WebAfrica Support Slooooooooooooooooooooooooow!

[Frogstar]

Ok so hands up who is experienceing very very slow to practically non existant support from Webafrica. I'm talking particularly about their support for reseller webhosting. I feel sorry for those who have other stuff with them it must be hell.

I have been with them for 4 years now and in the begining you could even get live support. That soon stopped. Then you would submit a ticket online and it would get sorted withn an hour. The last year or so that has gone too.

My recent experience with them has lead to great frustration and hence this post. THey have launched new reseller hosting solution but they did not test it properly and there are tons of teething problems. You would think they would be keen to help us guinea pigs out but allas.

Support tickets go unanswered for a minimum of 7 hours and then they say "we have passed it on our engineers" and you can then expect to wait indefinitely until you complain. I have a very simple support query that has now been there for 24 hours. this has been the pattern for the last two weeks.

Calling in is a joke. 98% of the time you will be on hold for 15 minutes. Unless you phone in at night but then they only have one engineer on duty and he is clearly swamped. Some support staff call you back others dont.

The way they treat us you would swear that they are the only company in the world offering reseller hosting. and their packages although good arent the best that is available.

Very annoying.

 

[frikkie6000]

I personally do not use them made one of the best moves of my life moving my reseller packages to Host Gator and some hosting still with Afri Host

Am sure the WA rep will comment here now

 

[WAJeff]

Has this not been addressed a few times over on our forums? I've personally spoken to you about things, along with Mohammed. We're definitely not simply ignoring your requests. Agreeably though, our turn-around times can be a lot better. Again, this is something that's going on in the backgruond with recruitment for our Hosting department.

Reseller wise though, there are other alternatives to receive "dedicated" support from us.
http://www.webafrica.co.za/reseller/

24/7 Top-Notch Support
Includes a dedicated business support agent

Have you given us a shout yet about possible options?

Please also see my previous replies, also relating to this on our forums:
http://forums.webafrica.co.za/showthread.php/6844-Reseller-Hosting-Pricing-Review-When
http://forums.webafrica.co.za/showthread.php/7485-Support-Slow
http://forums.webafrica.co.za/showthread.php/7489-WebsitePanel-Bugs
http://forums.webafrica.co.za/showthread.php/7499-Questionable-Support?p=62298&highlight=#post62298

I get you're frustrated Frogstar, and I'm well aware of the issues at hand - but posting over multiple threads only makes it harder for us to track what the actual issue is and have the specifics addressed and resolved.

 

[rellik]

I am on exactly the same mission with them at the moment. I have been so frustrated that I asked to speak to the hosting support manager on Friday (9th). He was on a call and I was assured he would phone be back. When I phoned later , he was still busy. I asked to speak to his boss and was told that I could only be transferred to that person if the situation has been escalated. Well, I am still waiting today for the hosting support manager to return my call.
My biggest frustration now is that we as resellers are promising our clients support, but with no support from Web Africa we are continuously left with egg on our faces. And I am spending R8000 + a month with Web Africa.
I have been asking for a dedicated support line for resellers for ages, but Web Africa just ignores the requests of their resellers and just keep on milking us.
I have also been a customer of WA for more than 5 years now and I think it's probably time for me to move on, as the current situation is getting unbearable.

 

[Frogstar]

Hi Jeff

No offense to you (you have tried) but with webafrica talk is cheap.

Has this not been addressed a few times over on our forums? : I would not be posting here if it had.

Agreeably though, our turn-around times can be a lot better. : That is an understatement of note.

Have you given us a shout yet about possible options? What, for support? THe thing is i dont need dedicated support. I just need support on the odd occasion, and while I help you guys sort out your half cooked website panel.

I get you're frustrated Frogstar Sadly I dont think you have any idea.

24 hours and waiting for my one ticket (same error as last week so not sure why it is taking so long), 9 hours for my other one and absolutely no response. 3 days on a ticket last week....etc etc. In the mean time I cant move my sites and am wasting serious amounts of time and ofcourse money.

Thanks for posting some of the links i have been involved in, it shows that i have done everything to get you guys to get a move on.

You have a dedicated support area where all my tickets are posted. Not difficult to track at all?? But you have to look at them.

and thanks for the link to "dedicated" support. Sorry I dont spent R5000 per month with you so a dedicated agent is only a dream. It confirms though that the response to support is proportional to the amount of money we spend.

 

[frikkie6000]

Web Africa I think you guys are missing the boat completely

Why do only customers get dedicated support from you if they spend over R5k a month ?

It doesn't matter if a customer spends 10c or R100 000 a month with you its a customer non the less

Luckily my hosting companies I deal with is a dream I would never get a reply like yours from one of them I would cancel immediately but that will never happen

 

[Frogstar]

Ok so it is only fair to give an update.

Got a call from Dane Miller (hosting Manager) at Webafrica. He assures me that plans are in place to improve their service and support.

