Hello! We are looking int outsourcing technical support and would like to know if there are any company's that you aware of that will handle the support.

Resources I have found:

http://www.getsupportnow.com
http://www.bobcares.com

Any others?

Thanks in advance!

try doing a search of these forums and see what it brings you! :)

In the past couple of months you have had these:

www.24x7livesupport.co.uk (Not sure what is up with them)
www.rapidisupport.com (Went out of business)
www.addsupport.com (Went out of business before even starting)
www.getsupportnow.com (Brand new.)

I would highly suggetst bobcares. They have been around and probably aren't going anywhere. Personally I would hate to rely on an unstable company for something as important as support.

Andyc

http://www.bobcares.com is the company I'm using with very quality support service,
others companies:

http://www.hyper-techs.com/
http://www.cylynx.com/
http://www.outsource-support.com/
http://www.supportex.net/

hello,

i highly recommend bobcares. they are quality people with quality answers. they are very friendly and well worth the money! i have experience with them from the past and i give them a 9 out of 10. good luck to you!

The big problem with BobCares is that they don't provide live chat or phone support. I would highly suggest http://hostworks.ca/ as an alternative. A big plus is that all of their techs actually speak English!!! LOL :D

Originally posted by successful
The big problem with BobCares is that they don't provide live chat or phone support. I would highly suggest http://hostworks.ca/ as an alternative. A big plus is that all of their techs actually speak English!!! LOL :D

Just wondering, but do you use them?

Be wary of outsourcing your support. It's a good idea for lowering cost but recently many hostees are wisening up to the ways of the Scrooge and asking about in-house tech support (and server support). Though you're not required to provide such information an in-house 24x7 solution for clients usually makes them happier :)

...Worse comes to worse hire that best-friend's linux guru of a son for summer work. Provided they have some confidence when talking over the phone and know the ways of the spellchecker you can teach the rest and pay much less.

Sincerely,

-Matt

Originally posted by successful



The big problem with BobCares is that they don't provide live chat or phone support. I would highly suggest http://hostworks.ca/ as an alternative. A big plus is that all of their techs actually speak English!!! LOL :D







Hi!



I'm not bashing anybody here... Just a small note... We were not able to provide you phone support but we very clearly told you that.. I do not think you must be angry about it... We told the truth to you about us.... We are studying the market for phone support and may come up with it in a few months... I really did look forward to having you as a client as I had found it very interesting to talk to you and knew that you'd be a very good client to have....
You are happy with hostworks... I understand that and I respect it. Bobcares is not the only good support service company... Others are good too and so is bobcares.. But you get nothing by bashing us to show that they are good.... It is very unethical...

As far as English goes here is a small comparision...







Taken from



"http://www.hostworks.ca/hw/support/exp/web_hosting.htm





"While we is able to handle the support needs of multiple industries and market verticals, we specialize in providing customer care and technical support to web and application hosting companies. "



Now compare with this...

http://cylynx.com/support/expertise/webhosting/

"While CyLynx is able to handle the support needs of multiple industries and market verticals, we specialize in providing customer care and technical support to web and application hosting companies. "

If you compare the two sites (including the mission statement, expertise ;) ) you'd get a better picture of what I'm trying to say...

Please note that this is a very personal post and has nothing to do with bobcares....
Also, I have nothing against you or hostworks... I'm sure they are good and authentic and we'll have good competition from them and many other companies..
The Amazon CEO (I'm forgetting his name) had once said that the internet market is so huge that there is space for everybody.... I feel that it is completely true... If you are good the international market is always there to accept you... :)

I hope this post does not offend you or hostworks.. If it does please let me know.. I'll delete it asap...

Have a great day :)

Regards
Amar

Hi Amar,

I was not referring to your company in my post. I have had some very bad experiences outsourcing my support to non native English speakers. I was impressed with your company, but I was very disappointed that you do not offer live chat or phone support.

When we spoke about a year ago you were very understanding about our situation and you told us that you were planning to offer livechat shortly. We waited a few months but we could not wait any longer.

