Beacon Test Customer Support Playbook

Beacon Test Customer Support Playbook

Effective Date: June 25, 2026
Document Owner: Customer Operations

Support Tiers
Tier 1 handles account access questions, basic billing questions, document upload guidance, and general product navigation. Tier 1 should respond to new tickets within 4 business hours. Tier 2 handles integration errors, failed document processing, search quality issues, and permission troubleshooting. Tier 2 should respond within 1 business day. Tier 3 handles suspected product defects, security-sensitive issues, data integrity concerns, and incidents affecting multiple customers. Tier 3 response time is 4 business hours after escalation.

Escalation Rules
Escalate to Tier 2 when a customer reports repeated upload failures, incorrect department visibility, missing citations, or search answers that contradict source documents. Escalate to Tier 3 when a customer reports unauthorized document access, suspected account takeover, production outage, data loss, or billing charges that appear duplicated. Security-sensitive escalations must be sent to security@beacontest.example immediately and tagged as security review in the support ticket.

Customer Communication Standards
Support replies should be concise, specific, and include the next action. If the issue is under investigation, the reply must include the current owner and the next update time. For Sev 1 incidents, customers should receive an initial acknowledgement within 30 minutes and status updates every 60 minutes until the incident is resolved or downgraded. For Sev 2 incidents, customers should receive an initial acknowledgement within 2 business hours and status updates every business day.

Refund and Credit Guidance
Support may not promise refunds without approval from Finance. Billing credits under $500 require Support Manager approval. Credits of $500 or more require Finance approval. Refund requests should include customer name, invoice number, requested amount, reason for refund, and supporting notes. Send approved refund requests to billing@beacontest.example.

Knowledge Base Maintenance
Support agents should flag outdated help articles when customers ask questions that are not answered by existing guidance. The Customer Operations team reviews flagged articles every Friday. New knowledge base articles should include the target audience, symptoms, resolution steps, related product area, and date reviewed.