Escalation process
By Ana Ruiz · created 7 Feb 2022, 09:30 UTC · last updated 24 Sep 2026, 13:10 UTC · version 9
escalationsupportplaybook
When something is stuck, or a customer is upset, move it up early. Nobody gets in trouble for escalating too soon.
Levels
| Level | Who | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Support engineer (Yusuf, Pia) | Every ticket starts here |
| 2 | Support lead (Ines) and the account's CSM | No answer within the response time; a bug; the customer asks for a manager |
| 3 | Engineering | A bug confirmed in the product: Ines raises an ENG bug and links it, and the topic goes on the Support board's "Needs engineering" list |
| Incident | On-call engineer (OPS project) | Many people can't sign in, notices stop, data looks wrong. Severity per Incident response |
| Account | Ana, then Rafael or Quinn | A customer threatens to leave, or a go-live is at risk |
Rules
- Requests that look stuck or lost get engineering the same day. Brakeline's six Leeds requests (SUP-1184) looked lost and weren't; we only knew because Ines asked the same morning.
- Tell the customer what happens next and when you'll write again, even when you don't know the answer yet.
- Label the topic Escalation in Emargen so the Customers board shows it.
- Post in #cs-escalations on Slack for anything at level 2 or above.
After
Within a week of a level 3 or account escalation, the CSM writes three lines on the customer's page: what happened, what we told them, what we changed.