HI Alex,
Actually when we take interviews we make sure that our tech guys are good engineers who know English very well.. Hence my confidence in them.....
I apologize.. Actually I felt offended on the English part... Anyway, thanks for clearing it for me... I really appreciate it... Also, I feel bad on having missed you as a client... :(

In a nutshell shell for us ...... offer chat and phone support asap... I have to speed up the process soon.... :rolleyes:

Anyway, I wish you the very best ....

Have a great day :)

Regards
Amar

From reading some support responses by Bobcares, I have to say their english is perfect. Whoever says otherwise has clearly not read any of their support responses.

About telephone support, due to the fact that they are in India, I don't see how they could offer that unless they were able to make some special deals with telecommunications companies or got in their own leased fiber line to route the calls. I guess that is the one disadvantage of being located there.

Chat support, however, should be easily workable. And I look forward to that being added to their offering, though I'm not sure how it would be billed... Maybe per word typed? Or per problem.

Just in case anyone is wondering, we have our own in-house support team, but are considering adding Bobcares in addition to the in-house team.

The MAIN reason I would go with http://www.HostWorks.ca is that they do server Admin work as well as bullet fast tech support. All of the other support outfits only answer emails etc. HostWorks is like having an in-house tech support team AND a sys admin.

Originally posted by successful
The MAIN reason I would go with http://www.HostWorks.ca is that they do server Admin work as well as bullet fast tech support. All of the other support outfits only answer emails etc. HostWorks is like having an in-house tech support team AND a sys admin.

Didn't bobcares just point out that hostworks copied cylynx's page, and on top of that, they used bad grammar or made a typo? If so, why would you use a tech support group like that?

I have heard good things about bobcares

Sean

Every time I've talked to Amar he has been friendly and courteous. Bobcares also seems to be adding lots of new plans to their site and I wouldn't be suprised to see a live chat or other be added sometime soon. They also listen to what people want. ( Overnight plan and reseller plan. ) I haven't used them for support, but If I ever need to outsource I'll probably go to bobcares :-)

I highly recommend Bobcares. Very knowledgable, friendly, and professional staff.

I recently had a host that took some time to respond to support tickets, and the support responses were always signed by someone named "Delphi" or some other name that appeared to be Indian. I didn't realize it at the time, but the host was probably using 3rd party support from a company in India... perhaps "BobCares". I guess it shouldn't matter, but living in the US, I would prefer tickets to my customers be responded to by a name like Matt, Susan, John, etc.

Why does it matter what the support technicians name is?

Originally posted by SplashHost.com
Why does it matter what the support technicians name is?

I knew someone would ask that.:) Though we have people from India in the US, I think it sends out a red flag that you are not doing your own support when you claim to be a U.S. company, and your support questions are usually answered by people with non-English names. BTW, Alan would be an OK name, too. :)

P.S. Sales is about perception, and that's why the "correct perception" is vital to reselling; and I believe the correct "support perception" to be an important part of selling.

Originally posted by chrisb
I guess it shouldn't matter, but living in the US, I would prefer tickets to my customers be responded to by a name like Matt, Susan, John, etc.

:eek:

As a client, as long as my emails are answered quickly and contain good answers what do I care what they guys name is?

Originally posted by Paul-ukhost


:eek:

I don't understand "eek". Care to elaborate?

Originally posted by chrisb


I knew someone would ask that.:) Though we have people from India in the US, I think it sends out a red flag that you are not doing your own support when you claim to be a U.S. company, and your support questions are usually answered by people with non-English names. BTW, Alan would be an OK name, too. :)

P.S. Sales is about perception, and that's why the "correct perception" is vital to reselling; and I believe the correct "support perception" to be an important part of selling.


When you initially sign up with Bobcares, they ask if you would like them to sign their names, or if you would prefer "The Your Company Staff" or anything like that. So it's not an issue.

Originally posted by chrisb
I guess it shouldn't matter, but living in the US, I would prefer tickets to my customers be responded to by a name like Matt, Susan, John, etc.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Your going over board. Nobody cares about peoples names anymore. As long as they are nice and they are doing what they are suppose to do. Who cares about there names.

