check to be certain.
(3:13:39 PM) Tyler: http://beta.robotwarz.com/
(3:13:55 PM) Tyler: getting a fatal error at the bottom but thats probably just because the rest of the scripts weren’t configured
(3:14:06 PM) Tyler: the programmer probably just stopped once PDO wasn’t installed(3:14:54 PM) Byron Th: Well if it proves that there is something misconfigured on our end I’d be happy to look at it for you again and see what I can do to get that worked out for you.(3:14:55 PM) Byron Th: 🙂
(3:15:18 PM) Tyler: I’ll let the programmer know but its probably just more configuring he needs to do
(3:15:30 PM) Tyler: He was working on his server and is now moving to my server[While chatting I had Googled “Brian Thurman” and found his blog, which got us talking for a little bit, omitted here for length reasons]
(3:18:04 PM) Tyler: Okay, I’ll let you get back to work so you don’t get fired
(3:18:06 PM) Byron Th: I will check that out when I have a break.
(3:18:09 PM) Tyler: thanks for the help
(3:18:21 PM) Byron Th: No problem at all Tyler it was my pleasure! I’ll see you around I promise. 🙂
(3:18:24 PM) Tyler: cheers
(3:18:28 PM) Byron Th: Cheers!
(3:18:31 PM) Byron Th: Thank you for using HostGator Live Chat. If you could take a minute to rate your experience with HostGator as well as my overall performance, that would help us to improve our customer service. To do that, just click the button that says Rate and Exit in the upper right hand corner. The survey takes less than a minute to fill out.
(3:18:35 PM) Tyler: (ill give u 5 star rating so you get a raise hehe)
Haha, I don’t know… I thought it was neat. There’s something like close to a hundred HostGator chat support technicians, and I get paired with a regular reader of my blog.
It reminds me of a time not that long ago when I phoned my local cable company as my Internet connection had gone out, and the support technician on the other end happened to be my old next door neighbour and friend from around 14 years ago.
Anyhow, as you can tell from the transcript above, HostGator rocks. This was no special treatment just because he knew me – this is the average quality of their support.
You can view Byron Thurman’s blog at ByronThurman.com.
Wow, that is really cool Tyler, can’t believe that! And now you’ve got an insider so to speak at HostGator 😉 hehe
Having an inside contact anywhere is a great feeling!
The more popular you are online the higher the chances of this happening, I’m sure john chow and shoemoney have these kinds of things all the time 🙂
That is very cool. You just never know who you will meet, or run into online.
Im still amazed how easy people from HS or before find you on Facebook..lol
That is great. This is the same thign with Facebook since I have found most of my students before.
This is awesome, I’m too with Hostgator and it’s without a doubt the best Hosting Service I’ve ever been with.
I only had very little experience with HostGator, but when I did, they were great.
Have had the same experience as you, HG does rock
I agree that HostGator is a great webhost. I have used them for various websites without any problems.
This story reminds me of 2 of my past jobs. At one a high school friend called in to place an order. At another job my girlfriend’s cousin placed an order with us.
I’m into Hostgator as well, their chat support is fantastic and that is hilarious that it was one of your subscribers! Haha, I hope that one day that kind of thing happens to me.
That’s crazy. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with my host but will keep Hostgator in mind. Enjoyed the story.
Bryan
Haha, birds the same feather flock together
It would be so funny if the Hostgator boss read this, and ended up firing him for chatting on the job.
This maybe get him in to trouble….chating on hes work ey Tyler place on the post if the hostagotr boss read this and fired him you remove everything from them LOL
Cheers
Hey brosif cool story…. now can you make another publisher challenge?
Also how many $100 hostgator sales has this post brought in 😀
No no, it’s ok he doesn’t need to take it serious. I’ll gladly take his $600. 🙂
and yeah HostGator kicks ass.
-Paul
Hi Guys,
I agree with you Tyler it is a Small World. I too like Live Chat help or a number where I can get some help immediately. I hate sending emails and waiting for them to reply to my message.
