Hello,
Your renewal of retirementdaze.com for 1 year has been processed.
Thanks for choosing DreamHost!
The Happy DreamHost Domain Registration Team
I left out some stuff in the middle, but that message means I have passed a milestone--not the one of the approaching one-year anniversary of my starting this blog. No, this milestone is actually my having completed renewal of my domain without extensive tech support!
Even such minimal independence from technical support was not true a year ago. I registered my domain with DreamHost. The questions I couldn’t find on their help section were answered quickly and courteously via email by DreamHost support. I appreciated the tone of their emails: personal, gracious and almost like a well-written thank-you note.
But the need for the tech support team’s know-how mushroomed with my decision to go with Blogger for publishing Retirement Daze. Everything about setting that up was in a language I did not comprehend. I couldn’t even sort it out with Blogger Help or by googling the terms, mysterious and incomprehensible to me. Everything I tried DID NOT WORK (Insert extreme hair-pulling, moaning, groaning and whining here)!
An exchange of emails with DreamHost support followed, and I soon became fans of Jose G, Ryan C, and Art A. They kept TRYING to walk me through the process, resulting in more emails from me. Finally I assured them that I knew their instructions were obviously correct. “But,” I emailed, “you have underestimated the depth of my ignorance.”
That did it. They realized that they were dealing with a total digital dunce. They guided me step by tiny step--then success. Through it all, their emails exuded patience, good humor and courtesy—quite an accomplishment via email. They almost sounded Southern! I know, I know: Southerners don’t have a monopoly on politeness.
But Southerners do have a tendency to bond. And I bonded. These guys were wonderful. The last email from Art:
“If you have any trouble with this kind of thing, please feel free to email me directly (email address was included here). I work Sunday - Thursday 12pm till 8pm PST.
Art A”
How can you beat that?
And no, this is not a testimonial solicited or for pay, just a huge, heartfelt “thank you.”
It's good to be able to say thank you for good service and people who go the extra mile. I tend to rely on trusted friends and family for techie help, but I am getting better at googling problems and reading what other people have done.
ReplyDeletefirst let me state "blogger is not user friendly at first" that means you are not as big a dunce as you thought. everyone has trouble with it, and it does strange things.
ReplyDeletecongratulations on your first year and on conquering the domain thing.
this is a really good story and I enjoyed it.