Problem with the ticket system and email templates

ramf · July 5, 2015

Hi all,

I think it's time to solve once and for all the problem with the ticket system and email templates - regarding the main contact / master account holder receiving all the emails - even the ones regarding a ticket that was opened by a sub account or a contact person from his organization.

The current state creates an overburden on the "master account holder" and causes misunderstandings who opens the ticket and so on (not to mentioned the spam to unnecessary participants).

Please follow this scenario:

- We have a company (let's name her "Macrosoft Ltd").

- We have in our WHMCS 4 contacts:

1. The master account holder - let's say his name is Tom Cruise and his rule is purchasing manager.

2. The support manager - Matt LeBlanc.

3. The sales manager - John Oliver.

4. The CEO - Elizabeth Tudor

Problem #1:

- When Matt opens a ticket he get an automated mail stating:

Tom Cruise (Macrosoft Ltd),

Thank you for contacting our support team. A support ticket has now been opened for your request and you will be notified by email when a response is made.

- Please note that the ticket was opened by Matt LeBlanc - not by Tom Cruise!!

Matt ask himself - WTF... I opened this ticket not Tom...

- The same mail is sent also to the "master account holder" - Tom Cruise.

Tom ask himself - WTF... I don't recall opening any ticket lately....

Problem #2:

- In our WHMCS we see under the submitter field - Tom Cruise (Macrosoft Ltd) (although the ticket was opened by Matt LeBlanc) - only when looking inside the ticket we can see that is was submitted by "Matt LeBlanc (Macrosoft Ltd) Contact"

Problem #3:

- Any reply we make to Matt LeBlanc's ticket is also sent to Tom Cruise

Tom ask himself - WTF... why do I keep getting this mails? (now take under consideration that Tom gets such an emails for all the tickets opened by Matt, John and Elizabeth - it can accumulate to lots of mails that's spams Tom mailbox!!!)

Problem #4:

- Let's say we want to sent a new quote to Elizabeth Tudor the CEO of Macrosoft Ltd

Again the quote is sent to Tom (and any other contact that have the relevant Email Notifications setting) and to Elizabeth.

and again - the name in the mail and on the quote is Tom and not Elizabeth!!

Actually any email template that have the {$client_name} merge fields will be of Tom regardless who is the relevant contact that should receive such a mail / notification / quote etc.

To sum it all up - there is a huge mix-up and confusion while using the Clients Information / master account holder information/ {$client_name}merge fields not to mentioned the amount of spam received to the email address registered under the Clients Information / master account holder.

This is something relevant to any customer with more then one contact - so I'm sure that lots of WHMCS users face the same problem.

If those problems weren't enough let's have few more:

Problem #5

- Sometimes John Oliver sends a mail to Matt LeBlanc and add us in this mail in CC. A new ticket is opened with John Oliver set as the relevant contact.

- Like stated before - Tom get's the email (and his name in the mail)

- There is no way for us to see we are not the ones this mail is sent to (we are only in CC on the original mail).

- If we reply to this ticket - only John (and Tom) will get the answer - nothing will be sent to Matt (unless we manually add his mail to the CC of the ticket - but there is no indication for us to do so).

To sum it all up,

I can't see the logic or advantages in the current situation - It create lots of problems and spam in any company that have more then one contact.

I think that creating a clear and strict use of the relevant contact across WHMCS ticket, email templates and any other part of WHMCS - is mandatory.

Every act we do should be related to a specific contact and only him.

In the Feature requests system I found several relevant request:

12 votes - Client Contact Ticket Management

https://requests.whmcs.com/responses/client-contact-ticket-management

7 votes - Disable Email to the main account e-mail

https://requests.whmcs.com/responses/disable-email-to-the-main-account-e-mail

4 votes - Support ticket notifications - limit to contact participating

https://requests.whmcs.com/responses/support-ticket-notifications-limit-to-contact-participating

4 votes - Improve email personalisation

https://requests.whmcs.com/responses/improve-email-personalisation

Total of 27 votes regarding the problem with the contact management.

I think that WHMCS team should read this post and see the problems stated here and find a solution A.S.A.P

But If from some strange reason it's not obvious this issue should be fixed - please please please add your votes.

Thanks!

Ram

Thanks,

Ram

wzul · July 6, 2015

agree. hope WHMCS can solve this issue as soon as possible.

ramf · July 6, 2015

Hi,

Someone changed the thread name (thanks I guess) - but please note that the problem is not just with the ticket system or the email templates... this is something related to anywhere in the system using the {$client_name} (I think) - such as quotes etc.

Thanks!

Ram

starnetwork · July 6, 2015

solving this issue and giving more flexibility to the whmcs developers will very help to many whmcs users....

ScottN · July 6, 2015

Agree that this needs to be looked at closer and resolved. Maybe it's already fixed in v6?

- Scott

Hostar · July 7, 2015

It's really messed up

It just becomes a nightmare

cosmic · July 10, 2015

Good Point.

ramf · July 15, 2015

Hi all,

I have spent some more time in the feature request system and found lots of other relevant request regarding this problem.

There are at least 22 feature requests with a total of 156 votes.

In a nutshell all of them showing the same problem - in WHMCS there is no real distinction between contacts, sub accounts and main contact / master account holder.

Actually there should not be a main contact / master account holder at all...

The system should be built around companies with contacts /sub accounts that works in the company, the company itself should not have any direct contact information - It should serve just as a "container" to hold all the company contacts, products, services, domains, invoices and transactions#

All the other information should be in a contacts /sub accounts level

Let's go over the client profile:

Profile tab:

All the red markings represent information that is not relevant to the company - but rather at the contacts /sub accounts level. All the remaining information is relevant to the company information / setting.

Contact tab:

===========================================================

Again - there should be a strict and clear distinction between the company and the contacts /sub accounts and between contacts /sub accounts to contacts /sub accounts.

This is something that should reflect on the ticket system, email template, quotes, invoices etc.

=========================================================

This is the list of relevant feature requests I found - but there are probably more.

Please vote for them + add your comment to this post so it will catch the eyes of WHMCS as the full project that it represent:

41 votes - Custom fields for additional contacts:

https://requests.whmcs.com/responses/custom-fields-for-additional-contacts

21 votes - add custom client fields for sub-accounts too

https://requests.whmcs.com/responses/add-custom-client-fields-for-sub-accounts-too

1 votes -Allow contacts/sub-accounts to update their details

https://requests.whmcs.com/responses/allow-contacts-sub-accounts-to-update-their-details

7 votes - Support ticket notifications - limit to contact participating

https://requests.whmcs.com/responses/support-ticket-notifications-limit-to-contact-participating