Step 1 of 10
Northstar Home Services
Northstar Home Services is a fictional home-services business that sells service plans and related products online. It receives support requests through email and chat.
You're the beginner support VA working under documented policies and escalation rules. Treat this like a real queue: understand, investigate, decide, respond, document, follow up, and close.
Every task below reuses a skill from one of the 13 lessons — this is where they come together.
Triage
Classify these 12 fictional cases by issue type. Pick a category for each, then check your answer.
0 of 12 checked.
Investigate
Order history: Order #55231, placed Aug 3. Carrier record: delivered Aug 17, 10:03 AM, no signature required, left at front door. No prior contacts on this order.
Policy excerpt: For delivered-but-not-received claims under $200, offer a replacement after confirming the delivery address matches the order and at least 24 hours have passed since delivery (in case of late scanning).
Respond
Write a response for each of these six cases.
Escalate
Looking back at the 12 cases from Task 1, identify three that require escalation and explain why.
Document
Write concise internal ticket notes for five cases — facts and actions, not judgments.
Metrics
| Metric | This week | Last week |
|---|---|---|
| First response time | 3.8 hrs | 2.4 hrs |
| First contact resolution | 58% | 70% |
| CSAT | 85% | 90% |
| Backlog | 39 open | 18 open |
| Escalation rate | 11% | 7% |
AI
Use AI for one appropriate fictional support task in this queue — for example, drafting one of the six responses above, or summarizing the doorbell case from Task 2. Verify the output against the source material.
Security
What's the right response?
Final submission checklist
Check each item honestly against the 8 tasks you just completed.
You've finished the course.
All 13 lessons and the Final Simulated Support Queue are done. Together with your 13 lesson work samples, this project completes your 14-piece starter Customer Support VA portfolio.
Remember: these are training work samples from a fictional practice environment — genuinely useful evidence of what you practiced, but not paid client work or proof of real experience. Present them that way.