For consumer electronics brands, the post-purchase experience is where loyalty is won or lost. Customers whose TV won’t connect to Wi-Fi or whose refrigerator isn’t cooling properly doesn’t just want answers, they want resolution. 

When Tier 1 support can’t close the loop on complex technical issues, those customers are left waiting, frustrated, and increasingly likely to return the product or leave a damaging review. For manufacturers who sell exclusively through third-party retailers, that outcome is especially costly: there’s no direct relationship to fall back on, and every unresolved case is a potential return routed through a retailer.

This is the challenge a leading global consumer electronics and home appliance manufacturer faced. Its Tier 1 inbound operation, run by a separate vendor, was handling the first wave of customer contacts — but had no capacity to escalate complex cases to a dedicated Tier 2 team. The gap was real, and it needed to be filled by a partner with the operational discipline to work from a CRM-driven outbound model and the technical depth to resolve issues that Tier 1 couldn’t.

The challenge

The client manufactures and sells consumer electronics and home appliances — including televisions, soundbars, refrigerators, ovens, and air conditioning units — through major retail partners. Because the company has no direct-to-consumer retail channel, product returns and replacements flow through those third-party retailers. That makes every unresolved tech support case a potential return, a retailer complaint, or a lost customer.

The company’s existing Tier 1 support operation handled inbound calls but was not equipped to manage the more complex, multi-step troubleshooting cases that required follow-up. When a customer’s issue couldn’t be resolved on first contact, the case was logged in the CRM and then it stalled. There was no outbound Tier 2 function to pick up those tickets, work through the technical diagnosis, and close the case. 

The client needed a partner who could build and run that function from scratch: a small, specialized team capable of handling high-complexity issues across two distinct product lines, working entirely from CRM-submitted tickets via outbound voice.

What prevented the client from solving this internally was a combination of capacity and capability. The company’s existing vendor relationship covered inbound only. Standing up a separate Tier 2 function required a partner with the staffing infrastructure, training methodology, and operational systems to do it right, not just fill seats.

TTEC was selected to build and operate that function. With nearly three years of relationship tenure on this account, TTEC has demonstrated the ability to manage a lean, high-performing team in a technically demanding environment and to sustain that performance over time.

Our solution

TTEC built a dedicated Tier 2 outbound technical support team based in Duluth, Georgia, covering two product lines: home entertainment (televisions and soundbars) and home appliances (refrigerators, ovens, and air conditioning units). 

Our team operated on an outbound-only voice model, working exclusively from cases escalated through the client’s CRM system. Associates also had the ability to follow up via text or email through the CRM when needed.

Because these associates handled issues that Tier 1 couldn’t resolve, the complexity bar was higher. Troubleshooting a television connectivity issue is different from diagnosing a refrigerator cooling problem, and both require associates who can think through multi-step technical scenarios, communicate clearly with customers who are already frustrated, and close cases efficiently. To build that capability, TTEC implemented a train-the-trainer program that equipped team leads to continuously develop associate skills and maintain consistency as the team evolved.

To support ongoing performance, we deployed TTEC Perform as an internal coaching mechanism. The AI-powered platform enables supervisors to identify skill gaps in real time, deliver targeted coaching, and track associate development, ensuring that the team’s quality doesn’t erode as case volume fluctuates. At any given time, the team managed approximately 400 concurrent open cases, requiring strong case management discipline alongside technical proficiency.

The telephony infrastructure ran on a Contact Center Integration Platform (CCIP), providing a stable, reliable platform for outbound call management. The CRM served as the operational backbone — every case originated there, and every resolution was logged there, creating a clean audit trail for the client.

Results

The results from this program reflect what a well-built, well-coached Tier 2 operation can deliver when the fundamentals are right.

Our team sustained a quality score of approximately 98%, exceeding a 90% target. Quality at this level means customers got accurate, professional, technically sound support every time.

The team completed an average of 19.8 cases per day, over the most recent two-week span for which data was collected, 32% above target of 15 a day. Higher case completion rates meant fewer customers waiting, fewer open tickets aging in the CRM, and a faster path to resolution for every escalated issue.