Comments on: What's the difference between PlusNet and a 'Marathon' bar? http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/ News and Updates on the Community. Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:54:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Phil http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/comment-page-1/#comment-4931 Phil Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:26:43 +0000 http://community.plus.net/?p=12672#comment-4931 Great to hear your comments so far everyone :) I've found it really useful to see the comments about the functionality of the site (webmail, contact us, etc). The website update I posted about will be a huge cosmetic change but it won't fundamentally alter the member centre and account tools. The changes will help current and new customers to find these features better to begin with, and they'll give the site a better look. Next on the list will be to post an update on the My Account roadmap (that Pete mentioned above). Great to hear your comments so far everyone :)

I've found it really useful to see the comments about the functionality of the site (webmail, contact us, etc).

The website update I posted about will be a huge cosmetic change but it won't fundamentally alter the member centre and account tools.

The changes will help current and new customers to find these features better to begin with, and they'll give the site a better look.

Next on the list will be to post an update on the My Account roadmap (that Pete mentioned above).

]]> By: Peter Jackson http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/comment-page-1/#comment-4930 Peter Jackson Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:05:02 +0000 http://community.plus.net/?p=12672#comment-4930 Owlguard: that's still the plan. The roadmap for online support I posted at the start of the year still holds true, though clearly we've not made as much progress on many of the items as I'd've liked - for a number of reasons, and one very big reason. We've limited resource but putting in place a simplified help wizard (to stop the 'going round in circles') is still right up there on the objectives. With regards the 'support by email' question; Ian, it was a lot longer than 5 years ago since we stopped taking support by email and moved to a web-based ticket system. The accountability and audit trail brought about by our workplace was leagues better than using email - of course nowadays many companies use similar support systems. Despite the clunkiness of Help Assistant as it is now, Contact Us as it was then, we removed cases of 'missing' support emails or emails that 'someone was meant to be dealing with but he's on holiday for two weeks' that we used to have when I first started here at Force9 Internet as it was then. Development of a system that would allow emails sent by a customer to be taken into Workplace as a ticket, processed as a ticket by our support agents and then emailed back out again is certainly possible but clearly is a major piece of development work. Right now I'm looking at making the applications we have work better and smarter rather than a rewrite of the support platform. Owlguard: that's still the plan. The roadmap for online support I posted at the start of the year still holds true, though clearly we've not made as much progress on many of the items as I'd've liked - for a number of reasons, and one very big reason. We've limited resource but putting in place a simplified help wizard (to stop the 'going round in circles') is still right up there on the objectives.

With regards the 'support by email' question; Ian, it was a lot longer than 5 years ago since we stopped taking support by email and moved to a web-based ticket system. The accountability and audit trail brought about by our workplace was leagues better than using email - of course nowadays many companies use similar support systems. Despite the clunkiness of Help Assistant as it is now, Contact Us as it was then, we removed cases of 'missing' support emails or emails that 'someone was meant to be dealing with but he's on holiday for two weeks' that we used to have when I first started here at Force9 Internet as it was then.

Development of a system that would allow emails sent by a customer to be taken into Workplace as a ticket, processed as a ticket by our support agents and then emailed back out again is certainly possible but clearly is a major piece of development work. Right now I'm looking at making the applications we have work better and smarter rather than a rewrite of the support platform.

]]> By: owlguard http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/comment-page-1/#comment-4929 owlguard Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:29:54 +0000 http://community.plus.net/?p=12672#comment-4929 Simple rule of thum,make it easier to get where you want to be and back again if you choose. ray. Simple rule of thum,make it easier to get where you want to be and back again if you choose.
ray.

]]> By: Ian Wild http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/comment-page-1/#comment-4925 Ian Wild Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:50:46 +0000 http://community.plus.net/?p=12672#comment-4925 Yeah - I think that's fair feedback too. Pete was planning to simplify things with the ticket system - I will ask him what happened to that one. Sometimes the paths are useful if they help us route your ticket to the right department (Network tickets direct to networks etc), but in many cases I wouldn't blame you for clicking the "I can't find what I'm looking for" link on the right hand side of the help assistant pages - That takes you directly to a screen you can raise a ticket on. Ian Yeah - I think that's fair feedback too. Pete was planning to simplify things with the ticket system - I will ask him what happened to that one.

