Hostwinds provides multiple support options to meet your needs. Each department has defined responsibilities, so you know exactly where to go and what to expect.
All hosting services include:
- 24/7/365 access via live chat and tickets
- Network uptime guarantee: 99.9999%
- Power uptime guarantee: 99.9999%
- Hardware replacement guarantee: 1 hour or less
Support Channels
We know that questions and issues can come up in different ways, which is why we offer several support channels to match your situation. Whether you need quick answers about your account, guidance on selecting the right plan, billing assistance, or technical troubleshooting, each department is set up to handle specific requests. This helps make sure you're connected with the right team for faster, more accurate support.
Live Chat (Frontline Support)
- Available: 24/7/365
- Best for: Product and service questions, account navigation, and starting escalations
- What they do:
- Answer basic sales or service-related questions
- Provide information about services and policies
- Help you navigate the Hostwinds website
- Create tickets and escalate issues to the appropriate department
- Limitations: Live Chat agents don't always have the authority or technical expertise to resolve all issues directly. Most billing conflicts and technical troubleshooting escalations are handled through tickets.
Sales Department
- Availability: 24/7/365
- Contact Options:
- What they do:
- Help you select the right plan for your needs
- Explain pricing structures and payment expectations before and during purchase
- Provide service details and comparisons
- Limitations: The Sales team does not resolve existing invoice or renewal issues. For those, contact Billing.
Billing Department
- Available: Mon–Fri, 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM PST (with occasional availability outside business hours)
- Contact: Open a Billing ticket
- What they do:
- Assist with invoices, payments, and refunds
- Handle subscription changes or assist with cancellation instructions.
- Clarify billing expectations and charges
- Important Note: Most billing conflicts cannot be resolved in Live Chat. If your issue requires review (for example, invoice disputes or refund requests), a Billing ticket is necessary to ensure proper handling.
Technical Support Department
- Availability: 24/7/365 through tickets
- What they do:
- Troubleshoot hosting and server issues
- Resolve problems within the scope of Managed Services (see below)
- How they work: Technical Support communicates through tickets to ensure accurate troubleshooting, escalation, and tracking.
- Limitations: For Unmanaged Services, support is limited to hardware and network availability.
Managed Services
Managed Services cover the majority of Hostwinds hosting applications (e.g., Shared Hosting, Business Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Cloud (both Linux and Windows), and Dedicated Servers).
Unmanaged services are the exception, where the customer is responsible for server configuration, usage, and maintenance. Hostwinds support is limited to network and power-related issues (see Support Limitations below for details).
What Managed Services Cover
Examples include:
- Operating system updates or reinstallation
- Virus scans and performance troubleshooting
- Network connectivity issues
- Boot failures and hardware faults
- Password resets and secure SSH configuration
- DNS and firewall setup
- Package installations via yum/apt-get
Additional Coverage for Cloud & Dedicated Servers with cPanel
- Email setup and troubleshooting
- Website/server error resolution (e.g. 500, 403 errors)
- PHP/MySQL upgrades
- PCI compliance modifications
- Custom Apache configurations (mod_python, mod_ruby, etc.)
- Perl/PECL module installation
- Backup setup and configuration
- cPanel options and configurations
Note: Managed Services cover most server and hosting tasks. If you're unsure whether something is included, please open a Technical Support ticket, and our team will confirm whether it falls within the scope.
Support Limitations
Some areas are outside the scope of Hostwinds support:
- Unmanaged Services
- Customers manage their own Unmanaged Linux or Unmanaged Windows cloud servers.
- Hostwinds ensures uptime and network/power availability only.
- Additional assistance requires upgrading to Managed Services.
- Development & Custom Software
- Hostwinds does not debug, modify, or maintain custom code/scripts.
- Installation and troubleshooting of custom applications (e.g. FFmpeg, PHP scripts) is the customer's responsibility.
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