stormy Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Ever since v5 came out, I've found that the quality of the technical support from WHMCS has gone downhill. After the hacking incident, I wonder if it will ever be back to normal. It seems that as soon as WHMCS staff acknowledge a bug and starts working on a fix, tickets enter a black hole, and that started happening way before the incident. I am really worried. I've trusted my business to WHMCS, and I'm at their mercy if things go wrong. Is it just me? Is everyone else getting prompt replies and getting stuff fixed? (oh and for those wondering, I'm not the kind of customer that demands stuff to be fixed in minutes, is rude to the staff, etc.) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffeingol Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 We had an issue/bug (just shortly after the compromise) and received timely support and a fix. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 Well, that makes me feel better. I'm also getting better support this week, although Matt is absolutely missing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHostingHeroes Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Matt's the director, he's got support staff to manage the helpdesk, he deals with escalations & development + the stress and work of running a company, so don't always expect Matt to be waiting to respond to support tickets when his staff are standing-by. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 I'm perfectly aware of Matt's role. I have several issues that can only be solved by him, including bux fixing and custom modules. I haven't heard from him in weeks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strother Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I'm perfectly aware of Matt's role. I have several issues that can only be solved by him, including bux fixing and custom modules. I haven't heard from him in weeks. That seems to me to be pretty presumptuous. Why do you think Matt is the only person at WHMCS who can perform these tasks? On Friday you said you were getting better support, so is your complaint now just that the support is not coming from Matt? He posted in this forum this morning, so to say he is missing is slightly inaccurate. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 (edited) I don't need or want to make all the details public. I'm working with support staff on a bug on a Registrar module. This involves installing a version of the module that doesn't work, so they can see the errors (and my customers can't order/transfer domains). Every time they say they want to start work on this, I ask them to confirm if they are available to work -we need to stand by to solve/notify errors-, then we get no more replies. As for Matt's involvement, when he is in charge of a particular coding project, then he IS in charge. I don't assume he needs to work on anything else. When I don't hear back from him for weeks, and he is the only one working on that issue, that's when I feel I can say he is "missing". Clarification: it's not my intention to criticise WHMCS (great product) or Matt (great coder). I'm worried about the level of support, which seems to have declined a lot ever since v5 came out. I wanted to see if this is happening to every one or not. I'm also worried about projects/bugs that depend exclusively on Matt, because prior to v5, we used to work with him on many issues and he was very much on the ball. After v5 came out, not anymore. Edited June 11, 2012 by stormy Clarification 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laszlof Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I'm working with support staff on a bug on a Registrar module. This involves installing a version of the module that doesn't work, so they can see the errors (and my customers can't order/transfer domains). Every time they say they want to start work on this, I ask them to confirm if they are available to work -we need to stand by to solve/notify errors-, then we get no more replies. Any particular reason you're doing this on your live site? You should use a dev site for that kind of testing so you do not need to take your website offline for prolonged periods of time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 It doesn't involve taking the website offline. It involves installing the updated Registrar module and see how/where it fails. It doesn't affect customer-facing functionality. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strother Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 As for Matt's involvement, when he is in charge of a particular coding project, then he IS in charge. I don't assume he needs to work on anything else. When I don't hear back from him for weeks, and he is the only one working on that issue, that's when I feel I can say he is "missing". I'm also worried about projects/bugs that depend exclusively on Matt, because prior to v5, we used to work with him on many issues and he was very much on the ball. After v5 came out, not anymore. Again, why do you think Matt is the only guy there who can help, or that the fix depends on him exclusively? As the owner, I'm sure Matt is considered by his staff to be "in charge", but that doesn't mean he touches everything that goes on there. It doesn't involve taking the website offline. It involves installing the updated Registrar module and see how/where it fails. It doesn't affect customer-facing functionality. I'm not even sure why they would require you to be involved, much less Matt. Troubleshooting and fixing bugs is part of everyday life at WHMCS. