Good news! There is an online chat.

Bad news? Sometimes they can't resolve the issue and a trouble ticket is required.

Good news? Trouble tickets are normally resolved within about an hour.

I've had pretty good luck with HostGator support. I once even had the operating system on my dedicated server upgraded... which essentially required a complete re-install. I made backups and took the appropriate measures... I lit some candles and repeated a mantra that "everything will be OK". Suprisingly, it really was! The entire reload took about 4 hours, and when everything came back online, I had all my CRON jobs in place, all the appropriate software and modules were built... and everything ran exactly as before!

I was supremely impressed that none of scripts that I had running on the site, alot of which are completely custom, failed to run properly after the upgrade. I was thankful that the senior technician who handled the project took the necessary time and effort to ensure that everything came up correctly.

During the downtime, I received updated status reports by phone and I could check the status of the work throught the trouble ticketing system or with live online support.

As for some of the other support facilities available:

• a knowledgebase
• flash tutorials
• forums to chat with other members and administration
• blogs to keep up with the gang

All in all, a good company thats been good to work with.