Blog Header Banner

Archive for the ‘customer service’ Category

Featured Client – Darren Cain   no comments

Posted at Sep 17, 2013 @ 3:15pm customer service,green,News

TKSpotlight_CotM_DarrenCainLast month, we introduced our first “Featured Client”, Nick. If you didn’t get to check that out, Nick runs a Web/WordPress Development Studio (called W5 Web Designs) that specializes in small to medium-sized business site development. Here at TurnKey, we appreciate each and every one of you TurnKey Turkey’s (hmm… that’s catchy)!  To show our appreciation, we like to highlight a client and give our friends in the World Wide Web a little background on what they do.  Nick was nice enough to give us a TON of info about his business, how he’s enjoys being with TurnKey, and even sent in a great photo of his family!

This time around we have our mate Darren who is from across the pond. And without further ado, here is a little info on our new Featured Client!

Darren is the founder and CEO at Torpix Network in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. While studying Media at college, he found a passion to work with computers and eventually became a computer technician in the UK. Four years ago, Darren began Torpix Network and offered IT services as a hobby. Since then, Torpix has turned into an active business.

Darren began as a reseller with TurnKey and has, within two years, upgraded to running his company on dedicated servers from our green data center in Latham, New York. “TurnKey has an excellent, true, 100% uptime,” Darren said. “They seem to never have any downtime, and if there has been, I’ve never noticed. When there is an issue either if it was my fault or a network issue, they go above and beyond the call of duty to resolve it, even though my services with them are self-managed.”

Aww shucks! Thanks, Darren.

If you want to learn more about Torpix Network, go check them out! If you want to be the next Featured Client, email dyoungs@turnkeyinternet.net or let us know on our Facebook or Twitter.

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by Dylan on September 17th, 2013

Tagged with , , ,

Winning the Storage War   no comments

 

StorageWarArticle_Blog

Our CEO and President, Adam Wills, was recently featured in this month’s Capital Magazine! Adam discussed the beginnings of TurnKey Internet and how with a small team here at our green data center, we’ve been able to work with over 13,000 clients in over 100 different countries. Starting in 1999, TurnKey has gone through multiple phases to reach where we are today. And if you have been keeping up with us here, on Facebook, or on Twitter, you will know that we show no signs of slowing down!

“High-speed Internet back in the early to mid-2000’s wasn’t really ubiquitous everywhere, and it’s not what what we understand what it is today. Especially with the concept of mobile-devices that we have now. The iPhones, and a few years later the Droid, had been invented, meaning that people could communicate anywhere on the go. They needed a centralized place, and they needed a centralized communication channel and have that data stored. We saw the opportunity on the horizon.”

Check out the rest of the article here to read what else Adam had to say!

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by Dylan on September 3rd, 2013

Tagged with , , , ,

Featured Client- August 2013   no comments

 

TKSpotlight_CotM_NickJubrey

Hello TurnKey friends! If you have been following our recent updates, you already know that things are getting pretty busy around here. We are expanding our data center and have put out some awesome products such as the TurnKey Desk 2.0 and our web-conferencing platform- Voxwire! Within a year we have been able to put forth newer, better and awesomer  (yes, awesomer) products and have also been able to expand due to our dedication and most importantly, you- the customers!

While keeping you ladies and gents happy is always our number one priority, we’ve decided to up our game with our appreciation to our clients.  We will now be posting a “Featured Client” article once a month. This will allow us to introduce you to our clients, show you what they do and how we have worked with them to help build their business! Without further ado, check out all the nice things our client, Nick, had to say about us!

 

My name is Nick. I am married to the most amazing woman, who is way more understanding than I ever expected.  We have 5 children from 2 to 18. I run a Web/WordPress Development Studio that specializes in small to medium-sized business site development.  I help companies develop their businesses through professional web presences. I make sure that their social media is properly targeting to the right audiences, develop email marketing plans and customization, create or re-create websites to meet the needs of clients’ users, including mobile and responsive designs

 

I rely on TurnKey to host my websites 24/7/365. TurnKey is essential to my company’s success. I design and develop for a living. I love what I do and I love that the folks at TurnKey do, too. I have been doing business with TurnKey for the past 3 years. I started out with shared hosting for a fantastic price until I outgrew the it and moved right into a dedicated server. I have never looked back. I have recommended Turnkey to several business associates and have heard nothing but awesome experiences.

