Hello, all! I would like to know if there is a set of specific guidelines the staff in this forum uses to determine how to assist each customer. A recent issue raised suspicion that different staff may handle a single issue differently. If this is the case, what is the team’s stance on the impact this has on customer service, retention, and trust in the product? Does the team worry that the appearance of inconsistency will cause frustration for the customers? I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks!
This is an assumption. The blues here don’t handle the same issue differently. The forums ain’t a means to get something restored, let alone fix issues in general. There is a sticky in relations to what this forum is for.
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A SFA inquiring about the name of the character and item in no way implies they also restored that item.
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The blues in this particular forum are not GMs and cannot handle or fix issues. They won’t help you bypass the ticket system other than the ticket being in queue or to advise that the ticket is not something a GM can do. They are SFAs (Support Forum Agents) that handle moderation for which they have a strict policy. Sometimes they can offer insight into a persons issue that wouldn’t be provided by a GM. Sometimes the issue might be so complex that they can’t give a definitive reason or resolution. They have a little more leeway in the information (i.e. game hints) than GMs have. But they do that only if they have time.
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Also something to keep in mind l is that rules can suddenly change, especially with new and emerging issues such as the item restore.
It could very well be the first few folks who inquired via ticket got their items restored. Then a dev realized that doing so was causing way more issues than they realized and had to close it down. Anyone who ticketed after that would have to be turned down unfortunately.
Sometimes things break and there isn’t a solution and we all just have to wait for the bug to get fixed.
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Ah, yes I see the confusion. This forum is an Information Desk to help people navigate Support, tickers, knowledge base articles, policies, account services, etc. There are no GMs here.
Asking for a char name-server lets a Forum Support Agent look into the issue so they can better direct the person. They are not GMs and don’t answer tickets here.
In rare instances they may get permission to clear mail for transfers, but that is about it.
The post with the happy player was less than a minute after a Blue asked for info. Very very unlikely to be related to your issue and very unlikely the Blue did anything.
I suppose that could be possible to. Devs control that, not the CS team of course.
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This is a good example. If a situation like that happens, it is not good for customer satisfaction to have helped some people and not others without any clear communication explaining why. It is understandable for a customer to be frustrated when he is told he cannot be helped with an issue that another customer was helped with just shortly ahead of him. I believe communication could be improved to mitigate frustration.
The post that you are talking about was NOT handled by a Blue here. The blues asked for a character name an item. Then the OP came back saying that it was restored. That had nothing to do with them posting on the forums. That happens a lot here, where a player will post asking for help, then when they actually get help in the game from a GM they use it as proof that posting here helps. We do try to correct those when we can and the Blues will at times also do so, but they can’t get to every post so sometimes it falls through the cracks.
The bottom line is that no one was getting special treatment here and you were given the same amount of “help” as the person you were linking. The main thing to know is that this forum is NOT monitored 24/7 nor is it a direct point of contact for Blizzard when you need assistance. It is a help desk that is mainly staffed by fellow players who can use their knowledge to help direct other players on where to get help. There is also Blue posters that are Blizzard employees and can help to direct players, and give a bit of insight on things when they can. However a Blizzard post is never a guaranteed thing when you post here.
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That is your assumption though, and you’re trying to correlate the blue response and then the player editing their post saying they got the item as one and the same. It wasn’t.
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You are making the assumption that a forum support agent restored an item for someone. That they did something via the forums, and that the player had the same issue you did.
I get why you would think that. From the forum side I don’t even know if that player got their item back, or how. Just that they were happy about something. I can assume, but I can’t prove it.
Further, IF they changed a policy suddenly for a specific bug, the Forum Support Agents and CS team have no say in that. They lose their jobs if they violate whatever policies the Dev team puts in place for something.
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Assumptions are all that can be made in a situation with unclear communication. I’m simply suggesting clearer communication and elaboration with this type of thing.
No one was helped shorty before you though. You are misinterpreting a post and what actually happened. The Blue here didn’t actually do anything to help the poster. You can not be helped because this isn’t something that can be assisted with on the forums. Ever. Again the only time I have ever seen the Blues here be able to assist directly was clearing out mail boxes for transfers and that was only because there was a huge ticket wait time and it was something that they could quickly help with.
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I am very curious to know if anybody is against clear communication in potentially confusing and frustrating situations.
This forum is not an end-run around our other processes, Neonette.
Timing, as they say - is everything.
If there is an issue ongoing that folks need examples of, they will occasionally reach out to our team for most current examples. Item restoration is indeed being looked into at the moment.
And when I say our team - here on the forums, that’s primarily myself, and Vrak - TWO people, and not even two every day. We have other team members, but their primary duties lie elsewhere, away from the forums. That is why we simply cannot be a contact point the same way tickets are.
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