Stock Photography Only Goes So Far...and How Web.com Needs to Assess Their Technical Support

I was surprised recently (10 minutes ago) when I noticed that Web.com was using the same stock photo of a tech. support "specialist" as Readyhosting. The screenshots are included here:







Just look at her! Same complexion, same hair style, same headset, same eyebrow shapes (if you look closely enough).

I have had to deal with both of these companies for some time now. Readyhosting was bought out by Burlington International a few years back. I've never been impressed with their services, though they operate and are dependable. Slowly I am getting off of their servers.

But, I am become absolutely exhausted of Web.com, personally. Every time I call, I must speak with a person who assumes that I don't know what I'm talking about and is hard to understand. First, their native language is Hindi and not English, and secondly, how clear can a phone connection be from that far away? I assume that the Web.com technical support operations are based in an Indian call center. The only time, that I can recall, that I have ever spoken with a native English speaker at Web.com is when I talk with the Billing department (or walk into their office).

The last two times an SSL certificate has come up to be renewed, there has been a problem. This time, it wasn't installed correctly. Last time, they tried to install Thawte when a VeriSign cert. had been invoiced and, even then, the cert. didn't seem to be installed for about a month. There is a BIG difference between the two (Thawate and VeriSign), in price and in recognition. It's an extremely hideous mistake on the part of Web.com to pay so little attention to security issues such as ours.

The Web.com support ticket system is difficult to use. Whenever I submit a trouble ticket -- EVERY TIME -- the response includes:

"I apologize for any inconveniences this issue may have caused you"

before the relevant part of the message. And, it includes:

"Please contact us should you have additional issues or questions. You may login to our support site at http://help.Web.com for updates on existing issues or to open a new ticket. Thank you for contacting Web.com. We appreciate your business. Regards, [NAME] System Administrator Web.com Technical Support Got Questions? Get Answers: http://answers.Web.com"

at the end. How annoying is that type of boilerplate? Plus, the ticket site does not parse and interpret line breaks from the text box into visible linebreaks. Therefore, EVERY message is one large paragraph. Such an oversight is completely unprofessional and a horrible abuse of available technology.

And that is not to mention the fact that it is impossible for Web.com to list a "technical contact" for an account. Repeatedly, Web.com technical support calls me David (the account owner), when I have clearly signed my message with my name. I have asked them to add my contact information to the account, but the system they use is inflexible and doesn't allow such rudimentary functionality.

Then, practically every time I raise an issue with the website there must be a repeating of information. For example, most recently (relevant sentences bolded):

• 6/3/2009 5:46:28 PM - ["MA"]
  Cris called in because ragrding the SSL certificate.
• 6/3/2009 7:53:41 PM - ["MA"]
  Dear Cris, Thank you for contacting Web.com Technical Support regarding the issue on your secured web site is not working. I apologize for the inconvenience this issue may have caused you. We checked the status of the secured web site which is htps://www.[OMMITTED].com, it is now working please try to access this now. For future reference, the Web.com Answer Center contains answers to many of the common questions our customers have. If you have any further questions, feel free to open a ticket at http://support.web.com/ and we will be happy to assist you. Thank you for contacting Web.com. We appreciate your business. Regards, ["MA"] Technical Support Got Questions? Get Answers:
• 6/3/2009 10:56:45 PM - Online Customer
  I do not know what to say about your response, except that you are wrong. My browser began denying me access to the secure pages about a day after the cert. was renewed. Thus, I can fairly say that the problem is with the cert. that was installed and not my browser. I thought that you told me that you had found an issue with the cert. and, because of that, the issue was escalated to tier 2. As you will see from the following documents, the SSL certificate is not fully configured on the Web.com server: http://www.[OMMITTED].com/20080603SSL/Browser-Error.jpg http://www.[OMMITTED].com/20080603SSL/Verisign-Test.jpg http://www.[OMMITTED].com/20080603SSL/Verisign-SSL-Test-Fulltext.pdf http://www.[OMMITTED].com/20080603SSL/SSL-Checker-Test-Fulltext.pdf Please respond to this after you have viewed these documents and better understand the problem. thanks, --Chris Baker
• 6/4/2009 12:00:38 PM - ["MC"]
  Dear Chris Baker Thank you for contacting Web.com Technical Support. Your case 5756898 has been escalated to the System Administrators team. We are investigating the issue and will notify you once the issue is resolved. Thank you for your patience. Regards, ["MC"] System Administrator
• 6/4/2009 1:11:55 PM - ["MC"]
  Dear Chris Baker Thank you for contacting Web.com Technical Support regarding the issue with your SSL certificate. I apologize for any inconveniences this issue may have caused you. The issue has now been resolved and your Web site certificate works. Please contact us should you have additional issues or questions. You may login to our support site at http://help.Web.com for updates on existing issues or to open a new ticket. Thank you for contacting Web.com. We appreciate your business. Regards, ["MC"]. System Administrator Web.com Technical Support Got Questions? Get Answers: http://answers.Web.com

I try to call in because there is little real communication being done with the ticket system. Often times those responding to my tickets don't even seem to read what I write. For example, another time this non-communication was made (relevant part bolded):

• 4/1/2009 10:45:35 PM - Online Customer
  Hi, I am writing to inform you that there have recently been errors with MySQL connections from this website. I would like to know how these errors will be handled and eliminated. The primary user of the site notified me this week that in the mornings, when he would access the site (to check for new orders, process pending orders, etc.), he receives a blank page with the only message being "Could not connect to the database server!". First, this IS a problem with the MySQL server. Secondly, this is NOT a problem with the website/code that is running on the web server. Thus, I cannot re-create the issue, or tell you how, as the error is not consistent. I expect that you will be able to research and track the issue. I also expect that you will be able to make a change to the server that will eliminate this problem. This is a Denial of Service issue that renders the web services you provide to us unusable. We would be most appreciative if the issue can be handled promptly. thanks for your time, --Chris Baker, [OMMITTED] Webmaster
• 4/2/2009 7:33:20 PM - ["JH"]
  Dear David, Thank you for contacting Technical support regarding your Database. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have cause you. We need more information from you and please send us the steps on how we can replicate the issue so we can also exchange you with solution on your problem. Please contact us should you have additional issues or questions. Your ticket number is 5676685. You may login to our support site at http://support.web.com for updates to existing issues or to open a new ticket. Thank you for contacting Web.com.We appreciate your business. Regards, ["JH"] Web.com Technical Support Got Questions?Get answers!http://answers.web.com/

I have no access to the technical support personnel who can communicate with me at an educated level. This year I actually located an office in downtown Atlanta and spoke (uninvited) with someone who spoke English and seemed to understand the problem.

I think the only reason that Web.com is still used for this website is because, although the service is dismal, the servers operate just above the "pain threshold". I think that I have busted my butt to get the site working so often/much that the owners think that there isn't a problem.

Web.com needs to do several things:

1. Improve the appearance of trouble tickets so that they can actually be read easily.
2. Remove the sterile boilerplate text that only hinders communication.
3. Do more communication. Tell me what the problem actually is, instead of "the issue has been resolved".
   
4. Add my name and phone number and e-mail address to this account.
5. Hire people who can speak [better] English.
6. Pay a little more for a higher quality phone connection.
   
7. Read the tickets I submit before responding to them.
8. Respond in complete, grammatically correct sentences that are relevant to my message.

Perhaps I notice more just because I have had to notify Web.com of so many of their mistakes, but how hard can it be to do your job, Web.com tech. support?