How to communicate effectively with your web hosting provider

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When you have a problem with your web hosting provider, it is important that you communicate properly with them in order to get your problem resolved as soon as possible. I have noticed that customers who use effective communication also get their issues resolved the quickest.

How to create a support ticket the right way

When you create a ticket, you should provide ALWAYS provide as much of your account information as possible. At the very least, you should include the following info:

1. Your full name - makes it easier to find you in a billing system
2. Your domain name and username - this is what we use to figure out which server you are on, and to locate where your account is on it.

For authorization purposes only, you may need to include additional information. If you want to upgrade, cancel, switch owners of an account, you should add these to the list:

1. Last 4 digits of your credit card on file or a Paypal transaction ID
2. Your current account password if you can’t find the above

What to include in the body of your support ticket

It is important to include as much detail on your problem and if possible, the exact way to recreate the problem. Here are some examples of what I mean:

The wrong way:	“Hello, my MySQL database is messed up, please fix it.”
The right way:	“Hello, I am having a problem with the database bigjames_mysqldb1 on the account name bigjames. My domain name is Parkour08.com. When I go to my website, it says that the maximum number of SQL connections has been reached, what should I do?”

In the example of the correct way, the user has supplied all the information that the technician will need in order to resolve the problem. The user who created the incorrect ticket will have to wait longer because the technician will have to reply back asking for the information he needs.

Why you shouldn’t be rude when creating a ticket

The answer to this is simple. No one wants to help someone who is not showing the proper respect. It is common in this industry for support techs to be treated like dirt. You would really be surprised how mean people are in some of the tickets they create. I’m not talking about people who are frustrated, I’m talking about people being outright rude and making direct personal remarks to the technician working with them.

I used to work all the technical support tickets for my company at one point, so I know how it feels when someone is being so disrespectful to you. For this reason, I tell all my techs that if someone is being overly disrespectful to them, that it is OK to delete the ticket off the desk. Some people might say that this is bad business practice, but I believe that these customers cause more trouble than they are worth. I am not afraid to lose one nasty client if it increases the overall wellbeing of my support techs. A happy support tech = a productive support tech.

When creating your support ticket, always remember to be courteous to the person working with you. By being polite and respectful, you will increase the techs willingness to get your problem fixed as quick as possible. It is also important to remember to include as much information as possible so that the technician has everything he/she needs to find and resolve your problem.