You're all doing it wrong.

[Hostwinds]

Great post! I think your emphasis on waiting to respond to obnoxious tickets is important. Customer service is extra important when you're a company providing a service online. The customers can't see you, so they may behave differently than say, if a washer repairman was in their home. It's typically easier for a person to be rude behind a keyboard than to your face. You just have to remember that your job is to handle all tickets professionally, no matter the circumstance. If you are helpful, professional and empathetic most people will calm down and work with you for a solution. Of course, there are those random people who really are just jerks, but, like you said, they're less common than we think.

Again, great post (you posses great wit) and thanks for sharing!

 

[HostXNow]

Excellent post! Well written etc. All providers can learn something from it no matter how great they think they might be.

 

[fm7]

Price is a custom thing based on what your spend is, on what your staff costs and on what end of accounting you find acceptable to live off of.

Price depends on customer acquisition cost. Nothing more really matters.


The price is defined by the segment leaders and your margin will be lower than theirs.

 

[Hosterbox]

Really great read! 

 

[ZenithHosting]

Extremely educational, love the high quality post!

 

[DedidamNET]

Just don't be that guy that keeps asking if you'll solve their problems for them.  Nobody likes that guy.

I think that is one of the main issues with the hosting companies nowadays. They are full of people that do not have the proper skills to run such a company. At the first problem they encounter they will spam the forums or if they are resellers, spam the provider with requests to solve their issues. You do not go to war without a sword, so make sure to get one.