Moderator Triage Counter: Suggestion

[dna2016]

Just wondering if this has ever come up as a suggestion:

Just noticing a number of customers/users not happy with not receiving a response from a  MOD in a certain period of time.  And in my experiences I believe it's not just that they have not heard anything from a MOD, but it's also that they have know idea where they are in the triage.  When you go to a retail environment you can at least see the line, and although you'd still be unhappy, but at least you can somewhat gauge how much longer or where you are in terms of the triage.  I know PM is anti-retail, but some aspects of retail might help the customer experience for this situation.

So just wondering/suggesting, maybe MODS can have a triage count down, so people can see how many files are being worked on ahead of them.  Once a file is rectified or a MOD has responded to the issue, then they can update the counter (decrease it).  In essence, lets say 10 fresh messages to MODS come in, then the counter would show ten.  The MOD responds to one of them, meaning they've now taken action, so the counter can now read 9.  It doesn't necessarily mean the issue was completely resolved because some issues may take 24-48 hours, but it does mean the MOD has responded to the issue and can now look at another file while this one is in the works of being rectified.

I think this will at least somewhat help the customer experience in that it's not leaving customers in the dark as to whether they might have to wait awhile or not.  

Or a better suggestion would be when a user sends a message to a MOD they would recieve a file/triage number, and the triage counter would show what number the MODS are currently working on.  Kind of like when you have to get a new passport and you have to go in and provide the photo and pay, you get a ticket and you can see above on a screen which number the customer service reps are currently servicing.  

I think my 2nd suggestion is the better choice, but the 1st suggestion might be easier/simpler to implement in the system.  But either way some type of counter so the customer can somewhat gauge where they're at might be helpful and slightly reduce the complaints i'm seeing.

But i know i know, people will complain and be mad and post bad things regardless of the triage, but then there are some people like me who will see the counter and just patiently wait in line.  

Just a suggestion I thought I'd share @Alan_K, @Brooke_C, @Dave_M

[Rosguru]

It would be great to see somewhere like your suggestion of an idea's lab, suggestion box or something like that.

I would like to suggest that the website have a "show" button where people can check to see if they entered their passwords correctly.

[Mary_M]

Hey @vincep,

thanks for reaching out to us !

I can see that my colleague is currently working on your issue, you'll be receiving a reply soon 🙂

Thank you,

Mary

[vincep]

i havent had any reply since 5 pm yesterday ..if i dont hear back form you within the hour ..i will seriously think about switching back to my old company ...at least i can talk to them one on one

[srlawren]

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@Brooke_C wrote:

Hey @srlawren, 

On July 31 we noticed that a group of customers whose plans were renewing and who had AutoPay registered on their account did not have their payment automically processed. Unfortunately, this resulted in those customers temporarily losing service. Once our Moderator Team flagged this as a wider-spreading issue (and not a one-off scenario), the issue was prioritized and fixed. All customers impacted by this scenario should have their service up and running, and no action is required. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused, and are using this example as an opportunity to learn how we can improve communications for systems errors, while not alarming others who are not impacted. 

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@Brooke_C I appreciate this reply very much.  If I may add that in addition to learning on the communication side of things, I'd like to recommend that the software team review their quality assurance processes.  I have no idea what types of testing they currently perform, but I feel strongly that an automated suite of regression testing scripts are very important for a mission-critical system such as this.  Also I hope they have a test system that--as closesly as practical--mirrors the production system configuration.  

[will13am]

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@cappaj wrote:

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@cappaj wrote:

It's nice to see the mods coming out in the light again after slogging through what I assume was a terrible week for you!

For what it's worth - as a new customer who saw all of the people posting about auto pay issues, I was alarmed anyways. My first auto pay is next week, but i was starting to get nervous about it not working. As several others have mentioned, more communication about what's going on, who will or won't be affected, anticipated timelines, etc. would be much appreciated.

Also thanks for joining the conversation and being open about what is working and isn't working, I appreciate that too!

