Our last blog post from two weeks ago outlined all of the options to get support. If you've struck out trying to solve an issue yourself and you do need to contact support--being prepared will make the experience go a lot more smoothly. The guidelines outlined in this post are mostly about preparing to contact support during busy season, but they are helpful any time you find yourself needing support. Before you contact support however--make sure you are calling the right department. During busy season, all queues will have a long wait time. You don't want to add to that by waiting in a queue and finding out when someone does answer that you were waiting to talk to the wrong person. Here are some simple descriptions for the departments and what each handles: Sales : If you need to purchase a support plan, renew an existing plan, or need to buy new add-on services, you need to talk to Sales. They can answer basic questions about the software, but if you need to know anything specific about the software and its capabilities--you should really talk to a support analyst instead. Support: We answer questions related to the functioning of the program and will endeavor to answer questions about how to use it for your business, within certain limits. This article outlines the scope of support we provide. Service : Anything maintenance-related to your account is the responsibility of Service. You talk to them for refunds, address or contact changes, and if your customer record needs to be fixed for a payroll activation issue. Steps to prepare for contacting support 1. If you're getting an error message, get the exact message If you're experiencing an error message, it helps the support analyst if you have the exact text. Any method you use to get this is fine. Take a picture with your phone or take the time to write the whole thing down. The best way to do this, however, is to familiarize yourself with how to take screen shots. There is an excellent article on Wikihow on how to take a screenshot in Microsoft Windows, and even covers using the Snipping tool. 2. Restart your computer (aka reboot) Now that you've gotten the exact error message and closed it, have you restarted your computer yet? It is a support cliché , but you'd be surprised how many situations get resolved by a simple reboot. Are you on a network setup? Reboot the server first and then all the stations. If you're still experiencing the problem after rebooting, then proceed to contact support. 3. Know the vital information for your account Account ID : More often than not our customer record software will be able to pull up your account ID based on the phone number you're calling from, but it's not perfect. Have your account ID handy just in case. Name: Next thing we'll ask is your name. It helps if you can spell it out after you tell us, even if you have a simple and easy-to-recognize name. That way there's no ambiguity. We do want to show you the respect of getting your name right. If it's the first time you're calling, be prepared to drop the name of one of the other contacts. 4. Know what version of the program you have loaded Some issues are only particular to certain releases--being able to tell the support analyst what version you're on helps them narrow down your issue quickly. You can find this under Help, About Sage 50 Accounting. 5. Once you're in contact with a support analyst, mention anything about your issue that you think is relevant Don't leave anything out. You don't have to sound computer savvy. If you can describe the situation in your own words we can generally figure out what you mean. It helps the troubleshooting process immensely if you can tell us what happened between the time it worked fine and now. If you did something stupid, it's ok to just own up to it. It may be embarrassing to admit, but if it saves us time figuring out what went wrong, we're not going to add to your embarassment--unless you did something like get rid of all your backups. :) 6. Know how to turn off your firewall, antivirus, and/or your internet security program. There are a lot of these kinds of programs, and unfortunately we can't keep up with how to operate all of the internet security programs out there. The better security programs are more aggressive, but that means that they can also block legitimate processes. If your Sage software isn't functioning properly, we need to be able to eliminate these programs as a cause. The quickest way to do that is for you to know how to turn a security program completely off.. 7. Downloading vs. Installing. If you want to be walked through the installation process, be sure to download the program first. The download link is here. If you're not sure of the difference between downloading and installing, think of the Sage program as an appliance, like a dryer, and your computer as a house. An appliance has to be installed in your house in order for it to work. Before you install the appliance, though, it has to be delivered to your house. The same is true of your software, and the delivery part is called downloading. 8. If you're calling in to support, prepare your computer for us to be able to easily remote in Only telephone support analysts have access to Webex, the software we use to remote in to computers. If the support analyst decides it will be more expedient to remote in to your computer, there are a few things you can do beforehand to prepare your computer to connect successfully. Make sure you're on the latest version of your browser. If trying one browser isn't working, try a different one. Chrome download Firefox download Internet Explorer is typically upgraded by Windows Update. Java must be enabled in your browser: The article is here . If you're on a Microsoft Server OS and you only have Internet Explorer, be sure to turn off Enhanced Security Configuration. Here are links to articles on how to accomplish that in the various Server OS versions: 2003 2008 2012 If you know your connection is slow, make sure everyone on your internet connections stops using it
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