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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Posts
    542

    Why false 24/7 claims on so many sites

    In looking at many hosting/reseller sites, including those in the tagline of posters here, I often see "24/7 support" and then further down or buried in fine print is a phrase "all support tickets will be responded to within 24 hours".

    From my perspective, this is blatant false advertising. Hasn't 24/7 always meant that a response is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

    I cannot understand how replying to a support ticket within 24 hours can be considered 24/7 support?

    Now, I have no problem with whether 24/7 support is via telephone or email, but 24/7 means somone is really available 24/7.

    I guess even if a support ticket triggers a pager and then the customer gets a response it would be ok, but blatantly saying that response will take 24 hours is wrong.

    I haven't said how fast a response should be. I think there is certainly room for interpretation and I'm not suggesting that if response is not within 1 minute, 5 minutes, or 15 minutes then it is not 24 x 7 but I think there has to be a reasonable intention of providing quick real-time response to claim 24/7.

    Personally, I think falsely claiming something you don't have because you think it is mandatory and are afraid to say that you don't have it is a really poor way to market your services.

    No flames, please but discussion is welcome

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    751
    I agree completely.

    Being able to answer a email 12 hrs later doesnt qualify as 24/7 support....

    Having someone by a phone, or on live chat 24/7, now that qualifies as real 24/7 support.
    SkyLineHost.com
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Mi
    Posts
    208
    I agree with you stating that you will provide a response within 24 is not 24/7 support.

    I offer 24/7 support through helpdesk or email and have outsourced the support to handle when i am not online or near a computer. All in all has worked out pretty well. I will however have to do something different the more i grow. But unless you have 100 clients or more i wouldnt think you need to hire support staff direct. Outsourcing seems to work fine and it does not cost a ton.

    IMHO
    www.saveserver.com<-- Ask me about low cost dedicated servers
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    West Yorkshire
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    1,357
    I agree also. If you state 24/7 then you need to have someone be able to answer the email or call right away or within a certain time which isnt stupidly long.

    Maybe there is a fine line where the response time goes in to the questionable catagory.

    Maybe a max 1 hour response time 24/7 is acceptable and can be classed as 24/7.

    I would say anything above a 4 hours claim on a 24/7 could be classed as false because people can survive on 4 hours sleep and it aproaches the catagory of "one man band".

    I would hope to expect that there was someone there babysitting the company 24/7 my self and with in 1 hour response if they claim 24/7.
    -- Matthew

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    289
    When I first started I did the same thing, then I realized it just was not going to happen so I changed it.
    9/11 Memorial, do you have a story to tell?
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  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Bluesquare dc, Uk
    Posts
    1,591
    We've started doing 24/7 support, and I'm actually dubious of advertising the face since there are so many companies falsely advertising 24/7 support. I can think of one particular company I started off with as a reseller, who claimed 24/7 support was answering emails within 24 hours or 7 days.
    Olly | INX-Gaming
    Call of Duty 4 hosting

  7. #7
    Most new web hosts do it because they've seen it elsewhere and probably think that it'll make them look like a better company, more professional etc. However, when the claim turns false and they're found out to not have the 24/7 it just makes them look dodgy and ruin whatever reputation they've had.

    I think it's best to not blatantly advertise that you have 24/7 support, but if you do actually have that, just provide it, no need to brag about it.
    If after a certain period of time e.g. 6 months-1 year that your customers start saying they have 24/7 then you can start boasting about it.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Bluesquare dc, Uk
    Posts
    1,591
    I suppose if you DO offer 24.7 support and you don't brag about it, a customer that's getting round the clock support is going to be a very happy one- and surprised.
    Olly | INX-Gaming
    Call of Duty 4 hosting

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    New Hampshire
    Posts
    20
    It's tough to actually hold to that. I have a support ticket system in place, and generally, with those tickets, it's not likely that it will ever take more than 6 hours to respond to them. It's a fine line really. I run every available messenger client, so that even if the tickets are slow, people can still get to me on their choice of messenger, and yes, 24/7.

  10. #10
    Originally posted by [inx]Olly
    I suppose if you DO offer 24.7 support and you don't brag about it, a customer that's getting round the clock support is going to be a very happy one- and surprised.
    Yep . If a client knows all about the wrong advertisement of 24/7 and you yourself don't brag about it but do provide it then you're likely to get more respect from them

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Posts
    2,733
    Only if they have someone on the other end of the line 24/7 that is 24 hour support.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Bluesquare dc, Uk
    Posts
    1,591
    24/7 support to me means I have some means of contacting any time of the day. It's not so much how long they take- but obviously over 6 hours, just isnt 24/7.
    Olly | INX-Gaming
    Call of Duty 4 hosting

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    New York, NY
    Posts
    1,241
    If you're lying about having 24/7 support, you're only making your company look bad.

    If I was with a host that claimed to have 24/7 support, and I noticed that it took 18 hours for them to respond to my help ticket, then clearly they don't have 24/7 support, and I'm canceling my account as soon as possible for bad business ethics.
    Thanks,

    Brendan Diaz
    Connect: linkedin.com/in/brendandiaz

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    West Yorkshire
    Posts
    1,357
    I found that most people are ok as long as you tell the truth. I know of a succesful company over here in the Uk which says they will answer emails with in 12 hours and they always do. It may not be the quickest but people respect that they are honest and live up to that promise.
    -- Matthew

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    London, United Kingdom
    Posts
    4,455
    quite often its simply a lie, or they've cribbed it from another site
    part of the issue is that a *lot* of bucket-shop hosts spring up with a TM template with
    *24/7 support
    *best on the net
    *reliable 99.99999999% uptime
    etc in a bandwidth hogging flash into that they paid $49 for !

    24/7 means someone available allday, everyday, not that one day someone'll look @ your ticket :p
    Rob Golding Astutium Ltd - UK based ICANN Accredited Domain Registrar - proud to accept BitCoins
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  16. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    304
    I think the definition is interpretted differently somtimes. For example, we have always provided 24/7 support, and in the beginning of the hosting industry, a big part of this meant that we were constantly monitoring our servers, staff members were on-call for any emergency situations that might occur, in which case we are able to be paged - at any time day or night - we still do this. Simultaneously, customers may contact us by email around the clock, while staff members do actually monitor and answer tickets....it will depend on the busy-level of the questions and such as to how quickly certain questions get answered. In some cases, questions involving accounting/charges/things like that will need to be delayed until an accounting person is available to assist that individual. Sometimes technical issues also need additional research in order to best assist the customer (maybe researching a software they are asking about, etc.)...so offering a guarantee turn-around time of something like 24 hours IMO is not deceiving....as long as that company isn't making false guarantees that someone will answer their phone call at 3am and immediately solve the issue in that exact moment.
    JC, www.webii.net
    Premium Hosting Services Since 1996
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  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Canada/Brazil
    Posts
    265
    I usually respond to support within a couple hours, and nowhere on my site do I claim 24 hour support. I would only claim that if I was able to answer their support in less than 30 minutes all the time. Half the day I can answer in 15 minutes or less but Then I have schooling, sleep, and nto to mention life. I am going to be hiring on another employee soon though.


    i would say at least half or more 24/7 claims are false...
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