Although TikTok is a wonderful app, it is not without its problems.
Between videos being taken down unfairly for community guideline violations, accounts that need to be reported and simple technical problems that need addressing, you may find yourself needing to get in touch with TikTok’s support team.
But how good is TikTok’s customer service? Do they even respond to support tickets and if so, how long does it usually take?
In this article, I’ll cover everything you need to know.
Does TikTok Respond To Support Tickets?
TikTok does respond to certain types of support tickets, but whether or not you’ll receive a response seems to be a complete hit-or-miss.
Based on my experience interviewing different groups of TikTokers, some received thoughtful responses in a timely manner, while others claim that TikTok has refused to acknowledge them at all even after sending dozens of different support tickets.
Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be any way to predict whether or not you’ll ever hear a response back.
It is a shame that a brand that has grown to be as successful as TikTok does not seem to have a level of customer service to adequately satisfy its userbase. Though to be fair, TikTok undoubtedly receives an enormous volume of support tickets that are a complete waste of time.
Pick any silly little thing someone might complain about, and you’ll realize TikTok probably receives hundreds of tickets about it every single week.
However, we certainly do know that TikTok responds to some tickets – so why do some receive responses, while others go completely ignored?
Factors That May Determine Whether You Receive A Response
Chances are, TikTok has some sort of prioritization in place for their support tickets.
Even a company as large as ByteDance (which owns TikTok) has limited resources. They can only respond to so many tickets per day, and they want to make sure their customer support team are having as large of an impact as they possibly can.
TikTok obviously doesn’t share how their support team prioritizes tickets, but we have a few theories.
1. The Seriousness Of The Issue
It goes without saying, but urges that are extremely serious or extremely urgent are more likely to be taken care of quickly.
TikTok cares a lot more whether somebody has admitted to planning a crime for example, than Sally’s complaint that she doesn’t like someone’s profile picture.
To address how serious a support ticket is, you have to ask yourself a few questions:
- Would this thing be bad for TikTok’s image?
- How many accounts does it affect? For example, a technical bug could impact thousands of other TikTokers (or even more!)
- Is this issue really something TikTok is suited to take care of?
- For community guideline violations, how serious was the violation?
- How much does this affect TikTok’s bottom line?
Moderators of other social networks (such as Facebook) have mentioned that they’ve seen things so horrible, that it gave them PTSD. You complaining that someone has shown a bit too much cleavage isn’t likely to be a huge priority for them.
2. Your Account Size
Say what you will, but it doesn’t really make financial sense for TikTok to treat all users equally. It’s unfair, but that’s what it is.
If your account has 15 followers and your TikToks are only viewed by your closest friends, your issues may be taken less seriously than a mega influencer with 700,000 followers, of which many come to TikTok specifically to view their new content.
If both of you are experiencing a technical issue posting new TikToks for example, than it is much more urgent for TikTok to sort things out for the mega influencer.
It also has a much bigger impact if that person were to quit TikTok entirely due to poor customer support.
Therefore, it’s likely that the larger your account is, the more likely you are to receive a response to any customer support inquiries.
That being said, we have even heard of accounts with over a million followers still not receiving responses back – so it is not necessarily a guarantee.
3. Luck
Plain old fashioned luck may have something to do with it.
As you might imagine, TikTok likely has surges of customer support inquiries, as well as times when there aren’t so many.
It’s not as if they fire their support staff during these slow periods.
Therefore, if you send a ticket in during these times, it would increase the likelihood that it may be responded to (or at least investigated.)
Of course, we have no idea of knowing when those times actually are.
How Long Does It Take For TikTok To Respond To A Support Ticket?
It should be noted that just because you don’t receive a response, does not meant that the issue isn’t being investigated and dealt with.
If 10,000 people report a technical issue for example, they may release a bug fix without ever contacting all of those people back.
Still, you might be wondering. How long do responses take?
Typically, you can expect a response back from TikTok within a few business, though it may take longer than a week in some cases.
This is true whether you contact them from their website, or use the ‘Report a problem’ button within the TikTok app.
However, even if responses take longer than expected, you should avoid sending them repeated tickets. Not only will this not help (your original ticket isn’t lost, just hasn’t been addressed yet), but it will also slow down the ticket system for everyone else.
We’ve read stories of some people sending literally hundreds of support tickets to TikTok for the same issue.
No wonder so many people never get a response back!
Conclusion
Although TikTok isn’t known for having exceptional customer support, they do indeed respond to support tickets.
While not every ticket receives an answer, your chances are likely increased if your issue is particularly serious.
Additionally, just because a support ticket has gone unanswered does not mean the issue isn’t being investigated.
Thank you for reading. If you have any stories or personal experiences to share, please share them using the comment form below. Your thoughts will help make this article better for everyone.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister
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