RE: Web Tech Support

["Shaw, David" <dshaw@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Pam!

Well, to be honest I'd like to see it become as effective as the combination
of ECS and IBMLink used to be, back in the old white box days.  It used to
be that we could submit problems via either ECS or IBMLink and get answers
back, either electronically or via callback if appropriate.  Now IBMLink is
no longer available free from the /400, and if you send any sort of software
problem via ECS that doesn't trigger an automatic PTF download, all you ever
get is "Call your service provider".  Hardware support DOES call back, if it
appears to be hardware or LIC related, but software support apparently can't
be bothered to do that, SupportLine contract or not.

One of the things that frustrates me with many of IBM's support changes over
the last few years is that the new stuff is apparently being done by people
unfamiliar with what the old stuff was capable of.  They proudly implement
these "wonderful" new features which aren't as good as what they had 5 or 10
years ago.  If Internet delivery of PTF's requires more manual steps than
ECS delivery of PTF's, why would I want to use it?  If InfoCenter is harder
to find information in than BookManager Library Reader or even STRINFSKR
(and it is!), why should I be happy about being forced to use it?  And why
oh why can't they ever keep a customer's account details correct for more
than 1 day?

Sorry for the rambling, I guess that nerve was more raw than I knew. <grin>

Dave Shaw
Spartan International, Inc.
Spartanburg, SC

-----Original Message-----
From: Pam Jones [mailto:pjones@as400network.com]

Dave, 
Thanks for the reply. And good to hear from you again. I remember speaking
to you about a couple of stories I worked on a couple of years back.
Sounds like the bugs aren't quite worked out of IBM Electronic Services yet.
Are you looking forward to what it has to offer, once they get you on?
Anything about it you think will be especially useful? I've heard you access
it through a second ECS line. Is that true?
I've gotten a few private replies to my post too, and those folks have all
complained about usability. It's highly relative I guess, affected by the
vendor's design as well as the user's experience and comfort level
navigating this type of service.
Pam 
+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---