REMOVE the automatic LOCK on chat or Q &A after 24 hours, when expert used Additional Services offer to which customer has not responded.
Now experts can lock a question for DAYS by just clicking Additional Services. If customer doesn't like the initial answer or doesn't READ it and just goes away, or if the expert discretely advises (in actions or words) that no response to Additional Services offer is needed, then no other expert gets a chance to motivate more participation by customer until the expert has had a week to convince him/her that expert's answer is the only one available, so customer accepts or goes away mad or bored.
-
Andy_PhD_DABT commented
I have experienced other experts abusing this feature, and will make an Additional Services Offer and then just sit on the question and do nothing. This feature is to allow your offer to be considered before another expert tries to come in and make an offer and it seems like a fair idea, except that it should not be this indefinite lock. Also, just have it lock the ability to make an additional service offer, please don't block us out of the question totally. I had a response in a question where another expert made an offer and I couldn't respond to the customer, who was asking for my help and for me to make an additional service offer - they were very unhappy with the other expert who had locked up the question. So there was nothing I could do, but sit and watch the customer get upset. This same expert also locked up a question right away and didn't even attempt to answer the question, their first response was "still need help?" without ever having offered help in the first place. This feature is being abused and needs to be fixed to prevent this abuse.
-
Norman Brown commented
In relationships category I never offer a second answer unless I not only have a significantly different and more complete answer, but also consider myself unusually qualified to approach the question. Those qualifications may include not only degrees and specialized training and professional experience, but also unusual life experiences, like immersion in selected nonEnglish-speaking or foreign cultures or even family-of-origin influences. When another expert holds onto a question I've briefly seen in my inbox that is unusually "right up my alley," it's frustrating to guess the customer will go away convinced in the inadequacy of experts on the site.