To assure fastest response and avoid tickets becoming stalled or delayed, always provide as much detail as you can about an issue, including any changes you may have recently made to your services or even your local computer (in case of access issues), even if they don't seem relevant. Provide any necessary special directions to access your account. For dedicated server customers, make sure you have updated access information stored in our management system. We generally recommend you do not send password information in tickets, especially via email, unless it is absolutely necessary.

Where possible, we prefer that customers submit one ticket per issue and keep one issue per ticket. This allows us to easily tell what specific matter is being handled in a ticket, to correctly close issues once they are completed, and to move tickets to other departments without stalling the progress of other unrelated matters in the same ticket. Duplicate tickets, especially from multiple account contacts can cause confusion as to the progress of an issue and can result in slower or inconsistent responses. Duplicate tickets may be merged or closed to consolidate requests and mitigate confusing situations.

Please do not send ticket emails addressed to more than one department or CC'ed to other individuals that should not be given private information. These tickets may not be routed properly and may end up in the wrong department, or all in the same department, and any replies will go to anyone that was CC'ed on your messages. If you need to address multiple departments, send emails to each department separately with only the information for issues relevant to that department. Cross posting duplicate tickets will not result in faster responses, and may cause confusion between departments as to whether an issue has already been handled.

If you feel a ticket is not being handled promptly, a reply to the ticket is a valid way to request attention. If you prefer to call our support staff, please have a ticket number ready, as well as any IP address or account details so we can identify you and your issue quickly. When calling, please be aware that we will not always be able to completely resolve a request with a single phone call and some matters simply cannot be handled via telephone for security or policy reasons. A phone call does not necessarily guarantee that any issue will be able to be solved more quickly than an equivalent ticket about the same issue.

Use of the ticket system is generally more efficient than verbal troubleshooting due to the type of information that often must be relayed. Tickets also allow us to maintain a history of the progress on your issue (so you do not have to explain your issue several times to different people), and permit us to handle more issues at a time, so we often will ask you submit a ticket if your issue is complex or is expected to take a while to address completely.

While you may notice that you are able to choose from two different priority levels for your tickets, you should note that we treat all support tickets as high priority and will always consider outage conditions to be of the highest priority. Tickets are triaged by our staff to ensure focus on issues affecting the most customers most quickly, but all tickets will always be handled as quickly as possible.

Any reply to any ticket in any status will return it to the "Open" state and it will immediately be seen by our support staff. Please note that non-support departments, such as IP Allocation, Sales, Billing, and others may have specific hours of operation and will be considered to be relatively low priority. If you have an issue that is affecting your service, it should always be filed to the support department, but be advised that Sales and Billing related issues cannot always be resolved by technical support staff.

Ticket statuses indicate what type of ticket you have submitted as well as its progress. The definitions below explain what each status indicates and what you may expect to happen to your ticket while in this state.

Routine Statuses

• Open: Your ticket is in the active queue. It will be looked at soon, if it is not already being reviewed. We will reply if we need more information or once we believe we have resolved the matter. Unless the solution is expected to take a while to complete, you may not receive any staff response until we have addressed the issue.
• In Progress: Your ticket is being worked on by a staff member and an update will be provided as soon as it is completed, or if more information is required. If the ticket will take a long time, a staff member will update you with progress when possible.
• On Hold: Your ticket is stalled. We are awaiting a staff action, an external request completion, or a customer action to confirm the ticket is resolved. We will follow up with this ticket periodically until it is completed.
• Pending: Your ticket is inactive. A staff member will have responded to indicate that we either believe we have resolved your ticket, or that we need more information from you to resolve it. If we do not receive a response, we will send a reminder in three days, and close the ticket after the fourth. We will not revisit this ticket unless you respond to it.
• Closed: Your ticket is completed. A staff member has received confirmation from you that your issue is resolved or we have not heard from you within four days regarding a ticket that was previously pending action from you. If you need to reactivate a closed issue, simply create a new reply to your ticket.

Special Statuses

• Setup: You have an active installation request or order that is in some stage of provisioning. The ticket will be kept in this status until it is actively being completed, then it will be moved to the "In Progress" status. After completion, you will be notified and the ticket will be closed.
• Upgrade: You have an active hardware or service modification which is scheduled, or awaiting parts, or confirmation of scheduling. This status may also be used for tickets involving equipment repairs. Once the request is completed, you will be notified and the ticket will be closed.
• Inbound Ship: Your ticket specifies you have sent a package and that it is en route to the data center. If appropriate, we will update your ticket when the package is received requesting further directions or, if they have been provided, it will be moved to another status as appropriate. Once a package arrives, if we have no handling directions yet, the ticket will be moved to "Pending" and the package will be placed in storage. This status is also used if you have scheduled an in-person work visit until that visit is completed.
• Outbound Ship: Your ticket specifies that a piece of equipment belonging to you should be shipped out of the data center. The ticket will remain in this state while shipping and packing details are confirmed. Once the package shipment is completed, a tracking number will be provided and the ticket will be moved to "Pending."

Non-Support Statuses

• Credited: Most electronic payment methods will result in tickets being created. If your ticket is listed as "Credited" your payment has been acknowledged and credited toward your hosting account. It will remain in this status indefinitely. If there is an issue, you may reply to the ticket to reopen it.
• Forwarded: If your ticket was submitted to our abuse department, it was not able to be handled directly and has been passed downstream or upstream to an appropriate party. Please note that your ticket may not receive any response unless further information is needed and will be closed once we believe the issue has been settled. If in doubt, please reply to provide further details.
• Awaiting Resolution: For tickets from the abuse department, we are monitoring this ticket with high priority awaiting an immediate resolution. Tickets in this state are fast-tracked to the suspended state if the issues mentioned within are not handled quickly and satisfactorily.
• Suspended: If your ticket was submitted to or sent from our abuse department, the resources reported for abuse have been taken offline pending customer action. Please note that your ticket may not receive any response unless further information is needed and will be closed once we believe the issue has been settled or the account is terminated permanently. If your ticket is in the billing department, this status indicates that services will be or have been suspended due to a billing issue.
• DMCA Review: If your ticket was submitted to our abuse department, we are monitoring the resources named in a DMCA notification for removal. The ticket is closed when the resources are removed or upon suspension of the customer systems involved. If the customer files a counter-notification, it will be sent back to the reporter and the ticket closed.

If there is ever an issue with how a ticket is being handled, reply to reopen the ticket. If you require escalation to management, you may request this in the ticket. It will be flagged, kept "open" or "in progress" and reviewed during the same business day.