How to Talk to Your Hosting Provider During an Outage

When your website goes down, clear communication with your hosting provider speeds up resolution. The right details help support teams diagnose the issue faster, and it helps you get accurate updates.

Use this guide to talk to hosting support confidently and efficiently.

Start with the basics

Provide the exact URL affected, the time the issue started, and the error you see. If you have monitoring data, include status codes and response times.

Ask the right questions

Use questions that lead to actionable answers:

• Is there an active incident on your status page?
• What systems are impacted?
• Is there an estimated time to resolution?
• Was there recent maintenance or a deployment?

Share proof from monitoring

Monitoring logs provide timestamps and error codes that help support teams confirm the issue faster. Screenshots and alert history are useful evidence.

Document every update

Keep notes of who you spoke to, what they said, and when they expect a fix. This helps if you need to request credits or follow up later.

Escalate if needed

If the outage lasts longer than expected, ask for escalation. Mention your business impact and reference the evidence you gathered.

Review after resolution

Once the site is back, ask for a root cause summary. This helps you decide if you need a plan change or different hosting options.