Sometimes the paths are useful if they help us route your ticket to the right department (Network tickets direct to networks etc), but in many cases I wouldn't blame you for clicking the "I can't find what I'm looking for" link on the right hand side of the help assistant pages - That takes you directly to a screen you can raise a ticket on.

Ian

]]> By: Steve http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/comment-page-1/#comment-4916 Steve Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:14:31 +0000 http://community.plus.net/?p=12672#comment-4916 I dont mind about e-mail but I get v frustrated at the no of screens I have to go through to get to open a new ticket, even though thankfully its not very often. If I want support I want support not an endurance test. I dont mind about e-mail but I get v frustrated at the no of screens I have to go through to get to open a new ticket, even though thankfully its not very often.
If I want support I want support not an endurance test.

]]> By: Ian Wild http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/comment-page-1/#comment-4905 Ian Wild Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:50:17 +0000 http://community.plus.net/?p=12672#comment-4905 On the email point, I have to say I agree wholeheartedly - Customers should be able to contact us by email if they want to, and I would love to find a way to make that work properly. The problem is that is easily said, but much less easily done. We took the decision to remove email support originally (over 5 years ago) following a spate of incidents where one customer had posed as another and caused us no end of pain. Email inherently has no authentication, so we don't know whether we are really talking to an account holder or an imposter, which is one reason why support tickets are preferable. For some things that doesn't matter so much, but if we are dealing with individual customer account enquiries, it does. Another problem with taking email questions would be that with the amount of spam a public email address like support@plus.net attracts, heavy spam checking would be inevitably and means some genuine email would almost certainly get lost. We couldn't guarantee having received a customers question, and when it happens it is never a good experience. That never happens with a ticket system... Still - It's food for thought, and I'm sure there are ways round these issues (suggestions welcome!) so thanks for that. Ian On the email point, I have to say I agree wholeheartedly - Customers should be able to contact us by email if they want to, and I would love to find a way to make that work properly. The problem is that is easily said, but much less easily done.

We took the decision to remove email support originally (over 5 years ago) following a spate of incidents where one customer had posed as another and caused us no end of pain. Email inherently has no authentication, so we don't know whether we are really talking to an account holder or an imposter, which is one reason why support tickets are preferable. For some things that doesn't matter so much, but if we are dealing with individual customer account enquiries, it does.

Another problem with taking email questions would be that with the amount of spam a public email address like support@plus.net attracts, heavy spam checking would be inevitably and means some genuine email would almost certainly get lost. We couldn't guarantee having received a customers question, and when it happens it is never a good experience. That never happens with a ticket system...

Still - It's food for thought, and I'm sure there are ways round these issues (suggestions welcome!) so thanks for that.

Ian

]]> By: grumpy_ol_git http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/comment-page-1/#comment-4887 grumpy_ol_git Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:13:30 +0000 http://community.plus.net/?p=12672#comment-4887 I see it isn't. [/Free Speech Rant] I see it isn't.

[/Free Speech Rant]

]]> By: grumpy_ol_git http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/comment-page-1/#comment-4886 grumpy_ol_git Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:12:30 +0000 http://community.plus.net/?p=12672#comment-4886 @kelly dorset Ahhh right, so its not a permanent censorship of comments? @kelly dorset

Ahhh right, so its not a permanent censorship of comments?

]]> By: Kelly Dorset http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/comment-page-1/#comment-4885 Kelly Dorset Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:10:34 +0000 http://community.plus.net/?p=12672#comment-4885 All user comments go into moderation at first until they've had a couple of approved comments. This is simply so that we can catch spam comments. :) All user comments go into moderation at first until they've had a couple of approved comments. This is simply so that we can catch spam comments. :)

]]> By: grumpy_ol_git http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/07/14/whats-the-difference-between-plusnet-and-a-marathon-bar/comment-page-1/#comment-4883 grumpy_ol_git Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:04:51 +0000 http://community.plus.net/?p=12672#comment-4883 Oh dear, I see my last comment is held 'awaiting moderation'. Tells us what you really think of your customers. /me very disappointed. I don't realise you were that anti-free speech. Oh dear, I see my last comment is held 'awaiting moderation'. Tells us what you really think of your customers.

/me very disappointed. I don't realise you were that anti-free speech.

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