Bugs are annoying… we get that. What is even more annoying is needing to document a bug that that is not your fault. But a few more minutes spent when lodging a support ticket, will save you time in the long run.
Why does support ask so many questions?
The support team is here to help! We strive to be experts in everything to do with our software. But despite this, we need help to understand what a user is doing and what the software is doing in response.
What information should I include?
Short answer - everything!
If you are unsure if something is useful, send it anyway.
Useful things to include
Screenshots
Screenshots are the single most helpful thing that you can send in a ticket. When taking the screenshot, take the largest screenshot possible. A key piece of information might be in the screen, but not where the error or issue is shown. Zooming out as far as possible will give the support team the maximum information.
Reproduction steps
These are a step-by-step guide showing the steps you followed for the issue to occur. An example:
I opened up Chrome and went to https://burst.transmitsms.com/
I logged in using my bob@burstsms.com account
I clicked the Settings link
Instead of the settings, I saw a 500 error
This will help the support team understand where you are and what you are trying to do.
Be sure to test these steps before you send. If you find it difficult to flow the steps, then it is likely that the support team will also have trouble.
Don't want to write reproduction steps?
No problem! A video is even better.
Thanks to streaming, there are many free screen capture programs and browser extensions that can record what you are dong on your screen.
Here are two examples:
Loom - https://www.loom.com/
Screencastify - https://www.screencastify.com/
Log files
If you are using another program to send the SMS, such as Zapier, JobAdder, Zoho, Oracle, etc, then there might be logging on that software. Logging typically has more detailed information than on screen error messages. If you are unable to easily find if that program has logging, take a look in its help articles.
Accurate dates and times
Knowing exactly what time an issue occurred can help us find corresponding information in our system logs. Please be sure to include the time-zone as we have customers all over the world.
URL’s
What is the URL where the issue has occurred?
API parameters
If if the error occurs from an API transaction, the API parameters are essential.
Account information
The best information here is your account ID. This can be found in the top-right of the Settings of your Burst SMS account.
If you cannot provide it, the email address you use to login is a great substitute.
Browser details
Although rare, some issues will only occur in certain browsers. The browser that you are using may not match the browser that the support team will initially test in. If possible, also include the browser version and any add-ons installed.
Things to avoid
Jargon
Acronyms
How do you reach support?
If you have screenshots or video's, the best way to reach us is via email at helpdesk@burstsms.com
This will automatically create a support ticket and notify the support team.
You can also use live chat on any of our help pages, or if you are in a location with a local number, you can find the number to use help line here: http://go.burstsms.com/