@dabr wrote:
@will13am wrote:
You do realize that the ticketing system can be more efficient due to the fact that all the authentication and information gathering is all done at once. Sending a private message will invariably involve more back and forth covering authentication before any action is taken. Pay now or pay later. In this particular case, the confusion was about the community account and the self serve account. It was a good opportunity to pass on the knowledge base.
TBH, From what I remember, the private messaging option didn't seem any less efficient and the verification was simple enough and could done by verifying the account or telephone number, although I haven't needed to ask for customer support recently.
Sorry, but I don't see any issues to suggest that a customer contact support via private message as long as PM keeps that as a viable option themselves.
In my opinion, part of the issue is Public Mobile even mentioning both methods in that help article. If chatbot is the way, there shouldn't ben any refereences in the help articles about sending a CSA private messages. The option really should just be disabled, with customers doing this receiving an automatic prompt that SIMon must be used. I do realize that SIMon does need to be fixed and there must be (or should be) a way to immediately open a ticket, but this "two way" stuff that Public Mobile themselves have stated adds to the problem.
I hate the chatbot just as much as others, but going through the chatbot is extemely important when opening a ticket. Customers who go the private message route automatically go to the back of the line and will receive much slower service.
Also, there are privacy issues that aren't entirely the fault of the either the customers or CSAs. Too often customers (and sometimes CSAs) don't realize that a message is being posted in the forum instead of through private messages. The input boxes to type in the message looks much too similar. It's best to avoid interaction about presonal and account iniformation as much as possible. As mentioned, the need to authenticate afterwards also adds an additional unnecessary delay before the customer receive assistance.
