Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!hpuamsa!frank
From: frank@hpuamsa.UUCP (Frank Slootweg CRC)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: HP Customer Support...
Message-ID: <7810017@hpuamsa.UUCP>
Date: 28 Nov 89 15:56:13 GMT
References: <203@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Organization: HP NL
Lines: 80

Dave,

  While I do not want to deny that there are still software quality and
software support problems at HP, I think your experience as a HP employee
can not be compared to that of the *average* *paying* customer.

  Like with software the quality of support is related to the price you
pay.

  If you don't pay (i.e. you have no *support* contract but only a
*materials* contract) then the support will be limited or none.

  If you do have a software contract then
- You *do* know who to call (i.e. the Response Center, no need to chase
  Sales Reps, System Engineers, etc.).
- We *do* (in *most* cases) respond within less than 2 hours.

>								 I can assure
> you that it is no better for people that are paying money.  Even the so-called
> show stopper bugs don't mean that HP immediately mobilizes all their forces
> and solves it ASAP.  I have heard of some sites that have been without use of
> their machines for many months while waiting for their SE, customer support
> engineer, assigned engineer, etc to actually FIX the problem and send them a
> patch or workaround.

  If *paying* customers are getting this bad support then hit on the
Response Center (or other) management. There are defined escalation
procedures for this (upto the company president!). *No  one* can ignore
these procudure (Believe me, I have often felt the "heat".).

> It would be an interesting experiment for HP to sponsor the creation of a new
> newsgroup "comp.sys.hp.patches" (or a mailing list, BBS, or whatever) and then
> use that forum for the dissemination of SSB's, the infamous software status
> bulletins where theoretically us HP-UX customers are informed of problems
> and solutions in the current release of the operating system.

  Perhaps this is a good idea (there is never *one* solution to a
problem). However from experience I doubt if paying customers want this.
They do not want to be *informed* about bugs they *don't* run into, they
want *solutions* for bugs they *do* run into.

  To give an anology: If I have a on-line telephone directory then I
don't need nor want a phone book.

  If a customer calls the Response Center we can quickly determine if
the described problem is a known one. Remember the Software Status
Bulletin is a printout (i.e. offline) of a database to which the
Response Center has on-line access.

  Also support products are under development and partially already
existing that give customers access to this database. Currently these
support products are generic (i.e. for the same for 9000, 1000, 3000,
etc.) and use dial-in terminal access.

> It's just "being best" isn't good enough.  It's a fast moving world out
> there and if AT&T can promise guaranteed 30 minute turnaround on problem
> reports called in, why can't HP promise less than 2 weeks? (*)

  Please rest assured that we are constantly reminded by management that
because we do well and are successfull while doing it, other companies
will improve their support (and software quality) too and we will have
to do even better.

  I have a problem with the term "turnaround". In our terminology it
means "time to fix" (or create a workaround for) the customers system. I
doubt that AT&T can guarantee (or even on the average realize) that :-).

  As you write our *response time* is "guaranteed" to be less than two
hours. At least in The Netherlands well above 90% of the calls fall in
this window.

  Worldwide our next challenge is to shorten the *worst case* time-to-fix
(the *average* time-to-fix is already good (hours to a few days) as is
"proven" by our good support ratings (Datapro and others)).

  So again, our support needs to get better because it is not perfect
and other companies are also improving their support. However I think
your posting needed some balance.

Frank Slootweg, HP-UX Support, Dutch Customer Response Center.