Originally posted by chrisb
I recently had a host that took some time to respond to support tickets, and the support responses were always signed by someone named "Delphi" or some other name that appeared to be Indian. I didn't realize it at the time, but the host was probably using 3rd party support from a company in India... perhaps "BobCares". I guess it shouldn't matter, but living in the US, I would prefer tickets to my customers be responded to by a name like Matt, Susan, John, etc.

Yeah me too but coming from the South I can only find techs named Bubba, Bobbi Sue, Cleetus, and Billy Bob.

On a serious note though, even hinting that you might care about this if you're in a position to hire someone is akin to begging for a discrimination suit.

Originally posted by Avail



When you initially sign up with Bobcares, they ask if you would like them to sign their names, or if you would prefer "The Your Company Staff" or anything like that. So it's not an issue.

I wouldn't say that it isn't an issue. It's good news that they have an option, but I'm not sure that I'd want responses signed by "??? Tech Support" either. I think that responses with a signed name on each reply look more legitimate.

And dixiesys.... yeah, I'm from the South too, and guess what the guy's name was that sold me my car?... Bubba (seriously). I don't care for those type of names either. Though I bought my car from him, I would not use a company with a tech that signed "Bubba".

I'm sure bobcares realizes my point, at least to a degree, and, perhaps that's why he named his company in India "Bobcares" instead of some Indian names. I would suggest he go even further, and give each of his techs with a non-English name, a duplicate simple non-foreign sounding name for email. Just a thought.

Anyhow, maybe I *am* too concerned about this; but I have a feeling I'm not the only one. I appreciate the feedback.

Hi - I'm not biggoted, I'm just stupid. :)

Originally posted by freakysid
Hi - I'm not biggoted, I'm just stupid. :)

Don't sweat it. In a few years, you should reach another peak in your psychological bell curve. ;)

while i do not wish to get involved in all this stuff:

1) i have used bobcares for about 7 months
2) they are very very very patient, knowledgeable, & polite
3) there english is better then mine and i was born in the US :)
4) they rarely miss a 1 hour response on any ticket

I will say that NONE of my clients have EVER been displeased with the way they have handled ANY issue in the past. Also, NO ONE has ever even brought this issue up to tell me they are displeased because a tech named Ajeesh, Vivek, or Vinu (my 3 favorites) signed there name at the end of a ticket.

REPEAT: the issue of an indian name at the end of a support ticket has never been brought to my attention, in any way, by any client i have hosted, EVER!

Past that, i strongly feel that a friendly & speedy solution, no matter what the problem is, is the most important. As long as bobcares continues to do as well as they have for me and my clients in teh past, they can sign their name how ever they like!

As a company, you should not be ashamed of outsourcing your support. Do you think DELL Computers actually hires they own customer service people. When you call on some warranty issues with them, does an actual dell representative come out and fix it? Never!

All companies outsource things, it is more efficient and cost effective.

When you outsource, you do not have to pay wages, insurance, social security etc...There are a LOT of costs with having your own employee's beyond their hourly rate.

Originally posted by goodness0001
As a company, you should not be ashamed of outsourcing your support.


Right on the nose.

Well, I see a thread like this about once a month...

I used Bobcares before they were even called Bobcares. The support they provide is more than adequate and I watch my tickets and there is no problem with their English. I even called them twice last week to discuss some future business and they spoke perfect English to me. To be honest, many of my customers do not speak clear English either... this is a global business and that is to be expected. I frequently see 'thank you for the quick reply' come back from customers.

Try their service out, Amar and his company are fair people to work with, if you are not happy, I am quite sure they will accommodate you or do what it takes to make you happy. A good example: people asked for more plans, like the overnight plan and they created one.

They have learned my business inside out, they know who to contact for what issue and since I had them, I can sleep at night knowing they are watching my servers. If there is a problem, I instructed them what to do (which includes emailing my pager and cell phone, & contacting the appropriate datacenter) which they do as instructed. This is piece of mind to me. The few times I ever had a concern, I email Amar, or the person he assigns to oversee my account and they not only look into my question, but they follow up and ask how everything is going afterwards. I can go hire a tech here locally for about 5 times as much as I pay these guys, but then I would have to train him/her on my control panels, and more than likely they would not be familiar with the virtual hosting environment and how to handle individual customers. Amar and his team only deal with hosting and servers related to hosting. They know the control panels and how to work with them.
I can go on all day, but I do a search on the board and read up on the services available and some comments from other users.
There are only a few companies out there who have 'been around' and I would ever trust to work with my customers.

