Hi,For those of you who have heard and used this company, what are your thoughts and opinion of platinumservermanagement.com when it comes to protecting your server from hacks (exploits, injections, other harmful server related things.), scanning for harmful things, customer support, and reliability? Thanks 
Moved to the appropriate forum area.Thanks Justin If you are looking for reviews on them, I would suggest using the search function, there are thousands of posts with their name in it. I use them for all my support needs and they have been great.they are spot on!Yes, they are good. Only thing is that they will not tell you what they did on your server, like cPanel techs.But they will fix all errors and secure your serverThey have been fantastic for us. When we deploy a server they come in within a hour or so and, BANG!, its secured and almost ready to go. What I like most about PSM is that they respond to tickets very quickly and I don't think I have asked them to do something that they can't do. For $29, they are amazing! Its the best deal anywhere for Server Management.Yes, they are good. Only thing is that they will not tell you what they did on your server, like cPanel techs.
But they will fix all errors and secure your server
Whenever I have something done, I ask what was done, and I get a reply with details, whether it was something simple like "A quick update of cPanel fixed the issue" (made me feel stupid) or something more complicated that took a few paragraphs.
I've always been satisfied with them; they always reply within 4-6 hours, which I would love to have faster, but server downtime is handled differently, emergency tickets are faster, etc. It seems like everybody there knows what they're doing and get the job done.I have a few clients that use them an I have hear good things and bad, most of the bad comes from the fact that there is nothing that they can do for any other control panel except for CPanel. If they could start belting out some techs for hsphere, plesk, direct admin... then they might be "the way" but for CPanel they are good enough.I have a few clients that use them an I have hear good things and bad, most of the bad comes from the fact that there is nothing that they can do for any other control panel except for CPanel. If they could start belting out some techs for hsphere, plesk, direct admin... then they might be "the way" but for CPanel they are good enough.
Ya hopefully more people start developing for other control panels and not just for CPanel.I have a few clients that use them an I have hear good things and bad, most of the bad comes from the fact that there is nothing that they can do for any other control panel except for CPanel.They choose to only support cpanel, that is there decision, that does not make them bad. It's so stupid when people say a company is bad just because they don't offer something they want. I guess if someone wants a server that hivelocity doesn't sell that would make hivelocity bad :blush: If you don't have a cpanel server, then obviously they are not for you, but that does not make them bad. As long as they provide good service on what they do offer, then that means they are good. They provide support for all of my cpanel servers and they are great!!They choose to only support cpanel, that is there decision, that does not make them bad. It's so stupid when people say a company is bad just because they don't offer something they want. I guess if someone wants a server that hivelocity doesn't sell that would make hivelocity bad :blush:
If you don't have a cpanel server, then obviously they are not for you, but that does not make them bad. As long as they provide good service on what they do offer, then that means they are good.
They provide support for all of my cpanel servers and they are great!!
Call it what you want and I am glad to hear that you are having a good run with them but, I can guarantee you that people share both of our opinions. I believe that diversity and growth are the name of the game. There is one undeniable fact, if they started offering more services, more people would use them as they have a pretty good reputaion for cpanel and spreading out into a different platform would only mean a larger client base. It is not soley based on the fact that I am one sided and can't make any money off of them but my trying to help out a person that also happens to reside in the same industy as I.They choose to only support cpanel, that is there decision, that does not make them bad. It's so stupid when people say a company is bad just because they don't offer something they want. I guess if someone wants a server that hivelocity doesn't sell that would make hivelocity bad :blush:
If you don't have a cpanel server, then obviously they are not for you, but that does not make them bad. As long as they provide good service on what they do offer, then that means they are good.
They provide support for all of my cpanel servers and they are great!!
I don't think he was saying they were bad. He was merely saying that they are good if you only use cpanel. Not every hosting company uses cpanel.Call it what you want and I am glad to hear that you are having a good run with them but, I can guarantee you that people share both of our opinions. I believe that diversity and growth are the name of the game. There is one undeniable fact, if they started offering more services, more people would use them as they have a pretty good reputaion for cpanel and spreading out into a different platform would only mean a larger client base. It is not soley based on the fact that I am one sided and can't make any money off of them but my trying to help out a person that also happens to reside in the same industy as I.
Maybe it is because they wouldn't know how to support other control panels neither have the experience to do so and they feel they have a much better control by only supporting something they know about?I signed up last month and so far they have answered all my questions and done everything I have requested of them. The only thing that annoys me is that it takes a long time before they answer my tickets. When I just signed up my tickets where answered immediately, now it take hours before they perform some simple tasks for me.now it take hours before they perform some simple tasks for me.
I'm not sure what you are referring to, I went through all of your tickets and found that the average response time was less than 1 hour each, and the majority literally within minutes.
Here's an example of the latest ticket:
------------------------------
Technical Support Responded on Fri Feb 22 14:56:29 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Fri Feb 22 13:46:21 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Fri Feb 22 13:33:04 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Fri Feb 22 13:22:54 EST 2008
Reply time: 11 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Thu Feb 21 11:22:50 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Thu Feb 21 10:20:28 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 hour 2 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:25:14 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:23:33 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:11:33 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:08:42 EST 2008
Reply time: 3 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:05:36 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:04:56 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 minute
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 13:10:56 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 11:03:39 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 hours 7 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 10:04:06 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 09:47:55 EST 2008
Reply time: 17 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 07:10:53 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 04:29:58 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 hours 42 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sat Feb 16 17:12:53 EST 2008
Client Opened Ticket on Sat Feb 16 16:58:39 EST 2008
Reply time: 14 minutes
------------------------------
There were 10 replies to that ticket.
3 of them took less than 5 minutes for us to reply.
3 of them took less than 20 minutes for us to reply.
2 of them took 1 hour for us to reply.
2 of them took 2 hours for us to reply.
These response times are outstanding. Please feel free to post the response times for other tickets too, I've checked them and they are "all" the same or even fasterI generally have fast responses from them. The one issue I have with their system is that once a ticket is assigned to a tech, it stays with that tech. Therefore, if you're working with one tech on an issue and there is a time gap in communications, the tech may have finished all ticket responses and resolved all issues and gone to bed, dinner, or whatever else, which they definitely deserve to do.
The only problem with that... My 1 hour response times don't happen once the ticket is assigned and a communications time gap is established; I have to wait anywhere from a few minutes to the highest length I've seen in a recent ticket: 19 hours 13 minutes for a response.
Like I said, I have no problems if I'm able to stay on the site and make sure I reply, but oftentimes I can't because of time constraints, and once that happens, I have problems.I generally have fast responses from them.
..
I have to wait anywhere from a few minutes to the highest length I've seen in a recent ticket: 19 hours 13 minutes for a response.
That is not the majority though, the majority is much much quicker as you mentioned. That happened on only "1" reply out of all other tickets and replies in all the several months that you have been with us so far.
I looked into that "1" reply to see what happened and that was regarding a 3rd party program that we do not even support. The tech explained in his response that he had to spent a lot of time researching this issue to resolve it. According to our employee time logs (and you are welcome to check your server history logs for proof and paste them here to show everyone), there were "several hours" of actual server work time put into that ticket. Since this was 3rd party software that we do not work with, naturally it took more time than usual to resolve. I also feel we went above and beyond to help you with a 3rd party program that we do not even support (which we advised you of months ago when you inquired about this specific 3rd party program).
So rather than pointing out "wow, they helped me with something they don't even offer support for", you choose to go the other way and point out "look how long it took".That is not the majority though, the majority is much much quicker as you mentioned. That happened on only "1" reply out of all other tickets and replies in all the several months that you have been with us so far.
I looked into that "1" reply to see what happened and that was regarding a 3rd party program that we do not even support. The tech explained in his response that he had to spent a lot of time researching this issue to resolve it. According to our employee time logs (and you are welcome to check your server history logs for proof and paste them here to show everyone), there were "several hours" of actual server work time put into that ticket. Since this was 3rd party software that we do not work with, naturally it took more time than usual to resolve. I also feel we went above and beyond to help you with a 3rd party program that we do not even support (which we advised you of months ago when you inquired about this specific 3rd party program).
So rather than pointing out "wow, they helped me with something they don't even offer support for", you choose to go the other way and point out "look how long it took".
I think you're taking my message the wrong way. My complaint is not that it took several hours to fix the issue, because it is indeed a good thing that you've helped with things you don't directly support. You helped us right away with a VPS control panel that, obviously, is out of your supported services.
My complaint is the ticket handling system, in which you are assigned to one tech. All I'm stating is that if the tech doesn't work 24 hours a day (which I'm almost certain they don't) then you're stuck waiting for them to come back on shift.
