I know if GF opened up a phone support line it’d be bombarded with “Where’s my laser?” calls, so I’m not sure how to reconcile this with the fact that there are some situations that require faster attention than the 2-3 day SLA on here and email.
For example, GF is sending me a replacement unit. I live in Washington, so the In Transit time is pretty short from their CA distribution center. Like 2 days tops. So what am I supposed to do when UPS gives me an Exception saying they don’t have the right address info so they’ve done something stupid and loaded it on a truck going in the wrong direction?
UPS tells me to contact Glowforge and have them contact UPS to correct the info ASAP.
I’ve emailed my contact at GF back, but they don’t always respond very quickly (sometimes not within their promised 2-3 day window even). A phone line would help route me to the right person much quicker. But again, I understand that’s probably not a good idea with all the delays in delivering units.
I get what you’re saying. Really I do. But there are two things I’d like to say that I hope will help you.
I suggest that there’s no such thing as a Glowforge “emergency.” (Save that of putting inappropriate materials in, or otherwise using, the unit inappropriately. But that’d likely be a matter for your local fire department, not Glowforge.) There are circumstances that, I’m sure, are very important to you, but they likely don’t qualify as an actual emergency.
I know this is counter-intuitive. Many, if not most, people just don’t believe it. But it’s true. Ticket system or e-mail is faster than phone calls when it comes to resolving issues. An example… A person can work on, perhaps, up to 10 tickets at a time. But that same person can only work on ONE phone call at a time. Study after study prove it out. Think of it this way… If a technician had the time to answer your call, they’d also have time to address your ticket. I’ve never seen their support queue system personally, but I can assure you that technicians work and work and work to get through all possible issues within a given time. I hope I’ve explained this concept well-enough. I know I’ve explained it even to executives and even they don’t believe it… until they use it and see it’s true.
But @dan has said himself that his Customer Success (not Support) team is there to turn our problems/concerns into “unadulterated delight”.
So, from my perspective, there are multiple tiers of issues that will be counteractive to that delight. Having a replacement unit (already aggravating to have to deal with) on the way, then finding out it’s not just delayed (also annoying, but I can deal) but is in fact essentially a ghost in the UPS system because they cannot tell me where it is, where it’s going, or even confirm that it’s final destination is my address (would be a UPS issue if they weren’t pointing the finger at GF saying they didn’t provide all of the right info) is a pretty cluster-F-y set of delight killers that (IMHO, of course) facilitates the need for a quicker response.
To #2 above. I’m sure your statement is true from Glowforge’s perspective when looking at their staff throughput. However, looking at it from my (the customer’s) perspective, I don’t think that math makes sense. If I can call and someone answers and helps me with my problem, that is immediate. Waiting up to 2 days is not. So yes, I’m sure tickets are faster from the company’s perspective, but not necessarily from the customer’s. Yes, I’m also aware there are inbuilt assumptions about staff headcount, etc.
So you’re absolutely correct. I was speaking from the Support side (not Glowforge specifically, mind you). From the customer side, many people still believe that a phone call is faster. But that is almost never true. That’s why I wanted to try and explain it out to you (personally) directly. But I think I’ve failed.
Imagine… There are 10 calls in front of you. Each requiring 5 minutes of a technician’s time. You’d rather wait on hold for 50 minutes rather than those same 10 tickets be closed in just FIVE minutes and then you’re next? Of course your answer is no. But I totally get that the perception that a phone call is faster still exists. And, of course, perception is reality from the self-perspective. But it’s… Man… I can’t think of a way to explain it so it might make sense to you. (That’s not a dig on you, that’s a slight on myself for not having a great way to explain it.) I want to say “Trust me… It’s actually faster this way.”
Not correct. I’d rather wait 50 minutes on the phone today to get the answer than 3 days watching my email which has the potential to ask for something that starts the 3 day clock again.
No I get what you’re saying. I just don’t think the example holds up.
I’ve never had to wait on the phone for customer support for any company for 50 minutes. If I did, I’d hang up and be fine with waiting for a 2 day response to my email.
I suppose the potential for that is there. But, since you said more information was required from you, your answer wouldn’t be after 50 minutes on the phone. You will have waited 50 minutes and then been asked to do something else. Meanwhile, that tech is on the phone with you… not working on other’s issues. Put yourself in the “other’s” chair now. Your issue is being worked on! Yay! Nobody’s standing in your way by tying up the tech on the phone. You’re getting the fastest service possible.
Regardless, 3 days is the worst possible scenario. And 3 days between responses is worst of worse-case. But that’s a matter of how Glowforge handles their queues. I have no idea how they’re doing that, but I can say that I’ve opened several cases and have not experienced anything close to that worst-case. Still, not saying it’s impossible, of course.
Anyway… I’m not stating my case well-enough. I just don’t have the facts and figures in front of me to present it properly. I’ll bow out and hope somebody else can provide better help.
I haven’t had reason to call in a long time, but call wait times for Microsoft tech support could stretch into hours. And that was after being sorted into different queues for what program you were having problems with. And having rooms full of techs to answer the calls. This was pre-www. To improve things they replaced the recorded “You call is important to us” with a live DJ who would read out the queue lengths and wait times in between songs.
Call centers are expensive. On most software sales, if someone calls support, the company has lost money on that sale. E.g. the cost of handling that call is more than the profit margin on that program.
I’ve waited longer than 50 minutes before. It’s excruciating. But from the customer side of the issue, it is definitely faster than 3 days for an email response. In the long run from the support side of things, more tickets can be resolved per unit of time in an email system.
In this case I don’t see why UPS needs you to contact GF. You have the tracking number and your name is on the label. You should be able to supply them the correct address and have them adjust it in their system. The part about not being able to locate the package is disconcerting, but whether it is you or GF talking to them shouldn’t make any difference to that outcome.
My GF was sitting in San Pablo, CA this weekend with much the same issue you seem to have had. I emailed support on Saturday. I got my UPS My Choice notifications today. My GF will be delivered tomorrow (Seattle area).
I had a bit of freak out because I got notifications for three packages, all with the same tracking number, one being delivered today. Digging further I see today’s is the package containing the extra safety glasses I ordered.
Thanks so much for the feedback, we’re always looking at ways we can better support you.
For your current issue, you should have received an email with additional information about your replacement Glowforge. If you need anything else don’t hesitate to start a new thread or send an email to support.
