Re: Informix Support?

It's called a SAN number Joe and it works real well. Most times they will accept the Software Serial Number and proceed from there. But when you are like Chris Cale and my present site with over (500) of them this can become very confusing. Been there done that....hope this fixes the problem. Cheryl L. Kendricks P.S. Hi Chris! chrisc@jcdcrs4.jobcorps.org on 05/05/98 01:34:01 PM To: Joe Lumbley <jlumbley@netcom.com> cc: (bcc: KENDRICKS CHERYL/HEB45) Subject: Re: Informix Support? Joe, I have experienced the exact same circumstances that you describe. In fact, I used the IBM analogy on Informix also....I use one customer number and I get all the support I need, right then...and guess what...I get support 24 x 7 from IBM for about one fourth of what it costs me to support Informix from 8 to 5 Monday thru Friday. I don't know how many times I have called Informix and had to listen to "That serial number is not supported under your maintenance contract." I had Informix give me a single contract number that covers all of my Informix products. I now use that number when I call in and I usually get right through without any hassles. You may want to check into it...I had to really push Informix to get it, but it was worth it. Christopher Cale Systems Analyst Job Corps Data Center San Marcos, Tx 1-800-598-5008 or (512) 393-7223 On Tue, 5 May 1998, Joe Lumbley wrote: > > Is anyone else having a difficult time getting Support > to deliver services? Over the years, I've come to > expect to have to haggle and scream at the first-level > support folks, just to get them to admit/recognize that > I'm a support customer and that my systems are under support. > By now, I don't even get bothered enough to make an > issue of it. > > Today I got a call from one of my flagship customers, who > touts my company's and Informix's products in seminars and > tradeshows around the country. They're threatening to jump > ship because every time they've called for support in the > last year, they've had to do a goat dance to prove that they are > supported. Informix seems to have one hell of a time tracking and > validating their Support contracts. > > As my customer said, "I've called IBM for support for ten years. > Each time, I just give them my customer number and I never have any trouble > getting to a technical person. With Informix, I waste as much time > with the accounting bullshit as I do with the technical stuff. It's > just not worth it." > > It seems to me that the crux of the problem is Informix's poor system > of managing renewals of support contracts. Anybody else with the same > issues? > > Joe > > -- > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Joe Lumbley(jlumbley@netcom.com) author of: "INFORMIX DBA Survival Guide" > > Slaving away on "INFORMIX DEBUGGERS Survival Guide", available early 1998 > from Prentice Hall/Informix Press. If you have debugging tips, tools, or > ideas to share, please send me some e-mail. > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- >