So I’m trying to take advantage of the HostGator hosting special…. ran into an error and after going back and forth with the rep… basically they launched the Black Friday promo without testing it.
At one point I saw 25 hours left then I reloaded and it was 23 hours….
Here’s the transcript from the support session.
You are being connected to a representative in our Sales department right now.
For immediate answers to your questions, check out our knowledge base and video tutorials at https://support.hostgator.com.
Your Chat ID is 2861424.
Your question is, “getting this error trying to order: The following errors need to be corrected before signing up: * You may only use 20% off coupons for additional package orders. ”
(12:19:08 AM) System: There are currently 1 people in front of you and 64 chat technicians assisting customers.
(12:19:26 AM) Stephen Sm: has entered the chat.
(12:19:28 AM) Stephen Sm: Welcome to HostGator Live Chat. My name is Stephen. I will be glad to assist you.
(12:19:54 AM) victor caballero: The following errors need to be corrected before signing up:
* You may only use 20% off coupons for additional package orders.
(12:20:29 AM) Stephen Sm: When is it giving you that error?
(12:20:48 AM) victor caballero: on the step 2 billing info page
(12:21:11 AM) victor caballero: tried it twice now, on the baby package type
(12:21:22 AM) victor caballero: billing cycle 12 or 24 month does the same thing
(12:21:29 AM) victor caballero: cleared cache still does it
(12:21:32 AM) victor caballero: firefox
(12:22:16 AM) Stephen Sm: Try using coupon code of BLACKFRIDAY2010 instead of SPRING
(12:22:34 AM) victor caballero: it’s already in there when I click the link
(12:23:12 AM) Stephen Sm: Once you click the link and scroll down there’s a space that says “Enter a Coupon Code”
(12:23:16 AM) victor caballero: Package (12 Month Cycle)
$119.40
Coupon Credit (BLACKFRIDAY2010 | 50.00% off first package payment! )
$59.70
Existing Domain (.com)
$0.00
Setup Price
$0.00
Amount Subject to Tax
$0.00
Texas Sales Tax (%8.25)
$0.00
Total Due: $59.70
(12:23:34 AM) Stephen Sm: And then once you click past that it gives you that error?
(12:24:38 AM) victor caballero: https://signup.hostgator.com/hg4/shared-3
(12:25:04 AM) victor caballero: already has the right code, i put in my domain name that i already have, fill in all the step 2 info and try to submit and get the error
(12:25:09 AM) victor caballero: very frustrating
(12:25:47 AM) Stephen Sm: Try it in a different browser and make sure it’s accepting cookies, not seeing that error anywhere else, unfortunately
(12:25:47 AM) victor caballero: any idea?
(12:25:57 AM) victor caballero: o cmon
(12:26:01 AM) Stephen Sm: Working in FireFox here but give IE a try
(12:26:24 AM) victor caballero: i have firefox and it works OK for everything else, this is crazy
(12:26:44 AM) Stephen Sm: We have people signing up currently for the same promotion without getting that error, and I’m not seeing any other issues going on
(12:27:11 AM) victor caballero: hmmm
(12:27:13 AM) Stephen Sm: Is the e-mail or domain you’re entering something that already exists with us or are you a completely new customer?
(12:27:19 AM) victor caballero: well there’s a problem
(12:27:51 AM) victor caballero: domain exists on another host, not on hostgator that I am aware of, can you check,.com
(12:28:10 AM) Stephen Sm: Sure, one moment
(12:28:12 AM) victor caballero: if so, that error is messed up, that shouldn’t be coming up
(12:28:21 AM) Stephen Sm: Yeah, it’s not in our system
(12:28:47 AM) Stephen Sm: I’d give it a try in a fresh browser with nothing cached, shouldn’t be giving any errors
(12:31:48 AM) victor caballero: same error in safari
(12:31:53 AM) victor caballero: this is crazy
(12:32:45 AM) victor caballero: could it be my username? this is cryptic
(12:32:48 AM) victor caballero: errors
(12:32:56 AM) victor caballero: username is centers
(12:33:06 AM) victor caballero: but do I even need a username?