The point I was making is that once there becomes a gap in communications, whether the client OR the tech goes offline, I can reply and will have to wait until that specific tech is back on duty. I'm not complaining in any way that the techs don't do a good job, or that you guys aren't helpful even when you don't have to be, but that the system in place for ticket management and assignment is poor.
EDIT: By "gap in communications" I mean that the tech replied after I had gone offline due to other issues I had to attend to. In no way is that his fault, and any time the ticket waited during that period is COMPLETELY understandable. My issue is that once I respond to the ticket, it's my opinion that if the tech assigned to the ticket isn't on duty, it'd be beneficial to reassign the ticket or perform some other action so that I receive the same fast response time as though there was no "gap" created. Referencing the previous post,
I have no problems if I'm able to stay on the site and make sure I reply, but oftentimes I can't because of time constraints, and once that happens, I have problems.So rather than pointing out "wow, they helped me with something they don't even offer support for", you choose to go the other way and point out "look how long it took".That, unfortunately, is just the way most people are. You can do a million things good, but all they talk about is the one thing they don't like. I've been a customer of PSM for a long time and all my tickets are answered within a few hours or less. I am satisfied and never had a problem with them. They do everything I ask, and I can't thank them enough for it.That, unfortunately, is just the way most people are. You can do a million things good, but all they talk about is the one thing they don't like.
I've been a customer of PSM for a long time and all my tickets are answered within a few hours or less. I am satisfied and never had a problem with them. They do everything I ask, and I can't thank them enough for it.
I'd also like to refer you to my second post. The point I am making is NOT that they perform poor service, and not that they are poor techs. They do indeed perform great service and are great people to deal with, as they solve all the issues I throw at them. I was making a complaint regarding their management of tickets. I am satisfied with their service and their capabilities. I am not satisfied with the "one ticket, one tech" system.I'd also like to refer you to my second post. The point I am making is NOT that they perform poor service, or that they are not good techs. I was making a complaint regarding their management of tickets. I am satisfied with their service and their capabilities. I am not satisfied with the "one ticket, one tech" system.
I am not sure how you would expect another tech to jump into the middle of someone else's work? I would think that would be quite difficult.My complaint is the ticket handling system, in which you are assigned to one tech. All I'm stating is that if the tech doesn't work 24 hours a day (which I'm almost certain they don't) then you're stuck waiting for them to come back on shift.
A tech will not leave his shift with a ticket still in progress. All tickets are completed before the tech leaves his shift, or he will assign it to another tech with specific instructions on what to finish.
If you re-open a ticket while the tech is not on shift, it will be seen by the shift supervisor within minutes. The shift supervisor does not do support, he only distributes new tickets to the techs on shift, and reviews existing tickets that have been re-opened by clients. If the ticket you re-opened is urgent or an emergency, it will immediately be reassigned to another tech to work on it right away.
Otherwise, if it is just a standard ticket, it is left assigned to tech that started it. All techs check tickets every day even after their shift is over. If they will be unable to, then there will be a tech covering them to watch their helpdesk.
I am not sure how you would expect another tech to jump into the middle of someone else's work? I would think that would be quite difficult.
Exactly. But from a client's perspective they may not realize the problems associated with this. From a technician's perspective, it's easy to see how "too many cooks in the kitchen" makes a mess.
We can't have a new tech each shift read through the entire ticket's history and pick up where it was left off. This would be very time consuming and very confusing.
If a new tech had to read through the entire ticket, logs, and internal notes for each ticket at each shift, this would waste a lot of time. Also, the techs would wind up re-doing something that was already done by the previous tech, this also would waste a lot of time, and possibly even complicate the situation.
This method we use is relatively new for us as of about a year ago, and so far has proven to increase our levels of efficiency and accuracy tremendously. This method is also used by many other providers I have seen.
If you have any recommendations or suggestions, we'd love to hear them, but if you don't tell us we have no way of knowing. You've never mentioned this to us before in all the months you've been with us, so I hope you can understand why I am suprised to hear this for the first time you telling everyone how you don't like our helpdesk. If you want something improved, come to us and tell us. It doesn't help you by telling everyone, except us, your recommendations on our helpdesk.If you only redistribute emergency/urgent tickets to new techs, that's fine. However, your SLA should reflect it on Guarantee.html and FAQ.html of your site (this is my major disappointment).
we can only officially guarantee each of your technical support requests will be reviewed and responded to within 6 hours
You will see some tickets resolved within minutes, and others within hours. Nevertheless, we only offer and guarantee that a response will be received within 6 hours
When a client and a provider exchange money/goods for services/goods, there is almost always an agreement for quality control or other measurable information. As I've said you guys do great work, but, to put it quite simply, a deal is a deal. Just like an uptime guarantee by a hosting company needs to be met, just like a warranty covers X type of incidents for Y days after purchase, any sort of SLA measurements that a provider gives should be met.
EDIT: Somehow I missed a good portion of your post and didn't read it. The 'too many cooks in a kitchen' analogy does make good sense, and I understand this problem, but as I mentioned before the edit, the SLA should reflect this. I apologize if I came across as rude (which I almost definitely have from a combination of factors), but adherance to contracts is important to me and I have grown to take terms, conditions, and guarantees literally, without exception.any sort of SLA measurements that a provider gives should be met.
I agree completely, and our SLA has "not" been exceeded on any of your tickets that I am aware of. The ticket that you are referring to that took 19 hours was still within our SLA because that was a "resolution" since the issue was completed at that time, and ask clearly stated on the pages you specified a "resolution" can take up to "24 hours".All it says is they will receive and respond to your ticket within 6 hours. Not resolve your issues.All it says is they will receive and respond to your ticket within 6 hours. Not resolve your issues.
I already said I didn't expect a result in 6 hours, just a response. It was the fact that I went for 19 hours without a clue on what was going on with the issue. However, like I said, the 'cooks in a kitchen' analogy does make more sense of the issue, and I'm sorry for coming off as rude (which I'm 99% sure I did).I already said I didn't expect a result in 6 hours, just a response. It was the fact that I went for 19 hours without a clue on what was going on with the issue. However, like I said, the 'cooks in a kitchen' analogy does make more sense of the issue, and I'm sorry for coming off as rude (which I'm 99% sure I did).
Sometimes that happens. Yes "cooks in a kitchen" when dealing with security it is not a good idea to have to many fingers in the pot. It can cause some major issues that require a OS reload to fix. I would not push an admin to work to fast on a live web server. But that is just me.Sometimes that happens. Yes "cooks in a kitchen" when dealing with security it is not a good idea to have to many fingers in the pot. It can cause some major issues that require a OS reload to fix. I would not push an admin to work to fast on a live web server. But that is just me.
I'll be submitting a feedback ticket to PSM at this point. I honestly don't mind if a non-critical issue takes 10 minutes, 10 hours, or 10 days to resolve, but even a ticket response stating that the tech is off duty and will be back at a certain time would be nice. Going to their site now.Sounds like you are looking for more of a personable managed service. Have a look at your current server providers managed service you might have more luck.Sounds like you are looking for more of a personable managed service. Have a look at your current server providers managed service you might have more luck.That's what I would recommend as well, as I did the same thing. PSM by all these reviews seem like a reliable company, and I've talked with the sales representative as well, however they just did not provide what I needed, so I said, thanks and looked for other solutions, however in my mind that didn't make them a bad company, as I'll surely probably use them in the future for other projectsAnd I'm not directing this toward, Lethanialist, just giving my opinion of how people react when a company does not provide something, so this message is not pointed toward you Lethanialist PSM gets a :agree:I'm not sure what you are referring to, I went through all of your tickets and found that the average response time was less than 1 hour each, and the majority literally within minutes.
Here's an example of the latest ticket:
------------------------------
Technical Support Responded on Fri Feb 22 14:56:29 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Fri Feb 22 13:46:21 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Fri Feb 22 13:33:04 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Fri Feb 22 13:22:54 EST 2008
Reply time: 11 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Thu Feb 21 11:22:50 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Thu Feb 21 10:20:28 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 hour 2 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:25:14 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:23:33 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:11:33 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:08:42 EST 2008
Reply time: 3 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:05:36 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:04:56 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 minute
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 13:10:56 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 11:03:39 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 hours 7 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 10:04:06 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 09:47:55 EST 2008
Reply time: 17 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 07:10:53 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 04:29:58 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 hours 42 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sat Feb 16 17:12:53 EST 2008
Client Opened Ticket on Sat Feb 16 16:58:39 EST 2008
Reply time: 14 minutes
------------------------------
There were 10 replies to that ticket.
3 of them took less than 5 minutes for us to reply.
3 of them took less than 20 minutes for us to reply.
2 of them took 1 hour for us to reply.
2 of them took 2 hours for us to reply.
