I just got my website, blog, and Foxwood email back up again. And as you would expect there is a story and a lesson. A couple of years ago I signed up with an agency ownership program out of Seattle. Included in my agency fee was website development and hosting support. Earlier this year the organization decided to get out of that part of the business and focus on marketing and training. They provided the name of a person and at first it was a seamless transition. However a couple of months ago I started to have problems with my website. Sometimes it would be unavailable but my blog and email would work. A call to the support guy was usually handled quickly even if he was in Texas fighting forest fires. Then almost a month ago I lost access to all 3. I had 3 email addresses and 2 phone numbers for my support guy. I was relentless chasing him without any success. Considering how he likes to live on the edge I checked the obituaries in Seattle. I even sent an email through LinkedIn disguised as a connection offer to a man in Seattle with a very similar name. All the while I was tweeting and sending messages to any social media site the support guy had. I went on WhoIs to check all the places where my website was found. I then began filing trouble tickets with each of them. Finally I read through my support guy's blog to see if there was a clue and I found it. He said one of his clients had a self-inflicted problem with his site and contacted the server (host) firm claiming they were my support guy. An argument ensued resulting in the hosting company dropping all of my support guy's clients including me. Now I knew what happened. But because I relied on my organization and then this support person, I did not have the proper log-ins and passwords so for a time my trouble tickets went unanswered. Finally when I contacted the sales department I got a response. After some long explanations, they turned on my site, blog, and email again. All is well. Except the final part of the process is to move everything to a local source, a friend I trust. AND to get control of the log-ins and passwords.
Actually while everything is back to normal I learned a few tricks just in case. My website could be copied and pasted from Google Cached Pages. My blog site, TypePad, had all the content from my blog but none of the videos, links, or images. And there was even a way to go to the domain company and get a bypass on my email. Thank heavens I didn't have to do that as there would have been many hours of putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.
So as you might expect, there are lessons. Don't assume a supplier has completely investigated a substitute if they get out of a particular service. Don't rely on an "expert" for your ownership responsibilities. Finally it's always better to do business with someone you know and trust, even if it costs more. While this adventure appears to be almost over, it certainly was not a pleasant one; and you know, I should have known better!
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