Last weekend in Austin, I checked my email from the show, and the mail server crapped out. Busy. Didn’t have time to fix it. Babysitting on Sunday, I called tech support and had a friendly chat, problem solved.
Not really.
Not even.
Three calls Monday morning, tempers getting heated.
The e-mail was fixed which caused a cascading problem and the Domain Name Server thing quite pointing.
Which is another world, hence the title.
Part of the problem traces back Cloudflare, which I’ve deployed, and, in two cases, removed. Part of the problem. Supposed to be part of the solution, but sometimes, as much, if not more, trouble than it cures.
When the cure is worse than disease.
I believe in separation of church and state, and following that line of thought, I keep my domains registered separate from the host.
The news, good or otherwise, involved a lesson for me about how to communicate what the exact issue or problem is, to tech support.
Still, price, features, some of the tech support, still worth it.
After many years of dealing with my employer’s IT department, I had the checklist for their service calls memorized.
~yes, it’s plugged in to power
~yes, it’s connected to the network
~yes, it’s turned on
~yes, I’ve re-booted, cold boot
and so on. Since I was asked by coworkers to call about their computer problems on their behalf (after I’d tried to resolve it myself), I evidently got quite a reputation with the support techs.
I began to get comments like, “Oh, you’re the one who always calls with the smart alec answers to all the questions…so what can I do for you and let’s skip the basics.” Said in an amused tone of voice, so I guess I wasn’t too obnoxious (except for the rare occasion when I knew I was being blown off and I wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer–nor was I going to let them reformat my hard drive, a typical “fix”).
All that is behind me now. From now on, when I call computer customer support it won’t be into an IT center that knows me. Quelle dommage!
P.S. Glad you got your email problem resolved.
Wished you’d called HostGator for me. Total spin of the Roulette Wheel, as to what it lands on. Some are urbane, witty, and can fix stuff. I moved to them based upon a conversation with tech support.
Then there are days when I wish it was outsourced to some third-world call center where English wasn’t the first or second language.
Got a really funny comment last night, and I’ll post that in a little while.