Introduction
Getting Started
When you purchase our services and products, you automatically agree to follow the guidelines outlined in this guide. If you decide to keep using the service beyond the initial period, please ensure you're aware of the most up-to-date version of the guidelines in this Service Usage Guide.
For Resellers and Distributors
If you're a Reseller or Distributor working with GFI, you have the option to offer this service to your own customers (we'll call them "End Users"). To do this, you need to have a separate agreement with GFI Software and combine the service with your own offerings. Keep in mind that you can only sell this service to End Users who agree to follow the rules in this Service Usage Guide. It's essential to make sure that these rules are clearly communicated in your agreements with your End Users. If there are any issues and the rules weren't communicated properly, you'll need to address any concerns from your End Users or other parties.
This guide refers to both Resellers/Distributors and End Users as "Customers". Remember, this guide is here to help you navigate using our service smoothly and effectively. If you have questions, contact our support team for assistance.
Supported Products and Eligibility
Customers who possess an active and valid software subscription and utilize the latest product version qualify for software support. Additionally, customers holding a hardware box purchased from GFI Software are eligible for both hardware support and Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) services for all currently active models within the hardware warranty period.
About GFI
The Best IT Solutions for Small and Medium Businesses
Rather than design products for large enterprises and adjust them to meet the needs of smaller entities, GFI Software develops enterprise-quality solutions specifically for small to medium-sized businesses (SMB).
Over 40,000 customers choose GFI solutions for security, collaboration, and network management applications. Our products provide the needed functionality to address everyday IT issues. The software is easy to download, install and configure.
GFI Software products are available through thousands of partners dedicated to serving specific countries and regions worldwide.
A Great Team of Global Talent
Our team members are able to work from anywhere in the world. This approach to corporate structure enables our people to create their own optimal working environments so they can focus on creating value and ensuring customer success.
What's more, by having a 100% remote workforce, our carbon footprint is much smaller than the average in-house organization.
About GFI's Support Maintenance
At GFI Software, we believe it is important for our Customer Support team to exceed your expectations by providing a scalable, reliable, knowledge-centric, and customer-centric support experience. Our focus is to continuously strengthen our business partnerships by providing rapid responses to your issues, timely resolution, and appropriate communication throughout the process. This document aims to:
- Introduce you to our Customer Support
- Provide a clear overview of our support program
- Provide detailed insights into our Customer Support policies and procedures
Thank you for partnering with GFI Software.
Support Overview
An active GFI Software Subscription entitles you to the following services for all supported GFI products:
- Online Ticketing System: Including live chat to help you address issues quickly and efficiently
- Support Portal: With full access to our extensive knowledge base
- 24/7/365 Agent Support: Once a ticket is created through the Support Portal, one of our Customer Support agents specialised in the chosen product will contact you via email or phone to assist (please check below for full details of availability and response times)
- Remote Troubleshooting Assistance: For rapid problem resolution, Customer Support agents can initiate a remote web session to connect directly to your system
- Customers with hardware boxes under warranty qualify for Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA): Access to GFI's RMA process (see below for more details)
- Software Upgrades: Customers with a valid subscription get access to software upgrades containing new features and functionality relevant to a new release, in addition to fixes to known issues
- Software Updates: We are continually developing our products to provide our customers with the best functionality possible; customers with a valid subscription get access to updates providing the latest fixes to known issues within the current version of the release
- Component Updates: With an active subscription, customers are entitled to periodic updates across various components, including but not limited to Anti-Spam, Anti-Virus, Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), rules, and other content enhancements for the respective product. These updates are encompassed within your existing subscription and are designed to ensure a robust and secure user experience.
Exclusions
- Activities such as installation, de-installation, upgrades, relocation, preventative maintenance, training assistance, remote administration, or any activities or services not expressly described in this guide
- Accessories, supply items, media replacement, operating supplies, peripherals or parts such as batteries, frames, and covers or support therein
- Software troubleshooting and support of any kind, unless it is explicitly specified above or addressed in a separate service contract purchased from GFI
- Third-party software and hardware product support, unless it is covered by a separate service contract purchased
- Support for the software and hardware pre-installed or post-installed by the customer, unless it is covered by a separate service contract purchased from GFI
- Support for equipment damaged by act of nature (such as but not limited to, lightning, flooding, tornado, earthquakes, and hurricanes), misuse, accident, abuse of Supported Product or components (including but not limited to: use of incorrect line voltages, use of wrong fuses, use of incompatible devices or accessories, improper or insufficient ventilation, or failure to follow operating instructions), modification, unsuitable physical or operating environment, improper maintenance by customer (or customer's agent), moving the Supported Product, removal or alteration of equipment or parts identification labels, or failure caused by a product for which GFI is not responsible
- Advanced wireless, networking or remote installation, set-up, optimization, and configuration of applications beyond those described in this guide/service agreement
- Scripting, programming, database design/ implementation, web development or recompiled kernels
Opening a Support Ticket
Our qualified support experts provide top-tier assistance for product issues, suspected defects, and technical questions. With your subscription support maintenance, you are entitled to the following:
- Access to our comprehensive knowledge base
- Web-based case logging via our support portal
- Live Chat Support: our agents are online right now, ready to help you
- 24/7/365 technical support assistance (check below for full details)
- Specific response times as per severity
- Resolution time targets for outage issues
- An unlimited number of technical support tickets
- An unlimited number of support contacts (people within your organization with support access)
Before opening a support ticket
You may find it helpful to refer to our extensive knowledge base for the respective product for possible solutions.