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msaunders Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I think this thread is going slightly off topic ^^. I would tend to agree that support replies are on the slow side , and have been for some time (before the recent events). Its extremely frustrating , and I have voiced this on a number of occasions. I am sure however that the recent events have not helped at all , and the guys have been dealing with a huge amount of extra workload and ticket replies. IMHO though, communication is key and even a simple 'yep we are extremely busy and will get to this in X days' is better than silence. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 Strother, it looks like I can't make myself understood, it might be the barrier language (English not being my primary language). By the way I have been using WHMCS for quite a few years and I've paid for sponsored development of quite a few things. I have some projects and tickets that Matt had been working on and no one but Matt ever worked on. They are in his specific ticket queue, and if he doesn't act on them, no one else does. Matt stopped working on them. Hence, I'm worried about projects/bugs that depend exclusively on Matt, because they DO exist. I have several. I hope it's clearer now. It's also been my experience that the staff doesn't solve bugs. I have never had a bug fix done that didn't involve Matt, so far. That doesn't mean it can't happen. It just hasn't happened to me yet. Finally, if WHMCS staff need to "break" my site in order to chase a bug (obviously if they had gotten the same error in their development/testing, the bug wouldn't exist), then I need to be involved. i.e. if domain transfers are going to be stuck (or fail) because of a bug in a new version of a module, I need to know that someone is working on a fix. Else, I need to install the working version of the module so my domain transfers work, and resume testing whenever staff is available to do so. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 I think this thread is going slightly off topic ^^. I would tend to agree that support replies are on the slow side , and have been for some time (before the recent events). Its extremely frustrating , and I have voiced this on a number of occasions. I am sure however that the recent events have not helped at all , and the guys have been dealing with a huge amount of extra workload and ticket replies. IMHO though, communication is key and even a simple 'yep we are extremely busy and will get to this in X days' is better than silence. ^^^ That! I can't count how many times I've waited days/weeks, then politely replied to a ticket asking what was happening, and saying that it was totally ok if they were busy/on vacation/wherever but I just needed to know. I never got anything out of my politeness. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 So, back on topic, quick summary: -I like WHMCS (the product). -I like Matt (never met him but he created a great product). -I'm worried that the level of support isn't as good as it used to be. -There are a lot of "silences", as described above. -When things happen to depend exclusively on Matt (and it does happen), it can get very, very slow, without explanation. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that has experienced this, and I really hope things change for the better. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 I would like to illustrate this with an example. I have a ticket that turned into a "Matt only" ticket in February 1st. Since then, and after paying for custom work, I've gotten exactly these replies: -- 1 reply: February 7th -- March 7th-8th - I actually got several replies during these days. The last one was about starting work "later today". -- 1 reply: April 2nd -- 1 reply: April 24th -- 1 reply: May 1st. No more replies. The issue hasn't been solved. It's June 13th. I could go through other tickets and share the same experience. It also happens with tickets where Matt hasn't been involved. I've been waiting 5 days for John or Andrew to "investigate as soon as possible" (their words, not mine). This ticket (a bug) already has a similar history of weeks without a reply, although the hacking incident happened in the middle of it, so I did cut them some slack. It may only be me, but I've been using WHMCS for years, never been rude to the staff, never been demanding whenever there have been delays in the tickets, always told them that it was fine if I had to wait but I needed a reply. If there was another piece of software with similar functionality, I would have already switched. But there isn't, so I'm trapped. P.S: I wouldn't mind paying $100 a month for WHMCS if I could get the same support I used to get before v5. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgruntled Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 just zip up the file and send it to them. they can test away to their hearts content. and you just dont have the module installed until its fixed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 just zip up the file and send it to them. they can test away to their hearts content. and you just dont have the module installed until its fixed. This is not about specifics of the bug. However, they need to test their file on my live install, so they can see what's wrong. