Hello,

What do you guys think are best/normal/slow/to slow/acceptable waiting times to get your ticket answered?
I do not mean those stupid automated responses but real human contact!

The fact I post this is because we are waiting for an answer for allmost 4 days and I think that is bad. This is not for our servers being down but a question about network performance loss since a few days back and we want answers. Are we being unfair here saying we are waiting to long for an answer here?

I'm not going to tell wich host is doing this but it's not hard to tell really. I hate it when hosts are responding very quickly in the beginning but tend to see you as "in the pocket" after a while and don't care that much about you later.

This makes us scared allready when the server IS down next time :-(

GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER AND THREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS AS CUSTOMERS AND NOT AS GARBAGE! I THOUGHT IN THE US THE CUSTOMER IS KING BUT MAYBE THAT IS FOR AMERICAN CITIZENS ONLY.

Man I'm pissed.

1 day for me. Anything longer and, well... you get the idea. ;)

I would **hope** most would give some sort of response within 24 hours.

I allready sent some follow-ups (same ticket number) but still no response :angry:

Where are you getting your web site hosted? I myself would usually expect to have any tickets or emails answered well within 24 hours (1 day).

Originally posted by avara
Where are you getting your web site hosted? I myself would usually expect to have any tickets or emails answered well within 24 hours (1 day).

We are talking dedicated servers here. At this host actualy just one wich could be more later this year but with a helpdesk like this we will reconsider for sure.

Definately within 24 hours at the very most:)

Ok, for non-emergeny issues: for a normal web site everything > 1 day is long, but for a dedicated server I expect answers quicker than this!

Good God
I get worried if we have any lying unanswered for 4 hours.

Time for a rethink........

Gordon

I think that you should have it at

1-6 hours
6-12 hours
12-18 hours
18-24 hours
next day

next day is way to long. I strive for about 8 hours or less. I'm batting about 60% reply in 2 hours or less.
and the rest of those replys are within 12 hours.

Mike from adehost

my company Adehost.com

I agree,

For non-emergeny issues response should be within the range of 6 to 24 hours.

But, since you are on a dedicated server i would expect response within 2 hours max or even faster.

:cool:

Once again, this is a general question..

If a user pays $4.95 a month and has a question about the color on his web site. 72 hours is good

If a user has a cgi script failure cause he scrwed it up, and wants free support. 48 hours hours is good.

Server down, failure, should be 5-15 mins

General support - 24 hours is very good.

Then some of you pay companies like bobcares, cylynx and hypertechs, so 1 hour to 3 hour reponses are expected..

Originally posted by William
Once again, this is a general question..

If a user pays $4.95 a month and has a question about the color on his web site. 72 hours is good

If a user has a cgi script failure cause he scrwed it up, and wants free support. 48 hours hours is good.

Server down, failure, should be 5-15 mins

General support - 24 hours is very good.

Then some of you pay companies like bobcares, cylynx and hypertechs, so 1 hour to 3 hour reponses are expected..

No offense but should not they all be treated equal. I can understand what your saying but 72 hours, even if the guy is 4.95. It does not seem right ( maybe I have a heart, I don't know )

Mike from adehost

My company Adehost.com

I just sent the same mail again and I got a response within two minutes!
Could it be because of my post here? We will never know but I know one thing for sure,

4 days is terrible!
2 minutes is better then best!

:rolleyes:

I expect an answer within one hour myself and are lucky to be with a great host who does just that.

There is also the option to IM support on AOL or make a post in their forum. Eitherway, I have never waited more than 10 minutes for an answer or response.

My previous host was no different though they had no forum or IM option.

for a non emergency ticket 6 hours is ok.
That is way I have my servers with VO, they usually answer my tickets in less than 15 min.

<rant>
I waited for Sony support for TWO full weeks on a support ticket. To top it off, they did not even bother to read my message and sent a canned response that was of -zero- use to me!
</rant>

But, for hosting related support ticket response, I feel that human response should follow the same day or within one day. Sometimes a solution cannot be provided that fast but it's important to let a customer know that their issue is being addressed.

I was quite surprised to see 1 day as the shortest time in the poll. We respond to 99% of our tickets within 2 hours-all human, no autoresponders, and solve over 98% of all tickets within 8 hours.

Our standards on which our technical support staff is evaluated...including salary, promotion, retention, and bonus is:

5-Excellent Response 1/2 hour, Resolution 2 hrs
4-Above Average Response 1 hour, Resolution 4 hours
3-Average Response 2 hours, Resolution 8 hours
Anything beyond those times is considered below standards
2-Poor Response 4 hours, Resolution 12 hours
1-Unacceptable Over 4 Hours, Over 12 hours.

