Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!tank!uwvax!shorty!thurm From: thurm@shorty.CS.WISC.EDU (Matthew Thurmaier) Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix Subject: Re: SCO customer service Keywords: Service runaround frustration gouging Message-ID: <8292@spool.cs.wisc.edu> Date: 6 Sep 89 02:24:39 GMT References: <1009@polari.UUCP> <24@nstar.UUCP> Sender: news@spool.cs.wisc.edu Reply-To: thurm@shorty.cs.wisc.edu (Matthew Thurmaier) Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept Lines: 60 I have observed several comments about SCO's support services on the net. I have been using SCO's product for about 4 years now, and have used 386/ 286, and even 8086 versions of XENIX, as well as UNIX V/386 from SCO. Over these years, I have used their support quite alot. Some times it is frustrating, so much so that I once started to use another vendor myself. At that point someone at SCO pointed some things out to me and I have been very satisfied ever since. So, I thought that I could pass a few hints along to you and hope that you all have a better experience with SCO: 1.) ABSOLUTE TOP PRIORITY .... BE POLITE AND UNDERSTANDING These people handle hundreds of problems a day, and the receptionists don't have ANY control over how long the lines are on the phones, so why yell at them. Tell one of the people in marketing. Yelling at the receptionist only serves to reduce their simpathy for your problem. 2.) If you find a bug, but it's not going to keep you from doing your work, or you found a work-around, call support and just leave a message. If they can't reproduce it, they'll call you back. This saves them time and allows more of us to get through. 3.) Have your problem narrowed down as precisely as possible. I usually spend at least an hour before I call SCO, sometimes a few days. I did beta work on Office Portfolio and it seams to me that they liked my bug reports because I would be very precise. 4.) Always have your key number available and tell them where you want to go, even before they ask. Usually, the operator says "Support...." and I reply "hello ####, this is matthew, and I would like to go to express", or media, or get a full analyst. This tells them that you know what you're doing, that you've been there before, and you are break- ing up their routine... and what a routine. 5.) Last, way back when, SCO only had 3 problem levels. Your problem entered at the lowest level, and was escallated. If you weren't/aren't happy with the answer that an anilyst gives you or it doesn't work, call back, and if necessary, tell the receptionist that you want to escallate the problem. Again, you are telling them that you have been there before and that you are a professional. I have found the people at SCO to be friendly, knowledgeabe, and above all, friendly. Sure, you run into a snag every now and then, but what makes US professionals is to not let those snags bring us down. I hope that all of you find these hints usefull, and that it helps us all get a little better responce time from SCO the next time we call them. Sincerely, Matthew Snail Mail: E Mail: Matthew J. Thurmaier ...!{allegra,harvard,seismo}!shorty!matt The Computer Classroom matt@shorty.wisc.edu 6701 Seybold Road, Ste. 122 Madison, WI 53719 (608) 271-2171 "why am I ALWAYS going somewhere?" >>-matt-->