Hours leave your balance at one moment only, and several things people expect to cost hours do not.
What costs nothing
- Reading the knowledge base. Self-service answers always cost zero hours.
- Raising a ticket.
- Receiving a proposal from a consultant, or discussing the time it should happen.
What costs hours
Hours are deducted when you accept a consultant's proposal. A proposal cannot be accepted until you and the consultant have agreed a time, so nothing is taken from your balance before the work is actually scheduled. The number deducted is the number of hours stated in the proposal you accepted.
Who accepts
Whoever did not make the latest time offer is the one who can accept it. If a consultant proposes a time, you accept; if you counter with a different time, they accept. A counter-offer is a commitment, so the moment either side closes it the hours are committed too.
Seeing what was spent
Your balance and the history behind it are under Hour balance, which records what was deducted and against which ticket.
If this does not answer your question, raise a ticket and we will pick it up. Reading the knowledge base costs you no hours.