I don't need a support system... or maybe I do. Is there a support ticket system for Brick & Mortars?

January 15, 2009 1:58 PM

I am looking for a client management/help desk/support ticket... thing. Customers come into our stores with items to be repaired and I'd like to be able to allow stores to create ticket for each repair. I'd like for the system to retain information about the customer and the items they bring in... and be able to make notes to the account. What exactly am I looking for?

We do luggage & leather goods repairs.

I guess I'm looking for something similar to osTicket, but I'm not sure if it will fit our needs. We'd prefer a flexible, open source, free system. But we're open...

We'd like to be able to:

- Manage client information by keeping their information on file without duplication. Right now, this is all sitting in a database... but if Bob Smith has brought in his suitcase 4 times for repair... all of Bob Smith's information is in that database 4 times. And there's no way to update the status of any of this information. There's really only 'Open/being repaired' or 'Closed/repaired'.

- Manage different items related to the customer. Bob Smith may have 4 bags. We'd like to have notes on Bob Smith and each of his 4 bags without major duplication.

- Update the status of each ticket as it goes thru the system, so that all calls are handled at the location without having to call a certain department and getting an update. Right now, if a customer calls a store to find out what's going on, the store has to hang up, call the repair department, then call the customer back with the information.

- Create accounts and make notes to the account. Some customers try to snow the salespeople, swearing they were never told about shipping, repair costs, extra. We'd like to be able to note things of this nature and have it available to store employees.

- Accessible via the internet by employees in several locations.

Will something like osTicket work for us? Is there another help desk type product that will work for us? Am I looking in the wrong direction entirely?

posted by aristan to computers & internet (4 comments total)

I work for salesforce.com and this is exactly the kind of solution we provide. It's what we do. That said - it's not free.
I think you should be looking for a CRM system that also does service and support. Once you have all that customer data - there is a lot of other stuff you can do with it.
posted by Wolfie at 2:12 PM on January 15

Along the lines of osTicket, check out OTRS - Open Ticket Request System. They have a live demo where you can log in and try it out to see if it works for you without having to go through the setup and configuration.
posted by aGee at 3:00 PM on January 15

Even though its for Computer help desks you can always try spiceworks and see if it will work even though its for computer help desks. (ps its free)
posted by majortom1981 at 5:34 PM on January 15

About how many customers are you dealing with in, say, one year?

Intuit's Quickbase sounds like it would fulfill your needs, but it is likely larger and more expensive than you need. I would wager that Salesforce is also going to turn out to be larger and more expensive than you need.

SugarCRM is an open source option, but I don't know anything about their pricing.

I worked for a company that used Jira, but I don't know anything at all about the back end.

37 Signals has some cloud-based applications that might work for you, and I feel their price points are extremely competitive. I think that Highrise in particular is the best fit for what you seem to need, from their portfolio. I am not a technical type and I found Highrise very user-friendly and easy to customize.

That said, it might even be more cost-effective than a monthly fee to pay somebody to customize a solution for you one time -- for example, on the Google platform.
posted by pineapple at 6:37 PM on January 15