For several years now I’ve been a very happy customer of HostingMatters.com, using them for my family’s sites and recommending them to friends and anyone else that asked. Their service is normally quick, friendly and efficent.
As of early this morning, though, my site was being redirected to a “suspended” page. When my credit card number changed — geez, how long ago was that? — I failed to update their billing site, and they had an old email address for me as well.
The thing is that, in today’s world, those things happen. Credit card numbers change just about every two years now, and people change email addresses (I’ve changed almost exclusively to an email address that goes through my site, on thier server – one with which I’ve corresponded to their service folks many times). Other companies find ways to get their records updated without stopping service.
I’d even used the web-based Support Center twice since the card expired, but apparently their billing software or support personnel aren’t connected enough to have told me then that I had past-due invoices.
HostingMatters also had my telephone number and postal address on file, in the same database record as the expired email address, yet they never tried to reach me using either of those methods – they just took the easy way out, turning off my account. “We do not, and never have, provided telephone service, nor do we chase down clients to beg they pay their bills,” says Stacy the support person via email, “this is not really up for debate.”
I’ll keep using — and recommending — HostingMatters because of the excellent uptime and technical support, but I’m disappointed in this matter. At no time did I ask for a debate, I just asked why a reasonable attempt wasn’t made to provide good service. A simple postcard, less than $.50 expense, saying “hey we appreciate you being our customer, you’ve got an invoice due but the card seems to have expired.” Is that really too much to ask from a company who’s motto includes “superior serivce?”