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I should add, I'm still nervous about my first auto pay coming up next week! I haven't heard any official statement about what went wrong or if it's been fixed, or if I run into trouble what I should do to have it fixed or what steps to expect. That kind of info would be nice to hear. I know that a bigger carrier wouldn't issue a statement or anything for this kind of issue - but they also have on-demand customer support that could fill you in on the issue and resolve it immediately. Because this forum is the one place for everything, it'd be great to see some details on what happened or is still happening.

Also I wanted to say that if I went to a big carrier's forum I would have no interest in joining this conversation there, because I wouldn't expect anything to come of it. But that's not the case here, which I love!

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This brand offers a unique support model and so unfortunately taking guidance from other brands is not that applicable.  Telus does not have a forum that serve the purpose of this community forum.  I have experienced many call center interactions with my internet provider where they will inject into the welcome message status updates with the service when there are widespread impacts as a segway into why longer than normal interaction times are to be expected.  Communication has to be adapted to the service model.  It absolutely makes sense to use announcements for situations such as the one we just experienced.  Self assessment of performance to these major events should guide future improvements.

[cappaj]

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@cappaj wrote:

It's nice to see the mods coming out in the light again after slogging through what I assume was a terrible week for you!

For what it's worth - as a new customer who saw all of the people posting about auto pay issues, I was alarmed anyways. My first auto pay is next week, but i was starting to get nervous about it not working. As several others have mentioned, more communication about what's going on, who will or won't be affected, anticipated timelines, etc. would be much appreciated.

Also thanks for joining the conversation and being open about what is working and isn't working, I appreciate that too!

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I should add, I'm still nervous about my first auto pay coming up next week! I haven't heard any official statement about what went wrong or if it's been fixed, or if I run into trouble what I should do to have it fixed or what steps to expect. That kind of info would be nice to hear. I know that a bigger carrier wouldn't issue a statement or anything for this kind of issue - but they also have on-demand customer support that could fill you in on the issue and resolve it immediately. Because this forum is the one place for everything, it'd be great to see some details on what happened or is still happening.

Also I wanted to say that if I went to a big carrier's forum I would have no interest in joining this conversation there, because I wouldn't expect anything to come of it. But that's not the case here, which I love!

[Anonymous]

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@Brooke_C wrote:

Hey @srlawren, 

On July 31 we noticed that a group of customers whose plans were renewing and who had AutoPay registered on their account did not have their payment automically processed. Unfortunately, this resulted in those customers temporarily losing service. Once our Moderator Team flagged this as a wider-spreading issue (and not a one-off scenario), the issue was prioritized and fixed. All customers impacted by this scenario should have their service up and running, and no action is required. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused, and are using this example as an opportunity to learn how we can improve communications for systems errors, while not alarming others who are not impacted. 

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Thanks @Brooke_C. With this being a more hands-on service, I don't think unaffected people reading an announcement of a problem would be "alarmed" per se. I think it would be informative. Then also for community participants to be able to inform others when they quite rightly come complaining of no service.

I think this kind of announcement would be more suited to the announcement of the maintenance update. Announce the update. Some chatter happens. A problem arises. Now is the time to say something.

Pretty much just what you said above except present tense...not after the fact.

Then another announcement saying you've fixed it and that affected customers will be processed in the queue.

Then maybe another announcement giving the all clear saying that everything should be fine and you're all caught up and that finally you can get back to fixing the password reset function. Which, really, you should remove from the pages until it's fixed.

[Dunkman]

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@Brooke_C wrote:

Hey @srlawren, 

On July 31 we noticed that a group of customers whose plans were renewing and who had AutoPay registered on their account did not have their payment automically processed. Unfortunately, this resulted in those customers temporarily losing service. Once our Moderator Team flagged this as a wider-spreading issue (and not a one-off scenario), the issue was prioritized and fixed. All customers impacted by this scenario should have their service up and running, and no action is required. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused, and are using this example as an opportunity to learn how we can improve communications for systems errors, while not alarming others who are not impacted. 

