When Patience is a Downfall...
If your car broke down on the highway, would you leave it there for weeks? If it was 12 below zero and the central heating in the home stopped working, would you just shiver in pain for weeks? So, I wonder, why do so many online stores stand in waiting for hosts to fix legitimately urgent issues?
For the past two days I've been working with a store owner to fix a problem with an inability to accept credit cards online. The problem lies with the configuration of the server (actually, only a single file needs to be placed). I was contacted by the user just yesterday, after 26 days of "permission denied" messages on every attempt by customers to make an online purchase. To me it's a top priority, and we jumped on the issue right away, first working with the gateway company to confirm that all passcodes and key strings were correct. We ran tests both inside and outside the store - a task performed to confirm that the account itself works, but that nothing is being passed from the server.
After days of getting "we're working on it" responses from the host, the user asked me to call. The host's rep on the phone, I'm sad to report, very bluntly explained he had little knowledge and there was but one guy who knew more about such issues. When I explained that the missing file should have been the very first thing to troubleshoot, only then did the issue get escalated.
At this point, whether the problem is fixed or not, I can only advise the user to change hosts. I cringe to think of response time on any further issues. To say this has cost the company money is understatement - 27 days now with no credit card transactions, not to mention having to pay us to further troubleshoot the problem - a problem that should have been fixed within minutes of the first call to the host.
As I write this, the user's store is still non-responsive to credit card authorizations. I can only wait as well, as the core issue is beyond my control. The person who pays for this is a small business owner - just like many of us.
I have a long-standing statement about the need to find a host that's knowledgeable and responsive, and that when you find such a host, don't ever leave - not for a cheaper alternative or for a buddy who just setup his own hosting platform. You simply can't put a real price on a successful hosting environment. In order to find one, though, you need to recognize the difference between acceptable and unacceptable delays, as well as what are user-caused errors and problems with the actual server configuration. That might take a little asking around, but it's a necessary part of your business. Got a problem and you're wondering where the responsibility lies? Feel free to post about it here. I'll be checking often.
