RE: JBA Millennium support

>From what i've read in JBA's 1999 prospectus, the software sales aspect is
falling (no surprise there), so they are trying to maximise revenue from the
consulting & support services.  Therefore expect to pay through the nose for
absolutely everything for the forseeable future.

Many JBA users i have spoken to are extremely unhappy about this (especially
the extra charges if you have so much as one bit of bespoke code), but
there's not a lot we can do!

Stuart


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Reise, Craig [SMTP:creise@pollak.com]
> Sent: Monday, September 13, 1999 9:24 PM
> To:   JBAUSERS-L@midrange.com
> Subject:      JBA Millennium support
> 
> 
> Last week I received a price quote for JBA's Millennium Support...because
> my
> company has less than 150 concurrent users, our price was "only" USD
> $9000.
> For that low, low price I would get three days of support over the New
> Year
> weekend, plus access for the entire month of January to the 1-800
> telephone
> number that would move me to the front of the tech support queue ahead of
> anyone who doesn't shell out for the support.
> 
> Nice 4th quarter, being-acquired-by-GEAC revenue enhancer, huh?
> 
> Obviously, I have issues with JBA's approach here, I'm wondering if maybe
> I
> just misinterpreted what I've been told or am missing a point here
> somewhere. 
> 
>       1.  Charging for support during the date rollover is ridiculous.  As
> far as I can tell, most major software vendors are planning to provide
> supporting during the date change.  I checked with one friend at an Oracle
> application site and one at a JD Edwards site...they haven't heard of any
> plans to charge extra for support or to close the support offices over the
> New Year weekend.  
> 
>       2.  I'm sorry some rocket scientist in the administrative office
> decided that the week of New Years was going to be a JBA holiday.  But I
> don't care.  What kind of support organization just completely discounts
> the
> Y2K rollover?  Okay, in a regular year closing over New Year is a little
> inconvenient for customers doing year-end processing, but this one has the
> potential to affect ALL customers.
> 
>       3.  Was 12/31/1999 such a surprise to JBA that they couldn't have
> announced this plan last summer, when I could have had a shot at budgeting
> for it?   Or would it have given people a chance to raise a fuss, rather
> than hitting them in September 1999, three months before the date
> rollover?
> 
>       4.  If I don't buy the Millennium Support package, for the entire
> month of January my calls go behind all the calls for people who do.   So
> if
> I've done a good job with my Y2K testing and don't feel the need to boost
> JBA's bottom line some more,  I'm punished with tech support delays.
> 
>       5.  There was no mention of how they were going to communicate any
> newly-discovered bugs in January.  I wonder if I have to pay the nine
> grand
> to find out about those...
> 
> 
> If you think I've misunderstood the program or am overreacting, please let
> me know.  At the moment I have a pretty low opinion of the program and the
> management that would put this in place.
> 
> 
> Craig Reise
> IT Team Leader
> Pollak, A Stoneridge Company
> 
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