Network World, and IDG, its parent company, are around the corner from where I work. One of their columnists tells a tale of woe with his shared web hosting account on GoDaddy. (Having a shared account means you’re paying about $100/year to be on a computer with hundreds, or even thousands, of other web sites, usually on the same IP address.)
Dealing with the support people on the phone led the writer to a classic moment in technical support, where he says to the grunt on the other end of the line, “Let me get this straight. You want me to do something you didn’t understand, and you can’t tell me what it is, but you still expect me to do it?” That’s the thing about frontline support. One minute you’re talking to a newbie customer who’s easy to confuse and put off, and the next you’re confronted with a confident heavy-hitter who writes for a major tech publisher.