You call that support?

Why does this happen? I spend at least two hours reducing a problem in some company's reporting engine down to a very manageable piece of sample code that can be run by anyone -- no database connection required (everything is done from XML datasets that are embedded in the sample). It's easy. It reproduces the problem. It's a great starting point for tech support.

So what do I get in response? I get a URL link to some "sample code". I'm told to unzip some of their sample code, load it into VS.NET and run it to see if the problem still persists. Ummmm.... The "sample code" doesn't use XML datasets, it connects directly to a SQL database. The "sample code" uses the OleDb libraries. My repro-case uses XML datasets for simplicity's sake but even in production we're using the System.Data.SqlClient libraries -- not OleDb.

You call this "support"? You don't answer my original question. It doesn't even appear you loaded the sample code I sent you and ran it. Sheesh... Sometimes I feel like I'm not even interacting with a human being but simply an "auto responder" that does some bayesian analysis and spits back a pre-canned response.

4 Comments

  • I've got this realllly odd feeling I know the company you speak of...

  • I've got a pretty crystal-clear idea too...

  • A lot of companies have support just like this. It's a real trend, I don't understand it. It's not due to outsourcing to other countries, this is a very American phenomenon. "Thank you for your inquiry. We didn't read anything you wrote and don't appreciate the hours you spent trying to improve our product. Please check your system configuration and reinstall anything that doesn't come with our product. When you're done, we'd like to waste more of your time by asking you to follow this long list of instructions which have nothing to do with the problem you've reported. If the problem persists, please click all of these useless links that show we understand less about our products than you do. Feel free to follow-up if you require more information - We have a number of service representatives specially trained to ignore any insight you can provide. And have a great day! ... Please take our survey: Did we solve your problem? What can we do to improve our service? Do you really think we read your stupid responses?"

  • I'm not defending your experience, but I can't tell you how many times I've expressed a concern... not just to a technical company, but to the water department, or a credit card company, or... any outfit, and gotten a less-than-thoughtful reply. It's something about the nature of intelligence, that scarce resource. I have learned that isolating the problem is half the battle, and the other half is reaching the right people with it. That's as true for government and banking as for software.

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