In reply to Dave.

Dave, thanks for the kind words of encouragement. With the regard to the limited nature of the support that is actually available, you are absolutely right - anyone who is sufficiently curious about WordPress to read websites such as WPTavern will very rapidly outgrow the level of support that any of the specialist hosts can provide to them. What they are really selling is reassurance for all the people who have heard, in the past, that WordPress is somehow problematic or insecure.

I can guess the host you are talking about and, yes, they are actually repeatedly, consistently, horrifyingly bad. I have been hired in to give advice in situations where big clients, paying huge amounts per month, were being messed around for months over what were actually extremely straightforward, obvious and easy-to-solve technical problems. I won't name the company but I will give this tip to anyone considering buying the services of any specialist WordPress host: take a very close look at the company structure and ask yourself, are these guys taking the time to grow organically and ensure that all their staff have time to learn, or are they pumping millions of investment dollars into rapid expansion?