Regards
AH

Originally posted by littlest


:eek: :eek: :eek:

Your going over board. Nobody cares about peoples names anymore. As long as they are nice and they are doing what they are suppose to do. Who cares about there names.

I think the opposite is true.

Having the customer service response associated with a "name" is good for both the customer and the company. Its good for the customer because its a "personal" touch. Having some nameless entity provide support can lead to increased frustration if its not solved to their satisfaction. Or if they need followup assistance with a related issue, they can try to get the person who helped them before. Or if they have a complaint about an incorrect answer provided, they can identify who gave them poor customer service.

This point makes a good segway into my next point. Having the service representive's name is good for the company. They can identify who is doing a good job and who isn't and address those problems as they occur. Having their name on the response is a good way to track it. :)

Hal

OH OH :D

Have any of you been listening to the news lately? India is really close to a war with Pakistan. I wonder how this would affect all of you at BobCares ???

Originally posted by successful
OH OH :D

Have any of you been listening to the news lately? India is really close to a war with Pakistan. I wonder how this would affect all of you at BobCares ???

Yes, I heard something about it, and immediately thought about BobCares. I hope they are not affected.

Until your last post, I simply saw you as a happy customer of hostworks.ca. However, now I ask you to divulge your full relationship with them. A couple of points I make as well:

1-Your statement that an advantage is that they will administer your server while bobcares will not. Although, it is not in bobcares standard plans, it is a service they will provide if desired.

2-That last comment about possible war...I just didn't think that was appropriate...just a personal opinion. I would encourage you to look at a map of India and you would see that bobcares is located as far from Pakistan as is possible to still be in India. In fact, over 2,000 Kilometers.

As to hostworks.ca, I hope they are everything you tout and hope they are very successful, as I believe this industry needs good alternatives. At least from the little I know they seem to be a cut above those we have recently seen come and go. However, I do believe their web site needs more disclosure including the skills their staff has, where their staff is located, etc. And, copying part of their site from cylynx really didn't make me feel good. But, otherwise, they appear to be taking a professional approach.

Well, I may just end up using BobCares after all. Everyone says they are good. However, who would you use for a backup if you can't do your own support, and say something happened to BobCares? Is their another good similar company?

One thing I've learned is that in the hosting business especially, you need a backup for everything.

Hostworks may be that company, Chris. It's just too early to know at this time. Other than them, the only other legitimate player at this time appears to be Cylynx. Unfortunately, they are more expensive and service reviews have been quite mixed. Their program does seem to be tailored to larger hosts than most who are looking here.

Originally posted by Incognito
Until your last post, I simply saw you as a happy customer of hostworks.ca. However, now I ask you to divulge your full relationship with them. A couple of points I make as well:


I have no ownership or other relationship with HostCares.ca other than being their client. I am a VERY happy customer and you know how VERY happy customers get.......

Originally posted by Incognito
1-Your statement that an advantage is that they will administer your server while bobcares will not. Although, it is not in bobcares standard plans, it is a service they will provide if desired.

I was referring to Bobcares standard plans. What I was trying to say is that Bobcares sounds great if you need your email answered - but not much more than that.

Originally posted by Incognito
2-That last comment about possible war...I just didn't think that was appropriate...just a personal opinion. I would encourage you to look at a map of India and you would see that bobcares is located as far from Pakistan as is possible to still be in India. In fact, over 2,000 Kilometers.

I did see that they are all the way on the other side - but Nuclear waste can travel way over 2,000 Kilometers......

Originally posted by Incognito
As to hostworks.ca, I hope they are everything you tout and hope they are very successful, as I believe this industry needs good alternatives. At least from the little I know they seem to be a cut above those we have recently seen come and go. However, I do believe their web site needs more disclosure including the skills their staff has, where their staff is located, etc. And, copying part of their site from cylynx really didn't make me feel good. But, otherwise, they appear to be taking a professional approach.
Agreed - I hope they will take your suggestion.