New chat feature

[andreastill.gen]

Okay, I'm not entirely sure if this is new but I noticed the small green bar at the bottom of the home page screen for the first time late this afternoon and thought I'd give it a try to resolve an issue. Success on getting immediate assistance but not so good news on my outstanding FF test from batch 579.

Super feature - I was able to chat with a rep without having to get on the phone and annoy my 2 year old who would have been at me wondering if I was on the phone with his cousins.

[jbarry6899]

Hmm,

I don't seem to have that feature on my home page. Do others have it?

[andreastill.gen]

I think it said beta or trial. I can't remember. I've heard of another feature being offered as a beta but only to a handful of users. A thread below mentioned a new family tree feature is being beta tested but only for 5% of users. Maybe it is the same with the chat feature?

Oh and the green bar now says 'contact us'.

[TaylorT]

Hi all,

We are currently beta testing a live chat tool as a means of providing faster assistance to customers with immediate needs or simple questions.

The goal is to provide a more efficient channel of communication that doesn't force customers to wait on hold for several minutes or wait several days for an email response, depending on our email volume.

In general, you'll begin seeing a lot more beta testing of big features prior to their full release. Some bugs and issues do not manifest themselves until a feature has been released to the live website and a beta test is a great way to catch those problems before they affect our entire customer base. myOrigins, the Family Tree, and live chat are all examples of this.