Source: Radio New Zealand
Some Xero users say a cumbersome compensation process has compounded frustration following last week’s platform disruptions.
A day after it announced record revenues, Xero is facing ongoing fallout from a week-long disruption to its accounting platform that was only fully resolved on Monday.
Some users have described the company’s compensation process as overly complex and frustrating.
Affected customers have received emails offering credits and inviting them to submit compensation claims, but several users told RNZ the process was onerous to the point of not being worth the time involved.
Brisbane-based company director James Hita and Hamilton business owner Hilke Giles said they were directed to a generic online support page that did not include a clear option to request a credit.
Users are required to submit supporting documentation for each claim, and Hita said the promised five-hour response time for queries elapsed without a reply.
He described the process as “a Band-aid on a stab wound”.
Giles said she could not understand why, as a business recovering from the disruptions, customers were required to start from scratch explaining issues on a page that “doesn’t even include ‘request a credit’ as an option”.
Xero chief executive Sukhinder Singh Cassidy Supplied/Xero
On Thursday, Hita finally received an email from Xero confirming a one-week credit would be applied to his subscription as a result of the outage.
However, Giles questioned why credits had not been automatically applied to affected accounts.
“Why couldn’t they provide a simple solution, like crediting customers for the subscription fees during the disruptions, instead of making them jump through time-consuming hoops?” she said.
Some users also expressed concern the disruption could delay tax returns, risking penalties.
New Zealand’s Inland Revenue and the Australian Taxation Office confirmed Xero had contacted them about the issue.
Both agencies said taxpayers and agents affected by the outage should contact them directly if needed, with requests to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Xero responds
RNZ sought comment from Xero, which provided the following statement:
“As our CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy shared, some customers recently experienced intermittent disruptions accessing Xero due to a combination of platform issues and the third-party services we rely on. We sincerely apologise to affected customers for the impact this had.
“Affected subscription owners have been sent a link to apply for a credit, which Xero will review and process.
“For our accounting and bookkeeping partners who own multiple subscriptions within their practice, they can log a single credit request for all affected subscriptions with only one entry.
“We have deployed fixes and our services are currently restored. Our engineering teams continue to work round the clock to monitor and resolve any further impact to our services
“We remain dedicated to providing the reliable service our partners and small business customers expect from us.”
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand