Highlights of the change:
- Today when customers call support, for the majority of Lotus products, they get a "live transfer" (the support person waits on the phone with the customer until the call is transferred to the correct group in support). This can sometimes lead to long waits on the phone.
- Effective February16 Lotus will go to a call-back model for all products (with the exception of Lotus Foundations and LotusLive).
- Call back times will be a maximum of 2 hours but should average well less than this. Customers can expect the same response they get today when they submit a PMR via our web-based Electronic Support Request (ESR) tool.
- This model is the same model used in all other brands and virtually all of our competitors.
- Premium Support customers will continue with Live Call Transfers.
- We will continue to support the many self service tools available.
Technorati tag: Lotus
Comment posted by Marie Scott02/09/2009 09:47:43 AM
We have already seen some changes...a call into support last week generated the following..."we don't support Solaris...that has to go to another company." We did end up in the right place with the right support person, but obviously there's some change coming that may be a little difficult to swallow...
Comment posted by Gregg Eldred02/09/2009 11:34:44 AM
Homepage: http://www.ns-tech.com/blog/geldred.nsf
Marie: It's funny that I never thought the hold times were ridiculous. I always waited for a tech, no matter how long the wait. It helped me to remain focused on the task at hand. Now . . . The only trouble I ever had with Lotus Support was when they released Domino on the iSeries - the support call would bounce between the AS/400 people and the Domino people. But that doesn't happen any more.
Comment posted by Bill Brown02/09/2009 11:55:19 AM
I'm not thrilled with the change. I can wait on hold for an hour to get through to someone that will get me an answer to my problem. If I leave a message, I have to worry about missing the call if I am on the phone or away from my desk when they call back.
I think this will drive more traffic to the ESR system and email, which may be their evil plan.
Comment posted by 02/09/2009 01:57:07 PM
@Bill, You should get a callback within 2 hours of first reporting your issue with support. After that I recommend giving a clear business impact and agreeing the next follow up time with the person on the phone and how you wish to be contacted.
I recommend having the IBM Support handbook on bookmark to read. :) As we have to follow that.
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/handbook/getsupport.html
The only other suggestion is that you make sure you put one issue per one PMR number. You get more resources that way on each issue. Support will split them up normally if it is evident though.
Comment posted by Charles Robinson02/11/2009 06:48:59 PM
Homepage: http://www.cubert.net
I have never purchased support from any software provider other than Lotus specifically because I hated the call back queues. When I have a problem that is serious enough to warrant calling support, I expect to talk to someone as soon as possible. Not "approximately within a two hour window... maybe."
Seth Godin had a post about how companies can differentiate themselves even with things that are not what most people would consider customer focused. If something is painful for customers it should be for a good reason, such as intentionally surly staff at a restaurant where the food is amazing, or flaky hours at a coffee shop with a phone number to call to wake someone up. It's quirky and engaging.
That isn't what Lotus is doing here. They aren't making themselves any different, they're making themselves the same. As far as I can see there is no upside for the customer with these changes. My experience with the response from ESR has been pretty bad, so I'm not likely to go that route or recommend it.
Looks like that's more money that can be applied elsewhere in the budget.
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