Buyer Support Satisfaction

Hi guys, I had a person post a rather damning post on my item page about my support and was wondering what you guys think of this, (I’m on a 5 star support rating) basically yesterday I didn’t reply to the comments as I had client work, was watching the Apple keynote etc. so I put a comment on twitter:

“Not a very productive day today, that’s what happens when you work from home and get distracted with stuff, back to the office tomorrow :)”

One of the people who bought one of my themes was following me on Twitter and then posted this because I didn’t reply to their comment straight away (btw, this person has had 14 posts in my support thread and countless emails, plenty of support in my opinion), anyway this is what she said:

“Not a very productive day today, that’s what happens when you work from home and get distracted with stuff, back to the office tomorrow :)”

You’ve been on twitter, but what about supporting your customers Simon?

Hope you enjoyed your films!

Would have been nice to have heard back from you…….think I’ll stick to from now on. Themeforest designers get back to you when they feel like it.

Not on my shift they don’t.

Themeforest is same old same old – pay your money then regret it.

With a theme a week old I expected a bit more….but alas.

Never again! This is my last ever purchase on Theme Forest.

Thanks for the giving me the nail to put in the coffin!

Basically, what I’m wondering is who’s in the wrong here, the way I’ve always seen it is

a) Support is not required, it’s a choice b) 24 hours to answer a comment is an acceptable amount of time to wait right? c) What comes first, clients and their emails or buyers of TF templates and their comments?

Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

For those interested, this was my reply:

I’m sorry you feel that way, but what you need to understand is that I’m a freelancer, I have clients as do many authors on this site, ThemeForest is a source of passive income for most of the authors on here, we have jobs so we provide support when WE HAVE TIME not the other way round. That’s what happens when you pay $35 for a theme, hence the reason why themes are so cheap on here.

As for my comment on Twitter, what I do in my day has absolutely NOTHING to do with you, if I want a less than productive day then I can. Most buyers on here understand that ThemeForest is not the first priority for authors, we are all freelancers and have clients who have our full attention, ThemeForest is a second income stream. If you want support within an hour then go to a company that has a dedicated support department, but having worked for the leading premium theme company in the support department I know full well that 24 hours for a reply is perfectly acceptable.

Now I’m sorry that you feel that you’ve had a bad experience, but my support is amongst the best on ThemeForest, just look at my ratings, and considering I’ve given you more support than I would have given anyone else (I count 14 posts on this thread and a number of emails in my inbox, and only a few that are bugs which are always present in new themes), I think my support has been excellent and just because I don’t reply to you within less than 24 hours you write such a damning post about my support is totally out of order.

Contact Themeforest support if you want your money back but they’ll most likely refuse you because my support has been excellent and ThemeForest will agree.

You did nothing wrong. Occasionally you’re going to get a buyer who expects the Earth (along with your undivided attention and expertise) for the $35 they paid for a theme.

You did nothing wrong. Occasionally you’re going to get a buyer who expects the Earth (along with your undivided attention and expertise) for the $35 they paid for a theme.

+1

I can not see what they had to complain about either. I am constantly amazed by the comments of some customers.

At the same time amazed by the support given by the majority of the Authors. I wonder when they sleep especially for the first few weeks. Many customers ask for additional functions and fixing small items that is usually more their design requirements for their site or customer, at the same time bombard the author with support questions.

I know when I am coding or working on a site I need to be able to concentrate, usually I turn off phones and my email for long enough to get what I need done.

From what I have seen of your work and your support you earnt your 5 stars, dont worry too much about the noisy minority, just think about the thankful majority that gave you the 5 stars.

I like the way you reply to the email

+1

Who needs a buyer like this one?

Let him leave TF if he wants (not that he’ll get that much support elsewhere), for the time you put replying to him you could have won 10 other buyers with your excellent support.

I think your answer was pretty good, couldn’t have said better. I’ve had some buyers like that, I even had one who bought the theme and demanded free customizations, but the majority of the clients are very comprehensive and understand that we give support on our free time and that there’s a limit to how much we can do in some cases.

At the same time amazed by the support given by the majority of the Authors. I wonder when they sleep especially for the first few weeks.

Sleep? I think I forgot what’s that…

Well the problem is that the buyers are being spoiled big time. There are ways to start addressing this issue and take off some of the workload off Authors and set realistic expectations for the buyers. I think this is spiraling out of control.

A few others and me suggested a new support structure for items in 2 or 3 other threads.

Well to be honest my reply would of consisted of about 2 words – no one is my boss, I provide very extensive documentation, videos, faqs and soon to be my own support forum – even most hosting companies take 24hrs to reply to support and that can be many sites having issues – heck Media Temple that are touted as being superior have some of the worse response times from a hosting company ticket support area I have ever seen. 24 hours to reply is acceptable – and let’s not forget – entirely up to the author – you could just never reply – but I know that your support level is fantastic, your themes and documentation methodical and you present yourself with professionalism.

If they do not like – then move along.