The Phone Support Team primarily handles clients and high value freelancers. They are available from 12:00am Monday to 11:59pm Friday PST.
While we may receive requests from customers asking to talk to someone on the phone, we want to avoid giving out our direct phone number. As all support team members are equally equipped to help our customers, our hope is that we can continue helping these customers in chat or ticket instead of directing them to phone support.
If a request for phone support: there is a macro called Do you have a phone # / How do I talk to a live person that can be used if the customer doesn’t provide enough information to assist, but please edit it as appropriate to fit the specific situation with the customer. More details about the macro:
- The macro mentioned above is best used in ticket/email interactions specifically. That said, we should still try to help the customer if they have provided any extra insight as well as check past tickets to see if they have any open cases. We want to try to help them if we can rather than simply giving them the macro.
- If a chat case interaction comes in, since they’re already with live support, rather than using the macro, let’s lean into probing live to identify the issue and see how we can help. Most times, the customer just wants to speak to a human, so this is a great opportunity to be that mentor / human that they are looking for and provide them with the support they’re hoping to receive.
To qualify for a phone support transfer: Review the “when phone support assistance may qualify / exception cases” section below. If qualified, follow the map steps on what to communicate to the customer and how to transfer the contact.
If a supervisor / escalated request, this does not go to Phone Support: Do your best to de-escalate the situation. If needed, please see your TL (if a direct supervisor request, follow these guidelines: **Supervisor Requests)
When Phone Support Assistance MAY Qualify / Exception Cases:
The following exceptions are for those customers that specifically ask to speak to someone on the phone, or it’s identified that a call may be best for them where they accept.
In all of the following, please try to help the customer first via chat / ticket, but if it’s identified that a call will be best for them, then please see a TL / SA. Do not proactively offer a phone call unless already approved by a TL / SA.
- Someone that can be considered a non-tech savvy person who may need step-by-step guidance on how to process something and/or how to gather information required by tech support. This can typically be identified within the chat itself if the customer is getting frustrated or not understanding a specific direction and/or it seems like it may be difficult for them to bounce between chat / the site to follow steps.
- A newer client trying to process one of their first hires and/or job postings and wanting to make sure they’re doing it correctly. As clients are more apt to “give up” in the very early stages if it seems too difficult, talking to someone live may be helpful.
- Potential ATO wherein the customer is unsure of who we are and appear uncomfortable giving information in written form. This will be obvious in the ticket with examples of “I don’t know who you are” type scenarios. While probing is always good and working to put the customer at ease, these are scenarios where a call could benefit if it’s noticed the customer is not reciprocating our efforts.
- Support is continually attempted, but multiple attempts of pushback from the customer in regards to needing to speak with Phone Support. While we want to try our best to help the customer, we don’t want to argue with them. If attempts of reassuring the customer that you can help them do not ease the customer / their frustration, a call may be best.
A ticket / email interaction is continually going back and forth where the customer is still struggling / not understanding. If this happens, we should first focus on re-phrasing / explaining in a different way as it’s possible the instructions we’re giving simply isn’t clicking. Everyone has different learning styles and understands information differently, so visuals like screenshots may be needed or simply step-by-step instructions. If all else fails, a call may be best.