Customer Support Tickets

Azirel · April 2020

Hi,

By all means, I don't mean for this to go anywhere near 'whine and run posts' but I seriously think you need to do something with your customer support channel.

In previous years I've been coming and going to play ESO for couple of months and each time I've stumbled upon couple of issues during playtime. Which is fine, games being improved do have bugs, I'm more than fine to accept those even tho sometimes those are directly affecting my actual in-game progress.

What I can't really accept, as I perceive myself bit of a customer here is waiting time for tickets. So how has it been for me? When I started in beta you guys had most amazing CS I've ever encountered. Each time I came back to the game quality dropped to the level that it seems I can't get any issue resolved till I take it to forums to check if after two weeks someone might have looked at it already.

Also, you either are using bots of very poor quality to respond to tickets or have CS not even reading what they been asked about. I literally asked about issue listing two tickets with a relatively long description of what I have problem with (AP Cost for campaign home change which shouldn't be there as I received no 'free EOcampaign one") and I'm getting a response about my crown store purchase refund. How?

So this time I'm being proactive and before I get hardly irritated and quit again I'm taking it to forums. I'm waiting just, circa 4 days. I need this resolved as I can't play PVP in a desired campaign without carrying cost.

# 200405-012170 ticket, referencing to my previous bug submission here: 200405-012143.

Best Regards,
Azi

Danikat · April 2020

The first response you get is always automated, trying to guess at what you asked for. You must reply to that (answering any questions, even if you already gave the answers in your previous post), otherwise they will assume the automated reply gave you all the info you need and will not follow up.

idk · April 2020

Wow. As someone who has played the game since before launch and hardly has taken breaks I have usually received a response from an actual person within a day.

There is an auto-response that goes out pretty fast, at least with most tickets. If you received that you needed to reply within about 3 days time for the ticket to progress. It essentially says the ticket will be closed within X number of hours if you do not respond. Not sure if you received this or not or replied.

@ZOS_BillE should be able to help with the ticket number you supplied. Good luck.

RawBrightSilver · April 2020

Bug reports don't get replies aside from the initial auto-response:

The Elder Scrolls Online Team response on 04/08/2020
Greetings,

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team!

We greatly appreciate you bringing this potential bug to our attention. This information has been collected and will be passed on to our development team. You will not receive a further response to this ticket.

We encourage you check the Bug Reports section of the ESO Forums as well. The development team checks these regularly and it allows you to add video and screenshots more easily to help dscribe the issue you're experiencing.

Thank you for your continued interest and support!

Kind Regards,
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

It might be different with some other type of support requests, though.

Azirel · April 2020

Thanks, guys but as I've browsed through my forums history it seems the majority of the topics is connected with CS issues. Can spot a pattern there.

Again, appreciate your commentary, however, after a bug report, I've followed with a ticket, after an automated response I've responded to the e-mail. 4th day passing now, getting ignored as always. Still can't play correct alliance on any of characters designated to do so.

Best Regards,

chuck-18_ESO · April 2020

Keep in mind that we are in the middle of a pandemic. All of ZoS's employees are working from home, and are almost certainly overloaded with backed up work. I think it's more than understandable that ticket response times are longer than normal at present.

I've been waiting for four days on a ticket response as well. It's a bummer, but I understand why. Everything is a little off right now.

idk · April 2020

Azirel wrote: »

Thanks, guys but as I've browsed through my forums history it seems the majority of the topics is connected with CS issues. Can spot a pattern there.

Again, appreciate your commentary, however, after a bug report, I've followed with a ticket, after an automated response I've responded to the e-mail. 4th day passing now, getting ignored as always. Still can't play correct alliance on any of characters designated to do so.

Best Regards,

I do hope you get this resolved. Players tend to not create threads about their tickets being handled expeditiously so the basis of the pattern is not very strong.

If it is a bug that you are reporting it does not matter the type of ticket you create it will be treated as a bug in the manner RBS noted. If it is not a bug the second ticket would slow down the first ticket which is something I have seen in other games as well.

On top of all of this, there is the news flash concerning this little virus that is wreaking havoc across the globe. Zos has stated it has slowed down their development process and it is not a stretch that it has impacted their CS. I know it has affected the CS of other major gaming companies.

