Am i a difficult customer?

3 months ago i decided it was time for a faster dedicated server. I sold off some high traffic (proxy) sites, and decided that the 15 remaining sites i have could easily be put on this one new server ( instead of the 2 servers i was renting)

Since i dont know much about linux/apache myself, i decided to post a job for this at WHT. The job was moving my sites from 2 servers to one new server.

I hired a guy who seemed capable to do this job for me. After a month of working with him, he still didnt have the sites up on the new server, and i started to get really impatient. A week later i decided to fire him, and go with a well known servermanagement compagny. They made me a deal where they would move the sites for free if i would sign a yearcontract for their servermanagent, wich i did.

Now, again we are weeks later. They tell me the accounts have been moved and the server was setup. Alright, there is an admin panel working, and there are several accounts made. Also most of the content is there, yet none of my sites are working correctly :-(
Some Url's just show blank pages, others do have content there, but many script errors, 404 pages etc. etc.

Im getting sick and tyred of this servermove. They have been working on this for almost 3 weeks now, i have a support history of more then 100 Emails to them, yet none of my sites are working.

Im wondering, is it really that difficult/much work to move 15 sites? ( around 8 with a DB, OS and contol panel on old an new servers are the same)
Am i just being a difficult customer with to high expectations?
any ideas on this?

 

Two comments.

Setting up the news server and moving the files should be a very simple process.

However, that does not then mean the files will work correctly, as there could be conflicts between the software used on the new server and the way the files are coded to work on the old server (different releases of php etc.).

That is something you shouldn't really expect them to fix for you as it is not a server management issue, but a programming one.

 

No, you are not a difficult customer, nor are you alone

The first mistake you made was to depend on a host or server management co. to perform the move. For the most part these companies know servers and server software. That does not mean they know or understand scripts and websites.

It can take a little longer when you hire a third person, because they will need the time to dig through your sites, to see what makes them tick.
And to make sure the new server can handle the sites.

However, it still shouldn't have taken more than a day or 2.
I've done it many times for customers and it can be a bit time consuming especially when there are databases involved and even more so, if they are constantly updating, such as a forum.

If you still need some help, I may have some time on my hands

 

You have to remember these guys don't work for cheap, and most likely were doing you a favor. They may have agreed to move the sites, but the configuration of the sites would be up to you in their eyes.

In the end they are responsible for the server functioning correctly, not getting your particular sites to run. You might need to step up and do some work to get the sites running.

Good luck... natron