 

My business has grown to what it is today because TurnKey has given me the tools that I need to be successful. The help desk is ready to go whether it’s 3 pm or 3 am and believe me, I have used it at both times. Because their responses are almost instant in most cases, they save me so much time so that I can focus my time where it needs to go- to my clients.

 

A month ago I had a technical difficulty with my server. The tech support guys had a lead to the problem and were working on it within an hour. I got several follow-ups checking in and even the Sales Manager contacted me to make sure I was satisfied; of course I was! Their green initiative is amazing. They have a zero carbon footprint and stellar customer service.

nick2

Nick and his wonderful family!

If you are interested in getting to know W5 Designs LLC or would like to talk to Nick Jubrey, swing over to http://w5webdesigns.com/ and get in touch with them or email them at info@w5webdesigns.com.

w5webdesigns.com – Web Design Solutions

Web design, concentrated on small to medium size business and non profitts

Share

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Cloud Tip of the Month- July 2013   no comments

Posted at Jul 23, 2013 @ 11:18am Ask the Expert,Ask the Experts,customer service,green

cloud and exclamation sign illustration

Why move to the cloud? Here is July’s cloud tip.

 The Cloud — Cost Effective in Nature

If you haven’t opted for cloud technology yet, don’t lag behind. Pop into the cloud market and enjoy a cost-effective business environment. The cloud promotes device independence, where the cost of hardware and software automatically is cut. Although, there is an initial expense of deploying to the cloud, it can also focus on a pay-for-what-you-use model. Businesses moving to the cloud are guaranteed to save money, and by choosing TurnKey Internet, we can make it easier for you to get to the cloud!

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by Alan on July 23rd, 2013

Tagged with , , , , ,

Big news from the Tech Cave – World-wide attack on WordPress!   no comments

Posted at Apr 12, 2013 @ 3:39pm Ask the Expert,customer service

bigstock-Flat-line-alert-on-a-heart-mon-20436989As you know, we’re big on making sure that you’re all happy as clams with the service you’re receiving from us. How happy is a clam, you ask? I don’t know. I don’t even know where that expression came from, and that’s not important right now.

Anyway, I feel it is important to give you blog readers a heads up on a crazy, world-wide WordPress attack that might be affecting your service, just in case you haven’t stopped by the TurnKey Helpdesk recently. I just had a chat with our Operations Manager, Brian, and since he basically sleeps in our cold containment pods, what you’re about to read is fresh from the kitchen. Watch your hands—the plate is hot…

There is currently a world-wide attack affecting all WordPress sites at all hosts. This is an attack of unprecedented nature, from a botnet operating on 90,000+ IP addresses.

Due to the nature of the attack, memory consumption on targeted servers has increased. In some cases, this has resulted in degradation of performance and unresponsive servers. This is due to a high volume of ‘http’ requests, which can cause some servers to start swapping memory to disk, and possibly run out of memory. We’ve put measures in place at the firewall and at server level to off-load a lot of the attack, however, there isn’t much more we can do at this time. We have disabled all access to wp-login.php to ensure none of our customers are at risk. For those customers needing to log into their WordPress sites, please open a ticket with our support team, and we can provide access to your sites.

We are working closely with our security and channel partners to further address the issue as it becomes possible.

Again, we feel it’s important to stress that this is not a TurnKey-specific issue. Brian and I took a peek around, and it seems like everyone, everywhere is fighting the same, annoying battle.

We’re super grateful for your understanding and patience while the attack runs its course. If you would like further assistance, or have any additional questions, feel free to contact us by phone or email, Live Chat, Facebook or Twitter—however you would like. Owl? Sea plane? Regardless, we’ll be listening. Sit tight, and we will iron this out as soon as possible.