They are aware that there are problems with their turnaround time and they are doing something about it.

He could not comit to a timeline so not sure how long we will need to put up with this but assume it will be a while still

 

[boswald]

I am glad I am not the only one feeling the frustration. the worst I get is sending an email to [email protected] only to be answered by some non technical noob that clearly has no idea what I am asking and this took 2 days to get a response out of them. Jeff if you there. Please see what you can do. I sent another support email today to try and get a proper answer and am now still waiting.

 

[WAJeff]

I am glad I am not the only one feeling the frustration. the worst I get is sending an email to [email protected] only to be answered by some non technical noob that clearly has no idea what I am asking and this took 2 days to get a response out of them. Jeff if you there. Please see what you can do. I sent another support email today to try and get a proper answer and am now still waiting.

Drop me a PM with your account details and your ticket ref# and I'll have it followed up on.

 

[koffiejunkie]

I don't work for or host with WebAfrica. In fact, I've never dealt with them at all. So I'm taking sides here, and I'm not condoning Jeff's snotty response (I thought it was in pretty poor taste), but I can answer this for you:

Why do only customers get dedicated support from you if they spend over R5k a month ?

Because SysAdmin time is expensive. Where I work, R5k is about the cheapest option you can get for managed support, if you negotiate really really hard.

It doesn't matter if a customer spends 10c or R100 000 a month with you its a customer non the less

It does matter. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. That's how it works.

 

[Ben_D0ver]

Got a call from Dane Miller (hosting Manager) at Webafrica. He assures me that plans are in place to improve their service and support.

They are aware that there are problems with their turnaround time and they are doing something about it.

He could not comit to a timeline so not sure how long we will need to put up with this but assume it will be a while still

This kind of response falls inline with their marketing strategy of trying to look like a political party, and as political parties go - as soon as they are confronted with issues they always have a plan to resolve it. but as history has proved itself thats all smoke and mirrors and nothing gets done.

Because SysAdmin time is expensive. Where I work, R5k is about the cheapest option you can get for managed support, if you negotiate really really hard.

this is a cost to the company which should be absorbed by the company and not passed onto the to the client. if you did not have these expensive sysadmins where would your company be without them?

It does matter. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. That's how it works.

glad I dont host with you. no offense but just because thats your companies business model doesnt make it right. A customer is a customer irrespective of their spend

 

[koffiejunkie]

Because SysAdmin time is expensive. Where I work, R5k is about the cheapest option you can get for managed support, if you negotiate really really hard.

this is a cost to the company which should be absorbed by the company and not passed onto the to the client. if you did not have these expensive sysadmins where would your company be without them?

Really? Why do you think your hosting co charges you money? Surely they're not recovering their cost? Do you think one can employ skilled staff and charge your clients peanuts and make a profit? We see those kind of companies come and go. They sign up, they last until their investment funds (read: the boss' life savings) runs out, and then disappear again, usually without paying the bill. We see the opposite too. Companies charging a premium, but employing idiots. Sooner or later their clients figure it out and leave.

It does matter. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. That's how it works.

glad I dont host with you. no offense but just because thats your companies business model doesnt make it right. A customer is a customer irrespective of their spend

If the OP was, he wouldn't have to resort to MyBB forums to get problems with his hosting co taken care of. As I mentioned earlier, where I work, we charge a lot, but you get a service that's in line, delivered by folks who are very skilled and very experienced.

Look, I'm not saying treating your low en customers like dirt is right or even acceptible. Not at all. All I'm saying is that a given support model will be made up of a certain number of support staff, that has to cover a certain number of accounts/devices. That gives you a ratio of accounts/devices per tech. In your low end, R19 kinda hosting packages, that number is going to be very high, and in the R5k+ hosting packages, that number is going to be very low. And they typically won't be the same pool of support staff working the two (or more) groups of accounts. That means one group is going to have a significantly better response time, better quality of service, etc.

That's just the way it works, and not just in hosting. When you fly first class, you get fewer passengers for the same space and same number of cabin crew. Same thing with most service industries - the more you pay, the better the service is. The only group that seems to buck that trend are the parastatals (Escom, your municipality, etc) and those sectors occupied by monopolies/cartels (Telkom, Vodacom/MTN, et al).

R19 hosting packages is like those R4.99 dial-up accounts, back in the day when dial-up used to cost R125 a month from NetActive. In other words, massively oversubscribed to make any money at all.

I'll say this again: I'm *not* defending WA or condoning bad service at all. Just throwing some industry-insider perspective in there.

 

[Ben_D0ver]

I hear you. I look after clients who spend in excess of 350K per month (yes, not per annum but per month) on their hosting and then a few that spend 1.5K. The difference between the support that I provide them, well there isnt a difference. In my eyes they pay the bills and they pay my salary so I do anything and everything to keep them happy.

With regards to WA, they got too big too fast and their focus shifted from hosting to dsl. Resellers were kicked off boat and in general the business unit which got them to where they are has severely suffered.

