Epic fail

[Johnrc]

Dear IPS:

I have four tickets open. One from January 23, one from January 24, and two from January 26. One is a critical/emergency ticket.

Please respond as soon as possible - this is unacceptable. I realize that one of them falls inside of your 5 day service level agreement, but this is 100% incongruent with the service you've provided in the past.

John

[.Ian]

Hello,

I am sure one of the guys will get to you as soon as they can :)

Please remember to allow up to 48 hours for a response - also whilst you may well find people working and answering tickets at the weekend, strictly speaking support is closed - http://www.invisionpower.com/contact/

[Johnrc]

Ian,

Thank you for your response. The fact that you responded before they did is rather disconcerting, considering you have no formal affiliation with the company, but I do appreciate it nonetheless.

John

[Gianpiero L.]

this is a problem for all IPB customers: I open less than 4 ticket in one year.

When each of customers open 4 tickets in three day, the license should be 4 times more expensive :hmm:

[.Ian]

Ian,

Thank you for your response. The fact that you responded before they did is rather disconcerting, considering you have no formal affiliation with the company, but I do appreciate it nonetheless.

John

Have you tried asking your questions on the support forums?

This might be a quicker option for you.

[NenaDice]

Ian,

Thank you for your response. The fact that you responded before they did is rather disconcerting, considering you have no formal affiliation with the company, but I do appreciate it nonetheless.

John

He used to be a staff member so he knows how things work. Anyway, as mentioned above, in meanwhile you can post about the issues you are having in the forum here and you never know, someone might know the solution to your forum problems.

[GreenLinks]

Do you realise that today is Sunday and IPB staff also has right to spend their weekends etc...

A little empathy ...

[Soniceffect]

Do you realise that today is Sunday and IPB staff also has right to spend their weekends etc...

A little empathy ...

23rd and 24th weren't, and 48 hrs from the 23rd one is a friday. So can understand the complaint. I would however as someone has already suggested maybe post your problem in the forums. Some of us guys may be able to help, unless of course its not something in which can be posted in public.

[stoo2000]

Not to mention.

With the recent release
of IP.Board 3.4.2 support response times may be longer than normal. We
do sincerely apologize for the delays and are working hard to get back
on track to the support you expect from IPS.

[Johnrc]

this is a problem for all IPB customers: I open less than 4 ticket in one year.
When each of customers open 4 tickets in three day, the license should be 4 times more expensive :hmm:

As a matter of fact, we're moving to the IPS Professional hosted solution in a few months, at $330/month... I wouldn't even mind paying $40 or $50/ticket if there was an à le carte priority support option. So I have no argument there with the fees. Overall IPS doesn't charge nearly enough in my opinion.

Either way, they contacted me so I'm happy we'll be able to move forward with troubleshooting. Next time I will take your advice and post on the forums.

[Collin S.]

As a matter of fact, we're moving to the IPS Professional hosted solution in a few months, at $330/month... I wouldn't even mind paying $40 or $50/ticket if there was an à le carte priority support option. So I have no argument there with the fees. Overall IPS doesn't charge nearly enough in my opinion.

We do offer a priority support option. You can upgrade to it in your client area. It automatically puts all tickets you submit at the top of the list. You can also use the "critical" flag to flag things that are critical, which also puts them at the top of the list.

We're working as best we can to clear out the backlog of tickets - thanks for your patience, guys. :thumbsup:

[WraithWatcher]

We do offer a priority support option. You can upgrade to it in your client area. It automatically puts all tickets you submit at the top of the list. You can also use the "critical" flag to flag things that are critical, which also puts them at the top of the list.

We're working as best we can to clear out the backlog of tickets - thanks for your patience, guys. :thumbsup:

I am not a big fan of companies that charge extra for PRIORITY support & then tell us that if we want faster service, we need to pay for it, especially when part of the renewal of license is supposed to allow us that support

.
When we renew our licenses, the whole idea of that renewal is to get support, to actually be told that we can always pay extra to be put ahead of the rest who have already paid money to renew their board is simply appalling

I submitted a simple query re transferring my license days ago, knew about delays with new release out etc, but considering my request was account related rather than board or technical, I would have expected to hear back within 48 hrs, it's now been well past that & my ticket has miraculously disappeared from the client area

[Lindy]

Dear IPS:

I have four tickets open. One from January 23, one from January 24, and two from January 26. One is a critical/emergency ticket.

