“Anything that can possibly go wrong, does.” — One of Murphy’s Laws. You know it happens to everyone; you just don’t know when, how, who will be involved, what it will cost, etc.
But when Murphy’s Law strikes, at least in the hosting world, you typically need accurate help as fast as possible.
The steps below will help you get the most accurate support and promptest support most of the time:
- Ask the appropriate party for help — do not email sales or accounting when you should really be contacting the support / help desk department.
- Provide a summary of the problem followed by any specific error messages along with the steps to replicate the problem.
- Tell the appropriate party the best way to contact you in return; and be sure to include your time zone along with from and to times of your availability should you want them to call you on the telephone.
While all three steps matter, the second step is the most important one.
Here are some examples of bad ways followed by good ways:
BAD ways to ask for help expecting fast turn around:
- My email is down.
- I cannot connect to my site.
- My menus on my web site are not working.
GOOD ways to ask for help expecting fast turn around:
- My email is down. I can connect to the Internet; and I’ve been able to browse various sites so I know my Internet is working. I’m able to send, but not receive. I’m using Microsoft Outlook 2003 on Windows 7. Our domain name hosted with you is ______________. My email address is __________ and I’m using __________________ as my email password. My incoming mail server (name or IP) is ______________. While my outgoing is working, it is also the same as my incoming mail server. My public IP address from http://ipchicken.com/ is __________________. This just started happening this past Friday around noon time. Oh, the error message I get in Outlook when I try to receive email is ______________________.
- I cannot connect to my web site via FTP. I’m not able to browse my web site either. My domain name is _______________. My public IP address from http://ipchicken.com/ is __________________. I’m using FireFox 6.xx for my browser on Windows XP; and, FileZilla for my FTP application. This problem just happened this morning when I tried to FTP to the site using the user id of __________________ and the password of _________________ with the FTP host name of ___________________.
- Last night I added about 20 menus via WordPress ________ (version) on my web site __________ hosted by your company. I’m using Internet Explorer ____ (version) on Windows ______ (version). This morning when I tried to add more menus, it will not work. My WordPress admin area is located at _______________________________ (web page address). My login id is _____________ and my password is _________________. The menu name I’m working with is _______________.
The more specific details you can provide when you open up a trouble ticket to the write department / person, the less questions the technician will have to start working on the problem. The sooner the technician can work on the problem, the sooner the problem gets resolved.
We at Dynamic Net, Inc. do our best to help you accurately and promptly no matter how you ask for help — via phone, help desk system, email, or FAX; the above whether used with our company or others is meant to ensure the help you receive is as accurate and prompt as possible.
Please contact us if you have any questions.