WA retains its clients due to loyalty and its household coverage - much in the same way that MWEB does, how ever that will only last so long and soon another provider will fill their space in the market - Afrihost perhaps?

A ton of MYBB users are pro WA but I believe those sentiments are carried over from when they actually were good, or when they were small enough to care.

 

[koffiejunkie]

I hear you. I look after clients who spend in excess of 350K per month (yes, not per annum but per month) on their hosting and then a few that spend 1.5K. The difference between the support that I provide them, well there isnt a difference. In my eyes they pay the bills and they pay my salary so I do anything and everything to keep them happy.

Good for you.

 

[frikkie6000]

It does matter. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. That's how it works.

So true

 

[Simpy]

Let's keep it political - Their campaign is based on a political party or idea.

With regards to spend and who gets what - The larger customers who spend "oodles" of cash get pref treatment in the form of a Business Service Manager. Said Business account managers have an amount of "high profile" or Big Spenders attached to them. Much like any other service related company out there.

Back to the political POV: The voter from informal settlement X, shack 32b will need to use standard facilities provided, JZ on the other hand would get preferential treatment due to his status he is more important.

Now the little man on the street with less that 5k spend would need to use the usual support queue.
Big spenders/Resellers REQUIRE a single DEDICATED point of contact. They need it.

It's a pity that you have experienced bad service. In the past with the dealings I have had with WA support, they try their hardest to assist. Maybe they do need more support staff, but clearly they are trying.

If you had a wart of your buttocks, would you expect the national Health Commissioner to book out an entire hospital for you? Or would you stand in the queue like the rest of us?

Good Luck Jeff.

 

[Ben_D0ver]

Let's keep it political - Their campaign is based on a political party or idea.

With regards to spend and who gets what - The larger customers who spend "oodles" of cash get pref treatment in the form of a Business Service Manager. Said Business account managers have an amount of "high profile" or Big Spenders attached to them. Much like any other service related company out there.

Back to the political POV: The voter from informal settlement X, shack 32b will need to use standard facilities provided, JZ on the other hand would get preferential treatment due to his status he is more important.

Now the little man on the street with less that 5k spend would need to use the usual support queue.
Big spenders/Resellers REQUIRE a single DEDICATED point of contact. They need it.

It's a pity that you have experienced bad service. In the past with the dealings I have had with WA support, they try their hardest to assist. Maybe they do need more support staff, but clearly they are trying.

If you had a wart of your buttocks, would you expect the national Health Commissioner to book out an entire hospital for you? Or would you stand in the queue like the rest of us?

Good Luck Jeff.

LOL at your comparisons - I have warts on my bottom.... Here I am standing in the queue with a bunch of other warters.

 

[Frogstar]

Ok so I had a realatively enjoyable week not having to call web africa, but alas at about 11am this morning one of my websites stopped responding completely. I thought no problem Ill call in and get it sorted. I mean its 11am in the morning it should get sorted before say 2pm to give them a break. Well here I sit at 7pm and the website is still down and am yet to have any response from them.

I called in 3 times spoke to Gefin (sp?) who said he would call me back, but alas. I called in again and left a message with Nichole who assured me he would call me back as soon as he got off his last call. but still waiting hey....

BUT I private messaged Aziz and he sorted it out in 20 Minutes. Thanks AZIZ great service

 

[guest2013-1]

Ok so it is only fair to give an update.

Got a call from Dane Miller (hosting Manager) at Webafrica. He assures me that plans are in place to improve their service and support.

They are aware that there are problems with their turnaround time and they are doing something about it.

He could not comit to a timeline so not sure how long we will need to put up with this but assume it will be a while still

I've been hearing the same bull**** response from Web Africa for 3+ years now. Even sent Jeff a bunch of suggestions which have fallen on deaf ears. Apparently they're "always" implementing new stuff to their ticket system and what not but whenever they do make an update it breaks something. I think I stopped reporting issues with their ticket system after the 4th time, hell, even spent several minutes on the phone from Dubai trying to explain to them what was going wrong and how they can replicate the error.

Anyway dude. There's a few diamonds (very very very very very few) at Web Africa that actually goes above and beyond their job titles to help you if they can and in a time that will make you think "hey, support is okay!". Then there's the others.... relying on the few to do their jobs FOR them. Not taking responsibility for not replying to tickets or phoning back when they said they would (I mean how ****ing hard is it to make a note, phone client code xyz back with an update to issue I'm logging here now and their system popping up a reminder, phone back this dude even if its to say you're still waiting to hear from the server guys. They have developers specifically FOR this, I dont see how anyone haven't thought of that yet or implemented it before or even IF such a system has been implemented, which I doubt). What really grated my balls was, when I phoned in for support, I was asked to log a ticket online, as if the agent couldn't do that themselves and give me a reference number like normal call centers would. That's the moment I decided to once and for all just cancel and move. MWEB for life.