Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!decwrl!bacchus.pa.dec.com!shlump.nac.dec.com!mountn.dec.com!coors.dec.com From: m_herodotus@coors.dec.com (Mario Herodotus - Digital Customer Support Center (800) 525-6570) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: Another reason to use something other than FastBack II Message-ID: <1948@mountn.dec.com> Date: 29 Sep 90 13:11:50 GMT Sender: news@mountn.dec.com Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Lines: 76 In article <84049@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, francis@morganucodon.cis.ohio-state.edu (RD Francis) This is a synopsis...the people here seem to think that the customer support centers are responsible for getting a hold of a customer... I have had many situations where I have tried to contact customers and they were not available. The policy here at Digital (for hardware calls) is to give the customer a callback within 10 minutes (within one hour for software). There are times when it is very busy here and we do not meet these goals, but we try. Put yourself in our situation, I try to call you but you don't answer, should I hold this call and keep trying because you may have gone to take care of some other business or should I leave a message and get on to the next call. I usually go on to the next call. My reasoning is that if I hold onto this call, then everyone waits for you to get to a phone. If I go on to the next call there are more people who get a person to speak with. The support we provide here at Digital is a contract service and since we recieve payment for it we can staff according to the size of the business. If we have a lot of contracts we have a lot of specialist. This is probably very different from the support centers at some of the software vendors we all (me too) deal with. If they run a limited support staff as a customer curtesy you will have to deal with long delays what else can they do but start charging for the service (which you would like even less). Remember staffing costs a company and someone has to pay. Here at Digital we also try to screen calls as they come in. A call that is severe (systems or clusters down/hung for instance) will receive a faster response then something less severe (how long can an EIA cable be?). We also try to accomodate customers that can't receive call backs (I have paged customers that leave pager numbers so they can call me when I'm ready, I have called customers at prearranged times, and best for everyone is asking a customer for a dialup number, username and password to their system along with a description of the problem...I then log in when I'm ready and diagnose the problem and can either call back or send mail to any account the customer specifies (we do this with almost every call in the hardware queue)). I have been on the other end of the phone, as a user needing support too. I try my best to work within the guidlines that the support group has set up, but I have had times where I've been upset by the service too. I don't send a message to the net saying the product isn't worth it. I try to ask the person answering the phone to escalate the status of my call, or I ask to speak to a manager. There are better ways to deal with the problem then the original poster did. Also it sounds to me that the person involved here did not have much time at all to wait for a callback, this is not the support staffs fault its his own problem. The worst situation though is when you get one of those call menuing systems...these force you to wait until someone is ready to talk to you. Personally I like the call back support staffing strategy better. I can get some things done while I wait rather than listen to musak while I pay long distance charges. I don't mean to sound like I'm too busy to call anyone back, I do my best to return calls. I try as often as is posible during my shift to get back to customers (most people are there for the first callback by the way) but like the last post said "I have to go home sometime too". If a call is only a couple of hours old I'll pass it on to another specialist, If it is older then that I will send a message to the local Field Service rep to contact this customer about the problem. Like I said earlier I try my best and I don't like my ability to support judged by someones inability to receive a callback. Mario PS I don't drink coffe or take smoke breaks, so if I don't call right away atleast you know that wasn't the reason ;^) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I can't afford my own opinions, and DEC won't pay for them either. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mario Herodotus [ CX03 1/K4 ] | m_herodotus@coors.dec.com Digital Equipment Corporation | Customer Support Center | - or - m_herodotus%coors.dec@decwrl.dec.com 305 Rockrimmon Blvd. | Colorado Springs, CO 80919 | - or - ...!decwrl!coors.dec.com!m_herodotus (800) 525-6570 Ext 25520 | [direct line (719) 592-5520] | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------