Really interesting article Rachel. We started out reselling hosting through a DSVR virtual server about 10 years ago (before they were acquired by Demon). This became a pain in the backside for all of the reasons you’ve listed above. So about 6 years ago, we started divorcing ourselves from offering any hosting packages; insisting that clients have a direct relationship with the hosting company and that any support queries be directed to them.

This worked fairly well until we stared developing Content Managed websites. We found it difficult to educate the client in the difference between CMS support (which is our responsibility) and Hosting support (which isn’t). More often than not, we found ourselves answering questions and carrying the burden of fixing issues that should really be directed to the hosting company. On the occasions that we insisted that “It’s not our problem, contact your hosting company” we found ourselves with a rather frustrated client.

I suppose this really comes down to the detail of the SLA that we draw up with the client. We’ve actually taken a u-turn on this issue over the last 2 years and accepted that support covers CMS & Hosting. We too use the brilliant guys at Memset and have a fully managed server with them. When the clients calls with a CMS issue, we support it. If they call with a hosting issue that we can’t fix ourselves, we discuss the issue directly with Memset who have always fixed the problem on our behalf.

BTW, this is really only an issue for clients that don’t have an internal IT department or SLA with an external IT company. For those, we actually recommend that they purchase and manage the hosting themselves. Those clients tend to understand the words “Best to raise a support ticket with your IT department…they’ll be able to help you.”

So whilst I totally agree with the points, we’ve accepted that hosting is a hot potato that we’re prepared to handle for the smaller clients, rather than pass the burden on to them.

Great article.

Gary