Handheld devices are subjected to constant use and oftentimes impact and abuse. The importance of an experienced technical support service for troubleshooting and repairs cannot be stressed enough. To evaluate your current support, consider these questions:
- Can you register your product?
- Are warranties or extended warranties available?
- How long does it take to get your product back?
- Is product documentation available online?
If any of these questions were answered with “no” or some variant of “insufficient,” then it’s time to go back to the drawing board. When evaluating a technical support service, it is helpful to use the three R’s: response, return policy and repairs.
Response
This is one of the most important aspects of technical support. Without it, a support service isn’t worth much. Your support should provide you with a dedicated tech support staff at your disposal, so that your call will be answered by a real person every time – rather than just reaching a series of recordings. That way, you can receive personal attention and a reasonable response time in order to get your unique situation fixed as quickly as possible.
A great tech support service will also allow you to request support both on the phone and online so that you are able to work in your preferred medium. Some people don’t have time for phone calls or would benefit better from written instructions.
Whichever way you reach them, your tech support service – above all – should be knowledgeable. They should have several years of experience in your industry so that they are able to provide learned expertise in a variety of unique situations. For further guidance, they should also be able to point you in the direction of product documentation and online materials that may help you in the long run, such as quick start guides and manuals.
Return Policy
A good return policy will make you feel like you aren’t even bound to one. Look for policies that allow you adequate time to decide that you are unsatisfied with a product’s performance or allow you to send it to be repaired as often as needed. Good technical support services will offer extended warranties as well as maintenance agreements and flat rate charges. You should also be able to have quick access to warranty information by referencing online resources, like searching your product’s serial number in a database.
Repairs
The quality of your tech support often becomes evident in the wake of post-repair problems. Good technical support will allow you to speak specifically to the one who made the initial repair, cutting out confusion about which changes were made and where to go from there. Your support should be able to tell you exactly what was diagnosed or repaired, in contrast to larger service centers, where consultants are often vague about the repairs that were performed.
For general repairs, good tech support consultants can apply their years of experience to your general questions or reconfiguration issues, for example. You should also be able to check the status of your repair and look up repair details.
Now that you know what to expect from your tech support service, here are the ROI benefits of having a good one:
Cost-effective
Solving a problem by outsourcing, attempting to do things in-house or using insufficient tech support will most likely take more time than consulting a reliable team of experts that can be reached right away. As all business people know, less time translates to lower costs. Not to mention, good tech support services offer toll-free calls for as long as you are use the product.
Manageable
Good tech support service is much more manageable, allowing you to pay flat rates that don’t increase depending on the product, rather than with individual components. It is much easier to budget for support services than having to plan for unexpected, sporadic repair bills. Instead you are simply paying for a support team to ensure system is running smoothly.
What issues are you having with your technical support?
What are some of the best tech support experiences you’ve had?
