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Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Thoughts about tech support in general
When deciding to buy a particular software program, how much weight do you give to tech support provided by the software makers?
For me, it isn't even a consideration anymore.
To answer the question more fully, I go back to a time when tech support was top-notch. Back when companies made service a main priority. Service, the likes of which is rarely seen today.
I like to tell the story of an experience I had with WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, circa 1990. I can't remember what the question was, but I called a toll free 800 number that came with the documentation. A live person at WordPerfect in Orem, Utah, answered the phone. I asked the question, and in about two minutes, the live person talked me through the answer. Needless to say, I was amazed and grateful. And, that one phone call made me fall in love with WordPerfect forever.
I could be wrong, but I have a vague recollection that free telephone support was a sales point for WordPerfect back in those days.
It wasn't until WordPerfect was bought by Novell that I again had a need to call tech support. As I recall, the version I was using was 6.1 for Windows. Unfortunately, by this time, things had changed dramatically in the field of tech support. I think Novell did provide free phone support for things like installation problems. But, as far as general questions about using the software, there were no more free phone calls. It was a hard realization.
Further unfortunately, my boss at the time was not one to shell out money for something he couldn't put his hands on, even if it meant making my job easier. I did manage, however, to persuade him to subscribe to the WordPerfect magazine which was full of helpful tips and advice.
As a side note, now I wonder if Novell found themselves living a nightmare trying to wean their users, especially the ones used to the level of service given by the folks Orem, from free telephone tech support.
I can't recall ever again phoning any software company's tech support phone line since then. Unless, of course, you count calling AOL to cancel internet service. But, that's another story.
Company provided tech support has evolved since those days in 1990.
Companies often have online knowledge bases. But, unless you know exactly what to ask, or what keywords to input, you might not get the required response.
The documentation that ships with software, both printed and in the help files, is often massive. Again, if you don't know exactly how to phrase what you're looking for, such documentation can be an exercise in futility.
Finally, some companies do provide telephone tech support in one form or another. The worst case scenario is those touch-tone menu driven question and answer sessions. The best case scenario would be quickly getting a live person on the phone who can immediately and efficiently answer the question.
The WordPerfect magazine we subscribed to opened up a whole new world of tech support for me, even though we only got six issues. Not only were WordPerfect employees submitting articles to the magazine, so were users from all over the country. I don't think that magazine is still in publication, though.
Now, the best tech support comes from the community of people that use a particular software and the support they can and do give.
So, when choosing what software to buy, perhaps, instead of asking about company provided tech support, we should consider what kind of community has evolved around the software and what kind of support that community offers.
• Posted by: Marie Carnes at 07:09 AM
• 607 words in this article
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• Filed in: Thinking outloud
