Responding to Customer Cases

When a case is created and assigned, you want to respond to the customer as quickly as possible.

If you take the support case on the phone, you can take notes in the Reply field. These notes document the advice you gave the customer. Then, set the status to Closed, and then save the case. To email the customer information from the case, enter it in the Reply field of the case record. Then, check the Send to Customer box.

Note:

Communication sent from the Reply field will use the email address specified in the Profile. This email address is intended to be used across all standard case communication to increase consistency of communication. To send an email using the email address of the person replying to the case, click Email in the Messages subtab. Then, select the required address from the Message subtab.

Cases created by customers through an online case form or external case record can be answered by entering a message in the Reply field. Check the Send to Customer box to email your response when the case is saved.

For example, Lina of Lina's Dance Studio clicks Contact Support on Wolfe Electronics' Web site to submit a case about her new Creativo computer. As soon as she submits the case, a case record is created in Wolfe Electronics with her message. When Tom Taylor, a support rep, grabs the case, he reads her question, investigates and replies to her by email using the case record. When he clicks Save, his message is emailed to Lina, and the case is closed.

To reply to a customer support case:

Go to Cases > Customer Service > Cases.
To reply to a case, click Grab next to the name of the case you want to reply to.

The case is automatically assigned to you, and you can make changes to the case record.

You cannot grab a case that has already been assigned to someone else.
In the Email field, you can enter any additional email addresses separated by commas or semicolons.

If you email the response, it is sent to the addresses entered in this field.
In the Status field, select the status of this case.

If you are currently working on the case, select In Progress.

If you are replying to the customer with a solution, select Closed.
If the priority of the case has changed, select a new priority.
To copy other employees on the details of this case, select employee names in the Copy Employees field.

Email is sent when you save the case record.
On the Communication subtab, if the Customer has given you a new message, enter the message in the Message field.

Your name still appears as the author of this message.

The last message from a customer gave appears in the Message field. If you change the company or customer on this case, the last message remains from the previous company or customer.
In the Reply field, enter a solution for the case.

This solution is logged on the case record and the customer record.

Note:
To copy other recipients or add attachments to your message, email your message by clicking the Email button on the Messages subtab.
To email your reply to the contact addresses listed in the Email field, check the Send to Customer box.
If you do not want this reply to be seen by the customer, check the Internal Only box.

If you check this box, the message is sent only to employees selected in the Copy Employees field. The customer is not emailed copies of your message, and only employees can see the comments you add in the Reply field.

You can also mark previous case messages as Internal Only when viewing a case record. On the Messages subtab under the Communication subtab, click the link in the Internal Only column to toggle this setting for case messages.
To associate tasks, calls or events with this case, click the Activities subtab.

For more information, see Attaching Events, Tasks, and Calls to Records and Transactions.
If you use the Knowledge Base feature and want to attach a solution to this case, perform the following. Select it in the Insert Solution field, or click Search to find the solution you want to attach. You can click New Solution to create a new solution to add.

The text of the attached solution fills in below the text in the Reply field and is emailed with the reply.

For more information, see Attaching Knowledge Base Solutions to Cases.
If you use Time Tracking for CRM, see Tracking Time on Cases for steps on filling out the information on the Time Tracking subtab.
On the Communications subtab, click the Files subtab to attach any files associated with this case from the File Cabinet. Click the New File button to attach an external file to the case.
If you use the Issue Management feature, click the Issues subtab to create or attach an issue for this case. For more information, see Linking Issues with Cases.
To escalate a case to another employee, partner or vendor, click the Escalate subtab. For more information, see Escalating Cases.
Click Save.

Your response is added to the Messages subtab on the case record. If you checked the Send to Customer box, details of the case are emailed to the customer. In this email, the most recent message appears at the top of the message. Any prior information appears at the end of the message in Message History.

Note:

When employees creating or updating case records appear in the Company field, the notification email does not display new information from the Reply field. This information is tracked on the Messages subtab of the case record.

Most changes you make to fields are automatically logged on the Notes subtab. The subtab does not log changes to the Case Number, Date, Time, Phone, and Escalation Message fields.

By tracking this information, your employees know what kinds of questions, concerns, and problems your customers are dealing with.

For information about customizing templates for NetSuite generated email, see Customizing Templates for System-Automated Email.

To reply to a customer support case:

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