Customer Service Manager
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| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hey folks,
Since Gen Con back in August, the customer service department has been experiencing a high volume of requests. We've been working hard to make headway against our backlog of requests however a few things have exacerbated the issue, including many of the Starfinder products having low or no inventory shortly after release (and in a couple cases, before) and the issue with the Starfinder Core Rulebook binding.
My team of Diego, Katina and Sharaya have been working as quickly and efficiently as possible to triage the influx of requests and tackle the backlog, including working overtime. Since its highest post near the end of August of just over 1000 emails waiting for assistance, we've cut the email inbox down to where we are today at 450. While we have some stragglers, we've mostly gotten through everything from October 23rd and earlier.
We do try to seek out requests that deal with time sensitive changes (such as order and subscription cancellations) and if you have a particularly pressing request, we recommend calling us (425-250-0800 Monday through Friday, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific time).
We do have an auto response up, though it has some rules to prevent infinite loops that may not trigger it for everyone.
Thank you for contacting Paizo Inc Customer Service. This is an automated reply.
We are currently experiencing a high volume of customer requests.
We apologize for any delays you may be experiencing with orders or customer service requests. We are working through our backlog as quickly and efficiently as possible.
If you have a critical and time sensitive issue with your order or account, we recommend calling our customer service line during business hours: (425) 250-0800 Monday-Friday 10am-5pm PST.
We appreciate your patience.
Sincerely,Sara Marie
Customer Service Manager
7120 185th Ave NE Ste 120
Redmond, WA 98052-0577
Phone: (425) 250-0800
I am also in the process of reviewing resumes for an additional Customer Service Representative.
To help us communicate better where we are at with emails, my goal is to update this thread periodically so you can see where we're at and know that we are not ignoring you and we will respond and do our best to take care of your request.
Thank you all for your continued patience.
Sincerely,
Sara Marie
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I've had several problems over the years, and in recent months. Your entire team has helped me at some point or another, and they've all been extremely kind, helpful, and informative in the process. So thank you to you and your team.
I hope that seeing how (relatively) small your team is will help offer customers a better perspective of why it might take an extra moment when helping them with their issues. So many customer service issues in my own life have been with giants of their respective industries, such as TV and Internet providers. Such companies have multiple centers around the world devoted to helping their customers, and often times the wait-time is still an issue. Still, I often find I need to remind myself that smaller companies often have much smaller staffs, which in reality has a direct effect on day-to-day customer service issues.
I also wanted to say thank you to all the non-Paizo folks on the board that often help pick up the slack. While there are plenty of people willing to answer others' questions to which they know the answer, there are a handful of folks that, at least to the naked eye, seem to do it pretty frequently. I've had numerous questions answered either directly or indirectly by a few of these individuals. So thank you to all of you willing and able to help out that way.
And I'm glad to see more help has been approved and is soon on the way!
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Customer Service Manager
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We've just crossed the 400 threshold (398).
Thanks for all your hard work, especially with heightened moderation needs on top of other duties!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
We are currently at 219 emails. Aside from a small number of stragglers anything before November 8 has been responded to.
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Wow. Nearly there!
I hope you’ll have energy left for celebratory balloons and cake.
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
It's Saturday. It's about 6:45am. The inbox is currently at 241.
I have a venti peppermint mocha and it's time to see how much of the inbox and returns mountain I can get through today!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
We'll see how long it stays there (since we have a bunch of emails still coming in), but the inbox just hit under 200! (198)
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
I am headed out for the evening, and we are finally, for the first time since August, in the double digits! The inbox is currently at 96 emails. All but a small handful of emails from before November 16 have been responded to. I'll be back in tomorrow to keep cracking at what's left and lay siege to Fort Returns!
Nice work, CS team. :)
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Congratulations to the CS team on getting through that.
I get depressed opening my inbox to find a hundred emails. Can't imagine what it must have been like to see a thousand (and to see more continuing to flood in each day...) Despite that you were all as friendly and helpful as ever throughout.
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I get depressed opening my inbox to find a hundred emails.
Current inbox: 2294, 1570 unread. I figure Sturgeon's Law applies. :-)