Tretakoff Musings

Thursday, August 18, 2005

We're Back

Sorry we've been "off the air" for a while. We recently had a fun webhost experience. This in an interesting business, with some strange characters. Now, before I start to relate this tale, let me make it clear: my site is a plain old website. That means I need just any webhost. My only qualifications are that they are cheap, and give me lots of space, and are reliable. There have to be 500 companies that meet those criteria. Here's how it goes:

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from my web host provider, saying they were having a "customer appreciation sale," and offering some good deals to upgrade my hosting. Now, I host two sites with this company, and rarely pay attention to the space, but no big deal. For my Tretakoff.com domain, I was paying about $8 a month for 500MB of space. Didn’t think much; just had my card charged every month. The host seemed to be run by one guy: Jay Higdon. Every now and then, I'd have an email exchange: always nice. So, I'm happy.

A week or so later, I was updating my site, and starting getting messages that I had almost no space left (amazing how much web space you can take up with a personal site!). No problem; I recalled the "customer appreciation sale:" looked like there was a good deal for me there! I read the fine print: it expired about 5 days previously.

Now, I'm a good customer, right? I host two sites with these guys, and have been there for years. I don't take much care and feeding. So, I use their help ticket system (they have no direct email address, of course) to ask if I, as a good customer, can take advantage of the sale, even thought I am 5 days late. Jay, being a good guy, will surely respond. I send.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

I waited a week, and no response. So, I start to investigate my options for other webhosts. Much to my surprise, I find that there are a bevy of other providers who, for less money, will provide me with 5 or 6 times as much space (and transfer bandwidth). In other words, I've been getting a bit hosed. I'm not bitter: I was happy with Jay, and too lazy to be a smart shopper. So be it.

Now, armed with this info, I go back to the help system for Jay. Sure enough: there's my lonely help ticket, waiting for a response. Nada. Ok, I open up a new ticket: this time, I tell Jay that he has not responded in a week, and I find I can get a better deal with lost of other folks. I show him some of the packages. But, since I like Jay, and like hosting with him, I offer that, if he can match the package, I'll gladly give him the money instead. If not, we can part ways sadly, but part nonetheless. Off the ticket goes.

Now, remember: Jay does not offer me anything that these other hosts do. In fact, he offers me less. Most of these hosts are simple affairs: there is, literally, nothing to differentiate them from one another. They are a commodity, plain and simple. Yet, out of a misplaced loyalty, I offer Jay a chance to keep me. What do you think his reaction was to this nice gesture?

He cancelled my account.

Yep, just like that. Shut me down in less that 5 hours from receiving the second help ticket. No response. Just said that I was cancelled, per my request. Boom. Site offline. Mail offline. No place to publish the blog. Amazing.

So, now I'm with my new host, for a ton less money and a lot more space, and we're back. And I still shake my head in bemusement at those that think, selling a commodity at low price and margin, that they are somehow special. I stand educated.

¶ 7:29 AM

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