(12:33:17 AM) Stephen Sm: You’d need a username but that shouldn’t be giving that error
(12:33:34 AM) Stephen Sm: One second while I check on this
(12:35:30 AM) victor caballero: actually I do need the username and security pin when creating the account…
(12:35:57 AM) Stephen Sm: Yeah, it does need them, but you’re putting those in, correct?
(12:36:16 AM) victor caballero: trying
(12:36:27 AM) victor caballero: this is very very frustrating
(12:36:43 AM) victor caballero: same error on a mac with firefox
(12:37:08 AM) victor caballero: even tried a different username
(12:37:31 AM) Stephen Sm: On the first page you’re putting in your existing domain
(12:37:36 AM) Stephen Sm: Then on second page, filling out all fields
(12:37:42 AM) victor caballero: yep
(12:37:43 AM) victor caballero: yes
(12:37:44 AM) Stephen Sm: Then when submitting that, the error comes up?
(12:37:50 AM) victor caballero: yes
(12:38:06 AM) victor caballero: package type – Baby
(12:38:16 AM) victor caballero: 12 months or 24 same error
(12:38:44 AM) Stephen Sm: Okay, one moment
(12:43:10 AM) Stephen Sm: What’s the e-mail address you’re putting in?
(12:43:20 AM) victor caballero: victor@.com
(12:43:37 AM) Stephen Sm: Thanks
(12:45:35 AM) victor caballero: tried different email and got same error
(12:45:51 AM) victor caballero: is there some sort of restriction here? by name, credit card, etc?
(12:46:02 AM) Stephen Sm: Having sales check into it
(12:46:06 AM) victor caballero: so if I want to order 2 baby packages I can’t?
(12:46:31 AM) victor caballero: the error is usesless
(12:47:15 AM) victor caballero: how long do i have to wait?
(12:47:28 AM) Stephen Sm: I’m having them check into it now, sorry for the inconvenience
(12:47:43 AM) victor caballero: it’s brutal, it’s not rocket science
(12:48:18 AM) Stephen Sm: Thanks
(12:53:02 AM) Stephen Sm: I’ve checked with sales, you’ll just need to try again in about an hour and it should let you go through with that information
(12:53:50 AM) Stephen Sm: Sorry for the inconvenience
(12:55:31 AM) victor caballero: huh?
(12:55:41 AM) victor caballero: are you kidding?
(12:55:59 AM) Stephen Sm: Unfortunately not
(12:56:06 AM) victor caballero: unreal
(12:56:23 AM) victor caballero: how about you give me the 80% off code for the trouble
(12:56:32 AM) Stephen Sm: Unfortunately that’s not available until 5AM CST
(12:57:10 AM) victor caballero: i hope someone there sees this
(12:57:32 AM) Stephen Sm: I do apologize, unfortunately they’re working on getting this all corrected and you should be able to sign up online when you retry
(12:57:33 AM) victor caballero: i wasted an hour dealing with this
(12:57:52 AM) victor caballero: you guys launch a promo and don’t even have it working properly
(12:58:09 AM) Stephen Sm: Again, I understand your frustration and do apologize for the inconvenience
try it yourself….
To take advantage of these special Black Friday prices, simply click this link to HostGator.com.
So I tried at 3AM when it was 5AM CST and tried to load in a reseller package and surprise the page failed to load twice. I gave up and went to bed and tried it again at 6:30am and it appeared to have worked… but surprise I am still waiting for my confirmation email!
I would consider this a major FAIL on the part of HostGator in terms of planning. The rude customer service on top of it all was not appreciated. Why is it that these companies think they have you over a barrel, remember you have options, HostGator is not the only hosting company.
I had the same problem with BlueHost. Lunar Pages is good, FatCow is also good and there are others. It appears that the bigger players are all about churn and burn. I don’t care what the CEO says. The spike in traffic is short term and the damage is long term to their image and professionalism, they leave a trail of many unhappy potential customers who write on blogs about the massive FAIL.
I don’t care that they sold out in 7 or 8 minutes, they fact that they are in the hosting business and could not properly anticipate the traffic leaves one wondering about their capabilities as a hosting company. We will see as I did signup finally, obviously not at the 80% because that failed.
We will see if I ever get my confirmation email!!!