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHMCS CEO Matt Posted June 13, 2012 WHMCS CEO Share Posted June 13, 2012 Hi Stormy, Sorry for the delays you've experienced with support. We are obviously very busy right now what with the attack and everything involved in the recovery of that, the hosting migration, the new release beta and the upcoming office launch but this shouldn't be affecting support. I can't find any account under your name or email address used on the forums so please let me know your ticket number and I'll check it out. Matt 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 Hi Matt, Your reply is much appreciated. I absolutely understand things are not back to normal after the attack. However, the problems we've been experiencing began early this year. I am worried because my livelihood and the livelihood of my employees depends on WHMCS. It seems that there are too many issues that need to be handled by you directly, and your time is limited. Also, as mentioned already, better communication would go a long way into solving this. I'd rather hear "I'm going to Bahamas for 3 weeks and I can't work on your ticket, sorry!" than to have "radio silence". You should consider the option of offering premium support - I'd happily pay for your time or for one of your developers time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jowwow Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 I'm having the same problem right now. I created a ticket a week ago that needed to be escalated and even though I requested some kind of update / eta on this I've gotten zero reply's. on more minor issues they've been dealt with fairly rapidly.. so I'm not sure what is going on.. perhaps dev of 5.1 is more important *shrug* 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 It's been 8 days since Matt's polite and public reply to my issue, and there's been absolutely no reply to my tickets. Neither the ones assigned to Matt, nor the one that's been open for 2-3 weeks now to be investigated "immediately". I'm starting to feel like a prisoner. If WHMCS works correctly, all is fine. If it doesn't, well, there's no option. I'm at the mercy of WHMCS staff choosing to simply not reply to my tickets, without any recourse and with no consequence to them or WHMCS. We are all building our businesses on top of WHMCS. If they go down, we all go down. Worrying. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openmind Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Did you send the ticket IDs as requested? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Did you send the ticket IDs as requested? No, I did not. I don't think that people who complain in the forum deserve better support than those who don't. I just made sure that the tickets weren't accidentally closed (something that has happened more than twice) and waited. The reason for this thread is not the specifics of my tickets but the general problem. I see that apparently not a lot of people are affected, which is good. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openmind Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I can't find any account under your name or email address used on the forums so please let me know your ticket number and I'll check it out. Matt It's been 8 days since Matt's polite and public reply to my issue, and there's been absolutely no reply to my tickets. Neither the ones assigned to Matt, nor the one that's been open for 2-3 weeks now to be investigated "immediately". I'm starting to feel like a prisoner. If WHMCS works correctly, all is fine. If it doesn't, well, there's no option. I'm at the mercy of WHMCS staff choosing to simply not reply to my tickets, without any recourse and with no consequence to them or WHMCS. We are all building our businesses on top of WHMCS. If they go down, we all go down. Worrying. But you have come back and updated the thread with how bad the support is yet you didn't let Matt know the ticket IDs? How is he/WHMCS supposed to help if you don't do as they requested? Although admirable that you don't think by complaining in the forum should give you a higher level of support than those that don't, if you then don't supply what is requested in order to resolve your problem but instead return to the thread to again highlight the issue of poor support then you are helping no one, least of all yourself. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 It's really hard to get my point across, I don't know why. I'll try again. I have some particular issues that I would like resolved and that are in the WHMCS support system. They are not lost, or closed. As much as I would like those issues to be resolved, it doesn't make me fear for the future of my business. My tech issues are just some things that are broken, and that should have been fixed a long time ago. It's a problem, and a nuisance, and it shouldn't be happening - but customers are still buying from me and I'm still able to provide the service they pay for, albeit with some difficulty. My worry, and the reason for this thread, is that the quality of WHMCS technical support is very, very different from what it was 6-7 months ago. It shows no signs of improving - if any, it's declining. I'm worried about it and I need to know if its widespread or it affects only me. It doesn't seem that my worries are shared by many people, so that is that. But you have come back and updated the thread with how bad the support is yet you didn't let Matt know the ticket IDs? How is he/WHMCS supposed to help if you don't do as they requested? They can go through the open tickets, find those that haven't been replied to for a long time, and reply to them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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