“The company’s ears, the customers’ voice”: all you ever wanted to know about HashFlare support
In December 2017, every other question on our Facebook page had to do with the same topic: technical support. No matter what was the subject of our status update, the same questions were asked: “What’s going on with tech support?”, “Why aren’t they responding to my ticket?”, “Come on, respond to my ticket number 123456 already, please, please!”
Of course, we responded. Perhaps we did not respond promptly enough to quell the wave of comments related to support tickets, but we did our best, and we will keep doing our best. On the other hand, there is a silver lining: if you see questions such as “Guys, where is your tech support?” fifty times in one day, you have nothing left to do but respond right away, and to everyone at once.
We do have technical support, and it is among the best in the world. Here is why.
Our support is backbreaking work
Support’s main task is, quite obviously, solving problems encountered by users and working for the betterment of the service provided. A technical support specialist must be knowledgeable, efficient, and always ready to take the side of light and justice, acting as a conduit between the service and its users. He or she must be the first to learn what users want, and consequently, the first to know what will improve the service in the long run.
Since the inception of our technical support team, its members have resolved hundreds of thousands of tickets, worked thousands of hours, and drunk litres of coffee. As for weekends and holidays spent away from their families, it is better not to count them, as doing so could trigger a bout of depression.
This kind of work takes selfless dedication. Not only because sometimes you have to work seven days a week, but also because you can never predict the next emergency, which could spring at you from around any corner.
Take, for example, one of the most unforgettable periods in support’s work in 2017, which was, of course, during August and September. On August 31, HashFlare customers received a message in which we informed them that as of September 1, 2017, all open-ended contracts, known as lifetime mining contracts, were to become fixed-term contracts. HashFlare’s social networks exploded on that day, and things continued to seethe for a week or so.
On the last day of summer of 2017, when the announcement was made, our technical support was bombarded with four thousand tickets, representing 611% of the average daily number, while our average response time increased from 14 to 183 hours. People’s reactions were predictable, yet quite diverse. We received hundreds of complaints, pleas, threats (legal and otherwise), and even curses and “exorcist” incantations… And what did we do? We read and responded to every single message, no matter how offensive it was.
Our support is our people
Sometimes customers are overcome with emotion, and they may forget that there are actual human beings on the other end of the line. Yet, there really are :) HashFlare is proud of every single member of the team. Today, HashFlare technical support employs many people who sort through all sorts of unusual problems encountered by the service’s users. But things have not always been this way.
It all started in 2015 when HashFlare was founded. Historically, the technical support team included no more than two members. The first two people to ever work in technical support helped users out and did other work for HashFlare at the same time. Later, they were replaced by two different employees, whose time was dedicated exclusively to technical support. By the way, those of our longtime customers and our followers and commentators on social networks who have been observant may not only remember their names but also recognize their faces: I am talking about Christine Alas and Pavel Tsihhotski. Today, Christine is HashFlare community manager, and Pavel is the head of technical support.
As Christine and Pavel recall, at first their workload was light: so light that when a new ticket appeared once in a blue moon, they had to compete for it. Later, however, there was a radical change. First, Christine was the only team member left doing technical support, and then came the cryptocurrency boom of 2017, and the number of support requests soared in parallel with the swelling of the ranks of cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
What was the reason Christine ended up running support on her own? It happened because Pavel took up another project. As we already mentioned, many readers know our current technical support lead as the effective face of the Polybius project. Pavel played the role of its community manager, representing Polybius at conferences and taking part in webcasts… but later he came back to his roots. So, is there anyone better than Pavel when it comes to having a conversation about all aspects of technical support operations and unveiling the inner workings?
Anna(Hashflare Editor): Hi! So, can you recall how it all started? :)
Pavel: Sure, I remember the exact day. It was March 21, 2016, when both Christine and I started working in technical support. The volume of work at the time was certainly quite different.
A: Do you mean that there have been many support tickets lately?
P: “Many” is an understatement. The funniest thing is that we expected to see the number of requests peak in August: that was when we migrated the database to a new server, and that resulted in many technical problems; people were alarmed, and they were writing to us non-stop. For each thousand of tickets we received in August 2016, there were ten times as many in the same month of 2017. There was a point when we thought we would never be able to overcome that surge… Of course, we did overcome it, but since then, the number of tickets has only kept growing instead of diminishing. We actually saw a record number in December, compared to any other month: about 60,000+ tickets.
A: What do you think is the reason for that?
P: The nature of our business :) In fact, when you work in technical support of a service of this kind, you have a unique opportunity to get an inside view of the cryptocurrency phenomenon, and to observe it from the closest distance possible.
Much of what I believe about the world of cryptocurrencies and everything related to it is based on what I know about HashFlare.
What we have here is a microcosm of sorts, a scaled model of the developments that take place all over the market. Latest news from large cryptocurrency exchanges, services, and wallets are all the same, except for the scale: everyone is talking about the unprecedented customer volume; everyone is saying that developers and support are overwhelmed; there is a shortage of skilled personnel. It is only now that we are beginning to get the glut of tickets that came in December under control, and it seems very clear that the situation is the same everywhere. Today’s market is extremely volatile, and everyone is trying to get ahead of the game. This is why as soon as things appear to slow down and get easier, there is a new surge. You could see it with the bitcoin’s example, and it was the same last year, except on a smaller scale. Personally, I don’t mind. This makes my work more fun.
A: So, you do enjoy the tech support work? Don’t you miss the days when you represented Polybius instead of working behind the scenes?
P: No, I don’t. Neither back then, when I was with Polybius, nor now, when I am with HashFlare, did I think of them as separate products. No matter where I am, I see myself as a member of the HashCoins team. HashCoins is engaged in many things, so you always have to look beyond your normal activities. This is what makes this industry interesting for me.
