Unveiling our exciting support enhancement: SIMon-assisted ticketing!

[Alan_K]

Hey Community,

As I’ve shared in my Developer Blog series (Part 1/ Part 2), the team and I have been hard at work driving improvements in our support model, and as of today, we’ve finally gone live!

If you haven’t been keeping up with the Developer Blog, here’s what you missed-

• Starting today, SIMon, our virtual assistant, can now connect customers looking for help to our Moderators through a guided smartform.
• SIMon will act as the first point of contact (like a front desk agent!) for customers, guiding customers to relevant Help Articles or the Community for general questions, and for tougher account issues, he’ll bring you to submit a smartform to the Moderators. 
• Private Messaging the Moderator Team continues to be an available option.

Why should I use SIMon?

• It can save you time - by using the smartform, you’re ensuring that our Moderators will have all the necessary details they’ll need to start actioning your request right away from the first message. Plus, authentication is now part of the submission process. No more silly back and forth follow up messages! 
• SIMon will pre-fill your support form for you - Based on your short conversation with the virtual assistant, SIMon will remember what you shared with him and complete certain parts of your form for you! Cool right? 
• Track your issue more easily - If you reach out to a Moderator via SIMon and the smartform, you’ll be issued a ticket number, making following up on your issue a snap when you can share your ticket number with a Moderator.
• Pssst. You’ll hear back faster! - Based on the completeness of the information, Mods will prioritize issues coming from the smartform over regular private messages. 

As always, we’d love to hear what you think! Give SIMon a try the next time you need help (just click the bottom right button on any Community Page, or visit the Get Help Page). We’d love to hear what your experience was like if you’ve given SIMon a try! We’re continuing down the road to improve support, and this is something that’ll we’ll continue to grow and iterate on with your inputs.

Let us know your thoughts!

Thanks,

Alan

[sunflowershine]

Hope that I don't need to use it!

[AE_Collector]

I am hoping that this improvement solves a lot of the complaints from people with problems. I think that the initial delay for verification was a particular problem for many who can't wait to get someone working on the problem but instead they run into this additional delay right from the beginning. Here’s hoping it speeds things up!

Terry

[dna2016]

Cool, I just used the SIM-on tool and worked perfectly, and was very quick.  My phone just had a software update and for some reason my voicemail settings was reset and whichever number that was supposed to be there disappeared.  I figured maybe SIM-on can help me with retrieving the voicemail number.  I wasn't sure if it was my actual phone number or if it was a central number that the provider assigns, as I know some other providers have an actual assigned voicemail number.  Within 5 seconds I was able to ask my question and get the accurate response from SIM-on.  I was able to retrieve my voicemail in seconds.

Thanks SIM-on.  And I also like they ask if this service prevented a ticket, definitely a great way to track if the tool is effective or not.

[computergeek541]

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@Poogzley wrote:

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@will13am wrote:

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@popping wrote:

Response time for the new ticketing system is faster than previous sending private message to moderator directly system.

I send in my request yesterday 10pm and received moderator reply around 3pm today (17 hours).  

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I suspect this ticketing system cuts down on some of the back and forth discussion which can be condusive to quicker response time.  I doubt that it is the total solution.  In recent days, I have seen the bench strength augmented.  Some improvements probably came that way.  In any event, 17 hours is still not something worth celebrating.  Get it down to 1.7 hours and we can start celebrating. 

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@will13am Under an hour would be worth celebrating or better yet a live chat!

(I am allowed to dream)

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Let's remember that quickest way to greatly quicken, or virtually eliminate, wait time won't happy because of increased costs.

[will13am]

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@Poogzley wrote:

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@will13am wrote:

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@popping wrote:

Response time for the new ticketing system is faster than previous sending private message to moderator directly system.

I send in my request yesterday 10pm and received moderator reply around 3pm today (17 hours).  

