X-Cart forums

[overkenny]

I was just thinking of signing up for yearly technical support and just got this mail from LiteCommerce. Not having experience with support I was wondering what peoples opinions were? It sounds a bit like approaching them for custom development, and I also worry that the process of evaluating the problem will increase delays in getting urgent problems resolved.

Dear Customers!

We are glad to inform you that since December, 1 2004 we are going to introduce new customer oriented scheme of payment for technical support service.
You previously had to pay a monthly fee regardless of how many times, if any, you apply to us for help or how serious the problem you have encountered is. Now you are to pay on a per issue scheme. This means that each technical support inquiry is evaluated upon a complexity point scale by our specialists. Every time you call for technical support a number of points are deducted from your personal point account. You pay not for time but for work.
Thus, the new payment scheme will allow to avoid sudden expiry of tech support period because you will be able to use the 'support points' when you are in need for technical assistance only.

More detailed information will be announced at our sites soon.

We do hope you will appreciate the innovation.

Sincerely yours,
LiteCommerce Team

[ETInteractive.com]

my concern would be point skimming.. or how they evaluate pts...

say you have "3 pts" left and suddenly a simple tech question now cost 4 pts.....

I would like to see the users of this forums post up how many pts they were charged and for what work....

meaning, if you have a gateway issue that cost you 3 pts....and someone else has basically the same issue but it cost them 7 pts.

there should be some guidelines released by xcart...especially for some of the more common, basic tech issues....like a price list.

just my thoughts.

[adpboss]

At least a rate sheet for points, as well as some rough guidelines. Some service standards like response time would also be useful information. These are things I know that my customers would find valuable if I was in a service industry.

[bigredseo]

Also, we'll probably want to see about approvals for work.

If you have 20 points in your file, and you need something done which will cost 8 points and you thought it might only take 4 points, you'll want to APPROVE the work before they start it.

So maybe a bidding system is what they're going for. Where you state you're willing to spend up to 5 points for a given problem resolution.

I'm most concerned about turnaround time on issues and what constitues a deduction in points. A question of "how do I modify this or that" depending on the complexity would warrent more points used. What determines if it was a complicated answer (like SQL code insert) or a change in the config settings etc.

Still a sketchy approach and I haven't seen much more information on the new "point system" support method. I like the theory, but not sure it's the direction they should be taking.

[ETInteractive.com]

interesting to see "IF" we hear anything else....or like usual xcart fashion, they just "do" it....and learn as we go.

[rrf]

Originally Posted by ETInteractive.com

say you have "3 pts" left and suddenly a simple tech question now cost 4 pts.....

If you have 3 pts and has an issue to work on that costs 4 pts, the job will be done. After that, you'll have -1 pts.

Of course, if you have negative points on your profile, you won't have access to technical support. But th

meaning, if you have a gateway issue that cost you 3 pts....and someone else has basically the same issue but it cost them 7 pts.
there should be some guidelines released by xcart...especially for some of the more common, basic tech issues....like a price list.

just my thoughts.

There will be job categories. Every category will have a fixed price. It won't cost you more if it took more time. It won't cost you less if it took less time. But there will be sub-categories. For example, if you need help on some exotic gateway configuration, it will be assigned the "gateway" category with particular price range. But when the support team finds out the details and solves the problems, there will be a subcategory assigned, within the price range specified originally. Example is: "gateway issue: configure x-cart" (if the support team finds out misconfiguration in your admin interface)" or "gateway issue: provide an answer from F.A.Q", or "gateway issue: configure customer's server". Any given sub-category will have an exact price in support points.

[rrf]

I am moving this to "news & announcements" section.

[rrf]

Originally Posted by ETInteractive.com

interesting to see "IF" we hear anything else....or like usual xcart fashion, they just "do" it....and learn as we go.

Here at X-Cart, we use a lot of products and services of other companies worldwide, and I never had worked with any company that would communicate with customers more than X-Cart does. Sometimes, we are not even notified by the credit card gateway companies that they change their protocols. Result: a day passes and suddenly all of the clients that use one particular gateway are unable to sell and we break our development schedule just to find out the details of the new protocol and to provide an immediate patch for those clients.

If you ever find out that personally you lack response from X-Cart try contacting the Team using official ways of contact. E-mail feedback@x-cart.com, for example. I assure you that you will receive an answer.

This forum has a perfectly clean disclaimer on signup, none of the posts on this forum are guaranteed to get any attention from anyone, from the X-Cart team to the forum users or moderators. It is just a personal decision of a forum user whether to post or not to post anything on this forum.

[ETInteractive.com]

I'll wait for my xcart newsletter, listing all the categories and pts per category.

and of course there should be a listing in the customer portal (secure.qualiteam.biz)

Thats coming right??

[rrf]

Originally Posted by handsonwebhosting

Also, we'll probably want to see about approvals for work.

If you have 20 points in your file, and you need something done which will cost 8 points and you thought it might only take 4 points, you'll want to APPROVE the work before they start it.

So maybe a bidding system is what they're going for. Where you state you're willing to spend up to 5 points for a given problem resolution.

I'm most concerned about turnaround time on issues and what constitues a deduction in points. A question of "how do I modify this or that" depending on the complexity would warrent more points used. What determines if it was a complicated answer (like SQL code insert) or a change in the config settings etc.

Still a sketchy approach and I haven't seen much more information on the new "point system" support method. I like the theory, but not sure it's the direction they should be taking.

Our major focus with all of this project was to increase the quality of technical support and to dedicate it to "solve the client's tasks" not "chat with customer for two months". So, the points is only deducted on completion of task.

When we thought about the program, one of our main concerns was to avoid any procedures that may increase the time needed for providing a solution.
So, if you mention any problem, we start working on it immediately. We assign a category to it, so you'll able to see the support points at the help desk.
If you don't want us to do the job, just make a post and we'll stop.