Creating Support Tickets - Customer Guide

Creating Support Tickets - Customer Guide

What is a Support Ticket?

A support ticket is a request for help that you can submit to our team. It helps us track your issue and make sure it gets resolved.

Types of Support Tickets

You can create a support ticket for three main reasons:

1. Bug Reports

A bug is when something in our system isn't working the way it was designed to work.

Examples of bugs in our reservation system:

  • Error messages appear when trying to complete a normal action
  • The system crashes or freezes when you click a button
  • Data disappears or changes unexpectedly
  • Calculations are mathematically incorrect (like wrong totals on a bill)
  • Features that worked before have stopped working

What is NOT a bug:

  • A feature that works as designed but not how you prefer it to work
  • Something you wish the system could do but it wasn't built to do
  • A workflow that feels inefficient but functions correctly
  • A design or layout you don't like

For example: If you cannot save a reservation because the system shows an error message, that's a bug. If you can save the reservation but wish you could add more guest details, that's a feature request.

2. Feature Requests/Improvements

A feature request is when you ask for something new to be added to the system or for an existing feature to be changed.

Examples of feature requests for our reservation system:

  • Adding a new field to collect additional guest information
  • Creating a different way to view the reservation calendar
  • Adding the ability to send automated reminder emails
  • Changing how reports are generated or displayed
  • Adding integration with another system

3. General Product Questions

These are questions about how to use the system or understand its capabilities.

Examples:

  • How do I cancel a reservation?
  • Can I export my guest list to Excel?
  • How do I set up seasonal pricing?
  • What payment methods can guests use?

Support Hours

Our support team is available Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), excluding federal holidays.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

We categorize all support tickets based on their priority level, which determines our response and resolution targets.

Priority 1 - Critical

Definition: System is completely down or unusable, preventing critical business operations with no workaround available. Examples:

  • Online booking system is completely non-functional
  • Payments cannot be processed at all
  • Data loss or corruption affecting multiple reservations
  • System-wide outage

Response Time: 2 business hours Resolution Target: 1 business day

Priority 2 - High

Definition: Major feature or function is unavailable or severely impaired, significantly impacting business operations but partial workarounds exist. Examples:

  • Check-in/check-out functionality is impaired but manual processing is possible
  • Reservation creation works but with errors or limitations
  • Payment processing is intermittently failing
  • Reports critical to daily operations are not generating

Response Time: 4 business hours Resolution Target: 2 business days

Priority 3 - Medium

Definition: System is operational but with limited functionality or performance issues that impact efficiency. Examples:

  • System performance is slow but usable
  • Non-critical reports or features not working as expected
  • Minor display or interface issues affecting usability
  • Feature requests that address existing limitations

Response Time: 1 business day Resolution Target: 5 business days

Priority 4 - Low

Definition: General questions, cosmetic issues, or feature requests that have minimal impact on business operations. Examples:

  • How-to questions that aren't documented in the Knowledge Base
  • Minor visual issues that don't affect functionality
  • Enhancement requests
  • Documentation clarifications

Response Time: 2 business days Resolution Target: 10 business days or scheduled for future release

How We Prioritize Tickets

We review all tickets and prioritize them based on their severity and impact on our customers:

Highest Priority Issues:

  • Problems affecting payments or financial transactions
  • Errors preventing reservation creation or management
  • Issues blocking access to guest information
  • System outages or performance issues affecting multiple users

Medium Priority Issues:

  • Bugs that have workarounds available
  • Usability problems that slow down work but don't prevent it
  • Feature requests that would benefit many customers

Lower Priority Issues:

  • Minor visual or cosmetic issues
  • Feature requests that would benefit a small number of users
  • General enhancement suggestions

Knowledge Base First Approach

Before submitting a ticket, we encourage customers to check our Knowledge Base for solutions:

  • For "how-to" questions, consulting the Knowledge Base is required before submitting a ticket
  • Tickets requesting information that is clearly documented in the Knowledge Base may be responded to with links to the relevant articles
  • For issues not covered in the Knowledge Base, please provide detailed information about the problem

How to Submit an Effective Support Ticket

  1. Choose the correct ticket type (bug, feature request, or question)
  2. For bug reports, include:
    • What you were trying to do
    • What happened instead
    • Any error messages you saw
    • Steps to reproduce the problem
    • Screenshots if possible
  3. For feature requests, include:
    • Clear description of what you want
    • Why this would be helpful
    • How you currently work around not having this feature
  4. For questions, be specific:
    • What exactly are you trying to accomplish?
    • What have you already tried?

The more detail you provide, the faster we can help you!

What Happens After You Submit a Ticket

  1. You'll receive a confirmation email with your ticket number
  2. Our support team will review your ticket
  3. We may contact you for more information
  4. You'll be notified when your ticket status changes or when we have a resolution

After-Hours Support

For Priority 1 (Critical) issues that occur outside of business hours:

  • Submit a ticket marked "CRITICAL" in the subject line
  • Send an email to technology@opencampground.com
  • Emergency support is limited to system outages and issues preventing core business operations
  • Additional charges may apply for after-hours support

SLA Exclusions

The following conditions are not covered by the standard SLAs:

  • Issues caused by customer's hardware, network, or third-party services
  • Support for customizations not implemented by OpenCampground
  • Training requests beyond basic product functionality
  • Data recovery requests due to user error
  • Issues arising during scheduled maintenance windows (announced in advance)
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