**Ticket Handling Process

A ticket's status can change multiple times. Knowing how to manage ticket status changes, including when to use which status label, can make the customer-agent relationship smoother.

• New indicates that no action has been taken on the ticket. Once a New ticket's status has been changed, it can never be set back to New.
• Open indicates a ticket has been assigned to an agent and is in progress. It is waiting for action by the agent. You can view all open tickets using the Open tickets view.
• Pending indicates the agent is waiting for more information from the requester. You can view all pending tickets using the Pending tickets view. When the requester responds and a new comment is added, the ticket status is automatically reset to Open. Pending ticket status with no response after 4 days is auto-closed, not unless Root Cause is set to Bug.
• On-hold indicates the agent is waiting for information or action from someone other than the requester. Usually incident ticket is in this status when it is linked to a Problem Ticket.
• Solved indicates the agent has submitted a solution or addressed the issue.
• Closed means that the ticket is complete and can't be reopened. Customers however can create follow-up requests for closed requests.

• When issue is resolved or addressed
• If linked to a PT but work around resolution addressed or solved the issue
• If ticket in Pending status did not auto-solve after 4 days
• For disconnected chat, as long as the issue has been identified and have been addressed by the agent
• If disconnected chat, but the issue has been addressed when checked in SUDO/OBO
• When initiating a ticket to an unresponsive user

• If the issue is handled by another team, then reassign to the specific team (e.g. CE, Payment Risk)
• If CL support agent receives FL related concern:
  • If the issue is general or basic freelancer concern, CL support agent should handle it
  • If the issue is complicated (e.g. JSS computation), they can reassign to FL or HVFL Support queue
• If an FL support agent receives a CL related concern, they should reassign it to the CL Support queue.
• If a CS agent receives a ticket initiated by another team with a CS related issue, they should handle and solve it. No need to re-assign to the previous team, not unless the customer has an existing issue that can only be handled by that other team.

• When working interactions, we should always be checking to see if there are open-related cases and following the merging process as outlined below. In the instance where there are multiple open related tickets being viewed by multiple agents, all cases will be merged into the OLDEST opened ticket (known as the “original” ticket) and the agent viewing that “original” ticket will continue handling.
  • If no one is viewing the “original” ticket (lack of eye icon), regardless if there is an assignee on the ticket, after merging, click “take it” > save ticket as “open” > take over assisting customer (if there is a special circumstance where where the ticket needs to maintain its original ownership, such as in the case of an escalation owned by an SA/Lead/Manager, then the assignee can stay as is)
• In a situation where the merging process was missed by a fellow CS team member, if you are the agent that receives a ticket where the case was already handled in another CS ticket and marked as solve (specifically when your case is time stamped before the time it was handled by the other CS agent), you can simply merge your CS ticket into the already handled CS ticket; no response is needed and no re-opening of ticket is needed
• If an open call/chat ticket needs to be merged into an interaction, but the subject/categories are not yet selected for the ticket, please update those, save as ‘open’, then merge to your ticket
• When handling voicemail tickets, leave internal notes and then solve the ticket. Then a new ticket is created for the customer. Please don’t merge a voicemail ticket to any other tickets or merge other tickets to the VM ticket
• REMINDER: Before following merging, if the redaction process is needed, please complete any redactions before a ticket is solved or merged. We are unable to redact if a ticket is closed or already merged to another ticket.

Process Map

1. On the top, left-hand side of the ticket, click the tab with the user’s name

   

2. Here will show the list of ticket’s connected to the user

   

3. See “How to Merge” next!

How to Merge 1 Ticket -

1. Note down the ticket number you want to merge into. Then, click the down arrow at the top right of the ticket being merged and select “Merge Into Another Ticket”.
2. There will be a pop up asking to select or enter the ticket number you’re merging into. Select or enter in the ticket number and click “Merge”.
3. In the new popup box, do not type anything in the boxes and do not change any check marks. Click “Confirm and Merge”.

How to Merge Multiple Tickets -

• To merge multiple tickets into one ticket all at once, first note the ticket number you want to merge into.
• Click the user’s name near the top left to view their ticket history
• Select the tickets you want to merge
• Click the “Edit Tickets” drop down, select “Merge tickets into another ticket...”

  

• There will be a pop up, asking you to select or enter the ticket number you’re merging into
• In the new popup box, do not type anything in the boxes and do not change any check marks; just click “Confirm and Merge”

If your assigned ticket has a related Incident Ticket:

• Check to confirm that it’s linked to the correct Problem Ticket - then merge your ticket into the Incident. (Agent who originally triaged the incident ticket to the PT will continue to handle the ticket)
• If not linked to the correct Problem Ticket - choose the correct one, then merge your ticket into the Incident
• If it’s a solvable issue - unlink the Incident ticket entirely and merge it into your ticket. Then, research and resolve as normal

If your assigned ticket has a related ticket escalated to another team (e.g. Pay Ops, Identity Ops, Tech Support), merge your ticket to the escalated ticket:

• The other team should assign back the ticket to the original agent who escalated the related ticket
• If the new ticket assignee can resolve the issue, merge to the escalated and handle to resolve the ticket

Third Party Reply - a person responding to an already initiated ticket who is neither the ticket requester nor someone already listed as a CC on a ticket. These responses will show only as private comments in Internal

Will these “third party” responses receive our public replies? No. When we send a public reply, it will only go to the requester on the ticket unless someone (the agent or the requester) adds the third party email address as a CC on the ticket. See map for when to add as a CC!

Process Map

Using a translator can be very helpful when trying to communicate with a user that struggles with English. As we are a global company, users from all over the world will reach out to us. As translators aren't always accurate, we should continue to offer Upwork Customer Support in English only as to avoid giving inaccurate direction/information.

If a user reaches out speaking in another language, request they speak English the best they can and continue offering them support in English.

If a user continues to struggle with English, use Google translator to assist in understanding what they're trying to communicate, but continue offering support in English. It's also a good idea to extra clarify points in this case while also mentioning Google translator was used. As translators aren't always accurate, this will help us clarify what they're trying to say. e.g. After using Google translator, it looks like you're looking to xyz...