A Helpdesk 2.0 proposal based on a close encounter with a Telenet bug

More than about solving a specific technical problem with a service provider, this blog post is about how customers can become part of the helpdesk of an operator.

Summary (or skip to the conclusion about Helpdesk 2.0)

The Belgian ISP Telenet is providing an alert in the browser window of their customers to warn them if they approach the maximum volume of their internet subscription. A bug in this functionality can cause users to be blocked from internet access. When I encountered this problem myself, the helpdesk confirmed that it was a known bug. They could not solve it immediately but the account needed to be fixed by backoffice staff, who understandably don't work 24/7. Yet, I found a workaround that any customer can easily apply themselves. The question is now how the script that is used by Telenet helpdesk can be updated to include this workaround, to the benefit of both Telenet and its customers.


The technical nitty gritty:

1. The problem

To warn its users that they are approaching a volume limit in their subscription, Telenet is using an implicit proxy on the http connections of customers. When the alert is triggered, the proxy is serving a web page announcing the warning, whatever the url that the customer typed in the address bar of the browser. The proxy will only get out of the way when the user has confirmed he has seen the warning by clicking a confirm button.

Under the specific circumstance where a user has exceeded his volume limit, switched to "pay per use" and after that decided to purchase another volume bundle and the limit of this bundle reaches 80% and the total volume of the previously used volume under the "pay per use" scheme is larger than 20% of the bundle purchased, things go wrong. Apparently the algorithm that calculates the volume to be shown in the html page containing the warning for the user trows an exception in this specific case, stating that the volume should be 80% but that 100% is already reached. The result is that users see the following 500 error page is shown to the customer:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kodel/5307181170/

Now I can't imagine this to be a difficult bug to fix, but I also understand there are strict release procedures for this type of software, so sometimes it is good to put a workaround in place at the helpdesk level.

2. The workaround of the helpdesk

When contacting the helpdesk about the problem above, they confirm there is a known bug in the http redirect towards the warning page. The workaround that they currently use is to assign an extra order for a volume bundle to the customer. This increases the amount of volume that is available, making sure the code to show the warning page no longer triggers. However, the assignment of the bundle was also blocked and could only be handled once in 24 hours. The friendly and knowledgeable helpdesk staff had no other option then escalate the ticket and hope that a backoffice engineer would solve the ticket faster then 24 hours.

3. The workaround used by me.

I checked out the screen that Telenet provides you to configure your warnings. My first reaction was to deselect all checkboxes that say "show me a message on the screen". But this didn't work, probably since the trigger to show the message had already been placed and could only be cleared by clicking on the "confirm" button in the warning page (which couldn't be shown because of the exception).

My second try solved the problem: i selected all checkboxes stating "show me a message on the screen" and I disabled the pay per use mode (opting for the "reduced speed" mode instead). This caused another path in the code to trigger another warning page, which was shown in my browser when I tried to pull up a webpage. This showed me a working warning page, in which I could press the confirm button. The warning went away, and I was back to surfing at full speed.

My conclusion: It's time for Helpdesk 2.0

As a user, I was happy to find a solution to my problem. But I would be even happier if I could share this solution with other users (which is why I'm writing this blog post). And I would be absolutely proud if Telenet would acknowledge that I did some good work here and look at my solution or even approve it. What is more, I would feel part of Telenet if they would take up my solution in their script, faq, wiki, website or other tool. I would no longer be talking about "they", but about "we" when referring to Telenet.

That to me is the basis of what I like to call Helpdesk 2.0. It can be started using simple tools:

• put your call center scripts, knowledge base and incident list online. Yes, publicly.
• start a Wiki that can be edited by everyone. Let helpdesk staff refer customers to the Wiki whenever they have suggestions or when users have questions that go beyond what is needed to solve the problem at hand.
• add a messageboard (or even better: use a Facebook forum) to your site where users can discuss their problems.

The result is that users will start to rely on each other for common problems that affect multiple users. This will not only unload the helpdesk, but it will also be a piece of mind for users to know they can rely on their peers. Non-customers will want to join in and become a customer to become a member of the community.

When you work together with users in this way and you stimulate them and provide incentives for working together, you will move towards a cocreation organisation. Cocreation is not about involving a focus group to determine product features, but it is about evolving towards a decentralized organisation. 

If you want to know more about this topic, take a look at what www.MedeMerkers.be can do for you or follow @MedeMerkers on Twitter.