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

What makes an IT Professional? Better yet, a TurnKey Professional?   1 comment

Howdy do, Turnkey Lovers?

How are you feeling this week? I’m only asking because I’m not sure how to begin this topic. Let’s see, not too long ago, one of my co-workers mentioned that some of our competitors were writing blog entries on what it’s like to be an “IT Professional”. This has actually been something that I’m curious about myself.

What makes an IT Professional? I mean, IT (Information Technology) is such a large umbrella. So I did what I always do when I need to know something: Google. You would be surprised—well, you might not be—about the number of articles out there that deal with this very topic. Hundreds of “IT Professionals” all list their own explanations of what an IT Professional does.

Rather than bore you with yet another article on what an IT Professional does in general, I would prefer to take you into the world of a “TurnKey Professional”. These are probably one in the same, as a common denominator through all of the articles on IT professionals was this idea of wearing multiple hats; metaphorical hats, in this case. This could be anything from fixing a certain type of software, to providing customer service to a local client. If you’re really lucky, you may even get to work with a businessman or salesman.

In no place did I see this idea chiseled deeper into stone then at TurnKey Internet. On some days, I’m just your friendly, neighborhood slayer of tickets. This extends from any support issue as small as resetting a password on a locked out cPanel account, to deploying a major upgrade to new technology. On other days, I might be working on LiveChat, attempting to sell one of our many services—everything from dedicated servers, to colocation, to domain registration.

A TurnKey Professional is a jack of all trades, if you will. We each have skills that we must call on in a moment’s notice, to best service the needs of our customers. Isn’t that what an IT Professional is supposed to do? I’m not 100% on that, but I know here at TurnKey Internet, that’s what we do.

Having team members who each possess different skills, leads to a diverse, all-encompassing set of solutions to common issues that any IT Professional may run into. You know, that’s why I love working here. There are always multiple ways to solve an issue, and here at TurnKey, we usually end up employing many of them—if not all of them—to solve our clients’ needs. It’s quite refreshing.

Well, that’s just another little bit of information I wanted to share with you. It’s another way to show you Turnkey-lovers that I love what I do; another piece of information to share and bond over.

Until next time…

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Meet Kyle Sponable   2 comments

Posted at Jul 20, 2012 @ 11:47am customer service,Staff Interviews

Meet the latest member of the TurnKey Team, here to help assist you 24 x 7!

 

My name is Kyle Sponable, I am a graduate of Hudson Valley Community College with an Associate’s Degree in Computer Science specializing in Systems Administration.  I have been working at TurnKey Internet for about a month now.

Technology has been my passion for many years be it computers, rockets, aircraft, even antique engines. When I am not at Turnkey, my days vary from reenacting the days of old steam at shows and fairs, to launching rockets, to building DIY projects in my garage. When I am not building something or another I like to hunt and fish, watch movies, and travel.

Today I would like to tell you about my experiences here and maybe give you a taste of what it is like to be a tech here at TurnKey Internet.

I have been on all sides of the IT field from programming, to field work, consulting, to now datacenter. While I have been fortunate to have worked with many great people, working with the TurnKey team has far been the most enjoyable experience I have had so far. The atmosphere here is great; we have a team here that actually works together to solve problems and you can easily bounce problems off one another.  I think one of my biggest un-expected moments the first week was the friday barbecue – where the company sets up in the back parking lot and grills up chicken, burgers, or kabobs and everyone takes a break together to just chat and share a meal.   Its not something I’ve seen at other jobs before that I have had.

My first job was working as an automation programmer for a local Industrial Automation company; I have seen many green solutions for heating, cooling, and power generation.  Here, we have a radical design to cool our servers and cut our usage of power drastically. The heart of our datacenter is composed of state of the art servers, and they run the same as in any other data center I have been in or worked around. The only difference being is the sheer amount of energy saved by this new approach. Every day I am excited to come to work to get a chance to learn more about how this unique “bleeding edge technology” operates.

