What's your support preference

[webline]

When it comes to support, most companies offer 24-7 support. This of course can mean many different things. Is is 24-7 support over the phone or is it 24-7 support over ticket system or chat?

I tend to prefer ticket support myself. It gives me an opportunity to upload print screens, copy word for word an error I might be getting and generally explain myself better.

For me 24-7 support should be a combination of phone, live chat and ticket system. I just feel it works better this way. Any thoughts?

 

[lowesthost]

24/7 is what ever the provider says it is

even with phone or chat if it is a intricate issue that we open a support request to document the progress

 

[HostNurse]

We provide customer support for our clients through ticket system, while our phone support and live chat is dedicated to sales.

 

[HostZealot]

When it comes to support, most companies offer 24-7 support. This of course can mean many different things. Is is 24-7 support over the phone or is it 24-7 support over ticket system or chat?

I tend to prefer ticket support myself. It gives me an opportunity to upload print screens, copy word for word an error I might be getting and generally explain myself better.

For me 24-7 support should be a combination of phone, live chat and ticket system. I just feel it works better this way. Any thoughts?

We decided to abandon attempts to provide phone support for good. It just doesn't work in domain&hosting industry. You cannot call and say - I need 2 packs of Lagerm please deliver it to such address.

You should pass verification, describe the issue you experience, provide your domain name or hostin account details, provide all information you have available to speed up the solution of the issue. It is done without any mess via tickets or in chats.

Instead, you will have to listen to beep-beep-beep while customer support rep searches in the database, or contacts another person responsible, or deals with the issue. And you will be pinned to the phone meanwhile. Not to mention you cannot send any attachments like screenshots with phone.

Phone is good for sales indeed, because speaking with a live person on phone adds credibility to a company, so a visitor is turned into a customer. But after that - support is best provided in chats or tickets, because yelling on phone with frustration never helps solving any issues.

 

[yoni]

I believe only big providers can really support all 3 combinations that you mention. for me 24/7 support is actually A quick repalyment via one of the 3 combinations that you mention. as long as it will be in a reasonable response time

 

[SWHC]

I prefer a chat 24/7 support (for the emergency), then also a 24/7 ticket system is really appreciate for advanced problems. You can add screenshots, notes, files, what you want. I think it's easy to solve problems in this way rather than a call.

 

[crystallize]

We monitor 24/7 for Ticket support and phone. Initial response will be within 6hours. Our response will be faster during the office hours. After office hours and weekend, we only attend to emergency case such as network down or server down. Our live chat service operates during our office hours which is Monday to Friday 9AM to 6PM.

We prefer ticket support due to customer security. The other reason for the ticket is to track your issue and one of the technical support can take over and follow up and reply. If require we can upload screen shot and further informations.

 

[Rado_Ch]

We decided to abandon attempts to provide phone support for good. It just doesn't work in domain&hosting industry. You cannot call and say - I need 2 packs of Lagerm please deliver it to such address.

You should pass verification, describe the issue you experience, provide your domain name or hostin account details, provide all information you have available to speed up the solution of the issue. It is done without any mess via tickets or in chats.

Instead, you will have to listen to beep-beep-beep while customer support rep searches in the database, or contacts another person responsible, or deals with the issue. And you will be pinned to the phone meanwhile. Not to mention you cannot send any attachments like screenshots with phone.

Phone is good for sales indeed, because speaking with a live person on phone adds credibility to a company, so a visitor is turned into a customer. But after that - support is best provided in chats or tickets, because yelling on phone with frustration never helps solving any issues.

That's the thing my experience taught me tho - people will always have different preferences and they should be addressed accordingly. I've worked and currently work for a company with a 24/7 phone line. Is it great for tech support issues? Not particularly. Does it take more time and sometime lead to frustration? It sometimes does. Can it lead to misunderstandings over the phone and pretty long waits? Definitely. But at the end of the day the best you can do is explain that to the client and let them make the decision. People feel more confident when they are steering the wheel. I've had customers that just want phone support, regardless of longer waits. Sure, some cases you just have to direct the customer to the ticketing system and if the phone rep can justify that properly, then 90% of callers would not mind. Heck, after 2-3 such cases most learn how to easily use the ticketing and refrain from calling if their issue is too technical.

Pleasing the customer is exactly why many hosts offer 24/7 services or various methods like live chat, phone, mail, tickets etc. There is nothing wrong with that - now how are they handling their requests through all those communication methods is an entirely different story and that's exactly why clients should be wary and always test the quality of customer support before they sign for a service :rolleyes2

 

[Gaby-HostDept]

24/7 Live chat support will be handy for the customers for quickly resolving issues.

Customer support should be given in all possible ways like phone, live chat and ticket system and that to 24/7

 

[storminternet]

At least one should provide customer support 24x7 via live chats and tickets. Live chat and tickets are very handy and effective to communicate with customers and understand critical issues.

I think this should also reduce the issue resolution time as most of the level2, level3 engineers would like to support via chats and tickets. Level1 support can be engaged on phone line to assist customers for basic issues. However for sales and billing issues phone support is of great use where you can take the follow up with the customers for quick conversion and recovery

 

[easyhostmedia]

clients can contact us via live chat or support ticket as phone is for sales only.
if its a complex issue then if they come on live chat we will ask the client to open a support ticket as this was the issue can be tracked and a full record is recorded.
we have some clients email us, but we only reply asking them to use the support ticket system, so we can track the issue and its easier to pass the issue to other techs if needed.

