written by TonyMLancaster on 20/07/2012
It's key to my business as a web designer to have my sites hosted on a reliable platform with good tech support. Fact is it isn't simple any more. I use to do my job with magic markers and a layout pad. Then I needed to learn desk top publishing and became a printing specialist, then I learned html and became a web designer but now the tech aspect has become so huge and complex that I simply cannot be an all round specialist any more.
Just this morning for example I had to change the CNAME and MX details for a client. Sure I said. no problem. But actually I have absolutely no idea how to do this and don't have the time or, frankly, the interest, to find out, but I knew some guys who would know and it was done.
Last week after migrating a site from an older server to a cloud a client broke the Word Press CMS I had installed, I could not figure what he had done but the clever chaps at CWCS sorted it. I am not at all certain it their job to sort out my clients screw ups - but they did, and I think they sort of enjoyed the challenge!
On the downsides they can sometimes be a bit slow to respond, but as I try always to load the urgency of my requests honestly I can't really complain that a non-urgent request takes longer to be resolved. They could up the sense of where they are with support requests - an equivalent of the phone call to your utility company where a voice says you are 37th in queue and your expected waiting time is 3 days and 6 hours. This way I would understand thir problems as well as my own.
I have occasionally thought them rather expensive, and as many of my new sites are being created on Word Press I have flirted with the idea of using a specialist host. But whilst I don't know for certain, I cannot imagine that a cheaper supplier would provide the detailed level of service I get. I also believe in loyalty, I hope for it from my clients and I expect to deliver it back to my suppliers. Things haven't always been perfect but i know they care and I know they try hard. Way to go guys!