CommandDork - I have to agree with Vinny here, I've personally submitted for over $8K/mth in refunds over the last two days.

WhiteSites - I know the old system is Pillar Axiom and the new is EMC CLARiiON, but I am not well versed in the pros/cons of each.

I have several clients that have gotten credits on their accounts when they experienced server downtime. Granted this doesn't make up for lost time and money due to hardware failures, but it helps a little. My feeling is if you are running any kind of website that is deemed mission critical it should be on a dedicated server, or better yet multiple load balanced dedicated servers. I know the cloud is supposed to be like this, but I still don't trust the neighbors on any kind of shared environment.
Jamie I hope they eventually release some cheaper cloud hosting accounts, similar to the entry level VPS boxes. Or maybe just get some really cheap dedicated servers. Godaddy offers dedicated servers without the support plan. You get reboots, and stuff, but the admin of the server is up to you. Kind of like a colo without having to provide your own hardware.

My thinking is that eventually we won't have the standard VPS and instead we will have entry-level Cloud hosting. That would be cheaper than standard dedicated and also more reliable, so I'll back that myself if/when it happens.

As to the GoDaddy practice of offering unmanaged servers, I can categorically state that will never happen here. We've always focused on Support first and foremost, so offering umanaged simply would not work - we can't train our techs to NOT provide support when it was needed. If we did that we'd end up supporting clients free of charge, and that road leads to madness...

But wouldn't a unmanged dedicated server be no different than a colocated box? If a person knows what they are doing, and can run their own server, why should they pay for the additional support they will never need? Godaddy offers unmanged dedicated servers for less than I can colocate my own hardware.

This survey is YEARS, not months old. It has been on the website for ages. By the way, at this time, domains are the only remnant of my hosting with HMS.

My name is Brian Raboin and I've been with HMS since 2001. Which means I've actually been here longer than Jamie, if anyone can believe that. I started like most people as a Support tech, and at the time it was just 5 people in the whole company.

If anyone would like to speak directly with our CEO, Art Zeile, COO, Joel Daly or myself (I'm now the VP of Operations) just email me at braboin@hostmysite.com and I will be happy to setup a call.

All of your points are valid and we do take them seriously. these recent SAN failures and the services that were affected, while are technical issues, are ones we take full responsibility for without excuse. We expect better of ourselves and we will deliver on it.

Yes, I saw that the survey results on the website are from November 2008 - I'm writing our marketing team to address that. These results however, are indeed from the last 6 months - spanning from Jan 28 - July 28, 2009

I have a suggestion, that might make all of us feel better.
Replace copier in photo with SAN
Jamie gets first wack

I was on-site for the entirety of both issues. The first one lasting 25 hours, the second, a short 12 hours. This course of corrective action was considered both times by the engineering team. It was shot down by the Change Advisory Board, but we will re-submit the request.

Right - and we're getting more into the colocation business as well, so if you really want to support your own hardware we offer that as an option.

Oh, and Brian, you took off for like a year or so when you were in Spain, which is why I have more tenure than you.

Yes, but in total time spent actually working, I still have you beat by several hundred hours.

Forum posts are worth additional hours. Jamie has you beat there by a large margin.

Hear, hear!

We don't want to hear about your bureaucracy. We as customers just want results. I'm sympathetic if there's a real reason why HostMySite has had problems, but as customers we came to HMS in part because things got done without a bureaucracy getting in the way. In the midst of a disaster, a bureaucracy has no place.

I am with you comprug. I was very understanding last year when the construction crew cut a wire while digging a trench. But a SAN going out isn't the kind of thing I consider outside of HMS's control.

Additionally when HMS finally takes the old SAN into the parking lot for a beat down, I expect an email to go out to all customers inviting them to take part in this event. I reserve the right to sell concessions, and all merchandising opportunities ( Official HMS beat a SAN Paloza T-Shirts ). Tickets will need to be purchased in advance via ticket master. VIP seating, and bottle service will be available.