I've contracted some shared server space from a Moodle Partner. I'm an individual teacher, not representing a school, and I pay out of my pocket.

I wrote to several potential hosts, and several seemed good, but finally decided I wanted one near my time zone so I can call for service if necessary, which narrowed my options a bit.

First I did a 90 day trial (sandpit) with one Moodle partner. Shortly before the 90 days were up, I tried to contact them for info. I got no response. I noticed that right around that time, that company's name disappeared from the partner list. They never answered my question as to why that happened.

So, I eventually figured out how to backup everything myself and moved to the second Moodle partner, who offered me what I think is a fair price. However, I've found that I don't get timely responses to my email requests for help. I've offered to pay for the help, but that doesn't seem to move them. Calling works, if I catch them at work, but it's long distance for me. I haven't tried making a lot of calls because I'm waiting to see if this is going to work out. I don't want to get in the habit of chasing down my host for help. So, I'm doing a test. I made a call last Thursday and couldn't reach them. I sent an email right away. Now it's Monday evening here, and I haven't heard back.

So, anyone have an opinion? How much time is reasonable to wait for a response to my questions given that I'm not paying the big bucks for my own server? Particularly, should I expect that nothing is going to happen on the weekends? If I want quick service, how much more is reasonable to pay, if anything? I'm going to be doing most of the work on my website on the weekends, so I effectively lose a week of work if I can't get a response during those two days.

I try not to ask about anything that I can help with through the forums, whether here or elsewhere on the web.

I really wanted to try to support the Moodle project by using a partner. I figure by spending a little more, I'm donating it to the development. But I guess I also expected a little more in return.