Feedback for support staff regarding themes

[ehren.]

Hello,

I guess this is just a friendly feedback topic for the benefit of my own customers, which I'm submitting in an attempt to improve IPS Support Ticket responses.

As a theme developer, customers quite often contact me with bug reports after IPS Support have told them the issue is caused by their 3rd party theme. After quickly checking the issue for myself and noticing the issue also happens with the Default IPS theme, I'm required to redirect the customer back to the IPS ticket system so the Support Staff can investigate further. This isn't a burden for myself, but I can understand the frustration from customers who are bounced between two support desks without a solution.

If Support Staff could make a conscious effort to always check the Default theme before referring customers to 3rd party developers for a solution, I'm sure my customers would be greatly appreciative of the improved support times.

[Marc]

Hi ehren,

I completely agree with what you have said there, however the process your describe is actually the process that is already in place. Of course we ourselves would like to ensure our customers receive the best possible service. The general support process with items such as these would be to test items with all 3rd party items disabled, usually through use of the support tools. In cases where it is then only happening with a specific item enabled, we would of course direct to the relevant party.

With the above said however, we are of course people, and mistakes can be made. If you do find any of this nature, please feel free to drop me a message and I will take a look. I'd like to think that we get it right most of the time, but anything where we can improve, we're more than willing to do so. 

[ehren.]

Thanks Marc, nice to hear! The Support team has always been great whenever I've needed help, I just figured I'd mention this minor speed bump since it seemed to be happening every now and then. I appreciate the reply! ?

[Marc]

1 minute ago, ehren. said:

Thanks Marc, nice to hear! The Support team has always been great whenever I've needed help, I just figured I'd mention this minor speed bump since it seemed to be happening every now and then. I appreciate the reply! ?

We like to be kept on our toes ?

[Joel R]

18 hours ago, ehren. said:

Hello,

I guess this is just a friendly feedback topic for the benefit of my own customers, which I'm submitting in an attempt to improve IPS Support Ticket responses.

As a theme developer, customers quite often contact me with bug reports after IPS Support have told them the issue is caused by their 3rd party theme. After quickly checking the issue for myself and noticing the issue also happens with the Default IPS theme, I'm required to redirect the customer back to the IPS ticket system so the Support Staff can investigate further. This isn't a burden for myself, but I can understand the frustration from customers who are bounced between two support desks without a solution.

If Support Staff could make a conscious effort to always check the Default theme before referring customers to 3rd party developers for a solution, I'm sure my customers would be greatly appreciative of the improved support times.

Wait.  Hold on.  

Why is this feedback for IPS support? The customers themselves are supposed to disable all third party apps and plugins, clear cache, and revert to default theme as part of their own troubleshooting.  Basically, they should do everything that the support tool walks them through.  

This is one of those times where I actually think IPS should hold clients accountable to admin responsibilities to do basic troubleshooting with self-help tools.  

[Rhett]

6 hours ago, Joel R said:

Wait.  Hold on.  

Why is this feedback for IPS support? The customers themselves are supposed to disable all third party apps and plugins, clear cache, and revert to default theme as part of their own troubleshooting.  Basically, they should do everything that the support tool walks them through.  

This is one of those times where I actually think IPS should hold clients accountable to admin responsibilities to do basic troubleshooting with self-help tools.  

LOL people are supposed to use blinkers when turning too! ? They should also use the right lane when going slower than traffic... you know how that goes though right?  ?  

Thanks for your support though, you are correct, if more people used the automated support tool, it would solve their issues sooner and lessen the load on support staff. 

 

[TheJackal84]

3 hours ago, Rhett said:

They should also use the right lane when going slower than traffic...

Unless your in the UK then the right lane is the fast lane

[rhyker2u]

On 7/26/2018 at 7:23 AM, Rhett said:

automated support tool,

guess I missed something again. You mean that tool that doesn't empty the cache whereas this free plugin does? https://invisioncommunity.com/files/file/8076-clear-cache/ and thus never looked into the tool again. So what else can it do? *clicking around my ACP backoffice*. Oh ... a great deal of things I will use next time ? oopz. On a serious note, has the clear cache thing been fixed too? *edit* that plugin solved most of our custom theme issues last year.

*edit2* And yes invision tier 2 has a nuisance of repeatingly pointing to a 3rd party theme developer first, even when we tested it already and that it wasn't the issue (by comparing with default theme indeed) and thus started the ticket with extensive troubleshoots. But after clarifying a few times they do eventually take ownership of a problem and fix it accordingly. Plus in a lot of cases upgrading to the latest release of IPS4 + theme provided by an author does miracles too. ? *edit3* Shall I add more? Heck why not. Considering the amount of (little) money we pay invision and the high level of fast support that comes with a self-hosted license? Sure they ain't perfect, but a 8.5 out of 10 rating for sure.