I am getting intermittent 525 error and according to this post Error 525 a config change is needed to my hosting providers server. Problem is ipage are refusing to help because my nameservers are Cloudflare’s.
Can you advise what wording I can use to persuade them to help?
Yes, a 525 means that you have an issue with the certificate on your server. You could try telling them that for your site to be secure with Cloudflare, you need a certificate on your server as well as one on Cloudflare so that Cloudflare can connect to your server securely over HTTPS.
If they will not provide their own cert because the nameservers are pointing away, they may let you upload your own certificate? If so, you could use a free Cloudflare Origin Certificate.