Openhost customers - has support gone downhill recently? other reseller hosting co suggestions?

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aidanc

18 posts

Geek

#157262 25-Nov-2014 16:40

I've had a reseller account with Openhost for over 6 years. Their support response times in the past have been mostly reasonable but last two times that I've submitted a support ticket I have not had a response in a reasonable timeframe. e.g. I submitted a ticket yesterday morning and a follow up today and still have not heard anything from them. Similar story when I submitted a ticket about a month ago. Any other Openhost customers with similar experiences?

I am considering switching hosting companies as I'm not happy with this poor service, any suggestions for good reliable reseller hosting?

Cheers,
Aidan

networkn

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#1182920 25-Nov-2014 17:54

6 Years of good service, and they get it wrong twice and you move? Seems harsh. Likely there is a reasonable explanation. Tried twitter or facebook ?

aidanc

18 posts

Geek

#1182964 25-Nov-2014 19:26

networkn: 6 Years of good service, and they get it wrong twice and you move? Seems harsh. Likely there is a reasonable explanation. Tried twitter or facebook ?

I haven't pulled the plug yet, just starting to look at other options because if it keeps on like this it is simply not satisfactory. I've had other times during the 6 years when I felt like moving due to multiple service outages in a given period etc. and I've given them the benefit of the doubt and stuck with them but this complete failure to respond to support tickets is really taxing my patience. I have a feeling something has changed in their operation, different management, personnel or something, but it's not good.

minigopher17

281 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1183036 25-Nov-2014 22:28

I agree. Over the last couple of months the service for me too has gone downhill. They say tickets to be responded to within a certain number of hours on a weekday, but they never reply within them. And a couple of times now I've had to follow up on the phone after sending 2 separate replies a week apart to the same ticket that was left unanswered for over a month.

They used to be good and I recommended them to everyone. Not any more.

insane

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#1183045 25-Nov-2014 22:55

Is it possible the service has gown down since their parent company was bought out by DigiWeb? Would fit the times frames.

aidanc

18 posts

Geek

#1183049 25-Nov-2014 23:06

insane: Is it possible the service has gown down since their parent company was bought out by DigiWeb? Would fit the times frames.

When were they bought by DigiWeb? I don't recall them sending out any customer notifications about that. I have no knowledge of DigiWeb - anyone know what's their reputation like? Did DigiWeb take over Internet Services Group? On http://www.isgl.co.nz/ it says Internet Services Group is owned by Web Drive, it's all a bit confusing.

aidanc

18 posts

Geek

#1183052 25-Nov-2014 23:14

minigopher17: I agree. Over the last couple of months the service for me too has gone downhill. They say tickets to be responded to within a certain number of hours on a weekday, but they never reply within them. And a couple of times now I've had to follow up on the phone after sending 2 separate replies a week apart to the same ticket that was left unanswered for over a month.

They used to be good and I recommended them to everyone. Not any more.

Seems I'm not alone in my experience then.

So, anyone have any suggestions for a reliable reseller hosting service with good support/customer service?

danfaulknor

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Prodigi

#1183054 25-Nov-2014 23:48

Does it need to be NZ based?

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insane

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#1183072 26-Nov-2014 01:19

aidanc:
insane: Is it possible the service has gown down since their parent company was bought out by DigiWeb? Would fit the times frames.

When were they bought by DigiWeb? I don't recall them sending out any customer notifications about that. I have no knowledge of DigiWeb - anyone know what's their reputation like? Did DigiWeb take over Internet Services Group? On http://www.isgl.co.nz/ it says Internet Services Group is owned by Web Drive, it's all a bit confusing.

Not long ago
http://www.webdrive.co.nz/blog.php?id=11&title=digiweb-acquires-web-drive-limited

Has always been listed under the 'our brands' section on this page
http://www.webdrive.co.nz/about-us/

aidanc

18 posts

Geek

#1183121 26-Nov-2014 08:49

danielfaulknor: Does it need to be NZ based?

That's my intention based on my understanding that NZ based hosting will provide better speed within NZ. But if someone can enlighten me that there is not any significant advantage (speed, SEO, etc) for NZ websties to be served from NZ then I would consider overseas hosting. I have about 60 websites in my account and they are all predominantly serving the NZ market.

aidanc

18 posts

Geek

#1183127 26-Nov-2014 09:00

Not long ago
http://www.webdrive.co.nz/blog.php?id=11&title=digiweb-acquires-web-drive-limited

Has always been listed under the 'our brands' section on this page
http://www.webdrive.co.nz/about-us/

I always thought the parent company was Internet Services Group and that Openhost and Web Drive were their brands. My invoices are still from 'Internet Services Group Limited'.

Anyway the timing of this takeover and my recent experiences seem to be more than just coincidence.

danfaulknor

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#1183150 26-Nov-2014 09:18

aidanc:
danielfaulknor: Does it need to be NZ based?

That's my intention based on my understanding that NZ based hosting will provide better speed within NZ. But if someone can enlighten me that there is not any significant advantage (speed, SEO, etc) for NZ websties to be served from NZ then I would consider overseas hosting. I have about 60 websites in my account and they are all predominantly serving the NZ market.

Here is an article quoting google on the SEO around server location (and you can click through to the google groups post about it): https://www.seroundtable.com/seo-geo-location-server-google-17468.html

Things like cloudflare (especially if they have a NZ node soon) definitely improve things, but the only way to really find it out is to test a few sites on overseas hosting.

We're in the business of reseller hosting, and could definitely provide you with a test account if you wanted to try it out and see what happens for your sites.

they/them

Prodigi - Optimised IT Solutions
WebOps/DevOps, Managed IT, Hosting and Internet/WAN.

chchrob

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#1184994 28-Nov-2014 15:59

Really sorry to hear this.

The past few months have been a perfect storm of events! dotNZ 2nd level launching, taking over the mess that was 247Hosting, Plesk 12 being rolled out across our customer base..not to mention being acquired!

Rest assured service levels will improve as we bring on additional resource and these one off events settle down.

COO @ Digiweb Group / Web Drive

jnimmo

1097 posts

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#1185013 28-Nov-2014 16:30

I've been pretty happy with Sitehost since moving to them, although I'm not a reseller but using their VPSes.