Customer service is something we don’t really think about until we run into an issue and struggle to get in touch with a support agent. This is annoying enough when a toaster stops working at breakfast, so what happens in a high-stakes situation like business VoIP?

If you don’t want to miss customer calls and risk damaging your company’s reputation then being able to quickly get support for the problem at hand is of utmost importance.

In this article, we’re going to show you the five ways you can reach Nextiva support.

 

 

 

1. Nextiva Support via Live Chat

Nextiva’s live chat operating hours for non-customers are the same as the phone support hours that we’ll go over in the next section. All plans offer 24/7 customer support, however. To test their speed and skill, we requested support via their live chat widget at 4:38 PM Arizona time.

[Note: Nextiva is based in Arizona as are their operating hours.]

We were given the option of choosing between either sales or support and, after choosing support, a chatbot instantly responded with a choice:

“We are currently experiencing higher than normal support volume, and wait time may exceed 30 minutes. Would you like to?”

While giving us an estimate upfront is definitely the way to go about it, this wasn’t the most promising start. However, much to our surprise, within 30 seconds of agreeing to wait a support agent immediately connected and requested our Nextiva number.

Upon telling him that we’d like to open an account, he informed us that the matter would be best handled by the sales team and offered to connect us. Within 30 seconds our chat widget connected to a member of the sales team without any manual input needed.

The new agent was able to see the previous messages which saved us from having to retype what we’ve already said. After verifying our business name and the number of licenses we need, he transferred us to Tatum P. from the “pro team” of the sales department.

As per usual, this took less than 30 seconds. Two transfers may seem like a lot but considering they were quick and required no action on our end, it wasn’t much of a bother. We don’t mind enduring a mild case of hot potato if it means we’ll be able to talk to the right agent for the job.

Tatum apologized for the transfers, introduced himself, and said he’d read the messages so far to get up to speed. Shortly after he gave us his direct information and asked if we’d like to hop on a call or continue through the live chat.

We told him that we’d rather do this via chat and requested that he send a transcript after the call. He agreed and even taught us how to request a transcript from the live chat menu itself which was quite helpful.

Tatum then explained that Nextiva provides a full implementation team to customers to help with device registration, employee training, network testing, and number porting all free of charge. He asked us what model our current desk phones were.

We responded that we didn’t know the exact model but knew they were compatible from past experience and would like to order 40 first-party Nextiva phones to expand our team. He told us that was fine and it would only take 10-15 minutes to get each device up and running.

When we asked about phone rentals, he informed us that Nextiva was running a promotion that provides one free desk phone — either a Nextiva X-835 or a Polycom VVX 250 — with any one-year contract.

He also informed us that rental phones would cost $4/month for each unit and requires a three-year contract. After that, he asked the key question of which features are a priority to our company. We told him call routing, analytics, and video conferencing were our core needs.

Tatum told us that Nextiva has full call routing capabilities including IVR, an analytics portal with uncapped storage capacity, and a native video conferencing platform to cover all our needs. Based on our feature requirements, he recommended the Enterprise Plan.

For 100 licenses, he told us our plan would cost $1,995/month and that Nextiva would provide 40 devices free of charge if we commit to a one-year contract (with us covering the shipping fees, of course.)

The subscription may be pricey but it was a genuine recommendation based on our specified needs rather than a shameless upsell and when you factor in the provided hardware valued at thousands of dollars, this is a pretty good deal for 100 licenses.

Beyond this, he even offered us three free months of service so we wouldn’t have to pay two subscriptions at once while we transition over from our existing provider. We asked him if there was anything else we should know before we end the chat.

He closed with these five benefits Nextiva can offer us:

  • 1. Full project management
  • 2. Unlimited Training
  • 3. Enterprise 24/7/365 support
  • 4. Two dedicated points of contact for the lifetime of you staying with Nextiva (outside of 24/7 support)
  • 5. Most reliable network in the US rated and vetted by multiple different companies.

Tatum also emailed over all the references to back these claims up.

Overall, our chat was informative, streamlined, and centered around customer success. All three agents were friendly, polite, knowledgeable, and quick to respond so we give Nextiva top marks on the quality of their online customer support.

 

Nextiva support chat window

 

 

2. Nextiva Support via Phone Line

You can contact Nextiva’s support team at 800-285-7995 between the hours of 5 AM and 6 PM Arizona time on weekdays. The schedule is shifted forward by an hour on Saturdays and Sundays making it 6 AM to 6 PM.

 

Nextiva support options - phone, email. live chat

Bear in mind, there are no 24/7 hotlines so if you find yourself with a problem outside of their operating hours then be sure to reach out via another channel. Alternatively, submit a ticket so they can respond when office hours resume.

 

 

3. Submitting a Ticket

While not the fastest route, you can reach out to Nextiva support by submitting a ticket. You’ll need to fill in basic account information like your name, email address, contact number, and security PIN.

The 4-digit PIN allows Nextiva agents to access your account and try to diagnose or resolve the issue. You also have the option to indicate whether or not your service is down to ensure that Nextiva support can prioritize your ticket over less urgent queries.

 

How to submit a ticket to Nextiva

 

 

4. Social Media Inboxes

When we tried messaging Nextiva on Facebook, there was no Messenger chatbot to greet us with an automatic response. That being said, our message (sent at 8:35 PM Monday in Arizona time) received a response 12 hours later at 8:43 AM Arizona time.

Next-morning support is pretty reasonable considering we messaged them almost three hours past their customer service team’s operating hours. This serves as a reminder that Facebook Messenger isn’t the way to go if you run into an urgent problem at midnight.

We also tried reaching out via Twitter by sending a private message to the official @Nextiva account but, as of yet, there has been no response. We will update this article if we do get a reply and state the amount of time it took.

 

 

 

5. Knowledge Base

There’s a lot of useful information across the knowledge base and guide pages that might be able to help you resolve issues without the need for live support. Account setup, phone management, and mobile app instructions are just a few resources you’ll find.

If you’re having a software-related issue then the product guide section is your best bet. On the other hand, hardware issues could be dealt with by looking at the phone guides that Nextiva has published.

 

Nextiva knowledge base

 

 

Conclusion

Nextiva is one of the business phone services that has truly mastered the art of multi-channel support, facilitating self-service, and putting customer success at the forefront. Regardless of which plan you choose, you’ll be getting your money’s worth from the support perspective.

Do note that every company is able to manage excellence in this facet of running a business. To see what a less polished customer support experience looks like, check out our brutally honest Waiting for Mitel article.