When to use which channel
Each support channel is good at a different shape of question. Picking the right one usually saves both sides time, so here is the practical breakdown.
Telegram bot @VirtualSMSioBot: default for anything order-related — balance checks, order status, refund verification, deposit confirmation, account-level questions. The bot answers most of these directly without escalation. Account access is verified through the bot's built-in flow, so you can ask account-specific questions without sending sensitive data over the open web. This is also the channel that gets routed first to a human if escalation is needed.
Live chat widget: in-page chat for visitors who are evaluating the product or hitting an issue mid-checkout. Works during business hours (GMT+7) and is the right channel for “is this the right product for X use case?” conversations. After hours, the widget falls back to a ticket-style queue that the team picks up the next morning.
Email [email protected]: use email when the issue needs file attachments (logs, screenshots of platform-side error messages, formal correspondence) or when the request is partnership / press / enterprise API. Email also works for affiliate-program questions that need a paper trail. 24-hour response target.
Reddit r/VirtualSMS: public community for product updates, feature requests, and open Q&A where the answer is useful for more than one person. Not monitored as a private support channel — do not post account-sensitive details here.
GitHub github.com/virtualsms-io: SDK and REST API bug reports go on the relevant repository's issue tracker. The repos are public, so do not paste API keys, account IDs, or private payloads — redact those before submitting. Tag the issue as “bug” or “question” to land it in the right triage queue.
Response time expectations
We try to keep the gap between question and answer narrow. Concrete numbers:
- Telegram bot — bot-handled: typically under 60 seconds. The bot resolves the most common 80% of queries directly.
- Telegram bot — human escalation: within 24 hours, usually faster during GMT+7 business hours.
- Live chat (business hours): first response within a few minutes; after-hours messages picked up the next morning.
- Email: 24-hour response target. Same-day during business hours.
- GitHub issues: triage acknowledgement within 48 hours, fix or workaround proposal within 5-7 days for confirmed bugs.
If a question is time-critical — an active payment that is not crediting, a number that stalled mid-verification, an outbound integration failing in production — use the Telegram bot and flag the issue as urgent in the first message. The team prioritizes active-incident reports.
Business inquiries
Partnerships, press, enterprise API access, custom-rate affiliate negotiations, and integration partnerships all route through email at [email protected] with a subject prefix that helps us triage:
Partnership:— SaaS integrations, white-label proposals, reseller termsPress:— journalist or analyst inquiries, fact-check requests, interview asksEnterprise:— volume API access, custom SLAs, dedicated routing, contractsAffiliate:— custom commission rates above the standard 15%, co-marketing, traffic deals
Smaller asks (a single feature request, a quick documentation question, a how-to) are better routed through the Telegram bot — the email queue is reserved for things that genuinely need a paper trail or attachments.
