Verio Hosting Support Now a Joke

[BuyGifts.com]

I need to vent.

I've been with Verio for about 10 years now. I always spoke highly of them through that time and would recommend them to friends. Their service was good and after we dialed in the needs for our company years back, we rarely ever had problems. Well about a year ago or so, they sent all of their support overseas. I've got to tell you, EVERYTHING went downhill. Tonight is the 3rd time in the last few months where I've had an issue, called them and the support is a JOKE!

Before I tell this story, let me assure you that I didn't not embellish it one bit. Tonight I called up because we weren't getting orders at one of our retail sites and upon doing a test order, the cart froze. Upon answering the call, the CSR asked me my domain name. I told her drumbum.com. She kept saying it wrong. I spelled it out for her. When she found it she told me, "Your site registered at GoDaddy, not Verio, so you need to call them." - WHAT?!!!! I said, "Mam, the I understand but the hosting is through your company." She said, "No sir, you must call GoDaddy." At this point, I was really losing patience. I said, "Mam, I've been with you for 10 years, I know where my site lives. Will you please just look again and please hurry, my site is down and we're losing money." She continued to argue with me. I hung up. Luckily, the site came back on board. I'm not sure what happened but I'm not calling support again. It makes me too angry. Not only did I feel like I was talking to a robot (they're extremely polite but have no common sense), but the level of incompetence is unbelievable!

A few months ago, I had the same type of issue. That particular time, I couldn't understand the guy at all. It was EXTREMELY frustrating. I made some excuse to hang up then called back. Different guy, same issue. It sounded like he was reading from a manual the whole time. Again, like a robot. He was utterly clueless. I asked for a manager. He wouldn't connect me to one until I pushed some more. The "manager" ended up being no different. The next day I called to see if I could get a salesman on the phone at another Verio number. I complained to him and said that if it didn't improve, I'm considering leaving. To my suprise, he did nothing to remedy the situation. He only said something along the lines of the fact that support won't be coming back to America anytime soon so that's all they have to offer. I said, "I've been with you for 10 years, could we not arrange a tier two support level somehow?" (I've noticed that most of the tier 2 guys know what they'r doing and speak good English). He said, "No, it has to go through level one support first."

So that's it! After 10 years, I'm walking. The customer service at Verio is now "literally" as bad as it gets.

I hope my story helps other site owners steer away from companies like Verio where the support is extremely substandard. When we relocate to our new hosting company, I'll come back in here with an update.

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- Mike Donovan

P.S. Shopsite, on the other hand, continues to impress me. Their products and service have remained strong.

[Jim]

When you call in just request that they immediately transfer you to the second tier support. Or ask to talk to their manager's manager. They still have support staff in Orem, Utah who know how to speak Engilsh. I don't know if you can get a number that will be directed to the Orem office though.

Support as a whole at most hosting companies has gone down hill in the last few years. There are a few that still provide excellent support, Lexiconn is probably tops, Pair and Your Host are a couple of others I can think of off hand that provide good support.

[BuyGifts.com]

Thanks for your reply Jim. I had no luck requesting a higher level of support but I'll try again. It's a shame that hosting companies don't care about this. Unless people speak up and say, "No more!", it will continue. - We need to all remember the old adage "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

I've heard good things about Lexiconn. We're going to look into them moving forward.

[gentlemans01]

+1 vote for Lexiconn. We had been with another host (Broadspire) who was OK for a while but got bought by a big player and promptly forgot everything they knew about shopsite. and customer service.

Rob and the Lexiconn folks are truly top notch, I have nothing but great things to say about them as they've helped us grow and thrive. Nearly zero downtime in several years of service, great insights on hosting and overall tech decisions, and they're constantly innovating around the core Shopsite application.

You can't go wrong with them.

Good luck!

-Chris
www.historicalemporium.com

[Paula]

Mike,

I'm with you on that one. Haven't used Verio but have had similar experiences with outsourced customer service reps. If it gets really bad, I also do the same thing: make up an excuse, like someone's at the door. Wonder how many times they get that? What I resent is the bait and switch. You talk to sales based here, then tech support gets transferred outside.

When searching for new carts and hosts, one of the first things I made sure to check was where their customer service and headquarters are based. It's sad that so many companies have chosen to outsource their customer source; in the interest of short-term savings, they are alienating their customers.

[Paula]

I have heard many good things about Lexiconn both here and through other people. I am now using HostMonster, which is so far, so good. But if I ever need to change, Lexiconn is at the top of my list.

[bippy]

I just had the same experience. Been with them over 10 years. Have always admired their response to customer service. Called about 10 days ago and the person (probably in India) who answered the phone could hardly converse and kept saying she could not find my domain name or account! (They were aboe to find it to bill me last month!!!) And when I talked to her supervisor, I got the same. I'm looking for an easy way to move everything to a new hoting service. Any recommendations?

[gentlemans01]

Been with Lexiconn for about three years, after having a bad experience with another shopsite host. No regrets, and we should've moved years before that!

Rob's team knows hosting, knows shopsite, and knows service. You can't go wrong with Lexiconn.

[FredW]

Been with Lexiconn for about three years, after having a bad experience with another shopsite host. No regrets, and we should've moved years before that!

Rob's team knows hosting, knows shopsite, and knows service. You can't go wrong with Lexiconn.

I'll second the recommendation for Lexiconn (which BTW, I rarely recommend anybody). We were with Verio for over 10 years. In trying to get to ShopSite, I encountered nothing but frustration. Their service is very bad, it is nearly impossible to get past first level support and they rarely fix the problem first. I finally had enough and based on good reports checked out LexiConn. I was a skeptic, at first, knowing how easy it is to sell somebody something but worried about how we would be treated after the sale. After switching to them, I'm a fan. They cut our time to go live by weeks by just responding to simple questions and providing some valuable help. Their support is one of the best ever. Their are professional, timely, accurate, and they care about the customer. That's unusual and worth ever penny extra you may pay for their service.
FredW