Where do you get your customer service from?

We would never consider outsourcing our support.

Why? Because the people you outsource would likely have no real knowledge of how you want things run, and aren't a real representation of your company.
 
ChrisF said:
We would never consider outsourcing our support.

Why? Because the people you outsource would likely have no real knowledge of how you want things run, and aren't a real representation of your company.
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May be. But it is subject to choose a proper support company/people. However one can take interviews to choose right person for support.
:)
 
IMHO support is one of the main criteria which determines whether your client remains happy/unhappy. Obviously if they never need to contact support then great, but this is pretty unlikely in the long run, even for technically minded clients.

For this reason I would be very reluctant to ever outsource support, so long as I have enough of a client-base I would always hire someone dedicated for the role, you retain much more control over the quality of the output if you keep it within your own walls.
 
In-house tech support can be bad.
Which is why it's always good to have a nice screening process to cull any bad applicants.

There are some excellent outsourcing companies.
Filipinos and Indians - nothing wrong with them, their written English is great, but sometimes it will be hard to understand them on the phone.
 
Well, I get to come in on both sides - we've had in house support for about 4 years, and I literally outsourced and went 24/7 4 days ago with in house being business hours-ish and outsourcing handling all other times.

In house had its benefits in that I directly controlled the staff without a middle manager. It had its drawbacks in that we’re a small shop staff wise and I simply couldn’t justify full time salaries for 5 tickets a day, which is what we got down to on average after a major overhaul of the servers. We also didn’t advertise at all and grew entirely by word of mouth, so we tend to get a “better” class of customers, if you know what I mean.

But after 12 years, I was still handling 60% of the client interactions, and I’m coming up on 40. I kinda want to give this a chance to expand, or settle back and accept I made it to a 6 figure salary and should pat myself on the back and be happy.

I don’t think that outsourcing is inherently evil (at least, not yet), and I wanted to get on with a company I had worked with before when I helped another host migrate from Alabanza. I see it no different at the moment as being an owner who talks to a manager who then gives directives to the department. So far, they are taking directions and getting to know the way I want things done, and I maintain tight control over what they’re doing by checking over every ticket and making notes as we go along to make it easier for them.

Now, granted, I didn’t choose cheap, and the company’s in Canada so they’re all native English speakers, and as Canadians tend to be they are unfailingly polite. So, so far, it’s working out well. It’s nice to not have to reset passwords constantly, and have time to peruse the forums and get to know you nice people. :)

I think it depends on how they set it up, and how you look at it, and how those two philosophies mesh. Currently, I see who works for me in my admin area and each person assigned to me has their own login. I have an account manager who takes care of issues I have. I can pick up the phone and get to the people working on my company any time. The logins track what they do, so I know who did what precisely, and when, so there’s no lower level of accountability than if I had remote staff. Everything they do I can transparently monitor, and clients can still get the in house staff they’re used to.

So, so far, it’s working out well for me – but again, I’m in the honeymoon stage.

Ask me how happy I am in a month. :)
 
In-house support only, I don't want to put our image on the line by using a third party solution. However, we are unmanaged which means support requests are very minimal anyway.:D
 
We don't outsource our support its all in house. Outsourcing your support could sometimes lead to bad results.
 
I am getting from VA have people who are working for me and giving me good VA/customer support.Its really nice and good thing.Its much cheap and good.
 
I think that hosting companies that outsource their support are taking a huge chance in my mind. Even though out sourced techs and customer service agents may be completely capable, U.S. based customers will always prefer to communicate with someone in the U.S.

Being a Server Operations and Support technician, I provide all aspects of support for our customers. When assisting customers with their issues it is always important to understand that their satisfaction may not just hinge on solving the problem at hand. Customers like to discuss their interests, website ideas, the weather or whatever. Believe it or not, having an agent that is able to hold a conversation and potentially relate to the customer will ultimately encourage that customer to tell their friends about your organization.

We also find it very helpful to the customer to have agents that speak other languages such as Spanish. Although, U.S. based organizations may see out sourcing as a way to improve a company’s bottom line, putting the dollar back into the U.S. economy is always a better move for your conscious.
 
In house customer service and support is always the best as it will be in your interest to be kind and helpful which your customers will like. Outsourced companies may not give the same high level of service.
 
We have it in house, we work virtual and we are now expanding it so we are all on a asterisk system with cisco phones - we also use a call center to answer calls quickly and take the problem information - then post it on our ticket system where every one is alerted of the problem
 
If you run a company that provides service it would be better if you have your own employee handling customer service since having your own employee is like having person who has sense of responsibility and sense of belongings, so whenever the problem or complaint comes, they tend to be more carefully in handling problems or complaint
 
Our technical support is handled by a small team of five available people. This includes myself (mostly me), two individuals acquired in a recent (and developing) partnership and two others who handle the server side issues.

Sales support is handled differently, which is usually myself or one of our other two sales rep who man LiveChat.

We don't outsource support, although I don't think its a problem when other hosts do it. When you grow to a particular size, finding a provider of GOOD and WELL WRITTEN support is key, and since we're still small we're able to handle it all ourselves.

But with most things, you get what you pay for. So if you're outsourcing to India and paying a very low price, expect your support to be of lower quality. If you pay the extra price for those who speak English very well, are very knowledgeable and fast in their responses you'll usually pay a higher price.
 
Its always great to have reliable staff to help keep your customers happy, as running a successful business becomes very time consuming so handling everything on your own can become very diffucult. Inhouse staff does have big advantages, but so does outsourcing staff.

If you can find a reliable group, with a set standard rate that are outsourced it can be a great asset. Inhouse is always more recommended :)
 
We have in house support staff to look after customers services. I think it's not outsourcing which matters it's the staff which matters most if they are capable enough to provide solutions to issues raised by customers ,well they are the best irrespective of their location from where they are responding.
 
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