Is Testing Customer Support Unfair?

A

AbbieRose

New member
Have you ever tried to test out customer support for a particular company before you use them? I frequently make up an issue and see how they reply-without an account number attached of course. I figure if they are polite in their dealings even though I don't supply the info, then they are a winner and are more likely to get my business.

Is it unfair to do this-what's your opinion?
 
I see it as totally fair to try and test support. But I also see it as totally fair for the company to verify if you're a customer first, before replying to a non-sales inquiry.
 
We get the requests here from time to time. Online Staff checks to see if the person is a customer etc... however if there is nothing happening here on our end and our staff are sitting on their hands waiting on chats etc, they WILL help people even not hosted with us.

9 times out of 10 however, the issues that people experience are the fault of their hosting company and not something that can be resolved by someone from the outside (unless it was configuration of software etc).

This is one of the reasons that we keep more than 60% of our knowledgebase articles as PUBLIC articles. It gives help to a number of people, even if they're not with us. Of course, those with us do get access to the other 40% and hidden gems :)

I don't' see anything wrong with TESTING a company on their knowledge. When evaluating who to go with I think it's almost a requirement to do some sort of testing. Response times for Sales may be longer than Technical Support when you're a client, so it's not always accurate.
 
I think its fair to do this. you need to be pretty sure about the kind of service one provides before buying any product or services.
 
I've done it before in the past but always with a very basic question (ie - how do I do xxx in cPanel?). Some hosts will answer, some will verify that you are a customer and they are well within their right to do so.

Dave
 
Is testing a product before you purchase it unfair? Personaly, if I'm going to buy a product - or a service for that matter, I'm going to test it out first as much as possible. Service and support are a portion of any hossting companies business, andd it needs to be looked into as well.

I have always felt the reaction time to a support ticket is a great way to test a hosting company. If there is an hour + wait time for a response, there is an issue. If not, well at least you know their support team is reactive. The difficult thing to test is thier proactivness.
 
Hi!
I don't think it is a bad idea. However..the problem is things change. Ownership may change..or something else may change..and suddenly the level of service is not the same.

I've seen this first hand. A host may start out with really good service..then go to pot rather quickly due to unrealistic expectations of income.

It's like a uptime track record..really has nothing to do with current or future performance.

A certain host made a very big deal just a month ago about how they measured their uptime in years. Well..after last week..they can't make that claim anymore...not that it impressed me to begin with.

Bryon
 
Since when did testing become an unfair practice? You want to know who you're dealing with to begin with.

A company that doesn't ask verification questions if they are unsure of who the account holder is, should know better :)
 
It is fair. I dont think there is anything wrong in testing a company's services before you give them your business.
 
If it's sales related, absolutely fine. If not, then your account should be verified first. You can always ask our support hypothetical questions - what if? Or ask for advice on procedures.
 
Testing your support staff is not unfair, you can create a very good image of how thay deal with your customers.
 
It is fair - if they check you're not customer they have two options - answer you or not, if they're aware that you're potential customer they should reply you. If not they're loosing potential customer and $ - and example you've mentioned is common practice.
 
It would be fair from your side in testing them and their politeness, response when you are not providing any details, but its not totally fair from their side in replying and trying to resolve any issues without confirming all the details from the customer.

Also, not the same person contacts you everytime. A single person has to handle many requests, and a single request can be handled by many service people at the same time. So you can't expect the same level of answer from everyone.
Still, testing the service and hosting company just with their customer support satisfaction would not be fair enough.
 
AbbieRose said:
Have you ever tried to test out customer support for a particular company before you use them? I frequently make up an issue and see how they reply-without an account number attached of course. I figure if they are polite in their dealings even though I don't supply the info, then they are a winner and are more likely to get my business.

Is it unfair to do this-what's your opinion?
Click to expand...

I recommend all customers test out services before they buy. I test out any product if I can. Just like you go to a store and you see the TV working before you buy it. With hosting you are paying a lot for good support. A hosting company without reliable support is essentially offering a weak or defective product.


Submitting tickets to the sales dept. of any hosting company should give you an idea of speed, quality of response, accuracy, and attention to customer needs.

Best of luck.
 
I thought a little bit before diving into this thread. From a consumer perspective I totally agree that trying before you buy is important.

However, running a company with stellar support is not only difficult, but expensive as well, and I honestly can't say I agree with the proposition that testing the support staff of a hosting company with fake tickets is a good thing.

At ServInt, we would know immediately if someone was not a customer, and we would not provide support. Providing support to non-customers could expose us to liability issues that we would simply prefer not to deal with.

In my opinion, a far better way of finding out about a company's support would be to read legitimate customer reviews, or test the services out yourself with a money back guarantee.
 
There's a difference between offering FREE support to just anyone, and offering solutions or answers to potential customers.

MOST hosts have 30 day trials anyway, so there's usually no harm in setting up and then testing support (if needed).

But I have never found anything wrong with testing support or asking questions etc. Like I said before though, there's many "support issues" that can't be resolved for users if they're not on our servers - so requesting help when not hosting on our server doesn't do much good. For that, our KnowledgeBase can be utilized for generic answers to questions which may be helpful at other hosts.

I sure don't see anything wrong with going into live chat to ask sales or find out if staff is knowledgeable. If they are, the answers should be very fast and off the top of their head - so there's no real slowdown there either.
 
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