sinclair@aero.ARPA (William S. Sinclair) (09/13/85)
I was trying to get a simple question answered about their compiler, so I
called their support number. I was put on hold for 45 minutes, listening to
that dippy music, before someone answered.
Is there any way we can put pressure on them to improve their service?
P.S. The Leahy Fortran is much better, and they almost always answer the
phone in a few rings. Sometimes, Tom Leahy answers!!
Bill S.abm@ptsfa.UUCP (Al Margolis) (09/17/85)
In article <433@aero.ARPA>, sinclair@aero.ARPA (William S. Sinclair) writes: > > I was trying to get a simple question answered about their compiler, so I > called their support number. I was put on hold for 45 minutes, listening to > that dippy music, before someone answered. I have had the "opportunity" to call several times lately for Pascal 3.3 support. My hold times were well under 5 minutes. BTW: they were very helpful for questions that were clearly language & compiler related, but stand-offish (sp?) for questions that were on the line between the compiler & DOS. Al Margolis Pacific Bell {ihnp4, dual} !ptsfa!abm
mojo@kepler.UUCP (Morris Jones) (09/18/85)
Telephone service is expensive and inefficient. The smart companies are using
the on-line services to provide software support. You can leave your question
at any time without being put on hold, and you'll usually get an answer very
quickly, as well as access to other endusers of the product you're interested
in.
Try the Microsoft SIG on CompuServe for support next time. Just as for
MicroPro products I recommend my MicroPro Forum on CompuServe.
--
Mojo
... Morris Jones, MicroPro Product Development
{dual,hplabs,glacier,lll-crg}!well!micropro!kepler!mojopwv@fluke.UUCP (Pat Vilbrandt) (09/20/85)
> From: sinclair@aero.ARPA (William S. Sinclair) > I was trying to get a simple question answered about their compiler, so I > called their support number. I was put on hold for 45 minutes, listening to > that dippy music, before someone answered. I concur. I have an old, dusty, grungy copy of the Microsoft Macro Assembler version 1.00 that was performing rather poorly, so I contacted Microsoft Customer Support (I only had to listen to the music for 5 minutes, I must have been *lucky*!). They weren't sure about the cause of the problem (Ya, that version did some strange things... ), but said that I should upgrade to version 3.00. I was underwhelmed with confidence. Yes, for *just* $70.00 and my old disk, I could get a Newer! Faster! Better! Whiter! Macro Assembler. Oh well, it was better than paying $150.00 for the assembler outright. They took my name and address to send be the proper forms. Well, after more than a week had passed with no forms, I called Cust. Support again, reexplained what I needed, gave my name and address, etc. etc. etc. Another week later, What's This? A letter from Microsoft? They finally got it right. Rrriiipppp! "Yes you can upgrade your version of the Microsoft Macro Assembler from 3.00 to 3.01!!" Damn. Other expletives. Wrong form. I went out and *bought* a copy of 3.01, full price. > Is there any way we can put pressure on them to improve their service? I wish. P.S. Are you listening, Microsoft? -- Pat Vilbrandt John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. Everett, Washington USA UUCP: { decvax!uw-beaver, ucbvax!lbl-csam, allegra, ssc-vax, decwrl!sun }!fluke!pwv ARPA: fluke!pwv@uw-beaver.ARPA
eric@uvacs.UUCP (Eric Holtman) (09/20/85)
> > I was trying to get a simple question answered about their compiler, so I > called their support number. I was put on hold for 45 minutes, listening to > that dippy music, before someone answered. > > Is there any way we can put pressure on them to improve their service? > > P.S. The Leahy Fortran is much better, and they almost always answer the > phone in a few rings. Sometimes, Tom Leahy answers!! > > Bill S. I must admit, Microsoft does seem to have a problem with the long periods of time for which you have to hold. However, once you get to a service rep, they usually are really on the ball. Once, when I was doing some Fortran consulting that required a call to Microsoft, the engineer I got was extremely helpful (in fact, he told me more about the problem then I cared to know). MY REAL BITCH HOWEVER, is with XENIX support for the IBM/AT. YOU **CAN'T** call the XENIX people directly, you have to call you local ComputerLand type store from which you bought XENIX, tell them your problem, then they call XENIXland, and then call you back. I spent about 4 f&')ing days tryng to solve a SIMPLE PROBLEM because of this STUPID attitude.... eric
matt@prism.UUCP (09/24/85)
> /* Written 4:37 pm Sep 19, 1985 by pwv@vax1 in prism:net.micro.pc */ > > > From: sinclair@aero.ARPA (William S. Sinclair) > > Is there any way we can put pressure on them to improve their service? > > I wish. > > /* End of text from prism:net.micro.pc */ Sure there is - stop buying their buggy, substandard, virtually unsupported products, and innundate them with letters explaining that until they improve their product support, you, your employer, and all of your friends are boycotting all Microsoft products. You'd be amazed what serious market pressure can do (though I'll grant there's not much chance of getting enough people involved to make a dent in Microsoft profits.) In any case, for almost any Microsoft product (except DOS) there exists a competing product that is as good or better. For assemblers, I recommend Pasm-86 from Phoenix Software Associates (Norwood, MA). It's source code compatible with MASM 3.01, assembles programs in half the time, and seems to have many fewer bugs. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matt Landau {cca, ihnp4, inmet, mit-eddie, wjh12}... Mirror Systems, Inc. ...mirror!prism!matt Cambridge, MA (617) 661-0777 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------