Please respond as soon as possible - this is unacceptable. I realize that one of them falls inside of your 5 day service level agreement, but this is 100% incongruent with the service you've provided in the past.

John

John, I appreciate your frustration. Your critical ticket was handled in a timely fashion, it seems but if there's further concerns with it, please do let me know and I'll be happy to look into it further. Your sales inquiry has been sitting dormant and I apologize for that. I'll ensure our sales manager follows up on that as soon as possible. Scheduled phone consultations do tend to take longer than e-mail or ticket based inquiries.

Upgrades are not prioritized for support and thus can take significantly longer than standard support issues, as noted in our terms. You have been waiting a while for your upgrade and your patience is much appreciated. We will get to your request as quickly as possible.

I am not a big fan of companies that charge extra for PRIORITY support & then tell us that if we want faster service, we need to pay for it, especially when part of the renewal of license is supposed to allow us that support

.
When we renew our licenses, the whole idea of that renewal is to get support, to actually be told that we can always pay extra to be put ahead of the rest who have already paid money to renew their board is simply appalling

I submitted a simple query re transferring my license days ago, knew about delays with new release out etc, but considering my request was account related rather than board or technical, I would have expected to hear back within 48 hrs, it's now been well past that & my ticket has miraculously disappeared from the client area

I'm afraid that's the way the world works. :smile: The best seats at a game cost extra. VIP passes cost extra. First class vs coach. Higher tiered support costs extra. Some corporate customers and individuals operate mission critical sites and demand a higher level of support than a general hobby site. Obviously priority support cannot be a free option, or everyone would opt for it, thus defeating the purpose altogether. We have a critical option which clearly states "complete outage" and yet, if I had to guess, we receive 40+ false critical markings per day ranging from "I can't install a skin" to "how do I change my e-mail address?" When you have an issue, many naturally consider it to be critical (to you.) When you need support, many naturally expect it to take priority over others. For those that truly demand priority support - we offer it. You're certainly not being forced into it. :smile:

Only senior management have the ability to make a ticket "miraculously disappear" and even then, every ticket submission is logged in the customer history record and that cannot be cleared. There is no record of a ticket submission, so I fear there may be some confusion and perhaps your ticket was not actually submitted. Please e-mail accounts@invisionpower.com and we'll be happy to address your inquiry. Thank you.

[Wolfie]

23rd and 24th weren't, and 48 hrs from the 23rd one is a friday. So can understand the complaint. I would however as someone has already suggested maybe post your problem in the forums. Some of us guys may be able to help, unless of course its not something in which can be posted in public.

First it depends on the ticket and other factors. For example, if it's for an upgrade, that has a promise time of five days, not two. Also, sometimes responding to your own ticket can cause it to fall to the back of the queue (not necessarily will, but can). If the initial ticket was replied to, asking for information, then a client responds to it, it won't necessarily get immediate attention from a tech. There are many things that can explain why a ticket wasn't answered even if it's seemingly within the time frame that it should have been answered. Let's say the ticket was submitted at 7PM on the 23rd. Two business days would put it AFTER business hours on Friday, thus being Monday morning. If you read through the forums, you see many clients who comment that they got support 'even on the weekend' when they thought support would be closed. It's because sometimes a tech will check in and handle some tickets.

I am not a big fan of companies that charge extra for PRIORITY support & then tell us that if we want faster service, we need to pay for it, especially when part of the renewal of license is supposed to allow us that support

Try telling that to Fed-Ex/UPS/USPS/etc when they want you to pay more for higher priority delivery of your packages. The renewal you pay is for support, not priority support. The difference is, to be rather blunt, the same as being able to 'cut in line' because someone paid for that privilege. It doesn't mean that we non-priority clients are being given the bird or told to suck it. It just means that those who want (or NEED) priority support have paid for it so they can get faster service. Considering how little the support cost is, I think there isn't much room for complaining. Also, the renewal costs haven't really gone up in the last decade (for new purchases), which is a really good deal for clients. Add in the fact that Blog and Gallery are pretty much the same price as they were about a decade ago, and it's like living in a dream world where inflation doesn't exist.

