Add a "Known Issues" section to the front page of the Community

[skmkenn]

Add a "Known Issues" section to the front page of the Community and pin posts to it regarding network/service/account issues that are impacting multiple customers and communicate those issues to us so that customers are aware that there is an issue.

Public Mobile's support model is based solely around the Community, and as such when there are issues that affect multiple customers (for example, the recent issue with tethering or premature account suspensions) it is important to communicate these issues to customers in a clear, concise, and transparent manner. These issues should be displayed front and center on the Community when visiting the front page.

This would not only help with overall customer satisfaction, but it would also:

• Reduce the number of posts on the Community for the same issue by keeping a single thread that members can reply to. By reducing the number of duplicate posts on the Community for the same issue it will make it easier for members who are not affected by an issue to find other topics that are relevant to them and find the answers they need quickly.
• Reduce the number of private messages to the Moderator team if a private message to them is not necessary, which will help both the moderator team and other members that are having other issues which aren't widespread (for example, a plan change or early renewal that can't be processed through self-serve).
• Allow customers to stay informed on with an issue and be able to follow it for updates and any ETA's on resolution.

[Survalex]

Good idea!

[agent942]

Excellent comment (and I'm surprised this has been done already!) 

Most service providers to this, and some go an extra step and even contact users (email in the case of a cellular system outage, etc) and keep them updated with status updates and resolutions.

Come on Public Mobile!  This is 2017!  

[mimmo]

unfortunatly the mods are unable to post announcements without the aproval of the marketing team.   I do agree with this idea but also that a crisis plan should be created to either call back the office the managers or the marketing team  so that moderators to communicate with subscribers.

i'm sure management /marketing has access to emails when they are away  and can write something up even when they are away from their desks.  

To be fair PM has been always pretty bad with communicating their issues waittimes etc... so this is par for the course.  thankfully we have an awsome mod team who does their best.

[skmkenn]

@mimmo thank you for the insight. If that is indeed the case, then I believe that the moderator team should be empowered to post such information when it comes to technical issues that are affecting customers -- the team above the moderators should be providing them with information in a timely manner so that it can be passed on to customers.

With a traditional provider with call centres and retail stores, information regarding outages and customer impacting events is usually handed to front-line representatives as soon as an issue has been confirmed, and this information is then passed on to customers. Take out the call centre/retail store element and replace it with an online community and this could still very easily be done.

One of the largest pain points for customers is a lack of communication when things aren't working correctly. As both a customer and as someone who has worked in the wireless industry I can say that there's nothing that's more frustrating than when there's an issue that can't be easily resolved and there's no communication from higher up as to what is happening. Even if there isn't an ETA of restoration, it's nice to have an issue acknowledged and communicated in a timely manner.

[Luddite]

Unfortunately PM only allows marketing/supervisors this authourity. If you encounter an issue that needs immediate continuous visibility the best you can do is repost it periodically. 

[srlawren]

@Luddite @mimmo I think it's implied in this request that the moderators should be empowered to post an active issue when nobody is available to approve the content of the message.  This is a ridiculous restriction that needs to be lifted.  @Jeremy_M please take note--the moderators should be able to post a message as noted, regardless of if it's in announcements area or in some sort of banner.  If you can't empower them to do this on their own, then there needs to be a rotation schedule of 24x7 available on-call staff that do have the ability to approve a draft and have it posted within x mins of the request.  In 2017 for a smartphone company to only be able to deal with this stuff during business hours is totally unacceptable.  You all have smartphones and can review a draft via email or instant message within minutes.  Yes I understand the important of work-life balance, which is why you need multiple individuals avaiable during off hours on a rotating schedule.  This is embarrasing table stakes that need to be addressed immediately.

[skmkenn]

@srlawren This is exactly my point. When there are major issues impacting several customers, it needs to be acknowledged and communicated so that customers aren't left in the dark as to what's happening. Looking at the situation from this past weekend for example, some folks had assumed that Public Mobile just cancelled their service or were out to scam them because they had just paid for their service only to find that it had been suspended and a pinned post from somewhere higher up addressing the problem, whether it had been from a supervisor or the moderator team would have gone a long way in lowering the amount of panic that ensued for many people.

So this could really be looked at as two requests:

1. Empower the moderator team or change the guidelines so that if there is a widespread issue, it can be communicated to customers in a clear and timely manner -- whether the post is made by the moderator team, a supervisor, someone who works on the back end side of things, etc it doesn't really matter. It's the communication element that's key here.
2. Add a section to the front page of the Community where these notices will be made available front and center. I suppose that this could also be done under the "Featured Topics" section, but the post needs to be able to stand out in some way.