These response times are outstanding. Please feel free to post the response times for other tickets too, I've checked them and they are "all" the same or even faster
Don't get me wrong, I love you guys! You guys are doing a great job for that price!! If it wasn't for you guys I could not have had my own server. Like you said, the response time for me were very good. But I think that I got annoyed of one ticket that was put on hold for a few hours. I submitted that ticket on Thu Feb 21 10:20:28 EST 2008, at Thu Feb 21 11:22:50 EST 2008 I got an answer that they started working on it and it was put on hold. After a few hours I had to submit another ticket asking why it was taking so long, after this last ticket the task was performed and I got a reply at Thu Feb 21 16:04:38 EST 2008. The task was to create a few accounts for me in WHM because I didn't dare do it myself. In my opinion this was a very simple task for you guys, and I got annoyed because I was waiting on you guys so I can continue setting up my server.
P.S. I guess it is not possible to anonymously give your opinion about PSM, even though you don't have any signature, they still know who you are!!after my experience with them, they seem to stall by asking pointless or obvious questions. My guess is that their ticket load may be too high.after my experience with them, they seem to stall by asking pointless or obvious questions.
This has never happened to me. Maybe is because I give very detailed instructions what I want them to do for me.This has never happened to me. Maybe is because I give very detailed instructions what I want them to do for me.
That's true, most people leave out important details just because they don't think it's needed. Our ticket submission form asks to provide all pertinent information as well as examples to ensure the fastest resolutions. I assure you that we never reply asking questions unless they are needed as that would just be wasting our own time.I've used PSM for maybe 5 months and they did everything in a timely manner, and for the price (compared to other managed services) the whole package comes up quite nice.The only thing is I stopped my subscription because for the last month or two I only submitted 1 or 2 tickets each month, and they were only really basic questions which I could have figured out myself in some time, so it didn't make sense to pay $15 per ticket.I mean, what else is there to use them for if you don't need to submit tickets? It just seems like a waste to pay for something that I am not using. And they don't provide active server monitoring so I wasn't sure why I was subscribed.Do people get them to do other stuff in the 'quiet times' when you don't have any tickets to submit, to make it more 'worth it'?The only thing is I stopped my subscription because for the last month or two I only submitted 1 or 2 tickets each month, and they were only really basic questions which I could have figured out myself in some time, so it didn't make sense to pay $15 per ticket.
I mean, what else is there to use them for if you don't need to submit tickets? It just seems like a waste to pay for something that I am not using. And they don't provide active server monitoring so I wasn't sure why I was subscribed.
Do people get them to do other stuff in the 'quiet times' when you don't have any tickets to submit, to make it more 'worth it'?
I used them to setup my server. Now I don't need them anymore, so I don't submit tickets. But I will still keep my subscription with them in case I run into any problems. You never know!I've used PSM for maybe 5 months and they did everything in a timely manner, and for the price (compared to other managed services) the whole package comes up quite nice.
The only thing is I stopped my subscription because for the last month or two I only submitted 1 or 2 tickets each month, and they were only really basic questions which I could have figured out myself in some time, so it didn't make sense to pay $15 per ticket.
I mean, what else is there to use them for if you don't need to submit tickets? It just seems like a waste to pay for something that I am not using. And they don't provide active server monitoring so I wasn't sure why I was subscribed.
Do people get them to do other stuff in the 'quiet times' when you don't have any tickets to submit, to make it more 'worth it'?
Thanks for your compliments and feedback
I understand your concern about paying for something you are not using, but most people think of it like they think of insurance, keep it "just in case". When you run into a server problem, especially an emergency, the last thing you want to do is go looking for an admin to fix it. By remaining a customer, you can rest assured that whenever you need support, we'll be here. Even if that only occurs once every few months, it's priceless.
Also, even if you don't have any server problems, we still recommend opening several tickets for general maintenance every month, such as software upgrades, security review, checking backups, etc., to make sure your server is up to date and performing as best as possible.
As for monitoring, yes we do include 24x7 proactive server monitoring. If apache goes down we will login and fix it, or if your server goes down we will reboot it.
Thanks,
EthanHi ServerManagement
I have read some good posts about your services, I'd just like to confirm that you don't handle any type of end user support? either helpdesk or email?
I presume a work around to this is if your services were employed and a ticket was received that the owner was not able to complete, he would ticket yourselfs and play piggy in the middle with reply back to his own client?
Cheers!Hi ServerManagement
I have read some good posts about your services, I'd just like to confirm that you don't handle any type of end user support? either helpdesk or email?
Hi websprite,
That's correct, we do not communicate directly with your end users (ie, we don't work in your own customer helpdesk).
I presume a work around to this is if your services were employed and a ticket was received that the owner was not able to complete, he would ticket yourselfs and play piggy in the middle with reply back to his own client?
Cheers!
Yes that's also correct, you are more than welcome to submit a ticket to us for any issues you are having.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us.
Thanks,
EthanI give 2 thumbs up to PSM. On more than one occasion PSM has saved my tail.
My only suggestion would be to fix the ticket system so when an issue is responded to and the ticket is closed it sends out a reply. It would seem like a pretty easy fix for a bunch of tech guru's and would certainly help us paranoid types from hitting refresh 50 times a day to see if an issue has been solved.
That's my only suggestion...hands down you guys rock!I give 2 thumbs up to PSM. On more than one occasion PSM has saved my tail.
Thanks! We're glad to help
My only suggestion would be to fix the ticket system so when an issue is responded to and the ticket is closed it sends out a reply. It would seem like a pretty easy fix for a bunch of tech guru's and would certainly help us paranoid types from hitting refresh 50 times a day to see if an issue has been solved.That's my only suggestion...
This is in our helpdesk's programming. Only our programmer has access to work on this, not our techs.
hands down you guys rock!
Thanks!have you ever thought of support LiteSpeed webserver (the drop in replacement for apache)?have you ever thought of support LiteSpeed webserver (the drop in replacement for apache)?
We only support servers running cpanel, so we only support the software that is standard with cpanel (apache, mysql, php, exim, ftp, etc). Since apache is the only standard web server with cpanel at this time, apache is the only web server software that we support currently.We only support servers running cpanel, so we only support the software that is standard with cpanel (apache, mysql, php, exim, ftp, etc). Since apache is the only standard web server with cpanel at this time, apache is the only web server software that we support currently.
Actually LiteSpeed webserver is an apache drop in replacement. Meaning it works perfect with cpanel. check out the website: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://litespeedtech.com/">http://litespeedtech.com/</a><!-- m -->
It is truly an amazing webserver. So I am running cpanel, and litespeed works default with cpanel, so does that count?
If you still have not thought about it, thats fine, but take a look, might be worth a reevaluation in the future.Actually LiteSpeed webserver is an apache drop in replacement. Meaning it works perfect with cpanel. check out the website: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://litespeedtech.com/">http://litespeedtech.com/</a><!-- m -->
Thanks. I'm aware of that already but even though it works with cpanel, it isn't distributed with cpanel as a standard option. We would consider litespeed a nonstandard 3rd party software that we do not support.I have used them for some months, and I have to say that they answer very quickly all your questions. But its true that SOMETIMES they take too much to complete what you ask them.
I think is because of the ticket issue, that is just assigned to 1 person, and for obviously reasons, that person cannot be working the 24 hours a day.Just thought I'd take a moment to update my status with PSM. They managed two servers of mine about 9 months ago (roughly). They were great through most of that, toward the end I was asking for a lot more of them and the ticket response time got longer and longer... This was my fault, I was writing tickets like a mad-man. I guess you can't fault them for not wanting to constantly work on my machines, although it was very frustrating to wait so long, and then not know if they did the work or not (I'm sure they did, but at the time it was rocky for everyone!).I'm working on a new startup company now and we just provisioned our first dedicated server as we approach big presentations at conventions here in the next 3-4 weeks. Naturally, I wrote up a proposal to use PSM for basic server management, the price is right and they always treated me fairly.Well, I signed up, and they activated the account, apparently I mistyped the Credit Card number, because it got declined and I couldn't get into the account. So I wrote back, and they were helpful by checking to see what the decline reason was.So I setup a meeting with my fiscal lady again to give it another shot, I get onto the web site, type in the account information again, and got the confirmation screen. Being cautious this time I call PSM and ask if they can check to make sure it came through and processed.They pulled it up, and sure enough, the form hadn't actually submitted for some reason. So I gave the lady the card number over the phone. Then asked if she could run the # right then to make sure it went through. "No sir, we only process cards approximately every 24 hours so I can't run it now".Well I read her the info straight from the card and we reviewed the contact and billing information again. Then about 5 hours later (after business hours for them, and me) she calls back saying she can't run the card because the contact information is different than the billing information.So this is where the story turns ugly, I took the time to be proactive and ask to run the card and asked if there was anything else they needed (I need this server setup pronto), that was a solid no, everything was fine... Why couldn't she have said that because the contact and billing information wasn't the same that she needed to speak with the card holder... WHEN I GAVE HER THE CARD INFO VERBALLY ON THE PHONE, and EVEN ASKED if that was everything they needed. I was in the room with the person whom the card was issued to, pardon my repeating myself again, but I asked if there was anything else for this exact reason, so that it could be handled right then and there while I was meeting with my fiscal person.I completely understand and support the policy, fraud is something that every Internet based business has to deal with.So now I've got to try to setup another appointment with the fiscal lady who is now quite leery of even paying for this management service since they can't figure out how to take our money (My backers have millions in the bank, I think we can cover the $29 management fee).So my question is this, why couldn't they have said that they needed to confirm the billing and contact information when I gave them the card info over the phone and explicitly asked if there was anything else? She had my account open right there, which I also confirmed.So alas, I'm trying to get back on the PSM boat, but am continually delayed when I don't have time to be delayed.First, I'm glad to hear that you're satisfied with our service and appreciate the compliments.