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I suspect this ticketing system cuts down on some of the back and forth discussion which can be condusive to quicker response time.  I doubt that it is the total solution.  In recent days, I have seen the bench strength augmented.  Some improvements probably came that way.  In any event, 17 hours is still not something worth celebrating.  Get it down to 1.7 hours and we can start celebrating. 

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@will13am Under an hour would be worth celebrating or better yet a live chat!

(I am allowed to dream)

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When I came to Public Mobile back in fall 2016, moderator team response time was around 1-2 hours.  Today, the service is a lot different than 2016.  It has probably grown significantly.  That does not mean the support systems should not grow commensurate with the customer base.  If they were able to achieve that level of customer service 3 years ago, there is no reason why they cannot do it today.  It all comes down to re-investing the earnings back into the improving the infrastructure.  As customers, we want more for less.  As service provider, they want to give less for more.  It is a symbiotic relationship where we need to find that middle ground where both parties are equally happy/unhappy. 

[Poogzley]

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@will13am wrote:

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@popping wrote:

Response time for the new ticketing system is faster than previous sending private message to moderator directly system.

I send in my request yesterday 10pm and received moderator reply around 3pm today (17 hours).  

---

I suspect this ticketing system cuts down on some of the back and forth discussion which can be condusive to quicker response time.  I doubt that it is the total solution.  In recent days, I have seen the bench strength augmented.  Some improvements probably came that way.  In any event, 17 hours is still not something worth celebrating.  Get it down to 1.7 hours and we can start celebrating. 

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@will13am Under an hour would be worth celebrating or better yet a live chat!

(I am allowed to dream)

[darlicious]

At least Simon finally found a job he's qualified for....good job Simon!

[will13am]

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@popping wrote:

Response time for the new ticketing system is faster than previous sending private message to moderator directly system.

I send in my request yesterday 10pm and received moderator reply around 3pm today (17 hours).  

---

I suspect this ticketing system cuts down on some of the back and forth discussion which can be condusive to quicker response time.  I doubt that it is the total solution.  In recent days, I have seen the bench strength augmented.  Some improvements probably came that way.  In any event, 17 hours is still not something worth celebrating.  Get it down to 1.7 hours and we can start celebrating. 

[popping]

Response time for the new ticketing system is faster than previous sending private message to moderator directly system.

I send in my request yesterday 10pm and received moderator reply around 3pm today (17 hours).  

[Glorious]

Wonderful! This is good news 

[will13am]

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@dmbcanada wrote:

@will13am 

Thanks didn't think to look there!   Only negative was that it did not give me space to enter details of the problem/issue., was only a generic option to select "Talk/Data" not working.

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Did you complete the login?  You get to edit the details of your issue once you login. 

[jor123]

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@DL888 wrote:

I would expect it to send you an email confirmation...no? 

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You would think...

[dmbcanada]

@will13am 

Thanks didn't think to look there!   Only negative was that it did not give me space to enter details of the problem/issue., was only a generic option to select "Talk/Data" not working.

[DL888]

I would expect it to send you an email confirmation...no? 

[DL888]

I think that's how most digital assistant works, it finds the best solution from the KB or a pool of documented knowledge and present it to the user. Don't know if it does this but it would be one step further if SIMon queries the community posts and find verfiried answers there and present it...multiple sources.

[will13am]

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@dmbcanada wrote:

So I entered a ticket using Simon, but forgot to write down the ticket number.   Cannot seem to find proof of submitting a ticket in my self serve or community account.

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The community account that you did the login with should have a private message to the moderator team in the sent folder with the details. 

[GinYVR]

For those who are interested, they can go over to ada.support and take a look at how SIMon is supposed to work. The website will give you some insight on what it is capable or not.. supposedly it is for "70%" of the cases, so edge cases still need wisdom from the community.

The way I see it, it is an interactive way to present information from the knowledge base rather than trying to solve problems.

[jor123]

Good news, as recent wait times for private messages have been extraordinarily high. This will hopefully help at least organize and streamline things. 

[dmbcanada]

So I entered a ticket using Simon, but forgot to write down the ticket number.   Cannot seem to find proof of submitting a ticket in my self serve or community account.

