email response flow not working

[grumble]

I haven't had much luck getting help from the kayako support reps, so I thought I'd post something here to see if anyone else has had similar experiences or has any ideas (and hopefully this will "motivate" kayako to get back to me).

Basically, I'm trying to set up a basic support flow that goes primarily through email. Ideally, it would work like this: the customer emails support, and the helpdesk forwards that email (as a support ticket) to the staff; then the staff respond to that support email, and this response is logged in the helpdesk and sent back to the customer. In this way both customer and staff should be able to carry on a support dialogue without either actually having to log on to the helpdesk (of course, to do more administrative things like adjust the ticket's status, priority, etc, the staff can log in to the helpdesk -- the point is just that it's possible to carry on support without actually logging in).

So I've set up an alert rule in the helpdesk such that the staff is emailed whenever a new ticket arrives, and whenever a client replies to an old ticket. This seems to be working pretty much as it should.

The problem is that when the staff responds to one of these alerts, the helpdesk interprets the response as a "client reply." So the actual client receives nothing, and the staff receives a new alert email that contains the contents of her own response.

It seems likely to me that the fact that the helpdesk interprets the staff's response as a "client response" is related to the fact that this response never makes it to the customer. But it's not at all clear to me what I can do to remedy this situation.

Any ideas?

[Varun Shoor]

Just make sure that the email address set in staff profile matches the one from which the staff is responding.

If the issue persists, then you should perhaps check to see if Message-ID checking is enabled in Settings > Tickets.

Regards,

Varun Shoor

[Racked Hosting]

I think it's the case issue which is already fixed in the latest CVS version.

[grumble]

Great, it looks like it's working now -- it turns out that it was an issue with the capitalization in the email address (possibly a bug?)

Anyway, thanks for your help!

[Racked Hosting]

yep, it was case sensitive earlier. So, email@domain.com was not treated as Email@domain.com. It was fixed by Varun few days ago in the CVS build.

[grumble]

Ok, maybe I spoke too soon. After one successful test, it's failing again. And the cases are all fine in the staff settings now. You can see it in the attached image: The first post in the image is from the staff member, then, after the customer response, the same email is listed as a "recipient." How can this be?

[Racked Hosting]

Just re-check the from email in your email client. Is it the same as what you have entered in Kayako? Also, which version are you using?

[grumble]

No the emails are identical in the email client and kayako. I'm using version 3.04.10.

[Racked Hosting]

I advise you to open a ticket as it'll need access to your system to check this.

[grumble]

I actually already have a ticket open (but no one has responded to it yet). SHould I open a new ticket?

[Racked Hosting]

No, don't open a new ticket and don't bump the present ticket. It will only lower your ticket priority. Kayako offices are closed now (5:45AM here in India). They should open in 4.5 hours.

[grumble]

Ok then, thanks. Is there any way that I can convey some of this exchange to them so support has a bit more info?

[Racked Hosting]

Hehe, tricky problem. What had you posted in the ticket?

[grumble]

Just the initial problem (posted here in the initial post) -- I hadn't mentioned the case-sensitivity issues. We actually opened a ticket on this issue a week ago, and after not getting any responses since Nov 29th, I created a new ticket. I haven't yet gotten any responses to this newer support ticket either. Any suggestions?

[Racked Hosting]

Create a new ticket with this issue. Even though the case sensitivity bug is fixed in the latest CVS, the system should work if the case matches. Give them all possible info to access your support sytem.