I'm afraid that's the way the world works. :smile: The best seats at a game cost extra. VIP passes cost extra. First class vs coach. Higher tiered support costs extra. Some corporate customers and individuals operate mission critical sites and demand a higher level of support than a general hobby site. Obviously priority support cannot be a free option, or everyone would opt for it, thus defeating the purpose altogether. We have a critical option which clearly states "complete outage" and yet, if I had to guess, we receive 40+ false critical markings per day ranging from "I can't install a skin" to "how do I change my e-mail address?"

I remember in the old nexus, or at least at some point, when submitting a ticket, before the ticket was actually registered, some options would be listed to try to cover some 'common problems'. Would almost seem like some of the false urgents could be avoided someone could click on a link to submit an urgent -vs- normal ticket. On the next page, list some options that are common (site down, admin can't access acp, other critical's). When the option is selected, have it fill in the subject and some of the text, allowing the client to fill in anything additional. Could also give a soft pop-up telling the client to check certain details (ftp for example) so that the tech can address the issue faster when getting to the ticket. If a situation doesn't match but client still wants to do a critical ticket, provide them with a reminder that if a ticket is deemed to not be critical, it will be treated as a normal ticket, so marking it critical (when it's not really that urgent) won't get it a faster response. Just a thought I had, hope you like it.

Only senior management have the ability to make a ticket "miraculously disappear" and even then, every ticket submission is logged in the customer history record and that cannot be cleared. There is no record of a ticket submission, so I fear there may be some confusion and perhaps your ticket was not actually submitted.

_{(I know I quoted Lindy here, but this isn't a reply to him so much as to others who ever wonder about this.)}

Knowing the IPS staff as I do, I know that no one would ever want to make a ticket disappear. When the old nexus was in use, I remember a ticket of mine disappeared and it wasn't because of a staff member causing it to happen (in all seriousness, I blame the software in use at that time). If a ticket was submitted and has somehow vanished, I recommend sending an email to Lindy. Rest assured, he will look into it because he knows the importance of ensuring that support requests from clients are not lost nor mishandled. (Or if Lindy would prefer a different course of action, then obviously follow what he recommends.)

[Soniceffect]

First it depends on the ticket and other factors. For example, if it's for an upgrade, that has a promise time of five days, not two. Also, sometimes responding to your own ticket can cause it to fall to the back of the queue (not necessarily will, but can). If the initial ticket was replied to, asking for information, then a client responds to it, it won't necessarily get immediate attention from a tech. There are many things that can explain why a ticket wasn't answered even if it's seemingly within the time frame that it should have been answered. Let's say the ticket was submitted at 7PM on the 23rd. Two business days would put it AFTER business hours on Friday, thus being Monday morning. If you read through the forums, you see many clients who comment that they got support 'even on the weekend' when they thought support would be closed. It's because sometimes a tech will check in and handle some tickets.

Try telling that to Fed-Ex/UPS/USPS/etc when they want you to pay more for higher priority delivery of your packages. The renewal you pay is for support, not priority support. The difference is, to be rather blunt, the same as being able to 'cut in line' because someone paid for that privilege. It doesn't mean that we non-priority clients are being given the bird or told to suck it. It just means that those who want (or NEED) priority support have paid for it so they can get faster service. Considering how little the support cost is, I think there isn't much room for complaining. Also, the renewal costs haven't really gone up in the last decade (for new purchases), which is a really good deal for clients. Add in the fact that Blog and Gallery are pretty much the same price as they were about a decade ago, and it's like living in a dream world where inflation doesn't exist.

I remember in the old nexus, or at least at some point, when submitting a ticket, before the ticket was actually registered, some options would be listed to try to cover some 'common problems'. Would almost seem like some of the false urgents could be avoided someone could click on a link to submit an urgent -vs- normal ticket. On the next page, list some options that are common (site down, admin can't access acp, other critical's). When the option is selected, have it fill in the subject and some of the text, allowing the client to fill in anything additional. Could also give a soft pop-up telling the client to check certain details (ftp for example) so that the tech can address the issue faster when getting to the ticket. If a situation doesn't match but client still wants to do a critical ticket, provide them with a reminder that if a ticket is deemed to not be critical, it will be treated as a normal ticket, so marking it critical (when it's not really that urgent) won't get it a faster response. Just a thought I had, hope you like it.