[dna2016]

This is definitely great news, and hopefully this is as effective as we are all hoping for.  I know this won;t be a perfect system, and everyone will have there 2 cents to put in to complain or prefer something else be implemented, but at the end of the day if it does help a good amount of people then it is doing it's job.  As every company does, this will be a test and learn, and over time when there's more money and resources available this system can be improved upon if needed.  Good job Public Mobile, great work @Alan_K for always looking to find ways to improve the customer experience, and also kudos to you by reaching out to us the customers for constructive feedback and actually caring and implementing some of those ideas.  Very rare to see a company not just ask their customers, but actually implement customer suggestions.  Big thumbs up. 

[DL888]

Great news...PM keeps getting better. Looking forward to utilizing the new AI.

[Korth]

I haven't got any problems with my account or my service for Simon to resolve!

But I'll be sure to crack the whip on that smarmy little piece of automated chatware if/when some sort of problem does arise.  Until then, I'd be quite content for his cheerful popups to stop stealing focus in my browser. 

[maheshboloor]

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@mimmo wrote:

@Alan_K  I still believe there should still be a link to the form, which does not need to be accessed from Simon. That can be linked to by members of Community. 

I find it repetitive to ask for help in community, then be told to ask Simon, so you can get a ticket number. 

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This!! Simon sounds good but if ticketing feature is available outside it, it would be amazing 

[darlicious]

Still not impressed with Simon. I thought I would test him out by asking some questions that were posed to the community by new users struggling with activations and payments. I knew I had read the solutions but wasn't quite sure where to find them. All Simon had to say was talk to a moderator. Not much help. So Simon sucks....still. The community still kills it in helping other users solve their problems.

[will13am]

@Alan_K , it seems rather annoying that the ticketing process requires a login even when I invoke it while already logged into the community.  Surely SIMon should be smart enough to pick this up and bypass login or maybe mention that I am already sign on under a certain community account and whether I wish to continue to progress a ticket via that community account.  

[darlicious]

Can Simon stop the main website pages from freezing? I have to wait over a minute every time I click/touch on anything.?.and yes I've cleared the browser cache etc etc.... Just not going into secret mode every time I want to access the site.

[darlicious]

Yes it is annoying....maybe it could be on the top left of the screen rather than by the keyboard.

[stonechucker]

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@popping wrote:

If I sumbit a ticket that SIMon does not know the answer, SIMon gave me the following message instead of giving me a blank form and let me fill in the form

Whoops! Looks like we were too busy thinking about you. Go to homepage.

404

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Sorry @popping, I accidentally marked your post as the solution, instead of hitting reply.  I’ve reversed the solution accordingly.

Now, @Alan_K, I tried Simon today as my main plan failed renewal overnight Sept 2-3, with enough rewards and available balance to cover my plan.  AutoPay active with valid visa, date of expiry in the future.  The smart forms provided did not encompass my issues provided and reacted to by the SIMon tool.

I had to manually PM moderator_team, and am now awaiting a response.

Totally frustrating as the failed activations will everything setup to work normally is an ongoing issue known to Public Mobile for at least 3 years now.  I’m frustrated, and frankly disappointed.

The subscribers deserve better.

[will13am]

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@NDesai wrote:

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@mimmo wrote:

@Luddite  the only problem with that link is it can I beleive only deal with service not working as it is based past questions to Simon. 

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But once you sign in using your community account, you can change it.

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Leveraging on the information you provided I figured out a workaround that allows me to pretty much fill in the fields without SIMon trying to sully the entry fields.  To maintain the integrity of the system, I won't discuss further here.  TBH, this system is a total disaster for someone like myself that manages too many accounts than I can count via a single community account.  Hopefully I can still continue to keep to the single community account.  If not, I certainly hope rev. 2.0 of the ticketing system will be restructured to allow me to do so.  

[mimmo]

@NDesai  great  catch. I have not used form yet. Great to know we might have a way to contact mods without going through Simon.