It doesn't seem all that long ago when I could call Remedy support, stay on hold a minimal amount of time, get someone who spoke perfect American English, and get a problem resolved. If an issue was complex (which it usually was if I was calling in a support request), the support tech would WebEx into my machine, get a senior engineer on the line, etc.
I also remember a time when the knowledge base on the support web was actually usable and returned results that were pertinent to your search criteria. It's almost like the entire business operation there just got switched overnight. The support web thing now is absolutely, 100% awful. Being that I am still on version 6.3, the product name is listed as Remedy Action Request System in the list of products...which is at the bottom of the 100 mile long dropdown list...which you can't jump ahead in by pressing the first character of what you're looking for. So filtering search results for me is brutal. I've complained and complained. "We're working on improving the support website," I'm told. Yeah, right-that was four months ago. I know a lot of people defend the support staff/infrastructure, and I am the first to realize that it's a tough job, but considering the exorbitant price of support, we deserve much, much better. Considering we pay thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars for support-and that I submit, what, 3 tickets a year-I should get the red carpet treatment. Instead I get a support agent who contacts me three or four days after my request is submitted and informs me that the obviously flawed object is "by design." ________________________________ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 2:54 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: OT: BMC Rant ** Hi Shawn, Hi Listers, I hadn't needed to call for several months, and now recently I had to initiate 3 separate issues. While I did not on recent occasion get foreign service desk, I have in the past and it was nightmarish. I couldn't understand them, and they could not understand me. While I am the first to admit having a speech impediment (I learned to speak while growing up in Brooklyn), It was far beyond any issues of accents. They also had no grasp of the "Remedy" nomenclature. Most recently however, I have gone through some frustration dealing with the service desk down in Texas. I had spoken to a young man who was both rude and dense. The denseness seemed rather purposeful. I have also spoken to some who were most pleasant and courteous. Either way when I explained there was a great need for a speedy resolution, and it was made a "Low - Medium" priority. In the end I was helped by Carmen and Gary. They did a great job as usual. Getting to someone however is hit of miss. Sometimes you get the guy on the phone who refuses to pass it on to the next tier. If they are going to learn and experiment on my time, don't I deserve some kind of rebate on my support fees? Their support groups in Pleasanton and Atlanta are top notch. We shouldn't have to go through hell to get to them though. Best Regards, Tom Altamore ----- Original Message ----- From: Shawn Rosenberry Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 2:12 pm Subject: OT: BMC Rant To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG > Does anyone else get the feeling that upper management at BMC > doesn't know > what they are doing? Recent experiences I've had with the > organization have > not been good and it seems to be a continuing pattern. I don't > want to > discredit some of the good individuals that I've had the > privilege of > working with; however as an organization I've been disappointed with > BMC. Cases > in point: > > > > - Remedy Support Page Makeover: What a disaster. I can't believe > all of the problems they experienced during the switch. I > personally couldn't access support via the web for several > days and they lost several > of my open tickets in the process. I expect more from a major > corporation with business tools that specialize in ITIL base > ITSM. Grade > F > - Support: Dealing with Remedy support used to be a pleasant > experience. I can't say that anymore. There are so many > area of > concerns that I will break it down:. > 1. Foreign Support - It doesn't help when you can't understand > the person on the other end of the line. Even more frustrating, > is having to restate to them over and over the problem > that I am > experiencing because they can't understand me. I have had > 1 or > 2 good experiences here but that is about all. Grade D > 2. Availability - Several times I have attempted to call Remedy > and received a message on the voicemail that the team was > unavailable due to > a business meeting. Who in their right mind would take an > entire team offline for an entire day for a meeting? No one > else I have ever dealt with other than BMC. Split your meeting > into two sections so that you always have someone on the > phones to handle > issues. This should never happen, let alone three times > in two > years. Grade C > 3. Responsiveness - Support used to be very good at > getting back > to you and keeping you up to date on what is happening > with your > tickets. > This is no longer the case. More often than not I am calling > them to get an update on a ticket, usually finding out > that little or no > progress has been made. More often than not I wind up resolving > the issue on my own even when debugging their out of the box > applications. > Grade D > > > - Sales: How many times do your sales reps changes? While I was > working at one location our sales rep changed multiple times > during a six > month period. I understand people leave or get promoted, but don't > they transfer information to their successor? Why is it a > blank slate > every time? Recently I had an experience where I tried to > get a quick > pricing quote from our rep and then she went to a business > meeting for a > week without getting back to me. I had to work with two > other Reps in > order to finally get something. If this was the only problem > I could > live with it. but combine that with everything else it is > frustrating. Grade C- > - Licensing: How many times have you come into a site and > looked at > their licensing and wondered what do they really have? I had > a very > recent experience with this. We all know Remedy licensing > can be > confusing and that their process needs to be updated. > Honestly, how > difficult should it be to be able to tell a development > license from a > production license from a hot backup license? Also, > shouldn't it be > fairly easy to pull up all the licenses purchased by a > company even if they > have multiple support contract IDs? These issues aside, and > here is > the whammy, when undergoing a reorganization, why would you > fire the only > two people that you had within the organization that really > knew how to > perform licensing audits? I've been working with their > licensing team > for over two months now to complete an audit that I > requested. My > main contact has tried her best to assist me only to be > frustrated by her > upper management. I even discussed the issue with one of her > managers and I got the feeling that they didn't understand the > pain that they were > causing. All I receive from him was that they were looking > into the > problem and would fix it as soon as they could. The only > reason I > don't give a failing grade was the one person who tried her > best to assist > me on this issue. Grade D > > > > I don't want to sound all negative about BMC and Remedy. I > personally love > the Remedy development platform and I've worked with it for over > seven years > now. It is my bread and butter. What I'm disappointed in is > BMC's apparent > lack of organization in dealing with changes and their apparent > attempts to > de-emphasize support. I hope someone from BMC reads this post > and it makes > them think about what they are doing to their company. > Historically one of > Remedy's greatest strengths has been its developers who are on > the front > lines telling everyone what a great product Remedy is and what > it can do for > their company. While it is still possible to tell customers > that Remedy is > a great product I find myself more and more reluctant to tell > them that they > can expect first class support once they have it. > > > > Regards, > > > > Shawn Rosenberry > > RSP and former RAC > > ________________________________________________________________________ _______ > UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org > ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are" > __20060125_______________________This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are"
