Frequently Asked Questions

Do I receive any technical support with my product purchase?

Licenses protected by Maintenance and Support (M&S) receive unlimited, free technical support. (Active Maintenance and Support makes licenses eligible for software updates and technical support. Each new license purchase includes 12 months of M&S at no additional charge. M&S can be renewed annually or reinstated as needed.)

How do I get in contact with the Support Department?

To contact the Support Department, visit the SmarterTools website and click on the account icon in the upper right. Once logged in, select My Tickets from the dropdown. If you've submitted tickets to us before, they will be listed on this page. Otherwise, it may be blank. To start a new ticket, simply click on the New Ticket button. Then, select your license from the list. Please note that your license must have active Maintenance and Support in order to receive technical support. If there are no active licenses on your account, you will be prompted to reinstate Maintenance and Support. (If you're submitting a ticket as a Hosted SmarterTrack customer or SmarterTools Partner, select the corresponding list option instead.)

How is technical support handled?

Technical support is generally handled via email. Phone support can be requested, and is granted at the support technician's discretion. If the technician must access a server remotely in order to resolve an issue, a connection will be made via RDP/Remote Desktop or other industry-standard remote management software.

What kind of turnaround can I expect for a support ticket?

The Support Department responds to issues in the order they come in and makes every effort to give an initial response to tickets within four (4) business hours. ("Business hours" being SmarterTools' office hours). In most cases, the support staff easily meets this service level, and more often than not customers get responses within an hour. However, four (4) hours is the service level we use for internal metrics. Customers should understand that response times are based on a number of factors, including workload, severity and complexity of issues, and many other factors.

For issues of a serious nature that lead to a customer being "hard down", we offer 24x7x365 Emergency Support, which carries a one (1) hour initial response time. (NOTE: Emergency Support is non-refundable as the cost associated with the ticket ensures an initial response within one hour of submission and is NOT dependent on the resolution of the issue.)

What happens if my Emergency Support issue turns out to be a bug?

We only offer hotfixes for current versions of our products. If Emergency Support is submitted for a license running a legacy version, we will handle the request as we do any other Emergency Support request. However, if the issue is determined to be caused by a bug in the software, you MUST update to the latest version to access the bug fix.

What support options are available for legacy products?

Because we provide Maintenance and Support to ensure customers have access to the most recent features and bug fixes, we do not release minor updates or provide technical support for legacy products. Licenses without Maintenance and Support are limited to user-to-user support in the SmarterTools Community. If a license has active Maintenance and Support but is running an older version of the software, technical support will be available. However, please note that hotfixes for bug reports will only be applied to the latest supported version. To ensure the highest levels of support, customers on older versions of our products are encouraged to upgrade to the most recent release as subsequent releases not only offer new features but may include changes to how specific pieces of the product works, thereby eliminating issues seen in older versions of products.