All of our technical support staff is currently averaging at least a 4. The overall team average is 4.3.

However, our Quality Assurance Manager continues to personally look at anything less than a 4 and try to find the cause and initiate improvement.

4 hours at most for an emergency issue. I would hope that if it was urgent, the customer would pick up a phone but some companies don't offer telephone support.

If it takes longer than 4 hours in my opinion, it is time to switch.....

Originally posted by William
Once again, this is a general question..

If a user pays $4.95 a month and has a question about the color on his web site. 72 hours is good

If a user has a cgi script failure cause he scrwed it up, and wants free support. 48 hours hours is good.


What would be your answer to these kind of "support" questions?

Hello
I think you will find that most web hsoting companies will respond to support tickets within 6 hours.
Apart from some of the larger ones.

The main reason why companies deal with tickets quickly is that nobody likes unresolved issues sitting on the desk.
They mount up and become unmanageable eventually.
If we were not to answer mail for 4 hours the backlog would take maybe 6 hours to clear.
You have to keep on top of it or you will sink.
SO what I am saying is that fast response times are not always
the result of some great customer service strategy.
Its more about survival.

The issue of scripts is usually dealt with in TOS.
We state that we will not provide support with scripts apart from ones we supply.
In practice, if we have the time and the knowledge to help then we usually will.
Thats pretty much common practice.

Gordon

Originally posted by GordonH
Hello
I think you will find that most web hsoting companies will respond to support tickets within 6 hours.
Apart from some of the larger ones.

The main reason why companies deal with tickets quickly is that nobody likes unresolved issues sitting on the desk.
They mount up and become unmanageable eventually.
If we were not to answer mail for 4 hours the backlog would take maybe 6 hours to clear.
You have to keep on top of it or you will sink.
SO what I am saying is that fast response times are not always
the result of some great customer service strategy.
Its more about survival.

The issue of scripts is usually dealt with in TOS.
We state that we will not provide support with scripts apart from ones we supply.
In practice, if we have the time and the knowledge to help then we usually will.
Thats pretty much common practice.

Gordon

Just a note:
You are assuming that every host gives top priority to customer tickets but if you search this forum you will see that there are hosts that simply disregard/delete your ticket.

Then again these socalled companies can't be called hosts ofcourse ;-)
They turn things around and make you become a host for their leeching pleasure...

Domenico

Yes
As I said if you want to deal with them you need to deal with them quickly or they will become unmanageable.
If you don;t want to deal with them just delete them I guess.

Gordon

Originally posted by Domenico

I THOUGHT IN THE US THE CUSTOMER IS KING BUT MAYBE THAT IS FOR AMERICAN CITIZENS ONLY.

Man I'm pissed.

this has nothing to do with being a american Domenico it happens to all of us --if i wait 4 days i will be researching for another company to go with


Mas

Originally posted by airtime166


this has nothing to do with being a american Domenico it happens to all of us --if i wait 4 days i will be researching for another company to go with


Mas


I know airtime, sorry if I offended anyone here but I just was very pissed and you know people can say lot of things when they are mad as hell.

Domenico

btw. I'm not American, I'm from the Netherlands and have some hotheaded italian blood in me ;)

Originally posted by muppie


What would be your answer to these kind of "support" questions?

Always trying to help the customer is what is important. If you can help them why not? When you can't, and they get mad, thats when you fall on the following:

The issue of scripts is usually dealt with in TOS.

In my mind there is no point in not helping a customer if you can just because you are not legally obliged too.....

Just my opinion :)

alot of clients have to understand what is a support email --
and whats a sale email

sale email will be any questions about pricing and new services

support -- if your site is not up and running the way it should , fp not working ftp not working --passwords are not be accepted etc. --keep in mind not because you coded your site wrong and you want your host to fix your html code or install a cgi script


mas

Even if the ticket is for something not covered by your normal service, you still owe a quick response. In that case, you have three options, depending on the nature of the issue.

1-Handle it as an accommodation. We have attached a set amount of time required which we will accomodate as here.

2-Refuse to assist the customer. We never do this.

3-Provide a quote for the cost of assisting the customer on the matter.

THere are some anoying situations where the customer repeats the same issue. I get upset usally the 2nd time around after it was explained and they didn`t write it down, or even cared to memorize it.

or if they email you they dont give you there domain name and password , i know we sometime will not answer a support ? if we do not get the following

domain name that has problem
there ip number
username and password just in case we have to log into there account

the last thing they did before the problem started

and the problem they are having


most customers give you part of this info which makes it harder if you host more then 50 domains