Rant

[cdlphil]

Hi all

Good point - switching to Actinic catalog has allowed us to develop our shop exactly as we would like it to look (compared to our previous software). After much work researching on these forums we go live, place a few test orders, and receive a few real orders, fantastic!

Bad points - The order confirmation emails stop we check with our PSP (Protx) to find orders have been placed and payments cleared. If we have had no order confirmation (copy) then has the customer? This is critical to us as 99% of purchases (all software ) are 'shipped' with a digital download in the confirmation email. Today I have been emailing new customers asking them if they got there confirmation, embarrassing!

So I have a look on the forums to find complaints of a similar nature but no solutions (I can find).

Why does the customer have to click on the 'Done' button to get an email? Is this 'receipt' page really needed? To place an order the customer has already clicked on numerous checkout pages with the amount and goods clearly shown.

Also Order numbers are incremented even when to customer does not complete. So with no confidence in the system and intermittent email confirmation with gaps between order numbers we find ourselves double checking everything!

Seriously considering binning this and the weeks of work to get this far!



Sorry folks - had to tell somebody

[Mike Hughes]

The point is that if you sent the order confirmation emails before payment was confirmed then no-one would need to pay for digital downloads.

This requires the customer to go back to the receipt page. To the best of my knowledge this does NOT require the customer to click on the 'done' button although Bruce from actinic has said repeatedly that it does. I have asked hime to confirm this and he was going to check but I never heard anything back.

This is easy to check. Try it yourself with a test order and don't click the done button.

Mike

[cdlphil]

Mike, thanks. I will try a test order without clicking the 'done' button as you suggest, however if i do that and i do not receive an email then we have to just hope the customer presses this button and doesn't close the browser window. If i do get an email then why do some not get sent!

Of course i dont want to send a confirmation before payment is confirmed but why can't actininc send the confirmation email as part of the successful payment process. i.e protx authorise payment and you are returned to the actinic page without pressing any buttons!

[cdlphil]

Louise

we host with fasthosts.

all network settings ar passed when running a test, except we do not receive an email to confirm this.

i have regularly placed test orders without problem.

our password is not in the protx script because we don't need the protx confirmation email, only the actinic order confirmation.

'send me an email when i have an order to download' is not ticked. this only sends a email to us saying you have an order, we just want the copy of the customer email.

'send receipt email to customer' is ticked and our address is included for receipt copies.

as i said the above settings work, sometimes! when that happens the customer gets his email and we get a copy.

Ta Phil

[leehack]

we host with fasthosts.

That in itself is a great achievement, you should be very proud of that, hundreds have failed before you, just check the forum, i would group fasthosts, with Norton and AOL with regards to how problematic they are.

Apparently fasthosts reduced the timeout allowed on their cgi-bin a few months ago and this renders them almost useless for actinic sites.

[cdlphil]

Lee

Well that explains a lot, any recommendations for a host for actinic using protx?

I really don't want to chuck all of this work away, rather switch hosts!

[los_design]

Lee

Well that explains a lot, any recommendations for a host for actinic using protx?

I really don't want to chuck all of this work away, rather switch hosts!

**sips coffee and pops on an old, familiar record**

4surehosting!

No if's, but's or maybes for me. Been with them years and had minimal problems. If you do encounter any issues, Ian and the boys are quick to respond.

Others around, but make sure they know Actinic and do not need to call Actinic support....

Regards
Daren

[leehack]

**sips coffee and pops on an old, familiar record**

Come on then DJ, play it one more time, i am yet to use 4sure or work on a site using it, give us the low down. It's about time we had a review of hosting services i reckon, one central place for information.

[leehack]

Lee

Well that explains a lot, any recommendations for a host for actinic using protx?

I really don't want to chuck all of this work away, rather switch hosts!

Phil i don't recommend hosts publically on a forum as there are too many factors to take into account to give an accurate recommendation of who you should go for. I know who i think is best, but that doesn't necessarily blend well with what you like to pay or your actinic experience.

If you asked ten of us for a recommendation, you would get 7/8 different names, it's often too subjective. What is good (i'm sure DJ will oblige) is to get some useful info on a provider and also how they handle things when the shit hits the fan - this is key to me, forget costs and alike, what do they do when things go wrong, do they know actinic and what infrastructure is protecting the large investment i have made on my website.

On hosting a website, costs should be the last consideration IMO, if your site brings in a large part of your takings. For hobby sites, i have no problem with prudence of course.

When you look at a restaurant menu, if you look at price before you look at the options, then in general you want a 'stack em high' host, if you look at what you want, before you look at price, then a proven actinic specialist with a track record to boot is what you are after.

[Mike Hughes]

If i do get an email then why do some not get sent!

The most common cause of this is that the customer typically has to click on 'contimue' or 'return to website' after paying with a psp and many tend to go back to their home page.

Mike

PS. I seem to remember from testing this a while back that no redirect or anything was needed from the actinic receipt page. The email gets initiated by the same process that produces the receipt page.