In closing, I am really enjoying working here, I feel as if I am growing not only my career as an IT professional but personally as an individual. I remember when I came in for my interview, Dave, one of my interviewers asked what I was looking for. My answer was “Meaningful employment”, and I am happy to say I have found it. It is great to be a part of building my community while saving the environment, and working at TurnKey has allowed me to do all of that.

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by admin on July 20th, 2012

Tagged with ,

How To Get Great Customer Service   no comments

Posted at Jun 25, 2012 @ 9:03am customer service,Small Business

I wrote a blog a while back about giving great customer service.  I’d like to take a moment and touch on an even more important point and, that is. how to GET great customer service.  There’s an old saying that is as true today as it was the day the phrase was coined:  “you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar”.  When calling customer service for any company you do business with – and it doesn’t matter if it’s your hosting company, the power company, the phone company, the manager at your local grocery store or whatever – there are some things that need to be kept in mind by the person who is expecting/needing assistance.

First and foremost, know what it is you need help with and take a minute or two prior to calling, speaking or writing, to figure out the best, most concise way to get that point across.  I will keep most of my examples within the scope of internet/network/server customer service only because I’ve been involved with it for 14 years.  Here’s what normally happens on a phone call:

Customer:  I’ve been with your company for 15 years now why all of a sudden am I having issues?

(buzzer sound from half time at a basketball game goes off in CSR’s head – CSR = Customer Service Rep).  Customer never told the CSR his/her name, account id, or any other identifying information, so CSR has no way to look account up and get background information while customer continues to talk – thus slowing down the process.  Additionally, customer did not state specifically, or even vaguely in this instance, what the issue is.  And, just for the record, these conversations actually take place on a daily basis.

CSR: I’d like to help, may I have the last name on the account, email address on the account or domain name associated with the account so I may pull your records up? Customer: Smith

Ok, hopefully, you’re seeing where I’m going with this.  These types of conversations get nowhere and take 4 times longer to get to the root of the issue and resolve than they need to.  The customer continually demands to know precisely when the issue will be resolved (as you’re still looking the account up and haven’t even yet been told what the issue is).  This is *not* how to get good customer service.

The truth of the matter is, CSR’s exist to give all customers 100% of their attention and assistance whether the customer has been with the company for 15 years or 15 minutes.  Stating how long you’ve been with the company is totally irrelevant.  Most customers think it’s relevant because they do not understand the role of the CSR and, that is, to give ALL customers 100% attention and assistance in a polite and professional way.

You (the customer) want your issue resolved.  Be concise, be specific.  The more concise and specific you can be with the information that you provide to a CSR, the quicker your issue will get resolved.  This does not mean recounting a story that began 12 years ago and somehow morphed into an issue with the company you’re currently with.  Again, supply only relevant, current information.

While you may be frustrated, taking it out on the CSR is often counter productive.  For instance, the CSR’s are human beings, just like you – while trained to handle the toughest of situations, they too have feelings, emotions and while they are there to help you 100%, when you are rude, or short (which is what happens when you let the frustrations get the best of you) – you end up alienating the CSR.  Even with the best of training by the CSR, when they get verbally abused, or insulted, or talked down to – they subconsciously may not give the extra 10% (110% now!) to help you get this situation resolved as quickly as possible.

CSR’s exist for customers.  You pay them, perhaps indirectly through your purchase, memerbship and/or subscriptions – and they are thre for you.  The key is to knowing how to maximize that to navigate to the solution you both want, a happy client with any issue resolved quickly and professionaly.

So, to summarize, some of the best ways to get the absolute best from any CSR (regardless of whether it’s your grocery store, insurance company, mechanic, hosting company or the utility company) is to remember the following:

1. Be specific and concise – afterall you have better things to do and you want your issue addressed as quickly as possible.

2. Be nice – do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

3. Leave irrelevant information out of the conversation – it’s wonderful that everyone in your family, back to your great-great-grandfather has been with the company but, that has nothing to do with getting your issue resolved.

4. Have information readily available that identifies your specific account.

5. Just use good old fashioned common sense.

 

Follow Us : Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Share : Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Written by Dave on June 25th, 2012

Tagged with