Outsourced Support Companies

[Francisco]

Which companies are out there, and are there any current reviews? Cause the threads I have seen are a little old :wave:

thanks

[Taylor]

Definitely look into Touchsupport.com, amazing group of guys

[niyogi]

Outsourced Support was a buzzword in 2004 when a lot of them emerged (including ours) but since then it's sunk into the backwaters since the effects of outsourcing is essentially inconsistent (your milease might/will vary)

Roj

[ThinkSupport]

But now you will find all the small and unreliable have vanished ... after all the fittest survives :)

[niyogi]

New ones do sprout up - completely unproven, ThinkSupport. ;-)

Roj

[ThinkSupport]

In that case its support and service that will prove after all its quality that everyone requires ... Right :)

[linux-tech]

But now you will find all the small and unreliable have vanished ... after all the fittest survives

Oh no, believe me, the unreliable have far from vanished. I can't count the horror stories I've heard about one specific such company, or , well, two of them, actually, but they are still around, doing business.


the effects of outsourcing is essentially inconsistent

Not necessarily. If you've got a responsible and competent outsourced support/tech company, then you won't get variable mileage, or even inconsistency. Of course, you're not going to get these for the usual ($20/month) specials, and you're going to be incredibly lucky to get them for $50/month.

[webchathelp]

Im new!!!!!!

but our company is backed by a company that is not new--and from my understanding lots of companies dont have poor service, they just have a language barrier (and that frustration, leads customers to feel its poor service)

I personally have had good results from using programmers from india -but i have had personal experiences with dell and aol who outsource to india.

The problem is americans are quirky, trendy and use a lot of euphamisms.

This is why our call center is right in the usa and all operators (not just the sales reps) are native english speakers.

I don't knock any of the other call centers, but I do say, our service is unique in that we dont focus on tech support and that we are competitively priced to overseas outsourcing

I think the tech (hosting market) is pretty saturated, we are going for the e biz.

ironically - even though our service is new i have had several indian companies ask us to outsource our calls to them.

Unfortunately that would have defeated the purpose of our biz strategy.

[webbist]

Remember that when it comes to outsourced support - you get what you pay for. $3/ticket may seem expensive, but usually that means quality. Don't go cheap if you're going to outsource.

[etechdesigns]

Outsourcing support to hosting company is concerned, I think you should check for 24/7 tech support, livechat support and phone support with quality and professional service. Response time should be fast and also check for free trial to know about reliability. I think you should also go through WHT forum for reviews of support companies. You can go through this link as well. :)
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=328303

[gearworx]

Our experience with outsourced support services was not so peachy. In the end we hired contract employees to fulfill our support needs.

[billiam2003]

Samehere. I have not gotten good feedback from my customers about outsourced support. They do not understand the question or they do not answer the question and then I get customers that ask for me anyways so its very pointless. Its better to hire someone to do it for you that you can train and watch closer than with outsourced compaines.

[Brushed-Red.COM]

Your Web Support is alright from what I hear. They use kayako and do ticketing as well as live support.

http://www.yourwebsupport.com

[ArielHost]

I don't believe in outsourced support. Why? In this business, technical support is one of the few places where you're making direct contact with your customers. Support better be great each and every time, or you're going to lose customers - why trust a 3rd party company, especially a foreign 3rd party company, to help you retain your customers? Any company that's even going to be halfway decent, even in India, is going to cost almost as much as hiring an employee here in the US.

I guess if I were going to outsource, the only one I'd consider is hostworks.ca. They aren't cheap, but they're based in Canada, and they seem to have the right approach; they spend time learning about your business, etc.

[Liquid Hosting]

ArielHost,

I like your thinking. No one knows your business like you, so why put its image out there to be battered about by people you don't even know? I concede that outsourcing support may make sense for a reseller who is just starting out, but it is not a solid long-term customer service strategy.

[techpresence]

Just recently I sat down with a cup of coffee and thought over if I was going to invest money into outsourcing and have all sorts of possible risks to worry about, or invest a little bit more money and train and hire all staff in house.

I went with the "in-house" deiscion... However, there are a few outsourced companies that I looked at. www.touchsupport.com is one of the very few USA based Outsourced Support companieso out there. They seem like a great company. I also took at a look at www.etechsupport.net -- They are india based, however the overall service form what I've seen is just great. Out of all of the india based support companies, they must have the best english!

[heymrdj]

Do yourself a favor and stay American. Your American clients will thank you for it. I've actually chosen companies by whether I get an American or Indian on the line when i call. I refuse to put up with an accent I can't understand.