[los_design]

Come on then DJ, play it one more time, i am yet to use 4sure or work on a site using it, give us the low down. It's about time we had a review of hosting services i reckon, one central place for information.

OK Mate, settle down, here goes the low down in my experience of dealing with 3 of the most used hosting companies on behalf of my clients rated worst first...(the scores relate to overall performance relating to Actinic and Actinic awareness)

1 FASTHOST - Dealt with 1 client who used them before joining me. Had numerous issues with Actinic and after due consideration and many games of email tennis with their "support"...told Johnny Client to take a snapshot and switch hosts rapido.
Performance 0/10. Actinic Know how 0/10

2 1&1 - Not as bad as FH but still a pain to get anything resolved when it does go wrong. Support is weak (and ill informed) and the way the render their DNS is a nightmare. Some nice features for the home user, but only if you know how to use them and can get a straight answer on how to maintain them! And if you ever choose to transfer out, get a map and a compass...boy it is hard to find. Good prices and ideal for small home users or medium business ventures.
Performance 5.75/10. Actinic Know how 0/10

3 4surehosting - Fast out the blocks, set up in minutes, great to deal with and now using a well known support client (we use the same and it is COOOOOOOL) to make things easier. Rapid response and when things do go wrong (either globally or direct to your domains) they always go the extra mile to assist and rectify. They also know Actinic's hosting needs inside out. Downside, the control panel will require a degree from NASA to understand (come on Ian, you know that is true), been down twice in 3 years (by down I mean more than 15 minutes! But each time, information was disseminated in a timely manner. Not the cheapest but they are very competitive for Actinic packs and considering the money you will save on issue resolution, an all round good choice for your Actinic store.
Performance 7.5/10. Actinic Know how 8/10

Regards
Daren

[cdlphil]

Lee,

cheers for the info, i understand your points, yes there are a number of considerations price being only one of them.

Daren,

thanks, will investigate http://www.4surehosting.co.uk/, just spoke to them, their answers were encouraging and as their site says 'Actinic eCommerce compatible hosting' on the banner of the home page. i am inpsired to investigate further.

i let u all know how i get on!

[los_design]

Daren,

thanks, will investigate http://www.4surehosting.co.uk/, just spoke to them, their answers were encouraging and as their site says 'Actinic eCommerce compatible hosting' on the banner of the home page. i am inpsired to investigate further.

i let u all know how i get on!

Good luck....

SHOUT FOR IAN/MARK - Does this mean my renewal fees will be reduced


**fat chance I hear him say!!**

[Runner]

OK Mate, settle down, here goes the low down in my experience of dealing with 3 of the most used hosting companies on behalf of my clients rated worst first...(the scores relate to overall performance relating to Actinic and Actinic awareness)

1 FASTHOST - Dealt with 1 client who used them before joining me. Had numerous issues with Actinic and after due consideration and many games of email tennis with their "support"...told Johnny Client to take a snapshot and switch hosts rapido.
Performance 0/10. Actinic Know how 0/10

2 1&1 - Not as bad as FH but still a pain to get anything resolved when it does go wrong. Support is weak (and ill informed) and the way the render their DNS is a nightmare. Some nice features for the home user, but only if you know how to use them and can get a straight answer on how to maintain them! And if you ever choose to transfer out, get a map and a compass...boy it is hard to find. Good prices and ideal for small home users or medium business ventures.
Performance 5.75/10. Actinic Know how 0/10

3 4surehosting - Fast out the blocks, set up in minutes, great to deal with and now using a well known support client (we use the same and it is COOOOOOOL) to make things easier. Rapid response and when things do go wrong (either globally or direct to your domains) they always go the extra mile to assist and rectify. They also know Actinic's hosting needs inside out. Downside, the control panel will require a degree from NASA to understand (come on Ian, you know that is true), been down twice in 3 years (by down I mean more than 15 minutes! But each time, information was disseminated in a timely manner. Not the cheapest but they are very competitive for Actinic packs and considering the money you will save on issue resolution, an all round good choice for your Actinic store.
Performance 7.5/10. Actinic Know how 8/10

Regards
Daren

I am in the process of selecting my first host and have just been trawling the forum and was just about to post a request for exactly this type of info when I stumbled upon Daren's contribution. Thanks Daren. Very useful. I take on board the points made earlier about selecting the host to meet individual needs etc, but for a newbie like me it certainly helps get off the ground.

It would be good to see similar comments from anyone else.

[chris ashdown]

Lee

I have had 6 sites up with fasthosts now for over 4 years with no trouble except durring first 24 hours with 755 settings

Sites are spread on both linux and microsoft servers

Downtime on all sites about 2 hours for servers spread over 6 sites and 4 years, about 6 hours network downtime over same period over all sites mainly with the Birmingham fire last year

No problems at all over last few months and no changes made by me except updates to actinic

I think it's give a dog a bad name and people always remember but seldom look for the truth