A few problems - Using GoDaddy as my host

[greenhat]

GDSupport,

these are the kinds of posts that are all over this forum,

I have a serious question and you can PM me any answer

DO your support people get a commission on selling upgrades?

I dont ask this to cause an issue but I have seen way to many times that rather than actually try to find a cause the first solution is always to try to sell an upgrade.

Merlin,

Im pretty sure that that is the case. Every support guy/girl i talked to in the last couple of weeks have been pitching the upgrade. They all say that the speed of my website is "normal" given my current plan. While my zen cart catalog takes over a minute to come up (or doesnt come up at all ) since 9pm last night.. This is absurd.. There is an obvious problem, and they are just telling me to get an upgrade.
GDSupport, please go to my website (greenhatkiteboarding.com) and try to open any zen cart catalog ( Gear menu -> Kites for example) and tell if the speed is "normal".. Im sure im loosing customers right now.. this is not cool. im starting to look for a more dependable host.

v

[greenhat]

funny.. 5 minutes after i made my last post, my site became usable again. it was almost completely down since last night.. pages not loading at all or taking over 1 minute to load.
now , they are still a bit slow, but at least they load.
i wonder if me posting here had anything to do with it.

[shane102]

I have also had serious problems with load times, timeouts........ since moving to godaddy around 2 months ago. It was fine at first but a few of weeks back thing started to sloooooowww doooowwwwnnn.

I started on windows hosting and switched to linux, this didn't help.
So I haven't bothered contacting them after switching to the linux setup.

When I spoke to the staff at godaddy they were very nice people to talk to but, that's not what I paid them for!!!!

I had no problems on my previous host with the same zen setup.
I have taken hosting elsewhere and am moving my site there today or tomorrow.

[GDSupport]

now , they are still a bit slow, but at least they load.
i wonder if me posting here had anything to do with it.

Greenhat,

I'm glad to hear your pages are now loading. We want to make sure we can help in any way and will be in touch to discuss this further.

I have also had serious problems with load times, timeouts........ since moving to godaddy around 2 months ago. It was fine at first but a few of weeks back thing started to sloooooowww doooowwwwnnn.

I started on windows hosting and switched to linux, this didn't help.
So I haven't bothered contacting them after switching to the linux setup.

When I spoke to the staff at godaddy they were very nice people to talk to but, that's not what I paid them for!!!!

I had no problems on my previous host with the same zen setup.
I have taken hosting elsewhere and am moving my site there today or tomorrow.

Shane102,

We are more then willing to look in to these issues even deeper. Our hosting team will contact with you soon.

Sincerely,

[Kim]

shane102 -

Look in your Admin> Tools> Server/Version Info - What does it say for server up time?

[DrByte]

shane102,

You're not alone.

I've got a long-standing client who's been using GoDaddy hosting religiously for years, contrary to my recommendations.

Today his site is PAINFULLY slow. For the last 6+ hours it's been grinding at a halt.

4 hours ago it was showing these load-averages (in ZC admin->Tools->Server Info):
Server Up Time: 13:36:18 up 151 days, 6:35, 0 users, load average: 29.59, 31.36, 33.86
Server Up Time: 13:38:55 up 151 days, 6:38, 0 users, load average: 32.87, 31.98, 33.70
Server Up Time: 13:39:22 up 151 days, 6:38, 0 users, load average: 33.73, 32.22, 33.73
Server Up Time: 13:42:11 up 151 days, 6:41, 0 users, load average: 30.69, 30.58, 32.80

and now it's showing:
Server Up Time: 17:20:24 up 151 days, 10:19, 0 users, load average: 23.52, 21.87, 19.26
Server Up Time: 17:41:37 up 151 days, 10:40, 0 users, load average: 27.73, 29.45, 27.24

It's not getting much better.

I suspect the server's overloaded with way too many customers on it. Of course, GD is unlikely to acknowledge that. Most hosts won't. Typically they'll just kill the apache process and restart it again hoping that'll knock things down a bit. If they have to restart the server, you'll see the server-uptime number get a reset ... and unless they actually DO something to fix whatever caused the overloading in the first place the problem will resurface again later.
Granted, sometimes high load averages are a result of spam or hacking activity on a completely different account ... but everyone using that shared server suffers. Again, unless the hole is plugged, it's just a matter of time before it happens again.
If the spike in activity is a result of having too many accounts on the same server, they need to move accounts to another server ... but ... unless they police that properly, the problem will just happen again when they allow too many on it again.
These issues are common to all shared-hosting services ... but a good host will actively minimize the number of accounts per server, thus minimizing the likelihood of server-speed plummetting. And, a good host will normally be willing to move your account to a less-overloaded server at no charge, instead of immediately jumping to upsell you to an insanely-overpriced plan.

For at least 5 years I've observed the same as merlin has mentioned: GoDaddy "support" is really a sales office whose primary mandate is to sell sell sell. They don't like doing support because that ties them up and prevents them from getting to the next phone call where they might actually make money on a commissioned sale, or at least keep their call-volume quota at an impressive level. Hence the passing-the-buck attitude so often experienced when calling in.

[greenhat]

Greenhat,

I'm glad to hear your pages are now loading. We want to make sure we can help in any way and will be in touch to discuss this further.



Shane102,

We are more then willing to look in to these issues even deeper. Our hosting team will contact with you soon.

Sincerely,

See, i think it's the problem. So far i've been getting a lot of empty promises and the only solution offered was to upgrade to a super expensive plan which im sure i do not need given my relatively low traffic.
I dont need a website that will always be super fast. I just need a website that will always load. And lately, it's been happening a lot less then advertised 99% of the time. While im being told by your staff that it's completely normal based on GoDaddy's "tests". Sure, the site is loading fine now, but it doesnt look like i can trust it to load like that all the time.

[greenhat]

Just got a call from a GoDaddy support person. Nice guy - Said they will monitor the website and try to figure out the problem. It's nice to actually have someone looking into the issue ,but it's unfortunate that the only way to make that happen is when you make a fuss about it on the forums.

[charmedbytina2]

Said they will monitor the website and try to figure out the problem.

and the check is in the mail.

(former godaddy client and reseller!)

Tina

[greenhat]

and the check is in the mail.

(former godaddy client and reseller!)

Tina

:) unfortunately, no check.. i wouldn't mind given the potential sales these downtimes have cost me.
either way, it's a pain in the a&& to move. so, if they get their sh&t together , i guess i'll stay for now.. if these problems start happening again, i'll definitely hit the road.