Changes to our Support structure

[Jeremy_M]

Hey Community,

In order to best assist you, we are making some customer support changes in the coming days.

Presently, we support customers through social media, web forms, and the Community. Having multiple support channels has given customers more flexibility but it has also led to longer response times, delays in our service, and confusion for our customers.

In order to continuously deliver the best possible customer experience, we are simplifying how you can reach out to one single place: our Community. It’s easy - plus, you’ll never have to wonder if you should Facebook message us and post on our Community. On our end, it will streamline all your questions and make it easier to get back to you.

Here’s how this breaks down:

Today	July 13th
Support Channels: Social Media: Facebook, Twitter Web Forms Community	Support Channels: Community

Part of making this work is also changing how you connect with our Moderators. In the past, every moderator has had their own account to help you. In our new support model, all the Moderators will share one account so you get help as soon as any Moderator is available to help - first come, first served!

Finally, since the Community will now be the only way to get in touch with our support team, we will be disabling our web form queues and direct messages via social media.

We are really excited for this change because we know it will get you help and answers faster than before.

FAQ:

I’m used to sending web forms for support. Why have you changed this?	Great question! A couple of reasons why we decided to make the change: Very few customers were using web forms Most of the web form questions we received were general inquiries; with answers that can be found in our Community. And yet, we still had to have a team checking web forms, taking time away from the Community (where most of our customers are)! By streamlining how to get help, we make sure that you get help faster!
With the new support model, will I need to have a registered Community Profile to directly communicate with your support team, In addition to my Self Serve account?	Yes. Register for a Community Profile by clicking here
When should I reach out to the support team?	When you can’t find the answer you’re looking for in the Community, or a fellow Community member advises you to reach out to our support team
How do I contact support?	Follow these instructions here
Who is Simon? Not referring to our awesome 'mod' @Simon_O	Simon, is a ‘ChatBot’ that can help answer any general inquiries you might have about our products or services. More info on Simon can be found here
What are the Contact Support’s hours of operation?	Monday - Friday 9AM (EDT) - 9PM (EDT) Saturday - Sunday 9AM (EDT) - 7:30PM (EDT)
What is the average wait time to get account assistance from the Support Team?	During business hours, we strive to answer all customer messages/inquiries as soon as possible. Usually, that is within an hour, but in peak periods, it could be as much as within 48 hours of receiving the message.
What/Who are Oracles?	The Oracles are a small group of Community members who really know their stuff. Find out more about our Oracles by clicking here
How do I post a question to the Community?	Sign-in to the Community (by clicking ‘Sign-In’ close to the top of your webpage) Choose a category that would best suit your question On your right-hand side click on ‘Start a topic’ Type your question and click on ‘Post’ For detailed instructions click here
How do I know if the Support Team has answered my question?	If your email notifications are enabled, you will get an email notifying you that we responded to you.
How do I enable email notifications?	This function should be automatically enabled. You can check here to make sure ‘Receive email notifications for new private messages’ is checked.
How do I contact support? How will I know who a Moderator is?	There are two ways that you are able to contact our Community Moderators: Private Messaging: You can do this by ‘searching’ for our unique Community Moderator’s profile (as shown below) then, once on the moderator profile, on the right-side click on “Send this user a private message”.  The unique blue square with ‘MOD’ is how you identify our Moderators. Tagging: If you would like a Moderator to weigh-in on a discussion, simply tag the Moderator profile to the post you created i.e @Moderator_Team
If I’m a Legacy customer will I still have access to the Call Center?	Yes, if you activated before January 27th, 2015, you will still  have access to the call centre
Will I get a ticket # for reference when contacting the Support Teams?	Working on it! We should have this functionality implemented soon!

[zhadj030]

@wetcoaster

Thank Jeremy for fixing that. 

[Jamar_so_far]

I think something that will help reduce the posts "4 days and no response" would be for a sticky at the top of the community page with updated mod reply times during times of promos or massive increases in new customers. If it's right there, that should alleviate some of the community traffic with the same post. I'm guilty of this, as new members signing up for Public Mobile are expecting near immediate service that is provided by other telecommunications companies.

It's still frustrating to wait so long (I had a tech ticket finally opened yesterday morning, but still going on day 5 without cell service), but funneling everything into one definitely reduces redundancy. 

[Jeremy_M]

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@wetcoaster wrote:

Not sure if that is just on my computer, but clicking on the moderator team handle in the "How do I contact support? How will I know who a Moderator is?" answer brings me to Shazia's profile. Is that intended?

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Great catch - I updated the URL 🙂

Jeremy

[pakmode]

This is a smart move - simplifying the process and having only one channel of communication will help streamline and improve efficiency.  Plus, there's a community of forum members who can also help. 

[wetcoaster]

This is great! Thanks for streamlining and clarifying some of those details.

I hope that this is getting linked from the strategicly relevant spots on the website and that the FAQ section is becoming a prominent part of the knowledge base.

Not sure if that is just on my computer, but clicking on the moderator team handle in the "How do I contact support? How will I know who a Moderator is?" answer brings me to Shazia's profile. Is that intended?

[zhadj030]

I kind of have a mixed feelings about this. I like the idea that web forums will be closed that is way better, but social media closing, I feel that maybe that is a bit too much. I am generally in favor of this announcement, we will be having less of "I sent an email 5 days ago and no one responded" . I wish social Media have been kept.

[Nsk143]

Awesome idea. Thanks @Jeremy_M for updating us.