Good Customer Service from Your Web Host

Ah, the subject that all too often comes up in conversation at the gym.
  Well, maybe not, but certainly a conversation that everyone deals with at one point or another.

Customer Service from your web hosting provider can be something of an elusive feature these days with all the ranges of pricing and various "personas" in the business.  Everything from web servers in the basement running off of a snail-paced DSL connection to premium managed hosting services exist for the consumer to choose from.  Let's not forget about the international hosting providers that, should you choose their service, may not be able to communicate effectively with you due to language barriers.  Customer or Client support varies depending on the provider you decide to go with.

A good web host should be able to provide the following customer support features in a timely manner and when I mean timely manner; I am not talking a 24 hour period.  24 hours in the web business can be an eternity.  On the same hand, 5 minutes can be an eternity as well if your site is offline and you are accustomed to receiving a lot of traffic or are running a ton of ads for your web site.  A good host, which I know is a subjective subject, should be able to at the minimum provide:

1. Support Desk with the ability to submit a ticket and track ticket
status
2. Phone Support - either 800# or at least a number
3. Professional and Courtesy Service (Customer is always right)

If you are not receiving the support you feel you deserve, look around.
  With the thousands of web hosting providers online, you will most definitely find a company that will value your business.