service questions

i'm seriously considering hosting with this company, but have a couple of questions that derive directly from my experience with the service i'm abandoning.

first, what are communications like? there appears to be no direct phone contact, so everything's handled by email. my present provider uses this as an effective barrier, so i'm particularly sensitized right now to responsiveness. inquiries that i've posted to the sales department using the form on this site are thus a test case for me, and since i've not yet received replies to those inquiries, i'm a little uneasy. this in no way implies "bad service" on dreamhost's part, but i would like to know a little about the corporate culture in this area. are weekends slow? is 24/7 contact the norm or the exception? *is* there any kind of actual voice contact, even if just for emergencies? how informative are responses to service requests? that kind of thing.

second, my current provider has a business structure that i think has worked against its clients: their company is owned in canada where the actual hardware probably is, has some kind of registration in florida, and its support staff is run out of a center in india. this disconnect between facilities and personnel means that sometime even the staff themselves can't tell me what's going on. this is not a situation i want to find myself in again, so if anyone can shed some light on how dreamhost is structured, it would be very helpful to me.

let me reiterate that i am strongly considering this company. it seems to be stable and well-respected, and its products, costs and services fit my needs quite nicely. if i sound at all "suspicious" or something, it's only an artifact of recent bad experiences elsewhere.

thanks for your time in reading this. i'll check back and see what pops up.

- skylark

skylark,

> there appears to be no direct phone contact



> inquiries that i've posted to the sales department using the form on this site are thus a test case for me, and since i've not yet received replies to those inquiries, i'm a little uneasy.

My experience with Sales is similar; they may be overwhelmed with all the Special Sales responses. I suggest getting a Web ID, and put in test contact to Support via The Panel (which is what you'd really use for Support), and see how that goes.

> is 24/7 contact the norm or the exception?

I think it's the norm. That said, sometimes real answers or fixes can take longer.

> business structure

The history page indicates some virtual offices, but that seems transparent. AFAIK none of the support comes from overseas (or prison).

> stable and well-respected

Mostly. With occasional transients and growing pains.


Cheers,

BobS

Just thought I'd post my own 2-cents as a happy customer. I also was fed up with poor hosting service. A lot of companies promise the impossible, and when they can't follow through, they hide. I've hosted a couple of sites at DreamHost for about a year now, and the only way I'm leaving is if I'm dragged away kicking and screaming. Some of DreamHosts plans do offer a call-back service. Anyone here know how good they are about calling back? I've never had to use it, since their online help has been prompt, courteous and truly helpful.

~Chell
http://www.chellsroost.com

Well, I obviously think we're great and that email support, if done well, is a lot more effective than phone support for web hosting. And that we do it well.

Anyhoo, just a note about the company itself: We are all in Los Angeles, where the servers are. We all work together. It's a very flat structure, not a lot of hierarchy (basically none). We prefer hiring fewer, smarter people.

There are some people who work from out of town (in SF and Boston) but it's just a couple people.



nate.