[Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.

If staff can [officially] offer support on that forum, why cant they do the same on other forums ?

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Anyone who has signed up to the forum so far has agreed to the current rules - one of which is it's (currently) not a official support route.

That message is on the forum homepage, is in the house rules article and is in the e-mail that you get when you join the forum.

So at the moment if they then post to the forum want a direct answer from Virgin they should know they are probably not going to get one

I'll wait to see the big announcement for the forum now has support staff answering questions then.

that should be a big one. they'll be rushed off their feet with all these support queries now being made on an internet forum. as oppsed to newsgroups.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Paul M

If staff can [officially] offer support on that forum, why cant they do the same on other forums ?

Probably because on that forum all staff will be verified by the Forum Manager. Any requests for information will also comply with things such as DPA etc.

---------- Post added at 17:55 ---------- Previous post was at 17:53 ----------

Originally Posted by Gary L

that should be a big one. they'll be rushed off their feet with all these support queries now being made on an internet forum. as oppsed to newsgroups.

Even when they are supporting the forum I doubt it's going to be for every single query - just as the Admins and Moderators of this forum don't answer every single post.

The whole point of a community is that users help each other out - so it will be combination of both official and peer support

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Even when they are supporting the forum I doubt it's going to be for every single query - just as the Admins and Moderators of this forum don't answer every single post.

This is not an official virgin support forum.
I'd expect it will be impossible to answer all support queries on the official support forum with the amount of staff compared to the expected amount of customers. which will make it a bit of a waste of time and pot luck really that you might get answered.

The whole point of a community is that users help each other out - so it will be combination of both official and peer support

That's what happens now on the usenet support groups.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Gary L

This is not an official virgin support forum.
I'd expect it will be impossible to answer all support queries on the official support forum with the amount of staff compared to the expected amount of customers. which will make it a bit of a waste of time and pot luck really that you might get answered.

Once again, maybe you should wait and see how well it works?

Also I'm sure that the support team will focus on those issues that need their expertise and escalation ability

For those simple issues it may well be that a fellow user will be able to provide the answer needed

Personally I don't know, but it will work better than it and the newsgroups currently do

That's what happens now on the usenet support groups.

what actually happens on the newsgroups is that a number of people spend lots of time chatting amongs themselves and occasionally a Virgin customer finds the newsgroups to ask a question.

Compared with amount of support that Virgin deticate to the newsgroups the amount of support that actually happens is minimal

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Gary L

Is this going to be the official reason why the support groups were closed, because of trolls?

---------- Post added at 17:01 ---------- Previous post was at 16:59 ----------



That's my point. blueyonder/virginmedia never did like criticism.

is there going to be a feedback group on the forums like there is on the usenet groups?

No the reason is because only a tiny percentage actually used them, where as the VM forum is growing and being used by more customers.... the trolling is the general opinion from some staff and other users.

---------- Post added at 18:18 ---------- Previous post was at 18:12 ----------

Originally Posted by Paul M

If staff can [officially] offer support on that forum, why cant they do the same on other forums ?

Good question Paul, maybe CF can ask their VM contacts? Would be good if we could be "official" on here.. it is the better forum.

[Ben B]

I reckon they might do like a ticketing system where by you submit a support request from a link on the forum for direct support from VM, that could work nicely

[Gary L]

what actually happens on the newsgroups is that a number of people spend lots of time chatting amongs themselves and occasionally a Virgin customer finds the newsgroups to ask a question.

the chatting in the support groups was very minimal really. it was mainly the feedback group that was a playground with certain posters. but then there wasn't really many support queries put in there to answer.

the staff that are manning the support groups can easily take seconds to skip the chatter if they wanted to.

I can see the forum being a bigger problem in that respect. the chatters will still be there, and their numbers will undoubtedly increase with it being a forum.

so you'll have the same (if not worse) problem of sifting through the clutter.

---------- Post added at 18:26 ---------- Previous post was at 18:24 ----------

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

Good question Paul, maybe CF can ask their VM contacts? Would be good if we could be "official" on here.. it is the better forum.

And put your fellow colleagues out of a job?

they could do away with the forum and not pay any wages, and sponsor this site instead. how cool would that be?

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Gary L

the chatting in the support groups was very minimal really. it was mainly the feedback group that was a playground with certain posters. but then there wasn't really many support queries put in there to answer.

the staff that are manning the support groups can easily take seconds to skip the chatter if they wanted to.

I can see the forum being a bigger problem in that respect. the chatters will still be there, and their numbers will undoubtedly increase with it being a forum.

so you'll have the same (if not worse) problem of sifting through the clutter.

---------- Post added at 18:26 ---------- Previous post was at 18:24 ----------



And put your fellow colleagues out of a job?

they could do away with the forum and not pay any wages, and sponsor this site instead. how cool would that be?

They are 2nd line, so it's not their primary role, they wouldn't lose their jobs

[Toto]

I think Usenet is a very old support system, and certainly not in keeping with the more Social Network style that seems to be the flavour de jour.

If the support guys are going to be working the VM community forum, then it should well reach a larger, more up-to-date audience.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Gary L

so you'll have the same (if not worse) problem of sifting through the clutter.

Only if you don't have tools that help you do exactly that

[Ben B]

Support works well on Twitter so I can't see why there should be any issues with providing it on their own forum

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

No the reason is because only a tiny percentage actually used them

Alex once said that a very very small percentage of users knew or used usenet. so they made a web based forum.

Alex once said that a very very small percentage of users distrupted other downloaders. so they invented STM

---------- Post added at 18:33 ---------- Previous post was at 18:31 ----------

Originally Posted by Toto

If the support guys are going to be working the VM community forum, then it should well reach a larger, more up-to-date audience.

Reminds me of how I always imagined AOL.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Paul M

If staff can [officially] offer support on that forum, why cant they do the same on other forums ?

As Ben has already said it is a question of DPA plus they have access to all the account details and relevant tools to help diagnose any issues correctly.

Any staff that post on here can only offer advice and guidance with any issues anyone posting on here may ask for, but that is as far as it goes.

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Moldova

As Ben has already said it is a question of DPA plus they have access to all the account details and relevant tools to help diagnose any issues correctly.

As you seem to know how this all works. how does Google fit into all this?