Cadalyst - October 2007 - (Page 41)

mcadmodeling Customer Service Horror Stories Getting help with your software problems shouldn’t be frightening. A Reader’s Story: No One Home By Mike Hudspeth, IDSA My best horror story is, I think, at least as much a user cautionary tale as it is a software support story: “The Autodesk online registration Web site will be offline for upgrade the weekend December 3–4, 2005.” I discovered this information, of course, at 9:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time on December 3, 2005 with (fortunately only) eight (of 36) stations installed but unregistered. After the fact, I considered that certainly a part of the fault lay with us for not checking to see if Autodesk would be offline that weekend. However, I frankly can’t think of any AutoCAD multiuser environment that would plan a companywide upgrade (or even what was for us a phased — 12-seat — upgrade) for anything other than a weekend timeframe! And, one would think, even in late 2005, that Autodesk would have wanted to consider something other than a simple Web site posting to advise its clients that they would be unable to register licenses for a particular weekend. — Mitchell Hirschklau, by e-mail I t was a dark and stormy night — no, wait — the night was dark and stormy. Lightning flashes and thunder echoes through the company’s empty halls. You are working late after everyone else has gone home. Anxiety hangs in the air. (When was the last time you saved?) Then it happens. Your modeling software gives you an error. (Cue the lightning!) What are you going to do? You have to get this model done for the meeting tomorrow. The fate of the free world depends on it! Well, your bonus does anyway. You try everything you can think, but nothing works. You just keep getting that error box that says Memory Access Violation! OK? (No! it’s not okay!) You cringe because you know what you must do. When you face a problem of this magnitude there is only one place you can go — customer support. (Cue lightning and huge thunderclap!) More often than not, I have received quality help from the software support desks I’ve called over the years. The majority of them (I’m sure) are staffed with competent, hard-working, and well-trained experts who want to solve your issue and get you back on the road to happy modeling. But every so often, when I least expect it, I have to smile (or cringe, or yell). Sometimes I get people on the line who just drive me crazy! At the very least they don’t solve my problem, and sometimes they aren’t even all that con- cerned with helping me. They go through their canned list of questions, and when that’s done, so are they. I think one of the most frustrating things I’ve heard from a customer support person is, “It worked for me.” This comment is usually followed closely by “I can’t duplicate your problem.” (Cue the sinister organ music!) It’s almost like a Murphy’s Law of software (or auto repair): The problem won’t manifest itself while the person who is capable of fixing it is watching. Customer support people most often want to help you when they ask, “Can you send us your file?” But you and I both know the call is as good as over. They’ve given up, Isn’t that always the way? (Reprinted with permission of United Media.) www.cadalyst.com | cadalyst | October 2007 41 http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - October 2007

Contents Editor's Window Cad Central Tech Trends: First-Hand Architecture in Second Life Rev It Up — Graphics Cards Pack Power for Today’s Hottest Designs TurboCAD Pro 14 — 3D Modeling Software SimEnterprise R2 — Design Simulation Software CADopia 6.2 SP3 Professional Edition — 2D and 3D Modeling Software Cad Manager: Programming Resources for CAD Managers MCAD Modeling: Customer Service Horror Stories PLM Strategies: Manufacturing Across Time Zones AEC in Focus: Digital-Asset Management in AEC/O Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Cadfidential

Cadalyst - October 2007

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