Due to ongoing issues with my main website, SignsSeen.com, I made the decision to switch my website over to a new host. (My website has had a few homes over the years [I believe they have been detailed before], but I am VERY hopeful this will be the last… If I need to do another move, I will likely shut it down.)
I made this decision in mid-November of 2013. Part of the package I agreed to included the company, BigCommerce, doing the full migration for me. Since I had over 7,000 products in the database (only about 1,000 were active), the migration was something I was glad to have included as a “gift” from my new host. Do to my existing database not being fully supported, the migration did take a little longer then expected.
Once the migration was done, a few headaches were created. (This was expected, but as I will detail, sometimes the headaches are not fully realized until you need to start editing what was imported.) My hosting package did include SEO help, and the creation of a new website design. All of these things were helpful. Many of the SEO suggestions were not new, but because I am a little weak with all of the social media stuff, I did pick up a few pointers.
The real headaches began when I needed to start edited the “options”. (On my previous host, the options were referred to as “attributes”. And, many of these attributes were caused by the Neon and LED sign products that were inactive products on the old site. Most of these products had 3 or 4 attributes. With a total of over 4,000 products, this easily accounted attributes in the mid-10,000s.) After being greeted by a blank screen when trying to edit, it felt like a time to call customer support. They seemed very helpful. I was told the problem was part of a Bug fix (BIG-7777). The bug fix should be on my server within a day or two. I thought, “Great” and went about my other activities.
After this bug fix didn’t work and after a nearly 3 weeks of being told my problem was part of another bug fix and after it was suggested I delete some of the product options from the site, I called tech support again. I felt sorry for the guy and let him know up front that my anger was directed at his company and not him personally. The endless delays, stalls and excuses were not getting me anywhere. If my site options can’t be edited, why should I be happy with them or their platform. After hearing my whining, this rep did what his predecessors had not done – he resolved to solve the problem.
His solution was not a pretty one. He suggested taking a copy of the options being used, and deleting ALL of the options presently on the site. And, then restoring the copy. Between his and my efforts, we deleted 272 pages loaded with 100 options. (This translates into 27,200 options. My problem is still a known bug with their platform – it cannot support over 15,000 options. Once we deleted the right number of attributes, we confirmed what the mystery number was – if the number was exceeded the options would “lock up”. But, once we started, we had to continue on with the original plan. My frustration is the migration team created this problem for me, and did not make me aware of any of the issues. It allowed me to be blissfully ignorant until I could not avoid the inevitable confrontation) It took nearly an hour to complete – including whining, assessing and deleting/restoring.
Lesson Learned: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Even if they tell you you shouldn’t squeak, go ahead and squeak. When you are the customer (even if one of my customers), keep pushing until you have a FAIR (fair is not “taking advantage of”) resolution.
