UNorth United States

Service Level Agreements
UNorth is committed to providing state-of-the-art customer support. Our support policy trouble calls ensures that problems are solved within short time frames so our customers enjoy full services at all times. However, in the day-to-day management of running an extensive global network, temporary loss of service may occurs. With our Escalation Policy, problems are addressed in the shortest time-frame possible. All SLAs and support services are subject to Unorth's Terms of Service.
 
Initial Ticket/Call
When a customer creates a ticket via online submission, email, or contacts the Technical Support Center, UNorth's front-line support engineer gathers the details of the problem and opens a support ticket. Most problems are resolved at this stage, usually within 20 minutes. If the problem involves more complex activity or customization, the customer is given a support ticket reference number and an explanation of what action is being taken. If the problem is resolved, the ticket is placed on-hold for 12hours in which will be automatically closed, while customer confirms the resolution.
 
First Level Escalation
If the problem is re-opened while the ticket is on-hold or it is not resolved within the first hour of effort the Support Engineering specialist has not resolved the problem to the customer's satisfaction, an escalation specialist, trained in more complex problem scenarios, troubleshoots the problem. Detail of the activity and estimated time for resolution is sent to the customer
 
Second Level Escalation
If the First Level Escalation engineer is expecting the support ticket to reach resolution in greater than six hours, the ticket is escalated to the supervisor on-call to plan the collaboration effort with the Support engineering Specialists and reduce the resolution time. The Support Engineering specialist contacts the customer with a status update on frequent (or fixed) interval upon customer's request.
 
Third Level Escalation
Once a support ticket has been open for eight hours, the Support Engineering team leader escalates the situation to the on-call Branch Lead to ensure management awareness of any serious or ongoing problems.
 
Forth Level Escalation
If a problem remains unresolved to the customer's satisfaction after twelve (12) hours, the details of the problem are escalated to the Director of Service and Operations. Broader network issues will be escalated more quickly. Depending on the complexity involved, a 'tiger-team' will be setup to  analyze the issue. They will work around the clock to reach the resolution and may escalate to vendor if needed.
 
The above Escalation Policy applies to critical problems, which are high-speed connections that have a complete loss of connectivity or service. For less critical problems, such as temporary inaccessibility,  latency, packet loss, server issues, the resolution process follows the same Escalation Policy, except notification times vari depending on the priority of the problem.
 
The Escalation Policy is designed to ensure that all parties are notified and updated with current status information from the moment a service problem is discovered. It is this commitment to keeping everyone "In the Loop" that allows UNorth Canada to work as a team with our customers and suppliers to provide the highest quality service and support. From time to time, issues maybe on a broader range outside of Unorth's Network, such as problems associated with Communications Company, or Customer's ISP Network. In this case, we escalate the problem with in high-priority to the associated Network and, although we cannot guarantee a specific time to reach resolution, we will follow-up with appropriate contacts to resolve the case as quickly as possible.
 

Customer Testimonial

"EXCELLENT. EXCELLENT. EXCELLENT. UNorth took this job and treated it like I was their largest client. Project Manager, Dan, was professional and went way out of his way to provide a great product. I have used many providers and this was one of my most positive experience."
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