The Quality of Pyramid's Service

[tom reingold]

What I am about to say does not reflect Bellcore's policy but
definitely does reflect the opinions of many people at Bellcore.

Pyramid's service is not good enough.  I have called in many problems
to RTOC.

In some cases, the person handling my problem felt that since it had
not been reported yet, it must not be a problem and that I must be
doing something wrong.  I wonder what does constitute a problem in that
case.  If reporting it doesn't carry credibility, why have RTOC?

In other cases, my problem is simply dropped.  I assume that RTOC
assumed that since I didn't hound them constantly, it ceased to be a
problem.  This is very unprofessional.  We pay big bucks for support.
Dropping problem reports is not what I call support.

Carl S. Gutekunst (csg at pyramid.pyramid.com) writes:

csg> Don't keep it to yourself; make sure you RTOC knows when you have
csg> problems like this! If you already have told them, tell them again. And
csg> tell them that you already told them. :-)

I should not have to do this.  They should see to it that a problem is
fixed.  They should go over their list again and again, checking
back on each item.  When something is resolved, it should be
scratched.  If it's not resolved, it should be review again.  That's
what I do to support my users.

csg> Generally RTOC and Sustaining Engineering do a terrific job of bug
csg> tracking and fixes.
csg> [...]

Not good enough.  Yes, they have a tracking system.  But another
computer vendor I deal with CALLED me to make sure that the bug fix he
sent me worked.  He said he had to keep calling me until I said yes
before he closed the call.

In fairness, I am giving them another chance.  (I don't have a choice.
We have lots of money and time invested in these machines and can't
scrap them easily if we wanted to.)  My complaints above and many
others were brought to our salesman's attention.  He agreed that the
service we have been getting is "a crock".  Those are his words!  He
put the screws on some people at Pyramid, there is now an increased
effort to help us.  Whether or not they will succeed in the longer term
is yet to be seen.  I should not have had to put screws on anyone at
the rates we pay.

Scott Hazen Mueller (scott at zorch.SF-Bay.ORG) writes:

sm> Let me second this most vigorously.  When I was at Pyramid working in
sm> the RTOC, I recommended to several customers that they not only report
sm> their problems, but that they call in frequently for status updates.

As I have said, this should not be necessary.  I do it because I
have to.  But that's my labor that I think we have paid Pyramid to
spend.

sm> Since I don't work for Pyramid anymore, I can also feel free to advise
sm> you that if you aren't getting adequate response out of RTOC, call your
sm> salesman.  If you are planning on buying anything additional from
sm> Pyramid and can threaten to hold the order up, you're in a great
sm> position from which to deal with them :-)

I've spoken to our salesman, and yes, this worked.  But we don't have
any purchases planned now in my area (where I run two Pyramids).  Then
what would you suggest?  We have about ten or twelve Pyramids in this
company.  Should we have to threaten?  Should anyone have to, even if
he has only one?

Tom Reingold                   |INTERNET:       tr at bellcore.com
Bellcore                       |UUCP:           bellcore!tr
444 Hoes La room 1H217         |PHONE:          (201) 699-7058 [work],
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