Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt! Wrong!
While his manners might need improving, I don't think he "deserves" to be
ignored by LE (and I don't think that is what actually happened). A company
that thinks it can ignore customers in any business is not long for this
world.
Now my experience with LE technical support has been excellent at times,
and so-so at others. I place the blame for the so-so service squarely at
the feet of that tech company god, fast growth. That is actually normal in
any company experiencing rapid growth (Yahweh knows it sure affected us).
But every time I related an incident that was concerning absolute
down-time, I got quick responses, and the responses that were slower were
on incidents that weren't life-threatening.
My guess is that his ticket is stranded somewhere in LE tech support (by
accident), and I would guess he already has had a resolution to his problem
by now (or at least it is being addressed). My other guess is that he felt
like he ran out of recourse with the tech support channel, got frustrated,
loaded the e-mail, and fired.
Maybe a mistake, but critical failures can be frustrating, especially with
the cost of CT-1's or PRI's in some areas ($850{GASP!}/month here for a
CT-1, no PRI available, only 3 year contracts tariffed), combined with the
cost of a PM-3. Some small companies are betting all the money they have on
their move to digital lines. I know I was nervous the first time I hooked
up what will end up being $61,200 worth of phone lines to our brand new
$16,000 PM-3. If it hadn't worked right away I think the visions that would
swim in front of my eyes would have caused me to require a change of
underwear. ;)
So Mr. Cates is having a bad day, and maybe LE tech support got cross-wired
on one ticket (that happened to be Mr. Cates'). If all goes as it usually
does, all will be well tomorrow, Mr. Cates will relate his frightening tale
of being alone with recalcitrant hardware and a phone company, then being
rescued by a phone call, singing the praises of LE.
And there is a long tradition of holding a company's feet to the fire with
the net. Those that yank their feet out of the fire and run to help the
customer are seen as being responsive, with the customer they helped being
the loudest defender. Those that use their recently cooled feet to kick the
customer are seen (rightfully) as cads. A company that used to make good
modems, developed a reputation for good hardware, then starts turning out
junk, and then makes zero tech support or engineering effort to fix the
problems might be a good example. Starts with a U.
And those that run around bad-mouthing companies on subjects they have no
clue about are very easy to spot, and usually carry no weight.
Those that are blind defenders and apologists are worse. That is what's
known as a "Navas" in my book.
But a customer never "deserves to be ignored". A company whose tech support
only helps certain people doesn't have tech support, it has a club.
And if you check the list archives, the guy has been active on the list and
has in the past displayed clues and a willingness to help (check out
http://www.netimages.com/ni-cgi-bin/fetch?newsgroup=portmaster-users&article
=0028487&cache=870150159_5954 ).
David Glynn "When you're swimming in the creek
dglynn@mathware.com And an eel bites your cheek
That's a Moray!" - The Freak Bros.