Hi

what would u say is a good reply time for a support query, in hours ?

and what is the average ?


Thanks just trying to get an idea

Waseem

don't forget, it also depends on the kind of problem...:)

for a pre purchase enquiry about MX recrods

I certainly wouldn't judge a company on their response to pre-sales inquiries.
Those are, pretty much, on the bottom of the pile when it comes to priority.
That being said, for pre-sales questions, I would be comfortable with anything around 24 hours. Maybe even longer if it came with an explaination.

I agree. I'd rather see a company concentrate on support for current customers than rush to answer pre sales questions first. I'd go with the 24 hour rule, as well.

How do you think they got those customers? Presales questions perhaps?

I think you need to treat prospective customers as well as current customers. The cost of obtaining a customer is something to be factored in as well.

Originally posted by pgrote
How do you think they got those customers? Presales questions perhaps?

I think you need to treat prospective customers as well as current customers. The cost of obtaining a customer is something to be factored in as well.

I couldn't agree more. The same response time should be applied to everyone, including prospective clients.

And if you don't have time to answer pre-sales questions, then you don't have time to support new clients.

I'd expect an answer in <24 hours for most, or <4 hours for a premium host. If you don't get a response at all, they probably don't want your business.

George

Greetings:

For shared hosting, our parent company typically responds to emails within 15 minutes or less during normal business hours.

Most issues are resolved in under 60 minutes. Phone calls are usually responded to and resolved in the same call.

Thank you.

I disagree that you shouldn't judge a company by it's pre-sale responce.

If anything, it's an extremly important gage to know if you're dealing with a dud or not. If the company doesn't get back to you within a day, don't deal with them. Even _geocities_ gets back to people within a day (granted, it's just an automated e-mail).

Sales are on the bottom of most people's list. So it's an extremly good thing to see your e-mail answered quickly. It means they care.

And if you don't have time to answer pre-sales questions, then you don't have time to support new clients. Totally Agree. :beer:

My opinion:

EVERY email, sales, support, and billing alike, should receive a response within seconds. This would be the autoresponse letting them know the email was received and providing them a tracking/ticket number for it.

90% or more of the emails should receive their second response, containing the solution or further inquiry from a human on staff, in less than an hour. These are the emails that have answers a 24/7 staff would know by heart and/or are simple to find type answers. for a pre purchase enquiry about MX recrods There is no reason for an email inquiry like this to wait more than an hour unless something is really just going wrong with the host at the time that has them backed up. Anything over 6 hours for something like this would blow my mind, over 24 hours and I'd be gone.

The more complicated inquires, that will require a 2nd or 3rd level technician may take longer of course, for these the client should still receive a response within 24 hours that lets them know the higher up tech is looking into it and that's ONLY IF there was no way to resolve it within the 24 hour time period.

I just really don't understand the hosts that take an average of 1 to 5 days to answer an email. I'll give them more credit than the hosts that never answer but sheeessshhhhh


Note: the above response assumes 24/7 support is advertised. If there are set hours then "off hour" emails will obviously have to take longer to respond to...though the autoresponse should still work.

Deb

I agree with everything you said.
I am amazed at the people I hear say a host answered their suppport ticket 2 days later and think that is a good response.

Geeezz my customers would be up in arms if I didn't answer them within 4 hours.

On the other hand judging a host solely by their response time to a pre-sales question is not that great an idea either. I have heard plenty of horror stories of about host that are great at answering your pre-sales questions (especaily the ones that charge by the year) but once they have your money it takes days to get a response, if any, to trouble tickets.

It is a buyers market out there if a host does not respond in a reasonable time frame move on, there are tons of others that will.

6 hours or less is pretty good for me.

If they advertise 24/7, then I sometimes send an email to their support just to check them out, if I don't get a response within an hour from a human then they are of my list.

Originally posted by KHL
If they advertise 24/7, then I sometimes send an email to their support just to check them out, if I don't get a response within an hour from a human then they are of my list.

An hour might be pushing it a bit, 4 hours is reasonable to wait for anyone. Techs maybe busy working on a problem for someone else. If you were having a problem would you want the tech to stop working on your account so he could answer a pre-sales question within an hour.

Originally posted by Monte


An hour might be pushing it a bit, 4 hours is reasonable to wait for anyone. Techs maybe busy working on a problem for someone else. If you were having a problem would you want the tech to stop working on your account so he could answer a pre-sales question within an hour.

Then they should say 4 hours or whatever and keep that timeframe.

Why dont you just phone them to get an immediate answer for your questions?

If they put you on hold for 4 hours. I would strongly recommend you to go with someone else. :D

Definitely 24 hours or less. We have our customers spoiled with immediate response time. They start to panic when we don't get back to them in 15 minutes ;)

Well, keep in mind not all hosts are alike. Some have different departments or divisions. Such as a sales office thats only open 9-5 monday throu friday but yet has 24/7 staff or outsources the staff for support. So I'd really say the responce time depends on the advertised hours of said host. Now if they say 24/7 sales/support then I'd say anywhere within 6-12 hours would be acceptable, but thats just my opinion :).

I think that regulars of Internet access have grown used to (spoiled?) with a <24 hr reponse time to almost anything. Weekends and Holidays seem to be 50/50 expectation of same. I think that is justifiable myself. It should also go without saying that if it's an Emergency situation, which can include a response from Support, then <6 or 12 hr should be expected. Mind you, the quicker the better and can only make one look good.

It is common knowledge in the business world that it costs more money to get "new" clients than to retain "old" or current clients. Doesn't everyone have this as their company motto: "Seek new clients, but keep the old. One is Silver and the other Gold." :D

Interesting this thread came up as I've currently been waiting since 08/23, to get a response back from HostIndex.com -- and that was using their "feedback@" Email address. Doesn't make them look good at all. :angry:

Originally posted by Mr.G
Definitely 24 hours or less. We have our customers spoiled with immediate response time. They start to panic when we don't get back to them in 15 minutes ;)

heh, I have a few of those myself, they tend to like to keep me on my toes. I also have a few that seem to think 1-2 minutes of downtime (for a server reboot) is enough to get fed up over and start e-mailing me left and right.

I try to get back to all of my customers within 3-4 hours (sometimes it is not possible, but I do my best to make sure that is met), no one has complained about the support yet, so as long as they are happy, I am happy (it is not like I don't provide enough ways of contact: e-mail, msn, icq, aim, and support forums).