After sending out and answering many questions via email, I'm curious about this group's opinion on response times.

How long would you consider reasonable to wait for a response when you send an email to a web host for:

1) Sales inquiries
2) Support issues
3) Praise/Complaint

I realize not every host has someone sitting at a keyboard 24 hours a day (ok, some probably do :stickout), so what's the best answers?

Michael

Originally posted by gadget

1) Sales inquiries
2) Support issues
3) Praise/Complaint


Realistically? 24-48 hours. Even on support emails, you should some sort of human reply to your problem.

That's my opinion anyway. :)

I think it depends on the nature of the inquiry. Some may be pretty simple and should be answered quickly. Others may be more complex and require research/troubleshooting/etc. I think all emails should get some type of reply within 24 hours, even if it's only a "we're looking into the issue and will get back to you as soon as we figure it out".

We personally have decided to guarantee a max. 2 hours response time; but average is probably 6-12 hours.

Originally posted by Kiwi
We personally have decided to guarantee a max. 2 hours response time; but average is probably 6-12 hours.

You're going to have sysadmins answering emails 24 hours a day? Nice.

I try to stay on the safe side....and be fair by saying 24 hour response.
We normally answer anywhere from immediate, to a few hours.

We try to make absolutely sure that we get a response to the client within 12 hours. Usually it is within 1 or 2 hours.

Sometimes the response is 'we will look into it and get back to you', but it is not an autoresponder, it is a personalized response to let the client know that someone is there.

Wow, we reply to all sales & support questions in less than 1 hour! I thought that was slow :)

Was this post posted in the advertising forum?? Sure seems like it...

In the case of a request for support, I think that any business should send at least a 'temporary' reply within a few hours from the question and then maybe take a maximum of 24 hours for a definite answer.

You always have the option of postponing the answer with the actual resolution of the problem if need be, but you can't afford not to give a decent and human answer within 24 hours (and I am being very generous here). It's a question of respect.

Talking about which: when I have to call an airline or the telephone company or whatever, after a first vain attempt to get an answer I always end up digiting the "sales department" number because I KNOW that they will be much more quick in answering. And everytime it just pisses me off because they do it almost immediately!

Well, this is from a client's point of view.
Interesting thread, by the way.

Though We Try To Give Most Of The Answers Within 2-4 Hours Time. I think 12-24 Hours Time Should Be Fine (Only My Personal Openion).








:cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

Originally posted by cbaker17
Was this post posted in the advertising forum?? Sure seems like it...


It has now been moved there considering the nature of the questions + answers we've received. The topic was originally posted in the General Web Hosting forum.

Originally posted by Planet Z


You're going to have sysadmins answering emails 24 hours a day? Nice.

Yeah, we have 2 people at the office every night answering sales- and support-related questions starting Monday :)

non-emergency issues: 12-24 hours.
emergency issues: 2-3 hours.

Sorry...duplicate post!

Originally posted by cbaker17
Was this post posted in the advertising forum?? Sure seems like it...

I really just wanted a general conversation about response times... I wasn't anticipating everyone advertising their OWN response times! :confused:

Sorry...duplicate post!

I think there are two category that we have to place this. At least that's what I place them in.

Emergency
Routine

If someone calls or e-mails about an emergency such as their site is down, the server is down or anything that will interfer with their business, this takes priority over everything else. All tickets we get will be prioritized if we're overwelmed with issues. With this type of call or ticket we'll work on it immediately and try to get your problem fix ASAP. The problem will not be left alone until it's fixed.

Second, Routine, these are normal day issues. Although it's annoying to the customer they don't interfer with their business. We call this Routine and routine cases are worked on a first come first serve basis. We try to get these issues resolved in 24 or less hours. You will get a response from someone in 1-2 hours that your problem is being worked on. Making promises only gets companies in trouble.

Even some of the smaller problems can turn out to be big problems. Troubleshooting issues isn't something you can always rush. However, you MUST keep the customer in the loop and update them of the progress of their problem. Be honest with them and explain everything you can to them. Routine cases shouldn't last any more than 48 hours.

Note even in these two category, you can still classify them as high, medium and low priorities.

That's how I see support and anything else working.

Thanks..

Support call on Jag's hosting got replied within 3 hours or 6 hours. (For me, yes.)

Support call on Allera's hostin got replied within 1 hour to 3 hour. (For me, yes.)

Me no lie since I am a customer of those two hosting companies.

Originally posted by PagesUSA
We try to make absolutely sure that we get a response to the client within 12 hours. Usually it is within 1 or 2 hours.

Sometimes the response is 'we will look into it and get back to you', but it is not an autoresponder, it is a personalized response to let the client know that someone is there.

Yup, that's exactly how we operate as well.

--Tina