Support options REMOVED instead of FIXED

[jcullinan]

Since July I have not been able to submit an email Support request and have had to rely on "hanging up" on the chat option in order to open a ticket.

But today, I find that I no longer have access to either chat or phone support, AND submitting a ticket is STILL BROKEN.

The link to "Discuss with Upwork Community" works just fine, but still, nothing happens when I click "Submit a Request."

It's been since JULY, and now the problem is WORSE.

[cylver1z]

Hello Jess,

I'm sorry to hear that. You may post your concern here or you may send me a PM so we could discuss your concern privately. Thank you.

[jcullinan]

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@Ryan C wrote:

Hello Jess,

I'm sorry to hear that. You may post your concern here or you may send me a PM so we could discuss your concern privately. Thank you.

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This is singularly unhelpful. I need the support options to be fixed. That is the only solution.

[aocumen]

Hi Jess, 

I checked your pending ticket and can see that the team followed up with an email yesterday. Could you please respond to inform the team the the issue hasn't been resolved on your end yet? I will also go ahed and let the team know that you have followed up via the Community. 

[jcullinan]

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@Avery O wrote:

Hi Jess, 

I checked your pending ticket and can see that the team followed up with an email yesterday. Could you please respond to inform the team the the issue hasn't been resolved on your end yet? I will also go ahed and let the team know that you have followed up via the Community. 

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I have already responded to the "team," when they requested information they already have. I'm looking for NEW solutions here, like ACTUALLY FIXING THE PROBLEM.

Why do I no longer have access to phone or chat support? And why is it now EIGHT MONTHS and COUNTING that submitting a support ticket doesn't work?!

[aocumen]

Hi Jess, 

I apologise for the delay in my reply. I can see that your Support Agent has responded to you and they are still investigating this issue. Our team has also escalated this on your behalf. If you have further information, or questions about the issue, please post it on the ticket thread. 

[jcullinan]

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@Avery O wrote:

Hi Jess, 

I apologise for the delay in my reply. I can see that your Support Agent has responded to you and they are still investigating this issue. Our team has also escalated this on your behalf. If you have further information, or questions about the issue, please post it on the ticket thread. 

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The ticket thread is no help. Please answer these VERY BASIC QUESTIONS:

1. Why was my access to phone and chat support removed? As of today it has been restored, but no one has answered as to why it was removed.

2. Why has there been no meaningful progress on solving the ticket problem over the last eight months?

3. When will I be able to submit a support ticket as normal?

[kochubei_valeria]

Jess,

We understand this is frustrating. We have a solution on the way that should resolve the issue with support access and it should be implemented within next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, let us know whenever you have any issues and we'll have a ticket created for you right away. 

Thanks.

[jcullinan]

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@Valeria K wrote:

Jess,

We understand this is frustrating. We have a solution on the way that should resolve the issue with support access and it should be implemented within next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, let us know whenever you have any issues and we'll have a ticket created for you right away. 

Thanks.

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Please answer the questions I asked.

[kochubei_valeria]

Jess,

As we have explained before, we are having issues with our Help Center pages and connection with support being blocked for certain IP addresses. Since not only Upwork but also a third party vendor who provides our Help Center pages and support is involved, it has taken longer than we wish it did to coordinate a solution for this issue. We do now have a solution that should address the issue you and some other users have been having within two weeks. Unfortunately, we won't be able to share further details.

Thanks.

[jcullinan]

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@Valeria K wrote:

Jess,

As we have explained before, we are having issues with our Help Center pages and connection with support being blocked for certain IP addresses. Since not only Upwork but also a third party vendor who provides our Help Center pages and support is involved, it has taken longer than we wish it did to coordinate a solution for this issue. We do now have a solution that should address the issue you and some other users have been having within two weeks. Unfortunately, we won't be able to share further details.

Thanks.

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This still does not explain why chat and phone support disappeared. And it does not explain why I can't reach support from ANY IP address, not just from home, but also on various different public WiFi services, and through using two different VPN services.

[jcullinan]

Another day, another week, and I still have no access to support tickets.

And no explanation at all about how this could possibly be related to my IP address, when the problem persists with multiple ISPs and VPN configurations.

[kochubei_valeria]

Jess,

We understand your frustration and we will update the Community once the solution I mentioned in my previous post is implemented. Until then, we can't share any further details, unfortunately. Meanwhile, let us know whenever you need a ticket created with our support team and we'll go ahead and do it for you. Thanks.

[jcullinan]

@Valeria K. wrote:

Jess,

We understand your frustration and we will update the Community once the solution I mentioned in my previous post is implemented. Until then, we can't share any further details, unfortunately. Meanwhile, let us know whenever you need a ticket created with our support team and we'll go ahead and do it for you. Thanks.

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Not helpful in the least. Especially since now it is even more evident that the "solution" you're talking about, which involves IP addresses, is NOT MY ISSUE.

