Re: My Informix stocks

Clay Irving wrote: << snipped >> > To add salt to the wound, Informix managed to royally screw up our > maintenance agreements -- They double and triple shipped product during > our upgrade, and were charging maintenance for serial numbers on a purge > agreement we faxed to Lenexa. Then, they told me we never paid for the user > license upgrade ($70+)! I got a copy of the check from the bank to prove > we paid for the upgrade... > > After months of working with them to resolve the maintenance issue, they > assured me everything is ok. So I paid the remaining balance of the > maintenance agreement. We ordered a version upgrade last week, but we were > told we don't have a maintenance agreement! I thought it was only me. We went through a similiar process. export VENT=ON 1. Our maintenance agreements lapsed without an invoice being sent or a phone call being made. I tried to make a tech support call, but was told that our maintenance agreement had lapsed. 2. I checked with my supervisor. Come to find out, last year we had the same problem. (I had forgotten.) One side of Informix (customer (dis)service) had an old mailing address; the only thing that had changed was the zip code. We thought that the problem was resolved, until this year, when we didn't receive an invoice. 3. We received temporary maintenance, but didn't hear back from customer service about our quote. They were 'very busy'. 4. Our current financial system upgrade requires us to upgrade OnLine and ESQL/C. Guess what we had problems with????? That's right -- our maintenance had lapsed. 5. After repeated phone calls to Sales and Customer Support, we finally received a quote. Unfortunately, it had software on it that we didn't have. 6. On top of that, the prices were significantly MORE than we had budgeted for. Ouch! I believe that the problem is somewhat under control. As a 'grunt', however, it was VERY FRUSTRATING. I can see why Informix is having problems. > Meanwhile, we're planning to base future applications on Oracle, not > for technical reasons -- Purely for reasons of sales/support. The sales > and support in my neck of the woods (LA area) is almost comical... > Some of our new development will be in Oracle, as well. We have a new system coming online (whenever). NOTE TO INFORMIX: Please get your act together in the Customer Service / Sales / Marketing area. You have a good product; I'd hate to see Informix go under because of 'nontechnical' issues. export VENT=OFF John Carlson WH Smith, Inc.