Is Testing Customer Support Unfair?

ldcdc said:
Not often an option when it comes to VPS/dedicated servers providers though. :)
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VPS but more so dedicated do have very commonly a setup fee so I can’t see many hosts waiving that for a trial however a method of sorts that I’ve seen and we have been considering is for VPS in particular to offer a week for £1 after which the price would return to normal.

Not entirely sure on its effectiveness as we are all aware what “Free” offers usually result in on our networks however it’s in use by some bigger companies so the results can’t be too bad.
 
There are many VPS hosts that will offer a money back guarantee (minus setup fees) but usually on a limited time (3-7 days). Dedicated servers are a different story, but if you're investing in a dedicated server you would have checked out their support and their reputation before dropping $200+ with them wouldn't you?
 
Customer services is one of the consideration that we have to aware of when we are looking for web hosting provider. We do not want the lack of response when we need help. Testing the certain hosting provider customer services is a good move.. It can directly or indirectly tell how well this hosting company is. ;-)
 
Really-I've never asked anything that tied up a customer service person for more than a few seconds. It was normally a very generic question, although when I have found someone I wanted to buy a service from and was choosing from say two companies, I often send off a more technical question. Not just hosting related either, but when buying things-recently a huge garden playground set (a significant investment) and I asked simply whether there was flexibility in where to put the slide.

I went with the one that didn't have flexibility-even though it meant re-landscaping my garden-because the company that did was rude as he!!. I'm not giving my money to someone who doesn't respect a potential client who is willing to put out that amount of money, knowing that I may have to deal with that shoddy customer service again in the future.

Anyway it has in the past provided some interesting results.
 
We get this pretty often. Customer support should always be polite and helpful. We are extremely focused on customer satisfaction and are aware that customers want to know what they're getting into before making a purchase. That's just being a smart consumer.
 
I'm glad that the majority don't think I'm doing anything underhand. Ultimately I think that good customer service should be polite to anyone, without going into detailed help or work for the person making the enquiry. Its a good guide to how things will be further down the road.
 
A lot of people do, but hosts tend to verify your customer status. If you are not a customer, they very well may not assist you in anyway.
 
I think its definitely fair to test customer support before ordering from a new provider. In fact, I'd highly recommend it
 
I think it's a good idea to test out the support. You do have to take into consideration spikes in call volume. There are times when a paticular server may be experiencing issue causing the calls to spike. I would imagine 2 random calls around the same time of day should give you an idea.
 
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