The HostBaby Blog

In a perfect world, everything would just work correctly all the time. But sometimes they don’t and you will want to contact us for a little help. Here are some tips to help us help you faster.

1. Always provide us with your domain name

The quickest way for us to look up your account and start work on your problem is if you provide us with the domain name. The domain name is whatever comes after the “www.” of your website address. Please provide this in any emails you send to us. When you call us, please tell us the domain name and spell for us it since so many websites can be spelled many different ways. The quicker we can locate your account, the faster we can start solving your problem.

2. Be the authorized contact and write us from the email we have on file

If you send us email using the address we have on file for you, we’ll know for sure it’s OK it’s really you and okay to work on your problem. If you email from some other address, then we can’t be sure if it’s you or your evil nemesis (or a rogue ex-bandmate trying to mess with you). If you call us, be sure you are an authorized contact for the account (see below). Be prepared to answer some standard security questions we may need to ask.

If you need to update the email address on file with us you can do that by browsing to hostbaby.com, clicking on Members, logging in and updating it there. If you have been a HostBaby customer for over a year it is good to log in there anyway to make sure we have the most current contact information for you anyway.

If you have a designer or helper that you’d like to authorize on the account, please send us their name, email address, and phone number and we’ll make a note of it in your account.

3.  When You Call: Be Ready to Work on Your Site

If possible, be at your computer and logged in to your site (or ready to login at the least) with your list of questions handy. You might want pencil and paper nearby to take notes too.

For example, if you call from your car and tell us you forgot your password, about the only thing we can do is email it to you. If you instead call when you are at your computer, we can tell you the info you need, wait while you try it, and complete the call knowing you are successfully logged in.

4. When You Email a problem: Be Very Specific

Bad: Subject line: Email broken (and then no body message, no details at all)

OK: I can’t login to my email, it worked yesterday

Best: I tried to login to the webmail for me@domain.com today, and it came up with the following error: (error message copied and pasted)

If you ever get an error message please copy it and send it in! The more details, error messages, etc. that you can provide, the easier it will be for us to solve your problem on the first try. It’s okay if you don’t understand what the error messages mean – that’s our job – just send them to us so we can see exactly what’s happened. Here’s how to do a screen capture on a Mac and on a Windows PC.

We can help solve the problem faster if you also provide details such as:

1. Did it ever work before? If so, when?
2. What, if anything changed since it last worked?
3. Are you on a Mac or a Windows PC?
4. Do you get an error message (if so, copy it, type it down, or screen print it)
5. Can you make the problem happen consistently? If so, how? If not, how often does it happen (once an hour, once a day, etc.)?
6. What Browser or Email program are you using (if applicable)?
7. Have you tried this on any other computer?

Of course, take the time to be accurate when you describe your problem to ensure we have a clear picture of what needs to be solved.

5. If you have many questions, send them in email

If you have a long list of questions or requests, it is very helpful if you list them in an email and send the list to us. That way you can be sure all your questions are asked and we can be sure we answer them all. Again, be sure to be specific and provide

I hope these tips help you have a better experience when you call or email us for help. As always, let us know if you have any questions or suggestions for us!