So yes, I understand the inconvenience but right now that is life in most aspects of commerce right now. I tagged a Zos person to get you some help in my first post but I have also seen that BillE is also slower to respond than normal and it is probably for the same reasons I mentioned in the last paragraph.

Again, Good luck in getting this resolved.

GenjiraX · April 2020

I don’t have much to help you, OP, but I can empathise. I have an issue that affects my ability to take part effectively in group dungeons and events. My ticket has been open since 16 March and I haven’t received a response since 21 March, despite requests for an update. Patience is required at the moment, I’m afraid.

Path · April 2020

Always had amazing customer support with tickets.
Wait a bit. They will port you to a real person.

Dracane · April 2020

I am also waiting for them to respond to a topic that is important to me. It has been 5 days. But in the current situation, I guess they are simply overwhelmed by all the tickets. Many say, that during events it's particularly hard for them.

I am however afraid that my ticket might go under. So I am unsure whether I should send it anew or wait? Does anyone have experience with this?

Azirel · April 2020

Still nothing. Over a week now.

hasi · April 2020

Dracane wrote: »

I am also waiting for them to respond to a topic that is important to me. It has been 5 days. But in the current situation, I guess they are simply overwhelmed by all the tickets. Many say, that during events it's particularly hard for them.

I am however afraid that my ticket might go under. So I am unsure whether I should send it anew or wait? Does anyone have experience with this?

Just wait. They'll eventually reply.

You all need to chill out, they are trying their best, but there is so much going on with Corona, Ingame Events, Patches and so on.

Azirel · April 2020

There's a lot of patience in you fellas

As much as I - relatively - agree with all said on Corona, I, myself am in quasi-travelling/office work and we're handling our business as usual, just from home. Customer Support is something that can be done absolutely 100% remotely.

Now, I'm not onto commentary of ZOS handling their WFH employee standards, only reason it gets annoying is because - seemingly different than many of you - it's been like this for me since a year. Maybe they put less priority for EU CS as they do re servers.

Best,
Azi

Granicus · April 2020

It’s fairly common, unfortunately, in corporations that they cut back on low profit centers over time usually starting by severely cutting back on CSRs or outsourcing CSR services. I don’t know if this is the case here, but customer satisfaction is no longer treated as an important metric as it used to be by most companies. Gaming companies are amongst the worst in my experience.

Amazon used to have great support who would go out of their way to try to please the customer. Free extra months of Prime, generous credits, anything they could do to keep you a happy customer. There is an occasional partial credit now, but they are few and far between. They are still better than most IMO, but they are nothing like they used to be.

idk · April 2020

Azirel wrote: »

There's a lot of patience in you fellas

As much as I - relatively - agree with all said on Corona, I, myself am in quasi-travelling/office work and we're handling our business as usual, just from home. Customer Support is something that can be done absolutely 100% remotely.

Now, I'm not onto commentary of ZOS handling their WFH employee standards, only reason it gets annoying is because - seemingly different than many of you - it's been like this for me since a year. Maybe they put less priority for EU CS as they do re servers.

Best,
Azi

No business is functioning as usual.

Bioware, a much larger gaming company that Zenimax, announced shorter CS hours and that ticket response would be slower, but they would still be handling tickets. All due to the impact of the virus.

Matt Firor announced a delay with Greymoor due to the company adjusting to everyone working remotely.

Amazon announced a very big delay with their new MMORPG.

These are facts specifically related to this industry. So yes, it is reasonable to exact that CS is impacted.

LadyNalcarya · April 2020

idk wrote: »

Azirel wrote: »

There's a lot of patience in you fellas

As much as I - relatively - agree with all said on Corona, I, myself am in quasi-travelling/office work and we're handling our business as usual, just from home. Customer Support is something that can be done absolutely 100% remotely.

Now, I'm not onto commentary of ZOS handling their WFH employee standards, only reason it gets annoying is because - seemingly different than many of you - it's been like this for me since a year. Maybe they put less priority for EU CS as they do re servers.

Best,
Azi

No business is functioning as usual.

Bioware, a much larger gaming company that Zenimax, announced shorter CS hours and that ticket response would be slower, but they would still be handling tickets. All due to the impact of the virus.

