I HATE the Help Assistant!

[#1]

A lot of this has been discussed before.... about 2 years ago but nothing has changed so here is my rant:
1) About 2 years ago, PlusNet agreed that changing Tickets to Questions was a mistake and (iirc), agreed to change it back to Tickets. Why has this not happened?
2) There are many times when the User needs to raise a Ticket to get PlusNet to do something. The User doesn't need or want HELP but is forced to go through a circuitous maze of Help screens and suggested solutions which are recurcive and are frustrate the hell out of this user who regards his time as precious!
3) Has PlusNet conducted a Usability test on this system? I suggest that you get five non-geeky users to raise a ticket to request a change of their product to the Special Offer 10GB Option 1. Just measure how long and how many clicks it takes them to get to  the Text entry window.
I realise that there has to be a measure of encouragement to the user to help him/ herself but the current system is ridiculous (imho).

[#2]

A fast path which bypasses all the helpful hints would be nice.

[#3]

Try looking at the grey buttons top left after going through help and support - Help Assistant - that takes you where you want then believe it or not is a button to push headed Question (Ticket)
I only found that a couple of weeks ago after "miss posting" in this thread http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,71751.msg571323.html#new

[#4]

Or to be even more pedantic.
Click on Help and Support
Over to the right we see
Click on Go to help assistant, pick a category  and what do we see

[#5]

Hi P-P and thanks for that pointer. However, It still took me four attempts to find it and I didn't think I was that stupid!
You have to click Help and Support on the Toolbar....
Then Click Help Assistant on the sub-Toolbar....
Then Click on one of the four Headers ....
Then, if you look very carefully at the finest of print on the RHS of the screen, there is a hotspot
"Can't find what you're looking for?
If you can't find the
answer on the website,
you can get in touch with
our Support Team -
Ask a Question
(Raise a Ticket)
It's just like sending an email but you can view the progress on the website. "
I again ask PlusNet to perform a Usability trial on this ridiculously un-user-friendly system.
Edit: OldJim, Sorry, you posted while I was typing...... Yes, that is another way in but does it really have to be so circuitous? ... and does the font on the Hotspot have to be so small? I think a video clip of a user trying to find this would cause some hillarity on YouTube!.

[#6]

Trust me when I say that we know the help assistant needs work, it's something we are doing and have already made some adjustments to it. When you get to the ticket window and start typing, you get a list of suggestions below. It's something thats not going to be a quick fix, simply because of the vast amount of content and pages it touches.

[#7]

Hi Chris,
My problem is in getting to the Ticket Window. Once there, it is a cinch and I have no problems in accessing existing tickets via the My Questions button on the toolbar.
I can't be the only user who is frustrated by this.
R

[#8]

In fact there is no need to click Help & Support and Help Assistant.
Log into Member Centre (otherwise the system doesn't know who you are).
Right in the centre of the screen is a green-framed box titled Help and Support with four links.
Click the most promising one of these and a list of possible topics appears. If none seem relevant, over on the right hand side is that "Ask a Question" link which goes directly to raising a ticket.
The "Raise a Ticket" page is much friendlier since it was changed to make "help" interactive (and optional), and using help doesn't take one away from the Raise a Ticket page.

[#9]

Why not make it a little simpler and add 'Ask a Question' as a 5th option within that green-framed box?
Edit: On reflection, perhaps that would encourage members to be lazy and not even begin to search for a solution prior to raising a ticket. Perhaps this would cause a huge rise in raised tickets resulting in long delays in getting replies and resolutions?

[#10]

ive replyed to a post about this before.
And i belive that they place the the raise ticket links where they do as to make sure you find the help and surrport section first.
due to the fact that probally a gd % of people find the info there looking for in the help an surrport section that other wise would of raised a ticket for somthing simple and increase ticket reply times for us all that have faults ect that can only be solved by ticket.
so not such a bad thing in my opion that its a little tricky to find the link if your new to raising tickets.
edit= sorry MAV didnt read all the other posts before posting my self. Seems we both agree on this one.

[#11]

I agree with Mav & ASBO as well. Help assistant wouldn't get used properly otherwise. But I have saved a shortcut, just in case I know I need to go straight to raise a ticket.

[#12]

It's no secret that a number of people have found it difficult to just raise a ticket.
Sure - there is a way, but hopefully we'll be able to to make this clearer.  I'll try and find a member of the web team to see if they can explain at all.

[#13]

Quote from: Wheel_nut

My problem is in getting to the Ticket Window. Once there, it is a cinch and I have no problems in accessing existing tickets via the My Questions button on the toolbar.

Do you remember when this wasn't 'a cinch'?  You've probably noticed that we've made some improvements to the interface of actually creating a 'ticket' - the real-time links to relevant support pages, the SMS notification etc.  We've got some time scheduled to start work on the part you're referring to - improving the navigation to the generic 'raise a ticket' window.
It's no secret that we use the Help Assistant to promote self-help - we believe a) it's convenient for the end user and b) it makes commercial sense for us, reducing costs in our Support Centre.  For many, many queries raised to the CSC the answers can be found in our supporting content or online tools (updating payment details, passwords, setting up a router or email, explaining why broadband speeds go up and down for the first 10 days after activation etc).  It's a case of striking a balance; and again I have made no secret in admitting that we haven't got the balance right.
I absolutely do not want the Help Assistant to be difficult to use or unfriendly, but neither do I want everyone to raise a generic ticket to drop into the default 'ticket pool'.  With our current system we would not be able to direct your query to the relevant support dept without your going through the 'tree'.  So we ask you which 'area' your question is relating to - and 'drill-down' from there.  It helps us to manage the ticket volumes more effectively and this results in your question getting answered more quickly.  Our ticket turnaround times are pretty good right?  You wouldn't get that if we to support using email.
In summary, yes we know the Help Assistant is unfriendly but we have started to make improvements.  And you'll see more before too long.
With regards changing the word 'Question' to 'ticket '.  To change this overnight, development-wise this would entail a change to an awful lot of our code-base and represent a full-size development project for us.  In terms of the business benefits I'm not so sure I could make a case right now.

[#14]

I get the impression that all tickets get read first by a "general help" person, before being
routed to the correct area?
Would it be possible to have queries sent directly to the appropriate area?
E.g. I'm taking part in the ADSL2+ trial - but an ADSL2+ question seems to have been
routed in this way.

How does the ticket system work?
BTW this is not a high-priority issue with ADSL2+ at the moment.

[#15]

Thats the point of the Help Assistant, it makes sure your ticket goes to the right person.
If you bypass it, then you end up sending a generic ticket to a generic pool.