 

[RLT-Alex]

My personal preference is ticket and live chat. Live chat for me is usually a urgent issue, such as server being down, asking the current status of a server etc.

Ticket is usually for sales, or issues which don't really have much 'urgency', such as software installation, or asking for a custom quote.

With phone- Skype offers free toll-free calls to any toll free number in the United States, so I sometimes use that to call companies (as I do not live in the United States). But the downside is usually their callcenter is only open 9am - 6pm, and I'm in the wrong time zone!

 

[easyhostmedia]

My personal preference is ticket and live chat. Live chat for me is usually a urgent issue, such as server being down, asking the current status of a server etc.

Ticket is usually for sales, or issues which don't really have much 'urgency', such as software installation, or asking for a custom quote.

With phone- Skype offers free toll-free calls to any toll free number in the United States, so I sometimes use that to call companies (as I do not live in the United States). But the downside is usually their callcenter is only open 9am - 6pm, and I'm in the wrong time zone!

I prefer tickets. where we have our main server no matter what time of day or night we always get a ticket response within a few minutes and normally a solution within an hour.

We are in the UK , but all our servers are in the USA, but we have a set of clocks set up with the different time zones to our server providers, so we know if we need them urgently we can tell if they are likely to be available to call on the phone.

 

[alexapamten]

Now maximum hosting companies provide 24/7 phone, chat and email support.

 

[Alex - A2 Hosting]

I prefer tickets. where we have our main server no matter what time of day or night we always get a ticket response within a few minutes and normally a solution within an hour.

I thought you were a one man shop? Do you outsource or find yourself waking up constantly throughout the night?

At Arvixe we're happy to offer our clients with 24 / 7 phone, ticket, email and chat support. After all, clients want to be able to reach out to you with their preferred method so we try to make as many available as possible.

 

[easyhostmedia]

I thought you were a one man shop? Do you outsource or find yourself waking up constantly throughout the night?

At Arvixe we're happy to offer our clients with 24 / 7 phone, ticket, email and chat support. After all, clients want to be able to reach out to you with their preferred method so we try to make as many available as possible.

yes one man shop, but if needed i will stay up all night to support clients with issues.
the server admins where we have our main server with will answer tickets within minutes.

i have a loud audio system set up so if a support ticket does come though in the middle of the night it will wake me up. This is only set up for support tickets from our clients.

 

[Alex - A2 Hosting]

yes one man shop, but if needed i will stay up all night to support clients with issues.
the server admins where we have our main server with will answer tickets within minutes.

i have a loud audio system set up so if a support ticket does come though in the middle of the night it will wake me up. This is only set up for support tickets from our clients.

Interesting setup with the audio system :smash: :thumbup: - Hopefully one day you will be in a position to remove that setup and have others cover the nights for you though I guess if it works for you, then why not.

 

[easyhostmedia]

Interesting setup with the audio system :smash: :thumbup: - Hopefully one day you will be in a position to remove that setup and have others cover the nights for you though I guess if it works for you, then why not.

always been a light sleeper and i can rest with only 2 hrs sleep be fresh as a daisy, so the system does not bother me.

i have had staff before from Gov training schemes so i can teach them how to run internet businesses etc. but the ones i have had have been nothing but trouble apart from 1 a few years back. i got this 17 year old girl, she was great with customers, so after 3 months i gave her control of one of my ecommerce sites, sop she dealt with customers and orders and it was working great, i was on the verge of offering her a full time job, but one day i have to go to a meeting and left her in charge of the phones etc. when i come back from meeting she was no where to be seen. i called her and her father answered and bluntly told me she would not be returning, which puzzled me, so i went round to her house to find out what was up. She was in floods of tears, but eventually i found out that one of my hosting clients had phoned up because their site was down and when she explained i was in a meeting the client blew his top and started swearing etc. at her. this had her in tears so she left and went home. i called the client their and then and asked him to explain himself and apologies, he just swore at me. so i told him to find himself another host and that his account will be closed when i got back to PC. it turned out his site was down due to him messing with settings. i tried to pursuade the girl to come back offering her a full time job on the spot, but she was too upset and would not accept, which i dont blame her. i contacted her a few weeks later to see if she was willing to come back, but she had found herself a new job. i wished her all the best and said to her if she wanted a few extra pounds then i could give her a few hours. she did do a few hours for a few weeks, but she then got the chance to go to the USA with her new job.

 

[tecsys]

Most big providers would prefer offering all three mediums. However, with each communication medium added it means addon cost for the provider with regards to staff, infrastructure and running cost. Support tickets is the cheapest and most effective medium for almost every host as there is clear communication record in tickets and cost involved for ticket support is less than any other medium.

 

[easyhostmedia]

Most big providers would prefer offering all three mediums. However, with each communication medium added it means addon cost for the provider with regards to staff, infrastructure and running cost. Support tickets is the cheapest and most effective medium for almost every host as there is clear communication record in tickets and cost involved for ticket support is less than any other medium.

I agree tickets are the best not only giving a record, but can link to that clients account.

dont mind emails, but wont accept support requests over the phone as its harder to diagnose or get solutions across, such as explaining to a client how they can setup emails or flush DNS. in a ticket or email you can point them to a youtube video or prvide a link to instructions etc.