Matt Firor announced a delay with Greymoor due to the company adjusting to everyone working remotely.

Amazon announced a very big delay with their new MMORPG.

These are facts specifically related to this industry. So yes, it is reasonable to exact that CS is impacted.

This + there's a free trial, which means a large influx of new players, some of whom may need assistance.

Granicus · April 2020

An addendum: Right now I think pretty much every company needs to be given a lot of leeway on such things. Some small businesses, especially, will or have already failed due to this pandemic. Gaming is most certainly not an essential to life service, though many depend on the entertainment and distraction from the pandemic to help stay sane.

I generally don’t like how this company manages their product or treats its customers, but they too are people who are being impacted just like the rest of us and also deserve our patience and understanding right now. We are lucky to have water and electricity, internet and gaming most especially right now. Though there are many people who do not have these basic services at all.

VividMind · April 2020

i love the help and communication zos is doing

hasi · April 2020

Azirel wrote: »

There's a lot of patience in you fellas

As much as I - relatively - agree with all said on Corona, I, myself am in quasi-travelling/office work and we're handling our business as usual, just from home. Customer Support is something that can be done absolutely 100% remotely.

Now, I'm not onto commentary of ZOS handling their WFH employee standards, only reason it gets annoying is because - seemingly different than many of you - it's been like this for me since a year. Maybe they put less priority for EU CS as they do re servers.

Best,
Azi

I don't think it's as easy as you make it sound. Certain buinesses may be able to adapt quick to the (if even) new situation while others have rather huge problems.
Let's not forget the fact that children are staying home aswell and need more attention than usually. Or parents/elders need someone to get them their grocceries etc. to not risk their health.

I think it's rather sad, in all honesty, how someone has so little understanding and patience for some small thing in a video game(!), when thousands of people are dying. Priorities smh.🤦🏻‍♀️

Batgirl · April 2020

I've been waiting over a month to get an answer from a real person, good luck getting any response :v

Nerouyn · April 2020

chuck-18_ESO wrote: »

All of ZoS's employees are working from home, and are almost certainly overloaded with backed up work.

You assume that it's not outsourced. We know that it is.

https://tamrielfoundry.com/articles/zos-cuts-support/

Granicus wrote: »

It’s fairly common, unfortunately, in corporations that they cut back on low profit centers over time usually starting by severely cutting back on CSRs or outsourcing CSR services. I don’t know if this is the case here, but customer satisfaction is no longer treated as an important metric as it used to be by most companies. Gaming companies are amongst the worst in my experience.

CS is one of the most expensive components of online gaming.

Development only has to be done once but every bug or other problem or even imagined problem requires a human response.

I recall early on Blizzard revealed their annual spend on CS and it was huge. Something like $50 million.

Elsonso · April 2020

Nerouyn wrote: »

chuck-18_ESO wrote: »

All of ZoS's employees are working from home, and are almost certainly overloaded with backed up work.

You assume that it's not outsourced. We know that it is.

https://tamrielfoundry.com/articles/zos-cuts-support/

Actually, I think that the bulk of the company-owned Customer Support for this game is handled by Bethesda, not ZOS.
(Edit... and let us not forget that they contract with Oracle for customer support, and have for years. Whether that is bodies, technology, or both, I have no idea)

jaws343 · April 2020

Azirel wrote: »

There's a lot of patience in you fellas

As much as I - relatively - agree with all said on Corona, I, myself am in quasi-travelling/office work and we're handling our business as usual, just from home. Customer Support is something that can be done absolutely 100% remotely.

Now, I'm not onto commentary of ZOS handling their WFH employee standards, only reason it gets annoying is because - seemingly different than many of you - it's been like this for me since a year. Maybe they put less priority for EU CS as they do re servers.

Best,
Azi

I think you are failing to realize that even if CS can be done from home in the same capacity as the office, the volume of CS issues are inflated due to most of their customers being at home, all day, playing the game. So, since that volume is increased, the actual volume of issues coming in is most likely increased as well. So sure, if an employee could handle 10 issues a day, (or some other made up number), that same employee is now getting 20 issues a day, clearly not manageable, even if they were in the office.