[jcullinan · Accepted solution]

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@Valeria K wrote:

Jess,

We understand your frustration and we will update the Community once the solution I mentioned in my previous post is implemented. Until then, we can't share any further details, unfortunately. Meanwhile, let us know whenever you need a ticket created with our support team and we'll go ahead and do it for you. Thanks.

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As of today I'm seeing an entirely new Support system interface, including the "Upwork Support Bot."

IT ACTUALLY WORKS, to my shock.

Were you planning on ever announcing this? Transparency goes such a long way in building consumer confidence. I'm so glad to see an actual solution, but I am honestly apalled that there was no written update here, or an official announcement anywhere else.

[lenaellis]

Hey Jess,

I'm glad your issue has been resolved and that you like the new Help Center bot. The support team has been receiving a lot of great feedback on the bot since it was added last night. Actually, I would like to get your opinion, we are thinking about also incorporating a bot here in the forums. To address how-to questions on using the forums, and to link with threads and content connected with search. What do you think about a Community bot?

[jcullinan]

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@Lena E wrote:

Hey Jess,

I'm glad your issue has been resolved and that you like the new Help Center bot. The support team has been receiving a lot of great feedback on the bot since it was added last night. Actually, I would like to get your opinion, we are thinking about also incorporating a bot here in the forums. To address how-to questions on using the forums, and to link with threads and content connected with search. What do you think about a Community bot?

---

I have no opinion about the bot. Will there be an official announcement about the new system?

[lenaellis]

Hi Jess,

There will not be an announcement on the minor Help Center update. There is no impact from this update on workflow, ability to contact CS or functionality in general. Past updates to Help Center were also not announced. However, if you have any questions about Help Center let us know. 

[jcullinan]

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@Lena E wrote:

Hi Jess,

There will not be an announcement on the minor Help Center update. There is no impact from this update on workflow, ability to contact CS or functionality in general. Past updates to Help Center were also not announced. However, if you have any questions about Help Center let us know. 

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This is absurd. It's not a minor update if you introduce new features, plus fix a MAJOR problem that had been reported by a large number of freelancers starting more than eight months ago.

Upwork's lack of commitment to transparency is beyond short-sighted.

[gilbert-phyllis]

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@Jess C wrote:

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@Lena E wrote:

Hey Jess,

I'm glad your issue has been resolved and that you like the new Help Center bot. The support team has been receiving a lot of great feedback on the bot since it was added last night. Actually, I would like to get your opinion, we are thinking about also incorporating a bot here in the forums. To address how-to questions on using the forums, and to link with threads and content connected with search. What do you think about a Community bot?

---

I have no opinion about the bot. Will there be an official announcement about the new system?

---

 Announcing that they fixed a problem would entail acknowledging that there was a problem (and possibly, entertaining comments about how long it took to fix it). Let's not hold our breath.

[jcullinan]

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@Jess C wrote:

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@Lena E wrote:

Hey Jess,

I'm glad your issue has been resolved and that you like the new Help Center bot. The support team has been receiving a lot of great feedback on the bot since it was added last night. Actually, I would like to get your opinion, we are thinking about also incorporating a bot here in the forums. To address how-to questions on using the forums, and to link with threads and content connected with search. What do you think about a Community bot?

---

I have no opinion about the bot. Will there be an official announcement about the new system?

---

You know, I've changed my mind on the idea of a "bot" for the Community. I'd so much rather see the topic categories expanded and actually enforced than for "the team" to waste time adding this feature. We sorely need a "Technical Support" category, not just the "API Questions" one.

We also need moderators to be consistent and vigilant about moving posts to where they belong - not just merging threads, especially if the thread a post gets moved to is more than about a month old.

Turning off the ability to reply on threads older than a year would also be a welcome fix, to avoid "zombie" threads reappearing at the top of the list, particularly in the Announcements forum.

In short, there are about a hundred other things to fix before looking at adding new features. I'll remind you of this post: https://community.upwork.com/t5/Coffee-Break/Punchlist-for-Upwork/m-p/433939

[jcullinan]

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@Jess C wrote:

Another day, another week, and I still have no access to support tickets.

And no explanation at all about how this could possibly be related to my IP address, when the problem persists with multiple ISPs and VPN configurations.

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Update: I was FINALLY able to submit a ticket using Safari on my Mac today (this has not previously worked at all, but today there was magic involved, I guess).

The functionality for Chrome is still broken. Considering Chrome is the browser with the largest market share in world, this is still a problem! Workarounds are not solutions.

[booksist]

I have just spent about an hour trying to get any help -- chat, ticket, whatever -- and neither worked. I can't access the job posting my client invited me to help with (she added me as a team member to help her hire someone; I created a client account and nothing happened...). Mods, can you help?

[aocumen]

I apologise for the delay in our reply, Valentina. I checked your account and can see that you already have an open ticket regarding being unable to access a job post. I'll go ahead and follow up with the Support Team so that they can get back to you on your latest email. 

[booksist]

Thanks Avery, I really appreciate that!