Yep.
>- This should drive down the cost of support.
Yep.
>- Then why isn't Livingston stimulating users to use E-mail support by
> putting more people on E-mail support?
Because we had email over-staffed and guess what - call volume didn't
decline. Some people went back onto the phones since the call log went up.
Back when I was doing email it usually got answered that day, the next at
the latest - and it held steady for the several months I did it. People
didn't seem to flock to email even though it meant a faster response.
People seem to like to call.
And, actually, I don't think John was quite being fair - the majority of
email is handled quite fast. But, unfortunately, questions that aren't
directly support related (the "why do you do things this way" kind of
theoretical things) tend to be put aside to handle the support questions
first.
We've been hiring like mad, but the new folks need some time to get up
to speed. We've also been reorganizing the support department into teams
to focus on specific areas to better maintain expertise, etc.
I've seen the queue stats, and things are steadily improving over time.
But it isn't the kind of thing that just happens over night.
We're still hiring, and still working on the departmental structure to
better provide solid support. I think customer services is one of the
fastest growing (maybe the fastest growing) departments in the company.
As we add resources we'll be better able to distribute them. And if we
ever get the damn email tracking system working along with the call
tracking system, it'll all be one tracking system.
I've been tempted to go back into support to help keep the email under
control, but I have an obsessive personality (seriously) and I'm not
doing that because I know I'll work myself until I collapse - again. And
I don't want to dance to that tune again.
Believe me, there are some very dedicated people working on this end. It
is frustrating for us to not be able to provide 100% service to everyone,
everytime. I'd like nothing more that to never hear a complaint and have
everyone saying how Livingston is perfect.
But we're not. We're still working on it. I just hope you can work with
us and give us constructive feedback, and a slap now and then when we need
it, to help us along.
-MZ
-- Livingston Enterprises - Chair, Department of Interstitial Affairs Phone: 800-458-9966 510-737-2100 FAX: 510-737-2110 megazone@livingston.com For support requests: support@livingston.com <http://www.livingston.com/> Snail mail: 4464 Willow Road, Pleasanton, CA 94588