Hi Netters,
About a week or so ago I posted a question to this group
(inappropriately, I was to find out) asking about your
comments concerning Sun support. I promised those that
responded that I would post a summary and close this out.
This is the summary....
I received approximately 70 responses. The breakdown was
58% negative, 26% positive, 10% which had both types of comments,
and one marriage proposal....:>) What follows is my BEST
interpretation of all of those 70 responses.
Overall:
-I received responses that were very pleased with Sun support over
seas (UK, Germany, Sweden), i.e. other than in the continental
US.
-The first contact through Sun support is quite likely to have less
knowledge than you. People had examples of their calls not being
directed to the right support folks. Inconsistancy was mentioned,
both as far as the support quality and the response time. It just
was a matter of who you got...
-Follow-ups were quicker when users contacted via email.
-Some of those who responded were very concerned that the information
they received was flat wrong. (I have had this happen myself).
-Some mentioned that the area of poor support was with questions
concerning Solaris 2.x.
-A few users noted that when they called back for status on their
service orders, the number assigned to the SO had disappeared.
-When trying to check on status of their questions, some said the
Sun support people mentioned that they were short on help. They
didn't like to hear that as an excuse.
-Hardware support was given high praise by almost every user. I got
very few negatives about the hardware folks, either about the
knowledge of the Field Engineers or the response time.
-Some users were actively seeking an alternate for Sun support, some
mentioning that they no longer use the service because they
have given up on them.
-I had others that stated glowing praises about using Sun software
support. They were quite please with the knowlege of the support
person and the response time.
-Others mentioned the level of the support is key. PA (Personal
Answerline) was mentioned as being great.
-Many users had both types of experiences to report. Some had
support people that when 'over and above', while others experienced
the opposite. No quantifying numbers available.
The Final Word:
I would say the following is what you fine folks told me as far
as information on experiences and suggestions:
-Get the highest level of Sun support you can.
-Get PA (personal answerline) because you talk with one
group of people. You get to know them, and they get
to know you and your systems.
-Sun's FE's are top notch, as is their hardware support in
general.
-Most users rely on either their own expertise and experiences
or that of others in their environment. Many users use Sun
support as a last resort. Quite a few of the respondees (is
that really a word?) told me they solved the problem while
waiting for Sun to respond.
-Use the hostline for support (hotline@sun.com). Also note that
users without service contracts can report bugs to bugs@sun.com.
No response or acknowledgement is sent, and the problem may
or may not be fixed in the next release.
-Try to reproduce the problem before calling or sending email. Add
as much information about the problem as you can. Sometimes
collecting this data will lead you to a solution.
-If all else fails, examine the "Sun Customer Support Escalation
Pocket Guide" for where to procede.
This is my best attempt at a Summary for you. Remember, I got many
responses with quite a few opinions and views. I have tried to
be fair....
For those wishing for a copy of the responses ( minus all user names
and anything else that could lead to identifying the sender) please
send a request to me via email.
And yes, I am planning on sending this to my local Sun rep....
Finally, I must mention that a large majority of the responding
users mentioned how they appreciate this net. They support it
overwhelmingly. I got some responses about the appropriateness
of this post. I appreciate those. I will not post a "discussion
type" question again....
I hope this provides you some useful information. It did to me...
And my thanks again for those who took the time and effort to
respond!
Dan Zambon
dzambon@afit.af.mil
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Fri Sep 28 2001 - 23:07:36 CDT