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@Brooke_C Thanks Brookes C for update.  Saying that, an announcement on July 31 or August 1, explaining this would have been very helpful for the customers that had their service temporarily shut off.  There were many forum threads about this particular issue this week.  

As a learning experience, maybe a standard procedure can be in place when future system wide disruptions happen, a general annoucement can be made.  Or if not possilbe, messaging to the Oracles who then can inform everyone else.  

[will13am]

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@mimmo wrote:

@dna2016   I do agree knowing "how long" the line is would reduse some fustrations  similar ideas were suggested in the past. it might also be the support model /system that causes the issue many tickets might be started but left incomplete because they require a reply from the original sender for clarification or other info which means mods probably go to the next one. then go back once they hear from the first, but all that is pure conjecture on my part.   No one except mods really know how the back end works.   we are still waiting for our long promiced support ticketing system since the fall 2016 promo  days.   

until them patience is the only option. 

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Each time a catastrophe comes along, it tests the timeliness of implementing new improvements.  The pareto 80/20 rules is a time tested concept.  Sometimes wheel spin trying to come up with perfection is a hindrance. 

[cappaj]

It's nice to see the mods coming out in the light again after slogging through what I assume was a terrible week for you!

For what it's worth - as a new customer who saw all of the people posting about auto pay issues, I was alarmed anyways. My first auto pay is next week, but i was starting to get nervous about it not working. As several others have mentioned, more communication about what's going on, who will or won't be affected, anticipated timelines, etc. would be much appreciated.

Also thanks for joining the conversation and being open about what is working and isn't working, I appreciate that too!

[Brooke_C]

Hey @srlawren, 

On July 31 we noticed that a group of customers whose plans were renewing and who had AutoPay registered on their account did not have their payment automically processed. Unfortunately, this resulted in those customers temporarily losing service. Once our Moderator Team flagged this as a wider-spreading issue (and not a one-off scenario), the issue was prioritized and fixed. All customers impacted by this scenario should have their service up and running, and no action is required. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused, and are using this example as an opportunity to learn how we can improve communications for systems errors, while not alarming others who are not impacted. 

[dna2016]

@Brooke_C thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my post.  Really appreciate it.  It truly shows that you and PM care about the suggestions made by customers and that work is being done to help support the asks made by customers.  I may not speak for all customers, but I would assume that as long as efforts are made and suggestions are brought forward to try and tackle issues/concerns, then we will feel better about the company.

[srlawren]

Hi @Brooke_C, thanks for weighing in on this idea.  Is there anything you can do to expedite resolution of the system issue introduced in last weekend's maintenance that is wreaking havoc for so many customers?

[Brooke_C]

Hey @dna2016,

This idea was highlighted during the workshop we held with our Oracles and customers, and we are currently exploring how we would bring this idea to life. We love your suggestions, and will keep them in mind as we put together the requirements. 

Thanks! 

Brooke 

[MoreYummy]

This feature or ticket system is long over due since 2 years ago. 

Its missing feature, which would make customer support experience better.  

Not sure if this forum software can do that or might need new system, that's why there is delay?!

[dna2016]

@mimmo so true.

[mimmo]

@dna2016   I do agree knowing "how long" the line is would reduse some fustrations  similar ideas were suggested in the past. it might also be the support model /system that causes the issue many tickets might be started but left incomplete because they require a reply from the original sender for clarification or other info which means mods probably go to the next one. then go back once they hear from the first, but all that is pure conjecture on my part.   No one except mods really know how the back end works.   we are still waiting for our long promiced support ticketing system since the fall 2016 promo  days.   

until them patience is the only option. 

[ShawnC13]

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@dna2016 wrote:

@Acekiller, ya I know they stopped the suggestions a little while back, but figured why not, maybe they might read it and consider, lol.

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To answer your question, yes this has been asked for many times and many different variations of different options.

[dna2016]

@Acekiller, ya I know they stopped the suggestions a little while back, but figured why not, maybe they might read it and consider, lol.

[Acekiller · Accepted solution]

unfortunately they stopped taking suggestions...

there used to be an Idea's lab, but they got rid of it.