It is as if you were doing something new every time, but it is also something that feels very familiar
To sum it up, what I like best is working at HashCoins rather than working on any specific project. I just enjoy working with the team and the industry. Although I do think that HashFlare is what needs the most attention right now. Polybius has many talented and dedicated people involved, and I have no doubts that it is going to be very successful even if I am not there, but HashFlare is going through a critical period, both in terms of the volume of its users and the amount of attention it needs.
A: It is clear that you love your job. So what does “technical support” mean to you?
P: Technical support is certainly about helping. In many ways, it is the responsibility of technical support to keep the service running smoothly. We are the ones to be the first to discover challenges and report them up the chain of command so they could be addressed. This is our first priority.
Yet, on the other hand, providing technical support is much more than simply “solving problems”. We take in all of the information supplied by our users and organize it.
For the users, you are the company’s ears, and for the company, you are the customers’ voice
And I really enjoy being that voice. I enjoy processing the wishes of the community and communicating them to the company, and then, over time, seeing things changing and features being implemented.
A: What are your responsibilities as the tech support lead?
P: As the tech support lead, I am responsible for ensuring that all members of the support team have a comfortable work environment. These days, I spend less time resolving tickets and answering questions.
My primary concern is staying out of the way of my team’s members
We have assembled a strong team, and, most importantly, it is comprised of people who are passionate, who have many excellent character traits and diverse interests, which they apply to their work activities in their own special ways.
A: In your opinion, what are the signs that technical support is working well?
P: Technical support that is working well is a technical support that looks like ours :) Our company is constantly in touch with our clients, it pays close attention to them, and yes, we expect the same in return. We are goal-oriented, but the most important detail is that we are really always ready to listen; we are equipped to do that.
A good support specialist feels personally responsible for the quality of the service, and if there is anything that can be done to make it better, this person will always take the time to do it, not because this might improve numbers and stats, but because he feels being part of a team, where he takes on responsibilities but also enjoys freedom.
A: And what do you think about working in support from the perspective of not the morals, but morale? Clearly, there is a lot of stress and negativity; how can one overcome that?
P: First of all, a sense of humor helps. Also, one should always try to understand what compels a customer to write something negative. Here is my point of view: when people buy your product or subscribe to your service, they are always moved by positive feelings and emotions. They buy because they like it, it works well for them.
When someone starts writing to quarrel, when he yells and becomes agitated, this indicates that there was some critical change between the time he joined the service and the moment he came to the support team to argue.
A support specialist is almost like a detective
Our job is to figure out what happened, to investigate, to reconstruct the sequence of events, to find the point when a glitch occurred, and to fix the problem, if possible. And when it is not possible, we must draw conclusions for future reference. Returning to an earlier question, this is a sign that support is working well.
In our job, one cannot take negativity personally. A technical support specialist does not just represent him- or herself, he represents the company. An angry, argumentative, or dissatisfied request should not scare us; quite the opposite: it gives us a chance to radically change a client’s perspective, to transform disappointment and negativity into their opposites. As soon as people realize that there is a real human being on the other end of the line, they often apologize, and then thank us. Moments like this can make your day; they give you an incredible boost of positive energy. This is the best part of working in technical support.
A: And what is the worst part?
P: Something that is not as good, and something that scares many people, is the stress. And usually, it is not the result of agitated messages from users, but rather, it is due to being powerless to do anything because someone at the top has decided, “We are going to do it this way, and this way only.” Not many people would enjoy being in this position.
Fortunately, our company is different: we still believe that no matter who you are and what your job title is, you should always have an opportunity to be heard and to make an impact. Quite literally: you get an idea today; you present it tomorrow; the day after tomorrow, it is tested; and on Friday, it goes live. Even if your idea does not come to fruition, you will always know what currently stands in the way of implementing it.
A: Are there any final thoughts that you would like to share with the users who are going to read your interview? :)
P: I must admit that I am anxious about saying anything because there is always a chance of being misunderstood. Yet, there is some good news: we are finally regaining control over ticket response and resolution times. The entire crypto-universe has been swamped by the surge in interest, and that interest is so great that as recently as a month ago all our attempts to keep up with tickets resembled trying to empty out the ocean with a spoon. Now, our team is growing; there is more and more of us, and we hope that in the nearest future we will be able to help our users in a much more efficient way.
A special thanks to everyone who has sent us holiday greetings. We even have a customer who has been sending us greetings for three years in a row, through a card with his amazing cat. It is truly a great pleasure. Every December, I look forward to a new card.
A: Is that cat like a family member to you now? :)
P: Yes, the cat, but not just the cat. There are many users who have written to us about fifty times in the three years that our project has existed, and I remember many of them; I recognize their names. Oftentimes, I look forward to their messages; I am always curious about what is going on in a person’s life if he has not been in touch in a while.
Also, I am delighted to receive messages from people who have just started discovering the world of cryptocurrencies and who have no idea what mining is. But they are eager to learn, and I help them make sense of it all. I enjoy explaining the basics, giving people direction, helping them learn something new. And I am glad that, as time goes on, we receive more and more letters of thanks.
Let us take this opportunity to remind you that we are always happy to help you and to answer all your questions, but we would also like to ask you to help us become even better and more efficient. It is very easy to do.
– Firstly, please do not send duplicate support requests. Doing this would not speed up the resolution of your issue in any way; on the contrary, it will significantly increase the wait time.
– Secondly, since we have invested a lot of time in developing our FAQ, and we provide regular updates, please be sure to look for an answer to your question there before you send us a new request. The FAQ has the answers to the most frequent inquiries.
– Finally, please remember that we operate only through email.
Best of luck to you, and thank you for your trust!
