Good service means good value (Fasthosts.co.uk)

Member Name: sgreenland

Product:	Fasthosts.co.uk
Date:	24/04/01 (487 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good service technique

Disadvantages: Expensive for a single site, perhaps

I've been using FastHosts for a while now to host several websites, including one which is database-driven and has a subscriber base of over 3,000...so it needs to be reliable and easily accessible!

FastHosts have impressed me with the speed with which they have responded to problems - every host has them, so in my opinion the important thing is how quickly they're fixed! - and with their courteous approach. There's no attempt to make the problem sound like my fault, and the telephone operators on the helpline genuinely sound willing to help. Add to this the fact that their helpline is an (0845) number, making calls cheap, and the fact that every time I've called them (including several times before buying to test the service) they've answered the phone within 15 seconds, and you have a recipe for customer satisfaction.

Their prices are competitive, so it's not as if you're paying over the odds for such a good service. I would recommend them anytime, and if you have several sites (or have a group of friends with sites), the opportunity to host unlimited numbers of sites through the reseller option at £500 per year looks better and better.

[An update]...a slight hiccup in our relationship, although not (yet) enough to warrant changing the rating...

We have been trying to run CGI scripts on Fasthosts, and have come up with a problem. Not surprising, since I am not a CGI expert. The problem is that otherwise reliable scripts seem to encounter slight problems when run with Fasthosts, and they only offer to help at their consultancy rate of £90/hour. This would not be so bad if we could ask around to see if other users have had similar problems. But Fasthosts have disabled their bulletin boards where users could swap messages because "some users abused the facility". Possibly because people were exchanging information about how to fix the problem, and doing Fasthosts out of consultancy fees
? That may be a conspiracy theorist at work, but the fact remains that we can only sort out our scripts for a minimum of £90...

I'll continue to this op as and when I need to contact these guys again, so stay tuned...

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