I have just been trying to get some software running on my Web site hosted by EasyCGI. It should have been easy but, you guessed it, it was anything but.
First I had to figure out how to enable the right version of PHP. Not a Herculean task but neither was it obvious. Then I had to get the right version of MySQL running. Turns out you have to ask EasyCGI's tech support to make that happen. I'm guessing they did something because now PHP doesn't appear to be working at all!
I submitted a trouble ticket but I figured its got to be something simple so I called Tech Support this morning. My previous experiences with EasyCGI tech support have been excellent -- I've never had to wait more than a few minutes in the queue and then the phone has been picked up on the first ring by someone who actually has a clue and no accent! Outstanding.
At least that has been my experience up to today. Today I tried several times very early in the morning as well as throughout today -- perhaps 40 or 50 times in all (honest) and every time I get an unctuous voice prompt that told me that tech support is busy serving other people and please leave a message. This would be fine but every time that I've left a message in the past few weeks I haven't had any response at all.
I'm guessing that EasyCGI either have staff problems or they have some bizarre ongoing crisis I can't imagine -- either way it seems weird to not be put in a queue and to be bounced to an answering machine after no more than 30 seconds.
I've been thinking about this and I wonder: Which companies are man enough to be public about their support ability. Wouldn't it be great to know the stats of the service providers you rely on, to know that they aren't just being flaky or that they are understaffed but that they are dealing with a customer tsunami? Wouldn't you like to know that they solve the average call in X minutes?
I can think of a thousand reasons why the likes of hosting companies would rather not make such stats public but I can also see how really aggressive, competitive companies could use such a tool to distinguish themselves from the rest of the herd. Of course keeping them honest would be a trick -- maybe an independent auditing service is needed?
Enough already. I haven't tried EasyCGI for the entire time I've been writing this ... perhaps they'll pickup this time ...
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