[Chicken]

....but it is not a solid long-term customer service strategy.
Personally I think it's just a poor method to handle the customers that actually need help. It's the cheapest way to "deal with them." I can't recall who it was exactly (I think it was my cell phone provider), but I had to call someone recently and it was obvious that the call went to a foreign center. The person on the phone was nice enough but I could barely understand them, it was obvious that they barely had an understanding of what I was talking about, and in the end, they didn't have access to the account to even view the issue, let alone do anything about it.

So I spent xx minutes navigating the phone tree, describing the problem, trying to understand this person, and in the end there wasn't a thing this person could do about it, other than tell me to send an email. I'm wondering what these people *could* do without any access to customer information? The web site (which offered the number to call) said that there was all sorts of account related things that could be handled (billing issues, changes, etc.) but that's not possible if the support rep can't even access an invoice.

To sum up... I don't care who is on the other line, what their accent is (I'm an understanding, patient guy), where the call is routed to, etc., SO LONG AS the person on the other end can actually take care of the issue. Otherwise, tell me up front on the site what the limitations of calling in are, and when I'd need to email.

[ThinkSupport]

I'm wondering what these people *could* do without any access to customer information? The web site (which offered the number to call) said that there was all sorts of account related things that could be handled (billing issues, changes, etc.) but that's not possible if the support rep can't even access an invoice.
Chicken I really appreciate your patience and thoughts on this, You have focused on one of the MAJOR issue thats been never understood by clients sitting on other end ..and then they just hate "Out sourced support". Here restricted access caused a major issue when a support guy says "email to billing or sales or my senior admin" that directly mean that owner company has not provided complete access or permission to deal with those issue ... Its a situation of being blamed on both ends for outsourced guys and they are been critcized at times.

I really think there should be either a full access to sort this out or the second option that Chicken said ("Otherwise, tell me up front on the site what the limitations of calling in are" ) This all depends on the owner company that uses outsourced support, if you clear this point I feel we can surely reduced such issue and ..also reduce the blames on outsourcing :)

Cheer Chichen !!! for the major point you took into consideration.

[Rob T]

We've never had great success with outsourced support. The main issue we had recently is that it was just inconsistent - sometimes our customers would get treated well and their problems would be handled promptly, and other times the techs would refer even the most simple problems up to our admin staff to resolve. It's tough to develop a system for handling customer issues without some consistency as far as who can handle what types of issues.

That being said, we have had much better results when outsourcing programming design to non-US firms. I think that for the most part the technical skill is there, which is why our various programming outsourcing has worked out, but it's the differences in customs and culture that present problems with outsourced customer support.

[hostechsupport]

Hello,

We would say that all fingures are not the same, Try to study about the organisation or have some feedback to get the reliable and proper support for your clients.There are many outsource companies which do stand on right face till today and are successfully running out with good confidence and quality support.But we insist not to hire a cheap support which can cause a damage to your company by providing a low level customer support.Big budget would make you feel like you can not make it but will surely give you profit in long run :)

[EQWebHost]

BobCares is the only one I have ever tried. I decided to give it a whirl about a year ago and was not happy at all with BobCares, so think twice before choosing them. I have heard some good things about ThinkSupport though, their worth a look!

[costlessnames]

We recently expanded our support and sales support processes due to unprecedented growth. While we don't get many support requests we do get a fair few sales, billing or general customer support type of questions. I'd never consider outsourcing those, its too risky. We did look at a few companies and none could meet our high standards so we decided to stay in house. It the majority of tickets were technical support then we may have considered it.

[yinnpixel]

A lot of outsourcing support works like robots,they just reply in a template style. And they are often not so flexible compare to in house support.

[Comfy-Sales]

Chicken pretty much nailed that on the head.

If I am ever in need I would prefer to have someone on the other end to get a full understanding on what the issue is.

They can in turn escalate the issue to someone who can help.
I don't mind if they can't assist me there and then.

However over the phone this is a different matter that elevator music will kick in:mad:

[JetNet]

I agree with ArielHost, although i personally think that if your starting out its ok to start with outsourced support (cheaper).. but once you grow you should get your own personalized staff.

[christ]

You can check with touchsupport/bobcare.

[samin]

Just a tip ,whenever outsourcing your work to an SEO company always see their portfolio and their previous projects.This will give you insight on their efficiency.Aslo one needs to have basic knowledge before contacting an SEO company, as this way you would reduce the chances of being fooled.

[geetha]

If you want full time support, then outsourceservers.com is a good place to look.