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: <7810020@hpuamsa.UUCP>
Date: 5 Dec 89 16:40:25 GMT
References: <221@cmic.UUCP>
Organization: HP NL
Lines: 43


 Again some observations :

- The original poster (Joe Carvey) suggests to use the net for questions
  from new users.
  This is fine but *most* of our customers are *not* connected to
  Usenet. They only have single systems or a LAN without any outside
  connections (a.o. (but not only) for *business* security reasons). So
  this covers only a small part of the customer base.
  Since the poster at the same time (rightfully) "complains" about the
  quality of support to "expert customers", i.e. another minority :-),
  there are apparently *multiple* customer profiles each of which needs a
  *different* support approach.
  So all "One size fits all" recommendations by both customers *and* HP
  are bound to fail in real life.

- Dan Greening talks about Usenet and mentions e-mail and
  "comp.sys.hp.bugs" (or some such), i.e. News.
  *E-mail* is fine (even on Usenet) because it is (reasonably) private.
  We use it all the time with customers that do have it (see above).
  *News*  (or *Notes*) is something else! It is not at all private (see
  below).

- Multiple posters imply that other *companies* are using News (or
  similar) for bug/patch info and even the patches themselves. They
  fail to give examples.
  To the best of my knowledge no other company does this (I *do* know
  about "comp.bugs.sys5" and "comp.bugs.4bsd", etc. but those are *not*
  run/sponsored/moderated/etc by *companies* (and probably not even by
  Berkeley)). See also my similar remarks in the other "HP Support ..."
  string.

  So again, please address the issues also from a business/real_world
standpoint (i.e. not only from a technical standpoint. We already know
that technically it can be done (since it is done for Public Domain
stuff)) and give input that can be used by HP to improve the current
support offerings.

  From the land of customer support,

Frank Slootweg, Hewlett-Packard, Dutch Customer Response Center.

Disclaimer: Only speaking for myself, not my employer.