So my question is this, why couldn't they have said that they needed to confirm the billing and contact information when I gave them the card info over the phone and explicitly asked if there was anything else?
How is anyone at WHT going to answer your question?
If you have a question about how we handled something, why are you asking the members of WHT?
Why not send us an email with your concern and at least wait to see if there is a logical explanation? Isn't this the fair thing to do?
Why complain to everyone without even giving us a chance to answer your question? I just don't understand what your motive was by doing this.
This all started anyway because you gave us a wrong credit card number to begin with. You gave us a credit card with an incomplete street address, non matching name, and invalid card number.
When you called and gave the updated information, rather than keep you hanging on the line, the information was just written down. We told you that it would be retried within 24 hours by our billing system automatically. We explained that this is the way our billing system works, and we have no control over that. We said that you can pay by paypal to avoid the wait, but you did not want to.
When we went to enter it into our system a few hours later, we saw that the name did not match and called you back saying we need to verify with the cardholder. Since our billing system only processes once per day, it did not make any difference whether we did the verification while you were on the phone or a few hours later anyway.
Since this was all your mistake to begin with, I just can't believe you are actually complaining about us. You're not even a customer yet and already bashing us all because of a billing issue that is not even our fault. Your entire complaint is about how we handle billing. You are coming to us for service, and while we are here to help you, you are bashing us and trying to hurt us. This makes absolutely no sense. Why would you do something that will hurt someone trying to help you? You are biting the hand that feeds you. We did nothing wrong. We are being diligent by verifying the credit card that had a invalid information and a different name on it. Just because we called a few hours later instead of doing it while you were on the phone is inconsequential since our billing system was not going to retry until tomorrow anyway.I'm not bashing, just contributing to the conversation. I admit blame for mistyping the information in the first place, it was my understanding that I only typed in 15 digits as opposed to the 16 digits in the card number, not a big deal. I'm not trying to hurt you at all, to the contrary, conversations like these should help.The billing issue is now not my fault however, it lies in how you handled the verification. I support your policy to make sure everything is kosher before turning on an account, that's the prudent thing to do. Although, I specifically asked to wait on the line while your staff checked everything to avoid this particular problem, which is why it's turned into a frustrating experience for me.I simply bring this up now because I hope that you can handle future transactions with more care than was afforded this one. I put my own name on the proposal to hire your company, and it's me who has to answer the questions now as to how legitimate your company is. I KNOW you run a good company, but my backers do not. It puts me in a hard position when simply resubmitting a credit card number turns into this.What makes the verification consequential is that I now need to setup meetings to explain the situation and assure them that it won't happen again, and that yours is a company that is worth working with (which I think it is).Have a wonderful evening and hopefully we can be up and running together tomorrow morning!(Accounting rules for the enterprise that is supporting this acquisition does not allow for PayPal, so that was not an option for me.)I'm not bashing, just contributing to the conversation.
The purpose of posting is to let everyone know how you felt about us, and consequently telling others whether they should or shouldn't go with us. Since your post is basically telling others you are not satisfied with how we are handling you, you are essentially telling others not to go with us, that is why I say you are bashing us.
You are just picking at something you don't like because it's not your way, and telling others that we are wrong. You can't pay by paypal, that's your decision. You entered the wrong credit card number, that's your fault. You entered an invalid/incomplete address, that's your fault. But just because we called back a few hours later to verify the credit card and you feel the need to tell the world!
What were you contributing to the conversation by telling everyone that we called you back a few hours later to verify a credit card instead of doing it while you were on hold? This was not about our service, and had not effect on the end result of the billing issue.Well, a conversation is just that, communication between multiple people. I think I've made it pretty clear that I like PSM and am comfortable with using them for server management (as I did in the past and as I do now).If someone were to ask (and they have) who to look into for server management I've always referred them to PSM. The main benefit of sharing my recent experience in public is so that others who may find themselves in the same or similar situation may have a reference point of what to expect or not.I suppose it's my interest in social-media and community interaction that drives me to post thoughts and ideas to discussion boards, wikis, blogs, etc. It is a venue to share knowledge and experience so that it may be helpful to others.You are just picking at something you don't like because it's not your way, and telling others that we are wrong. You can't pay by paypal, that's your decision. You entered the wrong credit card number, that's your fault. You entered an invalid/incomplete address, that's your fault. But just because we called back a few hours later to verify the credit card and you feel the need to tell the world!This thread is the first I've heard of having an incomplete/invalid address. Please let me know if that's the case so I can confirm it and this doesn't get dragged out over another day, I presume you have my direct line (713 number) and my Gmail) so contact me if we need to go over things again.Actually, I'll be proactive and send you all of the info minus the CC information via Email now so that you can make sure that it's all in your system the way it needs to be.I suppose it's my interest in social-media and community interaction that drives me to post thoughts and ideas to discussion boards, wikis, blogs, etc. It is a venue to share knowledge and experience so that it may be helpful to others.
That's perfectly fine, but based on that theory then I would expect to see posts from when you were satisfied too, yet you never did. You ONLY posted when you had a complaint about our billing process, and that is why I am saying your intentions are malicious and your post is bashing, and not just informative like you said.oohhh boy... another thread involving "bashing" and criticizing...let's please just briefly end the dispute here, so this issue doesnt escalate furtherNot to beat on a dead horse, but Ethan shot me not very nice email email after I left the thread essentially saying he didn't want me as a customer.Which is a shame, because I really wanted his company for my server needs. I would think that it would be tough to turn down a customer who tried to provide feedback on potential improvements to processes, but hey he's welcome to run his business anyway he so feels.Unfortunately for me, and for him, I've now signed up with another company who has been providing very good service (with a smile even!) and will have to start referring people to them as opposed to PSM as I always have (for the last 2 years).Farewell PSM. May you continue to treat your existing customers right!Unfortunately for me, and for him, I've now signed up with another company who has been providing very good service (with a smile even!) and will have to start referring people to them as opposed to PSM as I always have (for the last 2 years).Who is the company you are with now?citruscommerce:If what PSM said was right, everything in your CC info was wrong; address, name, number... Hard to believe it was a typo. Even after you corrected it, name still didn't match.You deserved to be blacklisted and to be refused already, but they called you to correct the cc info again.You are wrong, accept it and move on.Burak, unfortunately I guess you're not aware of the circumstances.All of the CC info was correct aside from the #, which I forgot the last digit apparently. I have a startup company with seed money from an Institute at a University, so the account contact information was in my name (since they obviously wouldn't know how to work with the server), and the billing information was in the Institute's name (since their seed money is supporting this company).So no, the name, address, number, etc was all correct, but yes it did need to be verified (since the contact info was different from the billing info). PSM did the right thing by trying to make sure it was a legit order. That's not went wrong here.What went wrong was that I called specifically to give them the last number of the CC #, and wanted to make sure they had everything they needed. They said that they did, only to later figure out that they didn't.The whole verifying the charge is legit could have (and should have IMO) happened when I specifically asked on the phone for them to look everything over. It's inconvenient for me and the finance people to keep making appointments with the fiscal officer who manages my finances through the institute. This is why I called PSM on the phone while I was in the office at the Institute to make sure PSM had everything they needed.Ethan I guess doesn't believe me when I say I have previously been very happy with PSM and the service they provide, I always got help when I needed it. So that's why it's unfortunate that this happened and that my honest feedback on this forum (see my original post where I say how wonderful PSM has been, and what I thought they handled wrong this time, everyone makes mistakes but usually people work to make them right as opposed to trying to discredit former customers on a forum when that customer has been loyal in the past) has led me to pick up a different service.The comments made by PSM in this thread further solidify my decision to go elsewhere and try something new. Everything happens for a reason.To Change the subject.....So far so good for me.Ill be sure to follow up once i get more experience with them....but off to a good start.
