User Requests (URs) Canned Responses

[AlanOfTheBerg]

Because most drivers assume when they submit a report we get everything about their drive, which is why I tell them it's incomplete and we need more info.

Yep, totally this. I've had numerous reporters tell me either in the UR or in email that they thought we had their whole drive along with destination details. Is that a reasonable assumption on their part? Perhaps so. It's no more invalid than assuming that no data is shared or that some data is shared. Waze doesn't allow users to know via helpful in-app notices the first time they post a map issue.

[banished]

I might get the "least verbose canned response" award with, "What was the problem here, please?"

Best response I ever got was, "No problem, I just wanted the points."

Closed it as "Solved," since she got her points.

[CBenson]

I too am not sure what is the advantage of stating that "if no response is received, this report will be closed after 7 days." What you are really stating is that the report will not be closed for at least seven days. If I'm responding to a UR that has been sitting there for several months, I'm not responding by stating there is some rush to close the report.

What I am doing is including an email address with the initial response (a habit developed back when the conversation feature was less reliable). Then before I close the report, I add message that I'm closing the report. That way the reporter can still contact me if the reporter wishes to.

I also won't be using the "Destination or address at the wrong location" response. If the waze appears to be getting the wrong coordinates from a third party, then I attempt to correct the coordinates with the third party.

[CBenson]

I also find the this statement to be quite odd:

Routing servers or displays no network connection available
Hello, Thank you for your report. Waze sometimes fails to connect to routing servers or displays no network connection available when returning longer routes where the straight line distance is significantly shorter than the actual route over the roads. The common cause of this is having avoid toll roads turned on.

I see the FAQ has been edited to say essentially the same thing, but the information seems misleading to me. Waze will give me an error that it has failed to connect to the routing servers when I am not asking for a long route and when I do not have avoid toll roads on. On the flip side, when I do ask for a longer route where the straight line distance is significantly shorter than the actual route over the roads, waze does not typically give me a failed to connect to the server message, but rather waze gives me the message "Uh-oh!, Could not find a route."

[CBenson]

I disagree with your assessment, based on actual experience. I've gotten plenty of useful replies from people responding to that.

My experience is similar when using similar (although not identical) wording.

[crazycaveman]

So, do we document four approaches that have not been standardized? (OSHI with limit up front, EDGE with no limit up front, EDGE with limit up front, OSHI with no limit up front.)

Or do we standardize on one first and then document it?

Why not have both? Try to get a response using the EDGE method and, if there is no response in a week, give them the heavy info, so they're a little more informed in what to include in their future reports. This gives the reporters a chance to engage without feeling overwhelmed at the outset and gives us editors a chance to provide feedback on what info we're looking for, even if the user doesn't respond to our initial inquiry.

[Daknife]

I'd suggest moving this to the US forum rather than stickying in every state forum as every editor can use those responses. I like them.

[Daknife]

General Error:
Hi, I am a volunteer editor for Waze. Can I ask what went wrong here?

Incorrect turn direction:
Hi, I am a volunteer editor for Waze. Can I ask which turn was wrong and why?

So you are saying my "Hi, I am a volunteer editor for Waze. What the Hell do you want me to do about this?" standard initial response is flawed in it's approach?

How about something more along the lines of" "Hi, I am a volunteer editor for Waze. I do apologize that you seem to have had some difficulty with the navigation functions. However; the GPS gods are never wrong so I am unable to address your concern. Perhaps if you sacrifice an iPhone 5S to the toilet at midnight of the next new moon you will get convince the GPS gods to give you better results."
Will that work better?

[Daknife]

Ditto to Superdave, Txemt and Alan. The fact that at best we get a few hundred meters of their route, but often don't even get that much data, means we are often missing key information that would clue us into the real problem.

For example on the Jolly Drivers thread, there was a recent question about a UR (actually a series of UR's probably by the same driver, Where Waze was repeatedly telling the driver to take the next Michigan left and head back the way they came. Based on just one or two of the UR's it looked like Waze was trying to train the user to drive NASCAR by having him drive endless loops. Only by zooming out did I hypothesize that maybe Waze wanted to take him to the near by freeway. But based on the tiny amount of data that Waze gives us, that is merely a guess as to why Waze kept insisting the user turn around.

When a UR gets a comment, we users get that comment back in both email and in the client. I have no problem at all with being a little verbose (well I don't have that problem anywhere). Details get problems solved. Telling a user that the report was short on details is only going to make our volunteer jobs easier. And telling the users that we are only volunteers will cut back on snarky or rude replies when we do ask for more information to solve a problem. If an area does get soooo many UR's a week, then increasing the detail will help editors identify problems that can be fixed and those that cannot but will just keep repeating. Allowing for quicker closure of the unfixable repeat reports. And better focus on the real problem areas, getting them fixed and cleared quicker as well. That and hard time frames. No reply in seven days? Close it to focus on newer reports.

[Daknife]

Check your data MGODLEW they get the points when they make the report, regardless of what or even when we get to their UR. As Orbitc stated two posts before yours.