Thought's on BluDomain customer service?

I am interested in one of BluDomain's templates but I'm a little concerned about their customer service so far. I had a question regarding SEO and their templates so I used their "ask a question" form (since it doesn't appear I can call someone directly, another thing I find odd) and typed out my question. I later received a "ticket received" automated email.

This was two full days ago and I have yet to hear anything. Is this typical of their customer service? Maybe it's better if you are a client? I would think they would giver their potential clients their best, but that's just me.

I know a few of you here use them. Any experiences you can share, good or bad, would be appreciated.

Thanks
Chris

I think you have to give the a break so close to the holidays. I ordered my template today but I do not expect to hear from them until the end of next week.

I've used them for a couple years now, and I've only had to contact customer service once. If they keep that track record, they could do away wiht customer service all together

They took a couple days to respond, but it wasn't an outage of anything that important, so I didn't have any problem with that. I do know they are experiencing a lot of growth, and its the holidays, so that could be part of the problem.

I paid for my new template late Friday night and received an email they would have it ready for me by midnight Saturday. Guess what..they did!

I can not recommend them enough. The user interface is so easy to use and the sites look great!!!

Yes, I am a bludomain customer as well with a couple of templates being used. I run them on my own dedicated server and have only had to have customer support help once which was actually required during setup. I feel the initial week or two requires patience as they are quite busy and there are a few things that need to be setup in order to work properly. After that, it's smooth sailing in the case of hosting your own template. If you host with Bludomain, that might be a different story altogether with regards to support and am not familiar with that. I am very happy with my bludomain sites thus far and with all the specials they run for new and current clients, they are hard to beat if you want to focus on your photography and business rather than design a website. Enjoy!

My bludomain experience so far has been awful!

I'm actually using the same template that ricoche has, but obtaining it and trying to get it finished has been less fun than pulling teeth.

1st they told me that the template had a combined total of 8 galleries per portal (its a two portal site) and after I made sure to verify that 2 more times, they told me after I sent in my contract that it was actually 4 galleries per portal, a total of 8 all together. Fine.

2nd it took them 5 days after they had told me I would have my site in my inbox that night before I finally saw anything, after refusing to responding to a single daily email I sent them asking where my site was.

3rd I finally received my site, but I am unable to upload images to the galleries for some reason, and they can't seem to figure it out, so they are offering me brilliant advice like 'try restarting your computer'....WTF?!?! thats the best they can do after I pay hundreds of dollars for a site they designed?

I've been emailing them constantly trying to get a response from someone as to what I am supposed to do at this point, but no one has bothered getting back to me, so if I don't hear anything from them before the end of the day I am going to stop payment on my credit card to them, and walk away from it.

Most of the people working there are rude imbeciles, in my opinion. Fortunately, once you have your site, as long as you are hosting elsewhere, there is little to no reason to ever need to contact them.

My experience with Blu customer service has been mixed. My concierge was great, but since their software didn't work properly on my server the week she was available I couldn't make use of her. My tech support fixed it, and i'll get around to getting it all configured soon. I didn't pay for it yet though, I got it on special so I hope they honor the price.

I paid for my site early Sat am & got an email confirming they would have my site ready for Tues by midnight. Guess what- I am still waiting! I have attempted to contact cust svc numerous times to no avail. Then I got a quick 6 word response from Aundrea that they can't find my site request, after I paid for it. I can't call them (convenient for them). I am extremmely frustrated at this point- it better be worth it!

I am building the site at the moment, so far so good. True, there was a hold up because of the holidays and their running of a $400 for $100 sale (over now), but when I submitted all the info on 12/30 and they promised to put everything up for me within one business day, I was very surprised to get an e-mail with all the setup information and tools just few hours before the New Year! I was starting a party at my house and saw no rush with starting the setup, yet they delivered.

I like the fact that during the first week after the purchase, they assign you a personal concierge whom you can contact directly (e-mail, not phone), and the response time is decent. For one, they certainly don't have 9-5 schedule as many people do. They work overtime, or so it seemed to me.

Their FAQs and Knowledge Base could be better - I didn't find some answers there. Also, my very first request for a phone call remained unattended, again, it was right before the Christmas. Also, once they responded too quickly to my e-mail, without understanding its nature - it turns me down hugely. So yes, their CS is not the industry's best but they sincerely try and do have an inexpensive, attractive, and eye-catching product. If one expects top-notch CS and a toll-free call, LiveBooks is ready for you for $2-3K...

So far, I’m not pleased with the service.

When they had the $100 template special, I signed up and made my payment via Paypal on Thursday, 27 Dec and received an email confirmation from Paypal that payment has been submitted.

No email from Bludomain confirming my order or when they expect to contact me for my template. I waited a day before opening up a trouble ticket.

On Friday, 28th Dec, Bludomain emailed me back and said they received several orders and it will take few days. I didn’t mind the wait due to the holidays and all.

But, it’s been one week today and I still don’t know what’s going on.

I don’t know if I should contact them again or wait………………..

zorz wrote in post #4621395
I am building the site at the moment, so far so good. True, there was a hold up because of the holidays and their running of a $400 for $100 sale (over now), but when I submitted all the info on 12/30 and they promised to put everything up for me within one business day, I was very surprised to get an e-mail with all the setup information and tools just few hours before the New Year! I was starting a party at my house and saw no rush with starting the setup, yet they delivered.

I like the fact that during the first week after the purchase, they assign you a personal concierge whom you can contact directly (e-mail, not phone), and the response time is decent. For one, they certainly don't have 9-5 schedule as many people do. They work overtime, or so it seemed to me.

Their FAQs and Knowledge Base could be better - I didn't find some answers there. Also, my very first request for a phone call remained unattended, again, it was right before the Christmas. Also, once they responded too quickly to my e-mail, without understanding its nature - it turns me down hugely. So yes, their CS is not the industry's best but they sincerely try and do have an inexpensive, attractive, and eye-catching product. If one expects top-notch CS and a toll-free call, LiveBooks is ready for you for $2-3K...

Hmmmm, I placed my order before yours and you have your template already?

I'm just curious but why does people want to use flash as a template? Unless you know flash and they give you the source file you can't edit it.

mchong75 wrote in post #4621550
Hmmmm, I placed my order before yours and you have your template already?

I placed an order on 12/27, waited few days, then was asked for my host details on 12/30. I guess there is a queue and some people happen to hear sooner from Blu than the others… I wouldn't call it lack of CS. Sure they need to update the customers on their orders and a direct e-mail reply would be better… Unfortunately, they only update their blog where they explain the delays. Check there.

ElvisG wrote in post #4621831
I'm just curious but why does people want to use flash as a template? Unless you know flash and they give you the source file you can't edit it.

My first (and still current) flash site was designed by myself. I could truly edit anything there. Flash templates designed by Blu or similar vendors offer an easier and less time-consuming (no code writing for me anymore) way to create an appealing and, at the moment, distinctive delivery of your portfolio.

You have certain (and limited) level of customization over the look and content, not functionality. If you are ok with their pre-designed functionality, it makes sense to use a template and spend minimal time updating your online portfolio...

Funny, I have my template on my own website but I haven't even paid for it yet, probably because it's not live yet.