Provide as much information as you can
If you decide to submit a ticket, to ensure you receive the assistance you need as quickly and effectively as possible, provide as much information as you can, even if the requested information is not marked as mandatory on the form. Also, please make sure that the contact information on your support portal profile is up-to-date.
Common reasons for delay
In ticket resolution, the most common reasons for delay are needing more information to solve the ticket and being unable to reach our customers for live troubleshooting. If you make yourself available, one of our agents will contact you to speed up the resolution of your ticket. Alternatively, please make sure to preemptively attach the following files to the ticket so our agents are able to start troubleshooting immediately:
- Debug, log, and diagnostic files
- Relevant screenshot or video showing the issue
- Detailed reproduction steps of the issue
In the "Description" field of the form, try to provide a specific description of the issue and symptoms, including:
- Affected Components and client tools
- Expected behavior
- Timeframe and frequency of the issue
Choosing priority
Priority affects the way your ticket is handled and can lead to unnecessary delays. It is important to choose the correct Priority based on the explanations below.
| Priority | Description |
| Low | Routine questions with no business impact |
| Normal | Issues of minimal organizational or business impact (the default priority for new tickets) |
| High | Issues with high organizational or business impact, affecting one or multiple users, where an effective and imminent workaround or resolution is required |
| Urgent (Severity 1) | An immediate and complete loss of core organizational or business processes where work cannot reasonably continue for a large portion of your users; selecting this priority triggers an emergency protocol that will mobilize our support and management team; please do not use it lightly |
Support coverage and response time
Once you submit your ticket, one of our product support experts will contact you within the time frame below.
| Severity | Support Hours | Response Time Goal |
| Normal/Low | 24/5 | 24 hours |
| High | 24/7 | 4 hours |
| Critical | 24/7 | 1 hour |
After initial contact
- You must ensure site-based staff is available
- The support agent will engage with you and/or your staff to troubleshoot the issue
- If the issue cannot be resolved at this level or if a product defect is found, the ticket will be escalated to the Engineering team
- If escalated to Engineering, the support agent will remain your single point of contact, providing progress reports
Remote Assistance Important Information
Once you have opened a ticket, the assigned Customer Support agent may request remote access to your systems to provide assistance. Should a session take place, kindly note that it is recorded and stored, solely for the purpose of providing the required support. By accepting remote assistance, you agree to the following terms:
Neither GFI Software nor any of its employees or vendors shall be liable for any damages caused by the remote assistance software or by the remote access into your systems while using the remote assistance software, including but not limited to indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or damages for loss of profits, loss of savings, revenue, data, incurred by customers or any third party, even if the developer has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In cases where state or country law does not allow such limitation, the liability shall in any case be limited to the price paid for the license. GFI Software and its vendors and licensors make no warranties of any kind with regard to the technical support services.
Escalation Guide
When should you escalate?
Once you have opened a ticket, you can escalate at any point during the support process if you find that:
- The priority of your issue has increased
- You are not satisfied with the service you are receiving
- You are not getting as regular responses as needed
Escalation coverage and response time
Once you have escalated your ticket, one of our product support experts will contact you within the time frame defined above, in Support coverage and response time.
How to escalate a case?
Once you've determined that you need to escalate, visit our support portal and follow these steps:
- Log in to the support portal
- Locate your case
- Click the "Escalate Ticket" button
- Select a Category
- The urgency of the issue changed
- No response to the ticket yet (or delayed response)
- Response but no further progress (the support agent does not understand the issue or does not have a solid plan for progression/resolution)
- The proposed solution did not work (continued/new performance issues, deteriorating quality of service, recurring bugs or regressions)
- Other (security/compliance issues or anything else)
- Fill out the comments box with any additional information
- Click "OK"
Escalation phone lines
Support Escalation Phone Numbers are available for escalating any open ticket with high business impact or if the support portal is not accessible. Please have your ticket number ready when you call.
Important Additional Information
Support Limitations
- GFI is not liable for any failure or delay in performance due to any cause beyond their control
- Service extends only to uses for which the Supported Product was designed
GFI Insider
Join the insider group by opening https://insider.gfi.com/ and selecting Join Group.
- GFI Insider members will receive announcements on the progress of product releases and updates, as well as access to early builds of products
- Further, GFI Product and Sales Engineering teams will be moderating and discussing options and plans midstream, allowing members to provide input in real-time.
Feature Requests
Sometimes what appears to be a defect turns out to be "working as designed". In such cases, we invite you to submit an enhancement request via our support team.
We are always interested in learning about potential product enhancements and weighing these suggestions in conjunction with our broader product roadmap and vision. However, we cannot provide guarantees to either implement or provide a timeline to fulfill enhancement requests.