I am currently working with two companies to resolve two completely
unrelated problems I am having with their respective software packages.
One company is fairly
small, doesn't use a case tracking system, and has only two technical
support staff. There are no forms, I can call or email them to start
the process. The other company is a
big one. They have a web interface to submit support requests. They
have a case tracking system. There are lots of support staff (they have
shifts they work).
I always enjoy calling the small company. The first thing we do is
make sure both they and I have the same understanding of the problem.
Once that is handled we get to work actually solving the problem. This
process has never once included them asking me to reboot machines
just to see if it solves the problem. It has included requests
for me to run cryptic debugging commands and provide them with the
results. Aside from the extensive debugging abilities they built into
their software, the most intelligent thing they do to make support
easier is to have a license to use Citrix's web based meeting
software to enable them to see and interact with their customer's
computers. I have dealt with them on perhaps a dozen issues with this
company, and all but one was resolved within a few days.
On the other hand, I have grown to hate asking for support from the
big company. I have opened nearly ten cases with them and have only had
two end with what I would call a good resolution. Those two were
simply reports of minor nuisances, one was already known about and fixed
by them in betas, the other was also known about, but a solution had not
yet been implemented. The other cases ended with varying degrees of
failure.
Most of the cases I resolved on my own through nearly blind trial and
error. A couple of thse wild experiments were actually guided by the
VMWare support tech monkey. Most of the time however, the tech
attempted to shift the blame to other companies. One tried to claim my
hardware was faulty (nevermind that the hardware went through the
manufacturer's diagnostics properly and what I was trying to do inside
the virtual machine worked outside of it). Another time I was asked to
verify that the problem occured on a fresh install of the OS with no
other software installed (yeah, as if the problem is likely to occur in
that state). Several of the techs asked me to reboot the host system
(which is kind of a pain as there are several virtual machines on the
host) to hopefully fix the problem.
My most recent
support request was closed by the support
tech as I couldn't provide any further information about the problem.
Now this case should have been put on hold as the problem as it happens
randomly, but when it does happen it makes the virtual machine unusuable
for some period of time (normally a dayish). If it weren't for the fact
that the yearly support license gets me free upgrades I don't
think I would renew next year.
