It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, so I figured this would be a good point to start on…
To start the process of standardizing our server platform in the library, we recently purchased a couple of servers to run RedHat on. I was going through the process yesterday of activating the subscriptions, and a funny thing happened…the second subscription got appended to the first as an extension instead of a new subscription.
I looked all over the place trying to figure out where the subscription had gone to, and read, and reread the directions (there’s not really that much to it). I had deleted and re-added the system (in an effort to clear the entitlements) so many times I lost count.
I finally broke down and decided to give RedHat a call. I have to say this was perhaps one of the best service calls I’ve ever had with a software vendor. After my last several experiences with software vendors (we just put in a new media center for college students), I had pretty low expectations. I figured I’d be on the phone for most of the morning trying to convince someone that I did in fact have two, three-year subscriptions and not one, three-year with a three-year extension.
Things started off normal enough for these things…a labyrinth of options to choose from. After I got the options to get to technical support, someone actually picked up the phone on the second ring! After I explained what I had done, he looked at my account and immediately knew what had happened. He said that he wasn’t able to help, but would transfer me to someone who could. Now this is what surprised me, instead of me getting transferred to the folks that could help me, he actually talked to those people, explained what the problem was, and then connected me so I could talk to those people. By the time I actually spoke with the account rep, she already knew what the problem was and what needed to be done to fix the problem instead of me rehashing my story over and over again.
I wish more companies handled issues like this…my five minute problem literally took five minutes to resolve. Too many times in the recent past I’ve gotten the run-around for what I believed a rather straight-forward issue. It’s very refreshing to have this kind of experience with a software vendor!