Re: Getting information is impossible

Joe,

This sounds like a great thing to write up and send to Sam Palmisano like
so many of us did when version 7 was released and there wasn't anything
clear about features being included or componentized or only available in
the Advanced Edition.

This is the kind of stuff that IBM as a whole has to address before they
slip from the number 2 computer company spot. You are absolutely right
on. It shouldn't be that hard to simply get a question answered. IBM's
had a lot of great products, but they've killed them by their lack of an
easy way for people to either hear about a product or get it.

btw- I finally got an answer to my formal complaint about version 7. (Of
course I complained about the screen designer and CODE being deprecated.
They answered that one after a while.) But I also complained about EGL.
The gentleman who coordinated the complaint really did his job and stayed
on the issue. I finally got an answer just this week. The gist of the
answer is, "Yes, RBD is the replacement packaging for EGL. It's a great
tool and well worth your time to learn." This still doesn't address my
concerns about it being unbundled. We've been working to get our
entitlement because we had it in version 6. But the question I'm left
with remains. Is it going to be available for me in the future without
having to go to management and ask for $$$ to upgrade somewhere down the
line? IBM gave it to me before--are they now taking it away or asking for
money for me to keep using it? Getting an answer should be easy, but it
isn't.

I'm off next week, but I'll put together a formal response and see if IBM
can come up with an answer.




date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:22:33 -0500
from: "Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
subject: [WDSCI-L] Getting information is impossible

Unbelievable. I tried to get information on the stupid debugger. All I
wanted was to talk to someone who could tell me whether the script
debugger
is still available in WDSC. Took me 15 minutes to get no answer
whatsoever:


Start: Call 1-800-IBM-4YOU. (ON HOLD)

01:30: Talk to the primary offshore call center. She spends the next
couple
of minutes asking me about my business, trying to get a passport advantage
number, a customer number, and so on. I tell her I just want information.

04:00: Finally get a chance to get transferred to another number. (ONHOLD)

07:00: A semi-connection (I can barely hear) and then dropped. She tries
again. (ONHOLD)

08:30: I get to Passport Advantage. I have to re-explain my request.
Passport advantage person tells me she is not technical and will switch me
to Rational.

10:00: Asks me questions (all of which I answered for the original person)
to determine my representative and then puts me... (ONHOLD)

11:30: Tells me I'm being switched to Todd Paris, my regional
representative. (ONHOLD)

13:00: Get Todd's voicemail. Try to get out of voicemail and talk to a
real
person. No luck. Get disconnected from Todd's voicemail.

13:30: Get prompted for survey. I am quite ready to take the [CENSORED]
survey. Automated system asks me if I talked to one person or many. I
answer "2 or more" and am told that "this is a random survey" and that I
wasn't selected.

. . .
. . .
. . .

Joe