Great Hosting Service

I spent about 90 minutes on live chat with Host Gator today, trying to track down an inability to connect to my MySQL databases using a desktop application. (I use NaviCat, which makes accessing a database much quicker than using phpMyAdmin.) I was reminded again of why I like and recommend this web host.

First, I got a tech that actully read what I was writing. So many times, at tech companies and others, the person responding doesn't bother to read my missive, or at least doesn't read it all in context, so I get answers that aren't helpful.

Second, I wasn't treated like a newbie. He (Thomas) recognized I had some experience with what I wanted to do and didn't ask me to do stupid things that weren't helpful or even related to what I was trying to accomplish.

Lastly, he fixed the problem! It took a while because he wasn't familiar with this admittedly odd use; however, he found it was caused by my server having additional security installed, security which made its databases inaccessible to external clients even if they were already cleared through cPanel.

Live chat is much better than telephone or e-mail in a case like this, because it offers the immediacy of a telephone contact with the ability to do other things while the rep is working on your problem.