Webassist Support failure

I'm quite disappointed that Webassist has chosen to discontinue traditional support. Forums are not match for a traditional support system. Although forums are helpful for the general public, I don't feel they are a replacement for customers who have paid a lot of money for a product and require support to run their business. I have absolutely no expectation of a turn-around for a post (it may be hours or days) and I can't run a business with this kind of unknown process.

I've had a support question open for 3 days, it took 24 hours to get a reply that simply asked for more details. I responded within a 1/2 hour with the additional details, and haven't heard from anyone since.

I was very happy with Webassists process of ticket tracking and feel that this is a real shot in the foot. I'll have to re-evaluate my next decision to purchase anything from Webassist.

-very disappointed

Shouldn't you at least give them a chance? I know that Ray has always been very responsive here. If the rest of the WebAssist team is just as responsive on the forums, it may be better as we can all see how problems are tracking. Right now, if someone else submits a ticket for a problem, the rest of us have no idea what problems are already being worked on and what problems are not.

That is the reason why we switched... Too much good information hidden, and too many people asking the same question in both places and causing us to double our efforts. We actually still have and use the ticket system when it is needed. We just filter everything through the forums so that as much is made public as possible.

The traditional support is not "discontinued" it's entry point has just been changed. The full incident system will still be used when our support team determines it would be beneficial.

Thanks Ray for clarifying even more.

You guys have always been tremendous on the support side.

I wouldn't rebut that webassist has been responsive and helpful for the most part. And I'm well aware of the benefits of a forum. However, I'm running a business and need to have guidelines established with respect to support, that I can predict, otherwise I will look elsewhere for the solution. My experience so far with Webassist response on the forum has been reasonable except for this one issue still outstanding after 5 days, that wouldn't have happened with the old system.

There are still issues I have with the current implementation of the forum:
First there is no way to prioritize a issue. I'm all for a donation system, which I use extensively with other forums (I know this is not a model for all businesses, but it works for those who need immediate assistance and are willing to pay for it). When a support specialist responds in a timely manner and is able to save me hours of work, I respond in turn with a donation.

My other complaint is that there is no private message area (unless I'm missing something) where I can speak directly to the support specialists and resolve an issue such as an unresolved ticket or additional information that I don't want public. I don't think its appropriate to post a public reply that says "it's been 5 days, why haven't you answered my question?".

I would recommend taking a look at the structure of forum.bytesforall.com/

I think it is more appropriate to call out a post without a response in 5 days than to call the entire system a failure because of it. Pointing out the individual posts that might have fallen through the cracks will only help us improve.

If you think a particular thread would be handled better in a support incident, simply respond to the thread requesting an incident be opened so that you can share information privately and it will be done for you.

I guess you don't consider any of my comments. I would have posted this as a private concern if that were possible.

I have created a private incident based on your request. View and respond to the incident at: supporthistory.php.