Kickstart Daily Meanderings

The tale of an idiot and a customer service operative.

Yesterday I wanted to make a change behind the scenes in my
http://imkickstart.com blog.

I fired up SmartFTP and tried to log in to my site's hosting
account, but all I got was a message telling me that my login
authentication had failed.

I tried every possible password I could think of, but no luck.

A search of emails from my hosting company, HostGator, reminded
me that they had recently changes people's passwords because they
were concerned that many folks had used passwords that were less
than secure. All I needed to do was follow a link in that email
and my new password would be created for me.

Excellent. I'd be back up and running in no time!

Well. it didn't work out that way. Nothing I did allowed me to
get in to the account.

So I resorted to using the live chat customer support service
that HostGator offer.

My helper was Jennifer and she very patiently changed my main
account password again for me and talked me through regaining
access to my Cpanel.

Success! There was everything, just as I'd left it.

I clicked through from the master account Cpanel to the hosted
account one for imkickstart.com

The the problems started.

There were no files there. none. Not a single one. My entire site
had disappeared. The FTP Manager in the Cpanel even told me that
the account had no MySql databases attached to it. None.

But wait ... I went to my site using a different browser window
and there it was. My blog was running fine. All its pages were
intact, and clearly the MySql database was installed and working
perfectly.

And yet, the hosting account still insisted that the domain had
no files at all.

Jennifer was puzzled. I was beginning to get desperate.

It was one of those moments when you know one thing to be true,
but your eyes tell you the complete opposite.

Jennifer and I talked around the problem for about an hour. I was
beginning to think I was going crazy - but she maintained a
friendly professionalism throughout and I never once felt that
she would abandon me.

Eventually, she found the solution - and I had one of those
moments where you wish a hole would open up and swallow you.

It seems that when I started imkickstart - the blog that teaches
people how to be Internet marketers (the irony isn't lost on me)
- I set up the domain in my regular Reseller account at
HostGator. But, for some reason that now escapes me, I changed my
mind and bought a new hosting package from HostGator called their
Baby Hosting Plan.

So I'd actually ended up with the domain being in both accounts.

Jennifer and I had just wasted an hour puzzling over why there
were no files to be found in the wrong account.

Once my idiocy had been proven, Jennifer sorted the login problem
out in a few seconds.

I tried to make a joke of it, and apologized profusely, but still
felt like the biggest stupid in town.

Jennifer stayed totally professional, friendly and helpful to the
end - as if dealing with mindless morons was her life's ambition.

You hear a lot of bad stuff about hosting companies and the
customer support they offer, but in this case I can't praise
HostGator (in general) and Jennifer (in particular) too highly.

http://www.urlnex.us/hostgator/

You wouldn't think I teach people how to do this stuff, would
you!