deeve007

Well you may have read it, but you didn't comprehend it too well. I don't want any other information, I just want them to look at what might be causing the site to be down. And they did address this eventually, but didn't feel the need to inform me of that.

Because the actual domain is not pointing to the server yet. Did you actually read this thread? I was very clear that there is no sensitive or site specific information being asked for, or requesting to happen. Development sites were down for no obvious reason. After checking the site admin, and checking the server via FTP, there was no obvious reason why. But now they seem to be up again, so something was done on the server by HH, but I have had no notification of that either here or via my original email. I don't really regard this instance as a great example of common sense support.

Any update...??

How can I not be affiliated with an account that I can log in via cpanel & FTP, so able to manage/delete/edit all website files and cpanel settings if I wanted to? No issues had arisen before now, I really didn't expect any issues to arise, and so had not had client add my email to their account for support purposes. And as has been mentioned above, I have not had this issue with other reputable hosts when it comes to non-account specific information, so didn't even occur to me that it would be an issue. Anyway, PM sent.

I have been a customer of Hawkhost for years, the only reason I am contacting you with regards to this client's site is because I referred him to you otherwise he wouldn't be a customer of yours at all. I will hope that PMing you the ticket number can achieve a resolution, this client is often offline for days at a time and I need to get this completed asap.

I have a current urgent situation that would easily resolved with some common sense rather than than your support staff deferring to "the rules" that won't allow them to do something. I am working on a site for a client who signed up for Hawkhost AFTER MY RECOMMENDATION (which I'm now starting to regret), and the site is now showing a 500 internal server error, and I also get an error message trying to access phpMyAdmin from Cpanel when logged in. So in other words, I have all their hosting details. I sent an email to support advising them that the site was down and of the phpMyAdmin error. The message back was that as my email address is "not an authorized user for the account in question" they cannot do anything. It will take 24 to 48 hours to have my client respond to my request to do this, they are not online constantly. I am not asking for anything to be installed. I am not asking for access to anything I don't already have access to. I am not asking for anything to be changed. All I am asking is to see why the site is down - surely common sense could prevail here??

This is such a pain, the steps are not really that straightforward. Could you not offer a service even at additional cost to install these for your customers?? Cheers.

Something I found out recently when questioning why emails from certain well known websites weren't getting through to me: If the email uses an email address that doesn't exist (a common example is "[email protected]" for newsletters and some account registration emails) then Hawkhost's servers will refuse to accept that email. I'm now waiting to see if there's anyway to ensure I receive all emails sent to me, as it leaves me uncertain if I'm missing anything important. Well, I know I am when I couldn't register for a well known site due to their account confirmation email using this kind of email address. Now I understand the desire to want to reduce spam, but when it's affecting actual and possible legitimate emails then there's an issue that needs to be addressed. D.

I recently wrote an article on my site that should give you some useful advice hopefully: SEO Expert = Snake oil salesperson

Yep, that's me, simple front end only sites. Got me pegged right in the little box you want me in, well done sunshine!! Oh, and if you missed it, seems HH think there's a market for those who don't want to or cannot install their own billing system: 3. In the future it's going to conflict with the fact we do have plans on offering our own system at a price. So no, probably no need to carry this further. Apologies to HH for being a little argumentative, but I don't appreciate someone alluding to a lack of ability on my part to do a "trivial" software install. Folk should probably consider the possibility that what may seem "trivial" to them and their experience may not be so for everyone. I appreciate the fact that HH do. Cheers guys!

So you regard "most" as being more like you is what you're saying? Well let's see... I design and do interface coding, I use a range of open source CMS's for paying clients, have used a range of web apps of different pursuasions, but I am not a programmer or server kind of guy by any means (www.zavadesign.com is my business FYI). And yet I've found it so far too hard to install one of the billing systems on my account, seem to be getting install errors even after deleting install and starting again. So install not seeming "trivial" to me so far... And I would have thought I'm a fairly good example of many who are looking to "start out" in hosting for their clients, but I guess I could be wrong. Though are you open for the possibility that you could be too? I don't get that impression from your posts, seems more like "well, I can do it then anyone else who needs to can so stuff them". I'm a little more accepting of different folks differing levels of technical abilities. Thankfully, seems the guys at Hawkhost are too, hence their great assistance (as always) on phpMyAdmin installation, and their logical explanation of why they have chosen not to pre-install, #1 and #3 being the most relevant really. Cheers guys, as always!

There's many, many web designers/developers who toss up about reselling for their clients, but are a little nervous about taking that step. The very reason why many billing systems offer the free version, duh! And while you might regard the install as "trivial", I could probably say that about many of the applications available via Fantastico (sp?) but there's a very good reason why they are: One person's "trivial" is another's nightmare. I know, just had a nightmare trying to install phpMyAdmin in a subfolder (for an external developer to access one site), and I'm guessing that's an install many others would regard as "trivial". And in the end, this thread is what the title alludes to: a "suggestion". It's probably not up to me or you if it's one that HawkHost will take on board now is it?

From a prompt in one of the other threads to offer any suggestions... With regards to billing systems, in my investigations I've noticed that a couple of the major ones (not THE major one, but a couple of others that look decent) offer a free option for up to 10 hosting accounts. Maybe HH could choose what they regard as the best of these options and install as default for all reseller accounts, would make "starting out" as a reseller just that little bit easier for us newbies to the scene. Anyway, just an idea.

I've actually just been revisiting this, and seems some of the major host billing systems allow you to have 10 clients before you have to purchase the system, so not a bad way to start off.

Cool, thanks Tony, your help is much appreciated!