Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!vsi1!octel!richard
From: richard@octel.UUCP (Richard Karasik)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: A sad tale of ISC support woes
Summary: ISC support is an oxymoron
Message-ID: <354@octelb.octel.UUCP>
Date: 4 Dec 90 22:52:22 GMT
References: <1990Nov25.133953.7360@nstar.rn.com> <197@srwic.UUCP> <353@octelb.octel.UUCP>
Organization: Octel Communications Inc., Milpitas Ca.
Lines: 31


>I hope you're luckier with Intel support than I was with ISC.  I was
>extremely busy with a project when I received the ISC 386/ix 2.0.2 software
>I had ordered.  Sixty one days after I received it, I called the support
>line because I had a question about the installation.  The lady said
>"Sorry, but your 60 day free support period has expired.  This one time we
>will answer one question for you, but you will have to pay $650 dollars for
>a one year support contract."  I said "You mean I lose my free support even
>if it's never been used?"  She said "That's correct.  Thank you, and please
>

I thought that the free support was 30 days. What they gave me was 30 days from 
first call - not from shipment. Of course it almost took them 30 days to fully 
reply to the first call so on the whole the service is slightly less than
useful. I also got the "your time is up but we'll give you one more chance to
get frustrated holding onto our phone line for 45 minutes just to be connected
to a service representative - before we cut you off completely and you have to
get frustrated somewhere else" warm fuzzy message.

By the way they have a pay for call service -unlimited for megabucks where you
get to talk to the "experts" . The free service gives you the local street
people of santa barbara whom ISC equipped with portable phones. Its kind of
amusing teaching them how to spell UNIX so they can look it up in their
shopping cart data base. (pardon me -also a bad experience I will post
later on for help and review)

The smart money would put the experts on the front lines to learn how to
minimize the problems in the future -not just catalog them for posterity.

Richard Karasik
richard@octel.com