Response and resolution time frames

[SenseiSteve]

Response times are important, but resolution times are critical when issues arise. Let’s face it, stuff happens to servers from time to time, and the mark of a competent provider is how well they handle those issues.

Looking for your opinion on what time frames are acceptable for you. I've grown accustomed to response times within minutes and resolutions within an hour (for most issues).

Does your provider (or you) post those averages?

 

[Artashes]

That first response, I find, is critically important. Acknowledging a client that someone is looking into their issue is the absolute best stress reliever. As for resolving the issue (of course it depends on what's going on) I've experienced times between 5-10 minutes and 2-3 hours.

I am not sure how useful the average times would be, as the first contact response is always quick, but the resolution time will vary greatly, which will skew results and expectations.

 

[SimpleSonic]

The first reply should be within 30 minutes and a resolution should be within 1-8 hours.

The amount of resolution time necessary would obviously depend on the complexity of the issue and whether or not any 3rd party vendor support needed to be involved.

 

[YouStable]

We at YouStable have an internal policy like FRT is about 5-10 Min Max, and Resolution takes 1-4 hrs depending upon the issue. We also try to refresh customer by giving the status update in every 1 hr

 

[plambee]

The first response should be a maximum of 30 minutes in the best case, so you know as a customer that the problem is being dealt with. Depending on the severity of the problem, however, it is difficult to always comply (if the support volume is very high at the moment). Even in such cases, in my opinion, you should not use copy-and-paste answers, but respond individually to the customer.
The resolution of the problem should be at best 1-2 hours, although of course it depends very much on the problem. If it takes longer, it is a good idea to inform the customer about the status at regular intervals.
I remember a case several years ago, where our mainboard should be exchanged by the data center staff and they simply left the server offline for 8 hours, because there were problems (the employee was of the opinion that you could simply use another mainboard with another CPU and so on, there were of course kernel problems) and they did not give us a single message over the entire time. In the end, they just said "Problems can always occur, and then it just takes longer". That was anything but pleasant.