Best Practices For Utilizing Remote Support
Preface: This article covers how to navigate the resources available as well as get your issue resolved in the most efficient manner. This is how we operate at Thunder Laser USA Tech Support and we ask that you follow these steps.
Support Guidelines:
Overview
There are many different groups, forums, and pages that are specific to Thunder Laser that we monitor and will even reply to as time permits. Support response is not guaranteed outside of the support@thunderlaserusa.com Email Ticket system.
Posting the same question in multiple places sounds like a great idea to get the widest range of responses in the shortest amount of time but it's not... Questions and answers fly around all over the threads so it's impossible to manage and aggregate the information. This is especially troublesome for the support community because a great deal of their time is used trying to provide the correct information across all the channels to mitigate any possible dissemination of unintentional misinformation.
Also, Thunder Laser machines are very different from 'other lasers'. We have proprietary systems and specific documentation and data for them. Asking Thunder-specific system questions in a non-a 'generic' group can lead to incorrect answers.
Hours Of Operation
We maintain regular business hours Monday through Thursday 8:00am to 5pm and Friday 8:00am to 4:00pm Central but still try to respond outside those hours because we truly do want to offer our Thunder Laser USA family the best experience possible. Just remember that our team needs time outside business hours too so bear with us and we will get back to you as quickly as possible. Thunder Laser also observes holidays, on those days, support would be based on availability and severity.
Workflow
We are utilizing an Enterprise-Grade service and support management Ticketing System hosted by Zoho. This system allows us to monitor support history, failure rates, and other data by client, machine, part, etc..., keep complete user and machine histories, provide digital assets in almost real-time. Zoho Systems allows for remote support sessions, 1 on 1 chat and email ticketing services.
Inefficiencies
It is terribly inefficient and difficult to provide personalized technical support on social media, text, private message, etc... We can and do answer questions on social media and other forums but those are usually more general in nature and good information for the community. If we try to troubleshoot your specific issue on social media others may inject information that takes away from our highly developed diagnostic workflow or even give you the wrong information which causes us to have to police the comments and take away from our core functions.
If you email a Thunder Employee's 'personal' email or use any social media messaging apps, we may miss them because our focus is solely on the support portal and associated systems. Thunder Laser China support team also monitors the USA support portal and responds in our system. Please refrain from CC'ing sales@thunderlaserusa.com, admin@thunderlaserusa.com or any direct emails to Thunder Laser Employees when submitting a ticket. If those parties are necessary to complete the solve of the issue, Thunder Laser Support will involve them.
Applicable Support Topics
Thunder Laser USA will try to provide the best support possible but there are things that are not technically....Tech Support. Some topics should be covered by outside sources, training etc and do not fall under the scope of Thunder Laser USA Tech Support. When those topics are submitted, we will respectfully guide you to an alternative source of information.
First Steps When You Have An Issue: Self Mitigation
Reference The Official Documentation This is the first place to start. Many of the usual issues are already answered in our self-help Knowledgebase. The documentation is updated to reflect the most recent content and we continuously publish new articles to address issues as they arise. The Knowledgebase should be the first place to look for answers. If you cannot find what you are looking for, then proceed to the next step. | |
Thunder Laser Academy Be sure to access the Thunder Laser Academy as well, you will find lots of useful videos that may solve your issue. | |
Do Your Due Diligence Be proactive! Use the search features to find a solution. Check our YouTube channel and Thunder Laser China's site. There is a good chance your issue is already documented. |
Support Avenues
Email Support: Ticket System Thunder Laser USA clients can simply email suport@thunderlaserusa.com to generate a ticket. The more we utilize this support system as the first point of Thunder Laser USA Technical and Warranty support, the more efficiently we can remedy your issues. If you are not a Thunder Laser USA client, then you should reach out to your Local Distributor or support@thunderlaser.com for the China Factory support team. You can also use the ticket submission form here at the bottom of the contact page of our main website. Be sure to enter your email in correctly, else we will not be able to reply back. | |
Phone Support We do offer phone support, just ask for a call and we will call you during normal business hours. | |
Chat Based Support Thunder Laser does have a chat offering that is monitored by a representative during normal business hours. You can utilize the chat function but it will not be the most direct of fastest way to the Technical Support Team. The chat window is a widget that pops up in your browser when you are on certain pages of the main Thunder Laser USA website. There is also an AI component to the chat that can be used (it is still building its database and functionality) that can assist with answers and auto-generate a support ticket. | |
Lightburn Software Support Lightburn questions can usually be answered by using the resources in the HELP tab in Lightburn. Their only official support channel is their forum found here: https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/. And you can email support@lightburnsoftware.com to submit a ticket. We will make every effort to assist with Lightburn issues but there will come a point where the user will be required to reach out to Lightburn support directly | |
RotoBoss Rotaries Support Rotary questions will come through the Support Ticket system just as any other issue. Upon completing diagnosis with the Thunder Team, the support may be sent to RotoBoss directly to continue troubleshooting and replacement parts | |
Premium Support For Non-Technical and Non-Warranty Issues We will always offer you our stellar lifetime support as expected. There comes a time, however, when personal instruction may need to be throttled so we can focus on maintaining the highest level of support on the most critical issues. If your solutions cannot be provided in a reasonable amount of time expending a reasonable amount of energy then you may need specialized support. This premium support is time and resource-intensive and you get the sole attention of our team. If these best practices are not congruent to your situation then reserving a block of time for one-on-one tutoring may be the answer for you. This is also a great option for teams, government, education, compliance, and train-the-trainer scenarios. | |
3rd Party Items Not Sold Through Thunder If you purchase an accessory like a Lightburn Camera, Non-Rotoboss/Thunder Rotary, Non Thunder Lens, Non Thunder Laser Tube or Power supply etc., then you will need to get the support from that vendor when it comes to warranty replacements, returns, settings etc. We will still do our best to support the operation of the machine with the components but if the failure or issue is with a 3rd party component, the client will be required to contact them to handle the situation further. |
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