Moved to the appropriate forum area.Thanks Justin If you are looking for reviews on them, I would suggest using the search function, there are thousands of posts with their name in it. I use them for all my support needs and they have been great.they are spot on!Yes, they are good. Only thing is that they will not tell you what they did on your server, like cPanel techs.But they will fix all errors and secure your serverThey have been fantastic for us. When we deploy a server they come in within a hour or so and, BANG!, its secured and almost ready to go. What I like most about PSM is that they respond to tickets very quickly and I don't think I have asked them to do something that they can't do. For $29, they are amazing! Its the best deal anywhere for Server Management.Yes, they are good. Only thing is that they will not tell you what they did on your server, like cPanel techs.But they will fix all errors and secure your server
Whenever I have something done, I ask what was done, and I get a reply with details, whether it was something simple like "A quick update of cPanel fixed the issue" (made me feel stupid) or something more complicated that took a few paragraphs.
I've always been satisfied with them; they always reply within 4-6 hours, which I would love to have faster, but server downtime is handled differently, emergency tickets are faster, etc. It seems like everybody there knows what they're doing and get the job done.I have a few clients that use them an I have hear good things and bad, most of the bad comes from the fact that there is nothing that they can do for any other control panel except for CPanel. If they could start belting out some techs for hsphere, plesk, direct admin... then they might be "the way" but for CPanel they are good enough.I have a few clients that use them an I have hear good things and bad, most of the bad comes from the fact that there is nothing that they can do for any other control panel except for CPanel. If they could start belting out some techs for hsphere, plesk, direct admin... then they might be "the way" but for CPanel they are good enough.
Ya hopefully more people start developing for other control panels and not just for CPanel.I have a few clients that use them an I have hear good things and bad, most of the bad comes from the fact that there is nothing that they can do for any other control panel except for CPanel.They choose to only support cpanel, that is there decision, that does not make them bad. It's so stupid when people say a company is bad just because they don't offer something they want. I guess if someone wants a server that hivelocity doesn't sell that would make hivelocity bad :blush: If you don't have a cpanel server, then obviously they are not for you, but that does not make them bad. As long as they provide good service on what they do offer, then that means they are good. They provide support for all of my cpanel servers and they are great!!They choose to only support cpanel, that is there decision, that does not make them bad. It's so stupid when people say a company is bad just because they don't offer something they want. I guess if someone wants a server that hivelocity doesn't sell that would make hivelocity bad :blush:
If you don't have a cpanel server, then obviously they are not for you, but that does not make them bad. As long as they provide good service on what they do offer, then that means they are good.
They provide support for all of my cpanel servers and they are great!!
Call it what you want and I am glad to hear that you are having a good run with them but, I can guarantee you that people share both of our opinions. I believe that diversity and growth are the name of the game. There is one undeniable fact, if they started offering more services, more people would use them as they have a pretty good reputaion for cpanel and spreading out into a different platform would only mean a larger client base. It is not soley based on the fact that I am one sided and can't make any money off of them but my trying to help out a person that also happens to reside in the same industy as I.They choose to only support cpanel, that is there decision, that does not make them bad. It's so stupid when people say a company is bad just because they don't offer something they want. I guess if someone wants a server that hivelocity doesn't sell that would make hivelocity bad :blush:
If you don't have a cpanel server, then obviously they are not for you, but that does not make them bad. As long as they provide good service on what they do offer, then that means they are good.
They provide support for all of my cpanel servers and they are great!!
I don't think he was saying they were bad. He was merely saying that they are good if you only use cpanel. Not every hosting company uses cpanel.Call it what you want and I am glad to hear that you are having a good run with them but, I can guarantee you that people share both of our opinions. I believe that diversity and growth are the name of the game. There is one undeniable fact, if they started offering more services, more people would use them as they have a pretty good reputaion for cpanel and spreading out into a different platform would only mean a larger client base. It is not soley based on the fact that I am one sided and can't make any money off of them but my trying to help out a person that also happens to reside in the same industy as I.
Maybe it is because they wouldn't know how to support other control panels neither have the experience to do so and they feel they have a much better control by only supporting something they know about?
I signed up last month and so far they have answered all my questions and done everything I have requested of them. The only thing that annoys me is that it takes a long time before they answer my tickets. When I just signed up my tickets where answered immediately, now it take hours before they perform some simple tasks for me.now it take hours before they perform some simple tasks for me.I'm not sure what you are referring to, I went through all of your tickets and found that the average response time was less than 1 hour each, and the majority literally within minutes.
Here's an example of the latest ticket:
------------------------------
Technical Support Responded on Fri Feb 22 14:56:29 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Fri Feb 22 13:46:21 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Fri Feb 22 13:33:04 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Fri Feb 22 13:22:54 EST 2008
Reply time: 11 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Thu Feb 21 11:22:50 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Thu Feb 21 10:20:28 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 hour 2 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:25:14 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:23:33 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:11:33 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:08:42 EST 2008
Reply time: 3 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:05:36 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:04:56 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 minute
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 13:10:56 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 11:03:39 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 hours 7 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 10:04:06 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 09:47:55 EST 2008
Reply time: 17 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 07:10:53 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 04:29:58 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 hours 42 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sat Feb 16 17:12:53 EST 2008
Client Opened Ticket on Sat Feb 16 16:58:39 EST 2008
Reply time: 14 minutes
------------------------------
There were 10 replies to that ticket.
3 of them took less than 5 minutes for us to reply.
3 of them took less than 20 minutes for us to reply.
2 of them took 1 hour for us to reply.
2 of them took 2 hours for us to reply.
These response times are outstanding. Please feel free to post the response times for other tickets too, I've checked them and they are "all" the same or even faster
I generally have fast responses from them. The one issue I have with their system is that once a ticket is assigned to a tech, it stays with that tech. Therefore, if you're working with one tech on an issue and there is a time gap in communications, the tech may have finished all ticket responses and resolved all issues and gone to bed, dinner, or whatever else, which they definitely deserve to do.The only problem with that... My 1 hour response times don't happen once the ticket is assigned and a communications time gap is established; I have to wait anywhere from a few minutes to the highest length I've seen in a recent ticket: 19 hours 13 minutes for a response.
Like I said, I have no problems if I'm able to stay on the site and make sure I reply, but oftentimes I can't because of time constraints, and once that happens, I have problems.I generally have fast responses from them.
..
I have to wait anywhere from a few minutes to the highest length I've seen in a recent ticket: 19 hours 13 minutes for a response.
That is not the majority though, the majority is much much quicker as you mentioned. That happened on only "1" reply out of all other tickets and replies in all the several months that you have been with us so far.
I looked into that "1" reply to see what happened and that was regarding a 3rd party program that we do not even support. The tech explained in his response that he had to spent a lot of time researching this issue to resolve it. According to our employee time logs (and you are welcome to check your server history logs for proof and paste them here to show everyone), there were "several hours" of actual server work time put into that ticket. Since this was 3rd party software that we do not work with, naturally it took more time than usual to resolve. I also feel we went above and beyond to help you with a 3rd party program that we do not even support (which we advised you of months ago when you inquired about this specific 3rd party program).
So rather than pointing out "wow, they helped me with something they don't even offer support for", you choose to go the other way and point out "look how long it took".That is not the majority though, the majority is much much quicker as you mentioned. That happened on only "1" reply out of all other tickets and replies in all the several months that you have been with us so far.
I looked into that "1" reply to see what happened and that was regarding a 3rd party program that we do not even support. The tech explained in his response that he had to spent a lot of time researching this issue to resolve it. According to our employee time logs (and you are welcome to check your server history logs for proof and paste them here to show everyone), there were "several hours" of actual server work time put into that ticket. Since this was 3rd party software that we do not work with, naturally it took more time than usual to resolve. I also feel we went above and beyond to help you with a 3rd party program that we do not even support (which we advised you of months ago when you inquired about this specific 3rd party program).
So rather than pointing out "wow, they helped me with something they don't even offer support for", you choose to go the other way and point out "look how long it took".
I think you're taking my message the wrong way. My complaint is not that it took several hours to fix the issue, because it is indeed a good thing that you've helped with things you don't directly support. You helped us right away with a VPS control panel that, obviously, is out of your supported services.
My complaint is the ticket handling system, in which you are assigned to one tech. All I'm stating is that if the tech doesn't work 24 hours a day (which I'm almost certain they don't) then you're stuck waiting for them to come back on shift.
The point I was making is that once there becomes a gap in communications, whether the client OR the tech goes offline, I can reply and will have to wait until that specific tech is back on duty. I'm not complaining in any way that the techs don't do a good job, or that you guys aren't helpful even when you don't have to be, but that the system in place for ticket management and assignment is poor.
