| Posted by needhost05, 09-07-2005, 02:22 PM | |
Dixie Systems, where I've been a customer for number of years (just about 4, I believe) has had a continuous increase in daily downtime. My logs now show an average of 2.13 hours per day of down time.
I've stopped trying to contact Dixie because they just don't seem to have the resources to respond (the help ticketing system is practically unusable, the IRC channel is vacant most times I visit, and repeated email to support addresses go unanswered after months).
Anyway, I _like_ my host (well, I like my host's features) and would like to just know if this daily down-time average is getting worse or better (I only started keeping close track about 4 months ago, when that was suggested to me in case I need to get a refund...I pay by the year and so it's kind of hard to imagine going somewhere else right now, without a loss of payment.)
Are there other Dixie users here who can offer their own data?
Or former Dixie customers who could suggest a company that is similar in set-up (so scripts and such might transfer easily)?
Thanks, and I really hope that things could get "back on track" at Dixie, which just isn't able to keep up with the number of servers they add.
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| Posted by ArtieFishill, 09-08-2005, 11:26 AM | |
First of all, the Helpdesk is NOT unusable, seeing as I'm in it daily for hours...it's a very simple commercial helpdesk (http://www.heathcosoft.com/h2desk/) that a child could use. I was specifically picked by Gary with our input to replace our old homegrown desk because it offered the features combined with the simplicity for the users.
https://helpdesk.dixiesys.com/
Email support@dixiesys.com and it's piped right to the helpdesk as an open ticket.
Last time time I looked in the queue last night there were barely a dozen open issues, almost all only a few hours to a day old.
IRC channel, while not manned constantly usually has someone lurking unless it's 3am.....but to be honest, we rarely get ppl on at that time of the morning. (and I"m logged in 24/7 and keep all the logs for #help)
If you're reseller server is causing you that much problems (and I can probably guess which one it is), all you would need to do would be to request to have a new reseller set up on a different server. We do it ALL the time for client who are unhappy with their current server.
As for the number of servers we have, I fail to see the significance of that in any way. Most of the servers actually hardly ever have problems, while a few have more then usual. That's fairly normal with any host with more then a handful of servers.
Open a ticket, ask to move to a new server. You'll be asked for specific info, and once provided, you'd be set up that day. If you're on a DA server, you'll be able to move your sites very quickly, but if you're on one of the Ensim or Plesk servers, be a little tougher, but we give plenty of time for clients to move. We're very flexible in that because we know what's involved.
What we WON'T do is move your sites for you...just not staffed to do that.
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| Posted by thomase, 09-08-2005, 01:57 PM | |
Why are you with them still if you get that much?
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| Posted by needhost05, 09-13-2005, 06:19 PM | |
Well, I don't need _that_ much help to be their for hours, and despite your experience, mine is that the system does not function.
Firstly, attempting to use a "Dixie" web utility (like Help), often bounces the user over to "8.95", where they insist they are not the same company but of course are. (Which is fine by me.)
There, you get informed that you must go back to Dixie. They like to mix the companies up with two different names, two different log-ins to each tool (billing, help, etc.) Okay, fine. They're a global empire...I really don't care.
If you can get logged in to the Help Desk, and if you can actually make sure you are at the "right" help desk, then good for you. Not good for me. I don't deny your experience, and surely you won't insist that your experience is also my experience.
Where it what...? Might languish with no reply. If email goes to the help system, then replies would (should) come via email also. Not on my end, they don't.
I sent two email messages to 'billing' which have still gone unanswered after almost two months. So, I located the "Please Do Not Call" phone number and called, and got a guy (yes, 'The Guy') who told me that I'd be sure to get a response directly from him. Still waiting, GH.
Yeah, you can find "logged in" users, who are idle for 14 hours (maybe that's you, who knows). There are always about 5 or 6 channel ops logged in, who are not really there. If you're not there, you're not there: log out.
I don't know who "we" is (are you somehow affiliated with Dixie or 8.95 or whatever the real name is?) But, for the record, I certainly don't need you to move anything _for_ me. (And I'm not even sure why you would say that, but okay.)
You know, it's cool. I get your defensiveness if you're one of the volunteer helpers or whatever, or even if you work there. But the deal is: Dixie is slow to respond to customer help, always has been, and yes I know the whole deal is "No hand holding" and I like that. But that does not mean "invisible until billing date" and that's the problem that's growing.
Everyone who volunteers to be a "helper" is always "Oh, I'm so rushed and busy." Gary, too. "We're just really swamped right now. " "We're just changing over our billing right now (again!)" "We're just installing some new servers right now."
It's like Dixie can't get ahead of the curve...and that's the relevance of mentioning the number of servers. It's more important, I think, to grow smartly. To take care of your customers, to evolve your systems (billing, help, faq, direct support) so that they work and to keep with them so you can iron out the issues.
Anybody can install an Open Source ticketing system every other week and claim they have an "industrial strength" help/ticketing system. Okay, fine. But where's the juice?
Lookit. Some other poster asks me "Why stay so long...?" Well, the answer is not so simple.
We invest time (all of us) in the tools we use. So, we get embedded with the tools. It's not easy to pick up your site as well as any of your downstreams and retool every PHP script, for example, to accommodate this or that module being there or not. And so on. You know, you can't go moving _every time_ you get crappy service. But what you can do, what you should do, is try to keep your ducks in a row, try to stay on top of problems, try to keep your own downstream well-oiled, and follow your gut. When you start getting daily outtages (like right now, today, for example, Dixie is down -- that's why I checked back here) you have to start logging more, trying to keep tabs on whether this is a short-run glitch or whether it's a trend.
Folks, with Dixie it's a trend that's about to turn into a predictable event.
Also, staying around is part "loyalty" of some sort (sick as that might seem in today's world, it's still true.) You know, you've been around and you've struggled through, and you've tried to build your work on something that you are constantly getting better at doing. Well, once they start yanking the rug out from under you, then you start to wonder what loyalty is really worth... and I mean in dollars.
Dixie is cheap, that's true. But Dixie is powerful web services and I've always appreciated (and utilized) those. And now, Dixie seems to be just like Addr.com became: kind of rude and little bit nasty and way too "it's not us, you idiot" in their treatment of folks.
So, the combination of things is really what makes it seem like I just need to look elsewhere...and so I am.
My original question is still valid: Have any Ex-Dixie's found a service that seems to offer the same kinds of technology...in order to minimize the changes that are inevitable.
(Even a server move at Dixie, which I have been through _three times_ since my Plesk days, is not trouble-free, and it's not without potential problems...like my "oops, we forgot to change your DNS" experience on my first Dixie move, a long while ago.)
I am not angry, for Pete's sake. I'm conscious of my food and my need to continue to earn a living without my own clients calling and bitching me out because their down. That's the bottom line: the bottom line.
I appreciate your whatever that was, but it just came off as I expect: defensive and not ever acknowledging the tiniest bit of culpability on the part of the actual web host.
:-/
(And why are web form boxes always so narrow? It's very odd that folks don't widen the boxes when they can. It makes typing very difficult.)
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