All providers will eventually get those that need "more" assistance, whether they are a complete newb to not wanting to learn and wanting for you to do it all. Agree with what is said, you have to draw your boundaries especially those that refuse to learn, however we do try to help the customer out as much as possible. You just have balance it as I see it to those that are willing and actually trying and those that are not.

Some of our best customers who have stuck with us for a long time are the ones we have helped out and learn some tips. Those same customers also are the ones now rarely opening tickets and have grown with us.

Everybody starts off as a newb...

I think it all depends on how the 'newbie' approaches you and asks for help. If they are rude and inpatient, then it may not be worth having them as a customer. However, if they are polite and attentive, then you should certainly make the effort to assist them.

I believe if people are looking for hosting they should know somewhat what they are doing. If an honest mistake was made then help but one question. How would one learn from there mistake if someone always does something for them? I can see helping a person new to something but if they been at it for awhile why do the job for them!!! I'm open to anyones thoughts or pms.

We have lots of customers that fall into the category of pay as little as possible and let us run there hosting company for them.

The biggest problem fails within the bounds of the English language. We take all customers from all parts of the world. In doing so we get a lot of support request that are hard to understand. (No one is at Fault!) We try to gain some level of clarification and most times are successful. Most of time we are able to decipher the questions based on the general symptom mentioned

However a customer who pays a little as possible and expects a lot is in fact part of game you might say. Also on some level it suggest that why would a customer want to pay there supplier as little as they can and expect some over the top service, when if they pay and paid a worth while amount this only make there hosting supplier stronger, of which they would reap the benefits. It takes all types of customers to have a successful hosting company. We are very understanding of the guy who is trying to learn. We prefer to empower them rather than hold there hands. It depends on the issue really. If it takes more time to explain the solution than just fix it. We will usually just fix it and move on.

Hosting company support management is about time management. We always give more time to those who need it when support request are low. One way to increase your available support time to customers is to offer a stable, quality service, and products that empower your customer to do it themselves. In other words add tools and control panels to assist them in assisting themselves.

We have not perfected this however we think we handle this really well. It is definitely a delicate balance of customer needs and time management. We also go the extra mile if possible for the customer no matter there level of experience.

*Sigh* Yes, I have had many online clients that constantly email me as well as take a million support tickets! It gets very annoying, but you have to deal with it, or like me, talk it out with that person(s) and teach them some stuff so that they would stop bothering you. Best to keep your customer!

People new to the web is what we actually specalize in. There's a lot of NEW people trying to get websites online and working, and just like we all had to learn (or obtain help), it's up to us to pass that to our clients too when we can.

They do get frustrated, but when you provide all the help they're usually VERY grateful for the assistance.

As far as demands from clients "do this or else" - we usually invite those people to inquire hosting elsewhere, and in 6 months when they're still frustrated, we'll welcome them back. I can't tell you how many people have left our service over the years thinking they can find better elsewhere, and then end back with us a few months or even a few years later.

I agree 100%. As a web hosting company its your duty to provide support
but if the clients keeps emailing you and not looking at your knowledge base just show him the link to his question and he will understand to look there first and then email the support team.

Newbies are some of the best customers that you would like to keep a business relationship with. If they see that you are supporting them through each and every question, they will be one of the most loyal customers that you have. In the end, you could also end up with word of mouth advertising from that same customer. As Blue has stated, you have to differentiate your service from others in this saturated market.

Clients do like this ? I've never been to such clients. Thank God

That is what I was getting it. Its not like we run a bad company or anything that never answers support tickets, its just those few who still even after a couple of hints either do not get it, or think that they do not need to know how to do such simple things.

I actually had someone call up and ask why he could not help his client create new email addresses, come on, seriously, email addresses for your client, IN cpanel All this at the same time we had a HD die on us and Im stuck with some noob that can not work cpanel himself and has asked this 3 times before.

It was really just one of those days....

That's part of doing busienss. You get it in any and every field. When you get to the point that you can actually TEACH someone how to do something, you earn their loyalty for a long time (if not for life).

For many years, we were more than happy to deal with people that knew NOTHING about building a web page, FTP or how the internet works. Over the years, they've become some of the nicest people to work with, and appreciate the time that we give to them.

It's nice to have people who are experts but with their creative programming and abilities those people can actually cause more headache than a person new to the internet

I know when I go through our helpdesk I'd much rather than answer the easy questions than have to scratch my head to figure out a "problem"

You will get those people from time to time, but if you help them in long run they become the most loyal clients in your client base. Their the ones that will tell everyone about you, and if you have a bit of downtime they will not pack up n leave. Being nice to your clients and answering even the weirdest or stupidest (if thats a word) of questions will pay off in the end.

This reminds me of callers who when you say 'left click,' hit the right click button and wonder why the correct menu didn't appear. I do agree that the overall level of computer expertise has vastly improved, but there are still those who just don't get it - and need to write every step down verbatim. When they have a problem, they're unable to think through how they got there, where they are, or how to resolve their issue. But you know what - this keeps us in business. Knowledge is powerful. How you convey that knowledge to your client will determine whether they remain long term.

Wish I would have known that a few weeks back - would have had a customer that's perfect for you...

Tried to register (hisdomain).dnst - as in the dns template name inside of LXAdmin at his registrar. Put in a few tickets about that. Then tried to register ns1.(hisdomain).com and ns2.(hisdomain).com at the registrar as well... Register them as new domains - not add them as hosts to the existing domain.

Many tickets within hours of signup, each time answering them and pointing him to the docs giving him the necessary info as well. When he became abusive with the language and how he didn't want a full-time job, we showed him the virtual door. Told him plain and simply that 1) we won't be spoken to like that and 2) we're wholesalers - a certain level of understanding is expected. Since we were not going to be able to meet his needs, we refunded the money and gave him 48 hours to find an alternative that was more 'hands-on' (though nothing had really been done with the site as I don't think he ever got the nameservers right). His tune changed real fast, but it was too late. Not much would have made me keep him.

This was a vps account ... as easy as some of the panels have made it, this customer had no business with a vps. He went to a shared account with another provider.


Strangely engouh

Bad language is a quick way to get booted from a provider. Our guidelines to our techs is that they don't have to accept it, and can terminate the help, and suspend the account if deemed. Our sales reps follow up to determine if the account should be terminated.