EDIT: By "gap in communications" I mean that the tech replied after I had gone offline due to other issues I had to attend to. In no way is that his fault, and any time the ticket waited during that period is COMPLETELY understandable. My issue is that once I respond to the ticket, it's my opinion that if the tech assigned to the ticket isn't on duty, it'd be beneficial to reassign the ticket or perform some other action so that I receive the same fast response time as though there was no "gap" created. Referencing the previous post,
I have no problems if I'm able to stay on the site and make sure I reply, but oftentimes I can't because of time constraints, and once that happens, I have problems.So rather than pointing out "wow, they helped me with something they don't even offer support for", you choose to go the other way and point out "look how long it took".That, unfortunately, is just the way most people are. You can do a million things good, but all they talk about is the one thing they don't like. I've been a customer of PSM for a long time and all my tickets are answered within a few hours or less. I am satisfied and never had a problem with them. They do everything I ask, and I can't thank them enough for it.That, unfortunately, is just the way most people are. You can do a million things good, but all they talk about is the one thing they don't like.
I've been a customer of PSM for a long time and all my tickets are answered within a few hours or less. I am satisfied and never had a problem with them. They do everything I ask, and I can't thank them enough for it.
I'd also like to refer you to my second post. The point I am making is NOT that they perform poor service, and not that they are poor techs. They do indeed perform great service and are great people to deal with, as they solve all the issues I throw at them. I was making a complaint regarding their management of tickets. I am satisfied with their service and their capabilities. I am not satisfied with the "one ticket, one tech" system.I'd also like to refer you to my second post. The point I am making is NOT that they perform poor service, or that they are not good techs. I was making a complaint regarding their management of tickets. I am satisfied with their service and their capabilities. I am not satisfied with the "one ticket, one tech" system.
I am not sure how you would expect another tech to jump into the middle of someone else's work? I would think that would be quite difficult.My complaint is the ticket handling system, in which you are assigned to one tech. All I'm stating is that if the tech doesn't work 24 hours a day (which I'm almost certain they don't) then you're stuck waiting for them to come back on shift.
A tech will not leave his shift with a ticket still in progress. All tickets are completed before the tech leaves his shift, or he will assign it to another tech with specific instructions on what to finish.
If you re-open a ticket while the tech is not on shift, it will be seen by the shift supervisor within minutes. The shift supervisor does not do support, he only distributes new tickets to the techs on shift, and reviews existing tickets that have been re-opened by clients. If the ticket you re-opened is urgent or an emergency, it will immediately be reassigned to another tech to work on it right away.
Otherwise, if it is just a standard ticket, it is left assigned to tech that started it. All techs check tickets every day even after their shift is over. If they will be unable to, then there will be a tech covering them to watch their helpdesk.
I am not sure how you would expect another tech to jump into the middle of someone else's work? I would think that would be quite difficult.
Exactly. But from a client's perspective they may not realize the problems associated with this. From a technician's perspective, it's easy to see how "too many cooks in the kitchen" makes a mess.
We can't have a new tech each shift read through the entire ticket's history and pick up where it was left off. This would be very time consuming and very confusing.
If a new tech had to read through the entire ticket, logs, and internal notes for each ticket at each shift, this would waste a lot of time. Also, the techs would wind up re-doing something that was already done by the previous tech, this also would waste a lot of time, and possibly even complicate the situation.
This method we use is relatively new for us as of about a year ago, and so far has proven to increase our levels of efficiency and accuracy tremendously. This method is also used by many other providers I have seen.
If you have any recommendations or suggestions, we'd love to hear them, but if you don't tell us we have no way of knowing. You've never mentioned this to us before in all the months you've been with us, so I hope you can understand why I am suprised to hear this for the first time you telling everyone how you don't like our helpdesk. If you want something improved, come to us and tell us. It doesn't help you by telling everyone, except us, your recommendations on our helpdesk.If you only redistribute emergency/urgent tickets to new techs, that's fine. However, your SLA should reflect it on Guarantee.html and FAQ.html of your site (this is my major disappointment).
we can only officially guarantee each of your technical support requests will be reviewed and responded to within 6 hours
You will see some tickets resolved within minutes, and others within hours. Nevertheless, we only offer and guarantee that a response will be received within 6 hours
When a client and a provider exchange money/goods for services/goods, there is almost always an agreement for quality control or other measurable information. As I've said you guys do great work, but, to put it quite simply, a deal is a deal. Just like an uptime guarantee by a hosting company needs to be met, just like a warranty covers X type of incidents for Y days after purchase, any sort of SLA measurements that a provider gives should be met.
EDIT: Somehow I missed a good portion of your post and didn't read it. The 'too many cooks in a kitchen' analogy does make good sense, and I understand this problem, but as I mentioned before the edit, the SLA should reflect this. I apologize if I came across as rude (which I almost definitely have from a combination of factors), but adherance to contracts is important to me and I have grown to take terms, conditions, and guarantees literally, without exception.any sort of SLA measurements that a provider gives should be met.
I agree completely, and our SLA has "not" been exceeded on any of your tickets that I am aware of. The ticket that you are referring to that took 19 hours was still within our SLA because that was a "resolution" since the issue was completed at that time, and ask clearly stated on the pages you specified a "resolution" can take up to "24 hours".All it says is they will receive and respond to your ticket within 6 hours. Not resolve your issues.All it says is they will receive and respond to your ticket within 6 hours. Not resolve your issues.
I already said I didn't expect a result in 6 hours, just a response. It was the fact that I went for 19 hours without a clue on what was going on with the issue. However, like I said, the 'cooks in a kitchen' analogy does make more sense of the issue, and I'm sorry for coming off as rude (which I'm 99% sure I did).I already said I didn't expect a result in 6 hours, just a response. It was the fact that I went for 19 hours without a clue on what was going on with the issue. However, like I said, the 'cooks in a kitchen' analogy does make more sense of the issue, and I'm sorry for coming off as rude (which I'm 99% sure I did).
Sometimes that happens. Yes "cooks in a kitchen" when dealing with security it is not a good idea to have to many fingers in the pot. It can cause some major issues that require a OS reload to fix. I would not push an admin to work to fast on a live web server. But that is just me.Sometimes that happens. Yes "cooks in a kitchen" when dealing with security it is not a good idea to have to many fingers in the pot. It can cause some major issues that require a OS reload to fix. I would not push an admin to work to fast on a live web server. But that is just me.
I'll be submitting a feedback ticket to PSM at this point. I honestly don't mind if a non-critical issue takes 10 minutes, 10 hours, or 10 days to resolve, but even a ticket response stating that the tech is off duty and will be back at a certain time would be nice. Going to their site now.Sounds like you are looking for more of a personable managed service. Have a look at your current server providers managed service you might have more luck.Sounds like you are looking for more of a personable managed service. Have a look at your current server providers managed service you might have more luck.That's what I would recommend as well, as I did the same thing. PSM by all these reviews seem like a reliable company, and I've talked with the sales representative as well, however they just did not provide what I needed, so I said, thanks and looked for other solutions, however in my mind that didn't make them a bad company, as I'll surely probably use them in the future for other projects
And I'm not directing this toward, Lethanialist, just giving my opinion of how people react when a company does not provide something, so this message is not pointed toward you Lethanialist PSM gets a :agree:I'm not sure what you are referring to, I went through all of your tickets and found that the average response time was less than 1 hour each, and the majority literally within minutes. Here's an example of the latest ticket:
------------------------------
Technical Support Responded on Fri Feb 22 14:56:29 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Fri Feb 22 13:46:21 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Fri Feb 22 13:33:04 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Fri Feb 22 13:22:54 EST 2008
Reply time: 11 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Thu Feb 21 11:22:50 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Thu Feb 21 10:20:28 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 hour 2 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:25:14 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:23:33 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:11:33 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:08:42 EST 2008
Reply time: 3 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Wed Feb 20 17:05:36 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Wed Feb 20 17:04:56 EST 2008
Reply time: 1 minute
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 13:10:56 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 11:03:39 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 hours 7 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 10:04:06 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 09:47:55 EST 2008
Reply time: 17 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sun Feb 17 07:10:53 EST 2008
Client Added Response on Sun Feb 17 04:29:58 EST 2008
Reply time: 2 hours 42 minutes
Technical Support Responded on Sat Feb 16 17:12:53 EST 2008
Client Opened Ticket on Sat Feb 16 16:58:39 EST 2008
Reply time: 14 minutes
------------------------------
There were 10 replies to that ticket.
3 of them took less than 5 minutes for us to reply.
3 of them took less than 20 minutes for us to reply.
2 of them took 1 hour for us to reply.
2 of them took 2 hours for us to reply.