_{(I know I quoted Lindy here, but this isn't a reply to him so much as to others who ever wonder about this.)}

Knowing the IPS staff as I do, I know that no one would ever want to make a ticket disappear. When the old nexus was in use, I remember a ticket of mine disappeared and it wasn't because of a staff member causing it to happen (in all seriousness, I blame the software in use at that time). If a ticket was submitted and has somehow vanished, I recommend sending an email to Lindy. Rest assured, he will look into it because he knows the importance of ensuring that support requests from clients are not lost nor mishandled. (Or if Lindy would prefer a different course of action, then obviously follow what he recommends.)

You shall now forever be known as "THE ORACLE" LOL

[Johnrc]

Can I please have the final word here?

I wasn't here to bash IPS' support or their packages. If any of you has a forum that has gone down (especially a medium to larger forum), you know that feeling of helplessness when you can't bring things back online yourself.

Charging extra for priority support is OVERLY reasonable. However, in the past, IPS' support has been so fantastic that I've never really waited more than an hour for emergency tickets (and there have maybe been 3 or 4 in total, ever). And let's be reasonable here... we pay, what... $75 in renewal/year fees.. max?? Let's say a ticket takes 15 minutes to resolve, and the average support personnel costs $50/hour (I'm hoping they make much more than that). That's:

4 tickets/hour @ $12.50 each. $75 = 6.25 tickets/year. You can't b**tch about the cost.

I had tickets open for other reasons, and due to the release of their 3.4.2 patch, they couldn't get to those in time. One of those tickets was opened before the notice was posted, so I didn't understand the initial delay in the response. So when a few hours went by when my emergency ticket was open, that compounded effect let me to think that it would take more than just waiting patiently as I received a billion complaint emails.

However, as they said the critical ticket did end up getting handled in a timely fashion (less than 5 or 6 hours).

In reflection, I realize now that the title of this thread was entirely out of proportion... but with a forum down I guess I was trying to catch someone's attention.

In the end, I have no problem paying extra... as long as that option is available. Great company, great service.

[Lindy]

Thank you for the follow-up, John -- it's not often that someone replies with a follow-up, so it's much appreciated.

As you've noted, our support is typically quite responsive. The rush of 3.4.x requests, the rapid and immense growth and other various factors have led to greater response times, although well within our SLA. We strive for more than "good enough" and we are taking appropriate steps internally to return to that level of service. We appreciate your patience and thanks again for the follow-up.

[IveLeft...]

Thank you for the follow-up, John -- it's not often that someone replies with a follow-up, so it's much appreciated.

As you've noted, our support is typically quite responsive. The rush of 3.4.x requests, the rapid and immense growth and other various factors have led to greater response times, although well within our SLA. We strive for more than "good enough" and we are taking appropriate steps internally to return to that level of service. We appreciate your patience and thanks again for the follow-up.

Must be the vB5 lot jumping ship :drool:

[Wolfie]

Can I please have the final word here?

I wasn't here to bash IPS' support or their packages. If any of you has a forum that has gone down (especially a medium to larger forum), you know that feeling of helplessness when you can't bring things back online yourself.

Charging extra for priority support is OVERLY reasonable. However, in the past, IPS' support has been so fantastic that I've never really waited more than an hour for emergency tickets (and there have maybe been 3 or 4 in total, ever). And let's be reasonable here... we pay, what... $75 in renewal/year fees.. max??

I don't believe anyone from IPS took it as a bashing. You obviously were a bit upset and made it known in a respectful manner, even acknowledging what you had come to expect because of past history. Hey, sometimes you gotta vent.

Some people pay more than $75 per 6 months for renewal (my community suites tally more than that per 6 months) while others go with the minimum and might pay about $50/year. For access to the software and extra services alone, that's really not a bad price, getting support is like a bonus to the mix. So I definitely get where you're coming from in the last part that I quoted.

[Charles]

Must be the vB5 lot jumping ship :drool:

Without trying to create a whole different conversation: yes that's true.

[Dmacleo]

Without trying to create a whole different conversation: yes that's true.

would be a good conversation....just saying :)

[NiftyWolfie]

damn, now I want to know what charles knows :/

[BigSky1970]

Do you realise that today is Sunday and IPB staff also has right to spend their weekends etc...

A little empathy ...

23rd was a Wednesday.

[The_Welsh_One]

I've never had problems with IPS support.

[Soniceffect]

damn, now I want to know what charles knows :/

Everyone wants to know what Charles knows LOL