This article provides agencies with tips and information regarding how to contact support and the life cycle of a support case.
Contacting Support
Normal Customer Support Hours
- Monday-Friday 7am to 8pm EST
- AvailTec Portal
Critical System Outages or Payroll Issues
Outside of normal business hours, please feel free to contact our 24-hour support 365 days a year.
- Call 814-234-3394 (press option 1)
- Wait for automated service to provide instructions for 24-hour support.
Best Practices
System Outages or Payroll Issues
- Do call the main support line
- Do provide detailed steps of what happened and who it is affecting including usernames and error messages
- Don’t send an email to support
- Don’t submit a case in the portal
- Calling for system outages or payroll issues will result in the most immediate action
- See Case Priority Examples
Low or Medium Support Cases
- Do submit a case through the customer portal
- Don’t send an email to support
- Don’t call the main support line
- Our staff is fully focused on monitoring the customer portal, not emails
- Be sure you are putting comments into each case to communicate with the support team for proper case lifecycle steps
- See Case Priority Examples
Case Priority Examples
- Critical (Call): Entire fleet is down; All buses can’t communicate to dispatch; passenger info on myStop is down; Payroll (PR) check processing; PR ACH filing; Avail system is down
- High (Call): Multiple buses in fleet are down; User not able to log into scheduling package; Scheduled publish did not work; PR and PR setup processing issues
- Medium (Portal): Cannot access non-critical reports; Driver cannot log in to one vehicle; equipment issues that impact one vehicle; Timepoints or trigger boxes are incorrect; Finance Suite process issues (AP, AR, GL); WO and Inventory process issues
- Low (Portal): New MyAvail account request; MyAvail password reset; Update on RMAs; General questions; New announcement requests
Case Communication
- Do respond to case portal comments with a case portal comment
- Do attach screenshots or examples to your portal comment if requested or if it provides further triage assistance
- Don’t send a reply via email (the portal comment email notification states DO NOT REPLY in the body of the email)
- Don’t call the main support line asking for an update on a case
Case Status Overview (Standard Cases)
The following statuses are typical for standard support cases. Review Case Status Definitions for the full list of case statuses and definitions.
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New
- We received your case and it’s waiting in our queue for the next available support engineer
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In Progress
- Your case is assigned to a support engineer, and we are actively working on the issue
-
Waiting on Customer
- We sent a portal comment to the case contact and waiting for a reply
- Do reply to the case in a timely manner via portal comment
-
Pending Customer Review
- Avail support team determines the case is complete and can be closed
- If you do not feel the case is complete, please send us a portal comment in the case
- Don’t send an email or call support
Return Materials Authorization (RMA) Requests
-
Submitting RMAs (Major equipment covered under warranty)
- Do RMA requests can be processed through the AvailTec Portal
- Do check your RMA status via the AvailTec Portal
- Don’t call the main support line for RMA status
- If you submit an RMA and the turnaround time is urgent, please add it to the Return Reason Summary and choose Yes for Vehicle Out of Service
-
Spare parts quotes/orders
- If there is physical damage to the item or it gets damaged in transit it is not covered under warranty.
- Email quotes@availtec.com
Case Resolution
Case resolution times will vary based on priority level. Software bugs and feature requests do not adhere to this schedule.
-
Critical
- Normal business hours = 2 hrs
- Outside business hours = 4 hrs
-
High
- Normal business hours = 1 business day
- Outside business hours = 1 business day
-
Medium
- Normal business hours = 5 business days
- Outside business hours = 5 business days
-
Low
- Normal business hours = 10 business days
- Outside business hours = 10 business days
Support Feedback
Every time a case is closed a survey is emailed to the case contact. Avail uses these surveys to measure the success of our support team and ensure that all cases are resolved satisfactorily.
- Do complete each survey you receive from a closed case
-
Don’t delete survey emails without completing them
Support values your feedback and we will follow up on surveys that are deemed unsatisfactory. We also like to report positive feedback to our support and leadership teams.
How You Can Help
- Use the portal to submit non-critical issues
- Refrain from emailing issues to the Support Team
-
Call (814) 234-3394 Option 1 for all critical system outages
- Follow instructions for our 24-hour support if the call is outside of normal business hours
- Ensure new staff who will be submitting support tickets has access to the portal and has been trained by Avail