These response times are outstanding. Please feel free to post the response times for other tickets too, I've checked them and they are "all" the same or even faster
Don't get me wrong, I love you guys! You guys are doing a great job for that price!! If it wasn't for you guys I could not have had my own server. Like you said, the response time for me were very good. But I think that I got annoyed of one ticket that was put on hold for a few hours. I submitted that ticket on Thu Feb 21 10:20:28 EST 2008, at Thu Feb 21 11:22:50 EST 2008 I got an answer that they started working on it and it was put on hold. After a few hours I had to submit another ticket asking why it was taking so long, after this last ticket the task was performed and I got a reply at Thu Feb 21 16:04:38 EST 2008. The task was to create a few accounts for me in WHM because I didn't dare do it myself. In my opinion this was a very simple task for you guys, and I got annoyed because I was waiting on you guys so I can continue setting up my server.
P.S. I guess it is not possible to anonymously give your opinion about PSM, even though you don't have any signature, they still know who you are
!!after my experience with them, they seem to stall by asking pointless or obvious questions. My guess is that their ticket load may be too high.after my experience with them, they seem to stall by asking pointless or obvious questions.This has never happened to me. Maybe is because I give very detailed instructions what I want them to do for me.This has never happened to me. Maybe is because I give very detailed instructions what I want them to do for me.
That's true, most people leave out important details just because they don't think it's needed. Our ticket submission form asks to provide all pertinent information as well as examples to ensure the fastest resolutions. I assure you that we never reply asking questions unless they are needed as that would just be wasting our own time.I've used PSM for maybe 5 months and they did everything in a timely manner, and for the price (compared to other managed services) the whole package comes up quite nice.The only thing is I stopped my subscription because for the last month or two I only submitted 1 or 2 tickets each month, and they were only really basic questions which I could have figured out myself in some time, so it didn't make sense to pay $15 per ticket.I mean, what else is there to use them for if you don't need to submit tickets? It just seems like a waste to pay for something that I am not using. And they don't provide active server monitoring so I wasn't sure why I was subscribed.Do people get them to do other stuff in the 'quiet times' when you don't have any tickets to submit, to make it more 'worth it'?The only thing is I stopped my subscription because for the last month or two I only submitted 1 or 2 tickets each month, and they were only really basic questions which I could have figured out myself in some time, so it didn't make sense to pay $15 per ticket.
I mean, what else is there to use them for if you don't need to submit tickets? It just seems like a waste to pay for something that I am not using. And they don't provide active server monitoring so I wasn't sure why I was subscribed.
Do people get them to do other stuff in the 'quiet times' when you don't have any tickets to submit, to make it more 'worth it'?
I used them to setup my server. Now I don't need them anymore, so I don't submit tickets. But I will still keep my subscription with them in case I run into any problems. You never know!I've used PSM for maybe 5 months and they did everything in a timely manner, and for the price (compared to other managed services) the whole package comes up quite nice.
The only thing is I stopped my subscription because for the last month or two I only submitted 1 or 2 tickets each month, and they were only really basic questions which I could have figured out myself in some time, so it didn't make sense to pay $15 per ticket.
I mean, what else is there to use them for if you don't need to submit tickets? It just seems like a waste to pay for something that I am not using. And they don't provide active server monitoring so I wasn't sure why I was subscribed.
Do people get them to do other stuff in the 'quiet times' when you don't have any tickets to submit, to make it more 'worth it'?
Thanks for your compliments and feedback
I understand your concern about paying for something you are not using, but most people think of it like they think of insurance, keep it "just in case". When you run into a server problem, especially an emergency, the last thing you want to do is go looking for an admin to fix it. By remaining a customer, you can rest assured that whenever you need support, we'll be here. Even if that only occurs once every few months, it's priceless.
Also, even if you don't have any server problems, we still recommend opening several tickets for general maintenance every month, such as software upgrades, security review, checking backups, etc., to make sure your server is up to date and performing as best as possible.
As for monitoring, yes we do include 24x7 proactive server monitoring. If apache goes down we will login and fix it, or if your server goes down we will reboot it.
Thanks,
EthanHi ServerManagement
I have read some good posts about your services, I'd just like to confirm that you don't handle any type of end user support? either helpdesk or email?
I presume a work around to this is if your services were employed and a ticket was received that the owner was not able to complete, he would ticket yourselfs and play piggy in the middle with reply back to his own client?
Cheers!Hi ServerManagement
I have read some good posts about your services, I'd just like to confirm that you don't handle any type of end user support? either helpdesk or email?
Hi websprite,
That's correct, we do not communicate directly with your end users (ie, we don't work in your own customer helpdesk).
I presume a work around to this is if your services were employed and a ticket was received that the owner was not able to complete, he would ticket yourselfs and play piggy in the middle with reply back to his own client?
Cheers!
Yes that's also correct, you are more than welcome to submit a ticket to us for any issues you are having.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us.
Thanks,
EthanI give 2 thumbs up to PSM. On more than one occasion PSM has saved my tail.
My only suggestion would be to fix the ticket system so when an issue is responded to and the ticket is closed it sends out a reply. It would seem like a pretty easy fix for a bunch of tech guru's and would certainly help us paranoid types from hitting refresh 50 times a day to see if an issue has been solved.
That's my only suggestion...hands down you guys rock!I give 2 thumbs up to PSM. On more than one occasion PSM has saved my tail.
Thanks! We're glad to help
My only suggestion would be to fix the ticket system so when an issue is responded to and the ticket is closed it sends out a reply. It would seem like a pretty easy fix for a bunch of tech guru's and would certainly help us paranoid types from hitting refresh 50 times a day to see if an issue has been solved.That's my only suggestion...
This is in our helpdesk's programming. Only our programmer has access to work on this, not our techs.
hands down you guys rock!
Thanks!have you ever thought of support LiteSpeed webserver (the drop in replacement for apache)?have you ever thought of support LiteSpeed webserver (the drop in replacement for apache)?
We only support servers running cpanel, so we only support the software that is standard with cpanel (apache, mysql, php, exim, ftp, etc). Since apache is the only standard web server with cpanel at this time, apache is the only web server software that we support currently.We only support servers running cpanel, so we only support the software that is standard with cpanel (apache, mysql, php, exim, ftp, etc). Since apache is the only standard web server with cpanel at this time, apache is the only web server software that we support currently.
Actually LiteSpeed webserver is an apache drop in replacement. Meaning it works perfect with cpanel. check out the website: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://litespeedtech.com/">http://litespeedtech.com/</a><!-- m -->
It is truly an amazing webserver. So I am running cpanel, and litespeed works default with cpanel, so does that count?
If you still have not thought about it, thats fine, but take a look, might be worth a reevaluation in the future.Actually LiteSpeed webserver is an apache drop in replacement. Meaning it works perfect with cpanel. check out the website: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://litespeedtech.com/">http://litespeedtech.com/</a><!-- m -->
Thanks. I'm aware of that already but even though it works with cpanel, it isn't distributed with cpanel as a standard option. We would consider litespeed a nonstandard 3rd party software that we do not support.I have used them for some months, and I have to say that they answer very quickly all your questions. But its true that SOMETIMES they take too much to complete what you ask them.
I think is because of the ticket issue, that is just assigned to 1 person, and for obviously reasons, that person cannot be working the 24 hours a day.Just thought I'd take a moment to update my status with PSM. They managed two servers of mine about 9 months ago (roughly). They were great through most of that, toward the end I was asking for a lot more of them and the ticket response time got longer and longer... This was my fault, I was writing tickets like a mad-man. I guess you can't fault them for not wanting to constantly work on my machines, although it was very frustrating to wait so long, and then not know if they did the work or not (I'm sure they did, but at the time it was rocky for everyone!).I'm working on a new startup company now and we just provisioned our first dedicated server as we approach big presentations at conventions here in the next 3-4 weeks. Naturally, I wrote up a proposal to use PSM for basic server management, the price is right and they always treated me fairly.Well, I signed up, and they activated the account, apparently I mistyped the Credit Card number, because it got declined and I couldn't get into the account. So I wrote back, and they were helpful by checking to see what the decline reason was.So I setup a meeting with my fiscal lady again to give it another shot, I get onto the web site, type in the account information again, and got the confirmation screen. Being cautious this time I call PSM and ask if they can check to make sure it came through and processed.They pulled it up, and sure enough, the form hadn't actually submitted for some reason. So I gave the lady the card number over the phone. Then asked if she could run the # right then to make sure it went through. "No sir, we only process cards approximately every 24 hours so I can't run it now".Well I read her the info straight from the card and we reviewed the contact and billing information again. Then about 5 hours later (after business hours for them, and me) she calls back saying she can't run the card because the contact information is different than the billing information.So this is where the story turns ugly, I took the time to be proactive and ask to run the card and asked if there was anything else they needed (I need this server setup pronto), that was a solid no, everything was fine... Why couldn't she have said that because the contact and billing information wasn't the same that she needed to speak with the card holder... WHEN I GAVE HER THE CARD INFO VERBALLY ON THE PHONE, and EVEN ASKED if that was everything they needed. I was in the room with the person whom the card was issued to, pardon my repeating myself again, but I asked if there was anything else for this exact reason, so that it could be handled right then and there while I was meeting with my fiscal person.I completely understand and support the policy, fraud is something that every Internet based business has to deal with.So now I've got to try to setup another appointment with the fiscal lady who is now quite leery of even paying for this management service since they can't figure out how to take our money (My backers have millions in the bank, I think we can cover the $29 management fee).So my question is this, why couldn't they have said that they needed to confirm the billing and contact information when I gave them the card info over the phone and explicitly asked if there was anything else? She had my account open right there, which I also confirmed.So alas, I'm trying to get back on the PSM boat, but am continually delayed when I don't have time to be delayed.First, I'm glad to hear that you're satisfied with our service and appreciate the compliments.