Kind regards,
Sam
X
Re: comments that the Hostgator guy could get fired for chatting…
That thought crossed my mind too, but kinda doubtful since that chat resulted in free advertising / promotion on this well read blog whose audience consists of people who buy (often multiple) websites that require hosting. 🙂
Also, who says that “chatting” is not allowed? I think the job of the support technician is to help the client, while also creating a positive experience. That means getting personal and not just asking questions like “What do you want?” and hanging up chat 2 seconds after answering the question.
I’ve spoken to techs in other companies who answered my question and then hung up chat 2 seconds later because they were rushing to get to the next call to meet some kind of quota. To me that doesn’t equate to a quality experience.
I have found Hostgator techs to be more personable that other hosts and that is why I recommend them on my site too.
That is great. This is the same thign with Facebook since I have found most of my students before.
Hostgator is a great host company.I have hostgator to.
I agree that HostGator is a great webhost. I ve been using them for a while now..
Hostgator is good however I recently switched to bluehost.
The man has said :). Yah, HostGator makes us satisfied
cool, anyways that is what i like in hostgator, their live support which helps you anytime you need the help.
It took you 20 mins to achieve a 2 min task, so i wouldn’t say it was faster to get them to do it, only easier.
There are times I like chatting with people even if it takes a little longer!
I’ve used hostgator for quite a while and am very happy with their customer service.
John
haha Tyler, that’s good also right? At least you have someone who can serves you directly from Hostgator. I’m sure he will do all the thing for you since he is one of your fans. 😉
I’m using Hostgator as well, no doubt their support is really cool! I like their services as well. Recommended!
Cheers,
Lee
This is awesome! 🙂 So cool that this guy is a regular reader of yours. Yes, it is a small, small world! For example I once traveled through France(it was in Paris!!:)) and I met friends there!!!! Regarding hostgator I saw recently lots of advertising for them. As you describe them they sound very professional. Should it be the case that I am disappointed with my hosting company I will for sure check them out. Thank you for the great post. 🙂
I have a question Tyler, do you host all of your sites on one hosting account?
Definitely a small world after all. I also utilize hostgator, and have been for the past 3 years. They have been very good to me. Have had minimum problems.
I had a similar experience. I was buy a domain off someone from an online forum, and I found out it was my neighbor, lol.
haha Tyler, that’s good also right? At least you have someone who can serves you directly from Hostgator. I’m sure he will do all the thing for you since he is one of your fans. 😉
I’m using Hostgator as well, no doubt their support is really cool! I like their services as well. Recommended!
Cheers,
Lee
Heh, very cool. I agree with Hostgator, their support is top notch.
Nice! you never know when you will run into someone you know. It happens to me all the time. That’s part of the reason I moved away for the city. It’s nice to be unknown at times.
Definitely a small world after all. I also utilize hostgator, and have been for the past 3 years. They have been very good to me. Have had minimum problems.
Definitely a small world after all. I also utilize hostgator, and have been for the past 3 years. They have been very good to me. Have had minimum problems.
I agree with you Tyler it is a Small World.
What a sweet story. This planet looks just big but it is really small. You cannot escape. Hostgator is the best!!!
jeje nice, i enjoyed the story, see yah
[…] going into all of the details of the post since Tyler has already covered most of the details in It’s a Small World After All… Especially Online if you would care to read the chat he even included that as […]
Have had the same experience as you, HG does rock
I love Hostgator.)
I just learn godaddy is going to increase the domain and hosting rate in couple months. Sucks!
Social media makes the internet so much smaller… Gaffes like one where Skittles put their twitter stream on their homepage go viral in a matter of minutes
I agree that HostGator is a great webhost. 😉
Have yet to use HostGator but I think my next projects will go through them. Made the mistake of starting with GoDaddy and found its easier to simplify and keep everything on one host. But from everything I hear, HostGator is the way to go!
If I have a blogger blog and then purchase the domain is my site hosted by GoDaddy at that point because that’s who the actual transaction goes through or is it hosted by Blogger/Google?
I had to switch away form hostgator, my site was loading super slow, and they couldn’t resolve the problem…oh well, i’m happy again now!
A really small world it is. They seem to have such wonderful customer service. No wonder you picked on them out of the many others. I liked your post and the conversation too. That is what I call good customer service.