An Honest Rochen Testimonial

[metallicrab]

First, let me say that a testimonial is a testimonial...they aren't always good, they aren't always bad.

I started with Rochen over a year ago, as obviously suggested by Joomla.org...back when I started doing CMS sites for a couple of
customers. Let me say that Rochen had me from the start. They
were helpful in getting me set up, and answered my novice questions
with only kindness.

....Then I upgraded to a reseller account. I have no idea why, but ever
since then, my experience with Rochen has been terrible...to say the
very least. While their packages are priced with good value, a single
staff member has spoiled my faith in Rochen.

I have found that lately the router I am on (Austin) is prone to more
problems than it used to have. That is not my problem, however...my
problem lays in the fact that one of their staff members has time and
time again been very very rude to me through support tickets. Where I
drew the line is when I approached the "billing department" about an
overcharge I noticed from Rochen on my bank statement. Now...it
is still undecided whether my bank or Rochen caused this problem...but
I can tell you one thing...this support guy from billing was rude to me
for the last time. He offered no help whatsoever.

All in all, Good things about Rochen:
1. They have decent prices.

Un-desirable things about Rochen:
1. Only tickets...no phone or live chat like almost all other hosts.
2. Under-staffed...literally like 1-2 people answer my tickets and
one of them is totally rude and egotistical.
3. I have had the "support staff" answer billing questions and the
"billing staff" answer support questions.
4. They WILL NOT admit when they're wrong. Plain and simple.
5. One of their "senior" staff members is perhaps the rudest person
I have ever dealt with.
6. Rochen claims that one of the things they are most proud of is not
outsourcing their customer support....that is great...but only having
a handful of people...and only by way of support tickets? THERE ARE
OTHER HOSTS that have GREAT support teams that ARE NOT outsourced.

[jroakes]

I have never experienced any of this. I have been a customer much longer. They are not warm an fuzzy but they are prompt and knowledgeable and that wins hands down every time.

[MrNick]

I think that you must be talking about another hosting company because none of what you say rings any bells and I have been a customer for over 5 years.

Nick

[MikeS]

+1 and I have been a customer for >10 years, when they only had 1 server!!!

[Wendy]

Hi there,

Thank you for taking the time to list your concerns here, I hope that I'll be able to address them as best as possible for you.

First of all, I'm glad to hear that you find our pricing model to be decent and also that your initial experience with our staff was good. It's unfortunate however that your more recent experiences have left you feeling uncomfortable about our business. I hope though that with some clarification and some openness here, we can begin to regain your confidence in Rochen.

With respect to your mentioned list of Undesirable things,

It is indeed true that we do not offer telephone or live chat support here at Rochen. We offer only ticket based support in our customer portal. This is provided 24/7 for technical matters. While our billing department does not operate 24/7 we do also answer tickets of that nature as quickly as possible.

Ticket is support is our preference for the following reasons:

a) For security as well as privacy reasons, to ensure that we are indeed corresponding with the rightful owner of the hosting account through legitimate log in details.

b) With our ticketing service we're able to keep a record of all correspondence with any issue. This record is available to you as the customer, but also to our entire support staff. This way, even if your initial support representative goes off shift, the next person working will be able to pick up where they left off and assist you as quickly possible, per our 24/7 support promise.

c) You'd likely find that with many providers who do offer telephone and live chat support, obtain their support staff on an out sourced basis. Note, I'm not saying that all of them do that. Here at Rochen that is not something that we do, and are not willing to do. Our staff are all direct employees of Rochen Ltd with certification in the hosting industry, from locations including the UK, USA, Canada and Australia

While replies from our staff members may at times seem terse or even abrupt, they are never intended to come across that way, or in anyway directed negatively at you personally. It's important that we provide the most concise and accurate information in response to customer concerns. This is to ensure that we're providing the necessary support, not clouding any issues, and also leaving a consistent trail of information for other staff members who may end up handling your issue during their own shift.

I will admit that in my personal opinion, the above is one disadvantage to ticket/text support. Not only is more difficult to express ourselves than in face-to-face or telephone conversation, it's also much more possible to read in to replies and find negativity when none is intended, especially if we're already at a heightened level of frustration or discontent. I know that I've personally done this myself at times.

It should be noted though, that we never claim to anybody that we offer anything outside of ticket support. Our support system is clearly described on our website at the following page: http://www.rochenhost.com/about/my-rochen-overview so that people are fully aware of our support medium before signing up with Rochen.

It's understandable that this may not be the desired the support method for some people. But, for the majority of our active customers, we find it is what is most efficient. If you do feel that you're specific needs would be better served by a provider who offers live/phone tech support then we'd honestly suggest to you that you should switch to one. Obviously, for a business that would not be our preference and, I'd love for us to be able to make you happy with our offered services and features. But every customer needs to be able to find the best service for their unique needs, and we completely understand that.

Also, yes, our staff will offer support in areas outside of their regular post, if and when they have time to do so. Our billing department does not operate 24/7 while our technical support does. A tech support member could leave your ticket for a designated billing support member, but they may try to respond when possible so as not to keep you waiting longer than necessary*. Same happens sometimes if tech support is at a high activity level and a billing member is available to assist.

As for our staffing levels, we find that our staff, even at a smaller number than some other providers, are able to handle our ticket queue quickly and efficiently. Shifts are carefully scheduled to ensure availability for all customers on a 24/7 global basis. It's possible that given your location you've had responses from the same staff members due to area and time zone.

Regarding our acknowledgment of our own errors, I'd like to think that we do that when such issues arise. You seem to feel differently and I'd be happy to discuss that with you either in your ticket or over a phone call.

In closing, I would like to thank you again for bringing these concerns to our attention. Your recent situation in the last few days has not gone unnoticed by Rochen staff and management. I can certainly understand that you are frustrated, and I'm sorry if our ticket correspondence has been the sole reason for that. I would be happy to give you a phone call to see if there's anything that we can do to further assist with your billing issue. I will also update your open ticket with that offer so that you can provide a suitable date and time as well as preferred telephone number.