So my question is this, why couldn't they have said that they needed to confirm the billing and contact information when I gave them the card info over the phone and explicitly asked if there was anything else?
How is anyone at WHT going to answer your question?
If you have a question about how we handled something, why are you asking the members of WHT?
Why not send us an email with your concern and at least wait to see if there is a logical explanation? Isn't this the fair thing to do?
Why complain to everyone without even giving us a chance to answer your question? I just don't understand what your motive was by doing this.
This all started anyway because you gave us a wrong credit card number to begin with. You gave us a credit card with an incomplete street address, non matching name, and invalid card number.
When you called and gave the updated information, rather than keep you hanging on the line, the information was just written down. We told you that it would be retried within 24 hours by our billing system automatically. We explained that this is the way our billing system works, and we have no control over that. We said that you can pay by paypal to avoid the wait, but you did not want to.
When we went to enter it into our system a few hours later, we saw that the name did not match and called you back saying we need to verify with the cardholder. Since our billing system only processes once per day, it did not make any difference whether we did the verification while you were on the phone or a few hours later anyway.
Since this was all your mistake to begin with, I just can't believe you are actually complaining about us. You're not even a customer yet and already bashing us all because of a billing issue that is not even our fault. Your entire complaint is about how we handle billing. You are coming to us for service, and while we are here to help you, you are bashing us and trying to hurt us. This makes absolutely no sense. Why would you do something that will hurt someone trying to help you? You are biting the hand that feeds you. We did nothing wrong. We are being diligent by verifying the credit card that had a invalid information and a different name on it. Just because we called a few hours later instead of doing it while you were on the phone is inconsequential since our billing system was not going to retry until tomorrow anyway.I'm not bashing, just contributing to the conversation. I admit blame for mistyping the information in the first place, it was my understanding that I only typed in 15 digits as opposed to the 16 digits in the card number, not a big deal. I'm not trying to hurt you at all, to the contrary, conversations like these should help.The billing issue is now not my fault however, it lies in how you handled the verification. I support your policy to make sure everything is kosher before turning on an account, that's the prudent thing to do. Although, I specifically asked to wait on the line while your staff checked everything to avoid this particular problem, which is why it's turned into a frustrating experience for me.I simply bring this up now because I hope that you can handle future transactions with more care than was afforded this one. I put my own name on the proposal to hire your company, and it's me who has to answer the questions now as to how legitimate your company is. I KNOW you run a good company, but my backers do not. It puts me in a hard position when simply resubmitting a credit card number turns into this.What makes the verification consequential is that I now need to setup meetings to explain the situation and assure them that it won't happen again, and that yours is a company that is worth working with (which I think it is).Have a wonderful evening and hopefully we can be up and running together tomorrow morning!(Accounting rules for the enterprise that is supporting this acquisition does not allow for PayPal, so that was not an option for me.)I'm not bashing, just contributing to the conversation.
The purpose of posting is to let everyone know how you felt about us, and consequently telling others whether they should or shouldn't go with us. Since your post is basically telling others you are not satisfied with how we are handling you, you are essentially telling others not to go with us, that is why I say you are bashing us.
You are just picking at something you don't like because it's not your way, and telling others that we are wrong. You can't pay by paypal, that's your decision. You entered the wrong credit card number, that's your fault. You entered an invalid/incomplete address, that's your fault. But just because we called back a few hours later to verify the credit card and you feel the need to tell the world!
What were you contributing to the conversation by telling everyone that we called you back a few hours later to verify a credit card instead of doing it while you were on hold? This was not about our service, and had not effect on the end result of the billing issue.Well, a conversation is just that, communication between multiple people. I think I've made it pretty clear that I like PSM and am comfortable with using them for server management (as I did in the past and as I do now).If someone were to ask (and they have) who to look into for server management I've always referred them to PSM. The main benefit of sharing my recent experience in public is so that others who may find themselves in the same or similar situation may have a reference point of what to expect or not.I suppose it's my interest in social-media and community interaction that drives me to post thoughts and ideas to discussion boards, wikis, blogs, etc. It is a venue to share knowledge and experience so that it may be helpful to others.You are just picking at something you don't like because it's not your way, and telling others that we are wrong. You can't pay by paypal, that's your decision. You entered the wrong credit card number, that's your fault. You entered an invalid/incomplete address, that's your fault. But just because we called back a few hours later to verify the credit card and you feel the need to tell the world!This thread is the first I've heard of having an incomplete/invalid address. Please let me know if that's the case so I can confirm it and this doesn't get dragged out over another day, I presume you have my direct line (713 number) and my Gmail) so contact me if we need to go over things again.Actually, I'll be proactive and send you all of the info minus the CC information via Email now so that you can make sure that it's all in your system the way it needs to be.I suppose it's my interest in social-media and community interaction that drives me to post thoughts and ideas to discussion boards, wikis, blogs, etc. It is a venue to share knowledge and experience so that it may be helpful to others.
That's perfectly fine, but based on that theory then I would expect to see posts from when you were satisfied too, yet you never did. You ONLY posted when you had a complaint about our billing process, and that is why I am saying your intentions are malicious and your post is bashing, and not just informative like you said.oohhh boy... another thread involving "bashing" and criticizing...let's please just briefly end the dispute here, so this issue doesnt escalate furtherNot to beat on a dead horse, but Ethan shot me not very nice email email after I left the thread essentially saying he didn't want me as a customer.Which is a shame, because I really wanted his company for my server needs. I would think that it would be tough to turn down a customer who tried to provide feedback on potential improvements to processes, but hey he's welcome to run his business anyway he so feels.Unfortunately for me, and for him, I've now signed up with another company who has been providing very good service (with a smile even!) and will have to start referring people to them as opposed to PSM as I always have (for the last 2 years).Farewell PSM. May you continue to treat your existing customers right!Unfortunately for me, and for him, I've now signed up with another company who has been providing very good service (with a smile even!) and will have to start referring people to them as opposed to PSM as I always have (for the last 2 years).Who is the company you are with now?citruscommerce:If what PSM said was right, everything in your CC info was wrong; address, name, number... Hard to believe it was a typo. Even after you corrected it, name still didn't match.You deserved to be blacklisted and to be refused already, but they called you to correct the cc info again.You are wrong, accept it and move on.Burak, unfortunately I guess you're not aware of the circumstances.All of the CC info was correct aside from the #, which I forgot the last digit apparently. I have a startup company with seed money from an Institute at a University, so the account contact information was in my name (since they obviously wouldn't know how to work with the server), and the billing information was in the Institute's name (since their seed money is supporting this company).So no, the name, address, number, etc was all correct, but yes it did need to be verified (since the contact info was different from the billing info). PSM did the right thing by trying to make sure it was a legit order. That's not went wrong here.What went wrong was that I called specifically to give them the last number of the CC #, and wanted to make sure they had everything they needed. They said that they did, only to later figure out that they didn't.The whole verifying the charge is legit could have (and should have IMO) happened when I specifically asked on the phone for them to look everything over. It's inconvenient for me and the finance people to keep making appointments with the fiscal officer who manages my finances through the institute. This is why I called PSM on the phone while I was in the office at the Institute to make sure PSM had everything they needed.Ethan I guess doesn't believe me when I say I have previously been very happy with PSM and the service they provide, I always got help when I needed it. So that's why it's unfortunate that this happened and that my honest feedback on this forum (see my original post where I say how wonderful PSM has been, and what I thought they handled wrong this time, everyone makes mistakes but usually people work to make them right as opposed to trying to discredit former customers on a forum when that customer has been loyal in the past) has led me to pick up a different service.The comments made by PSM in this thread further solidify my decision to go elsewhere and try something new. Everything happens for a reason.To Change the subject.....So far so good for me.Ill be sure to follow up once i get more experience with them....but off to a good start.