I had a tremendously frustrating day yesterday. I wasted at least 8 hours trying to figure out something that was so simple it was silly.
So I had no time to even think about writing a post here.
What happened is, I’m working on a new report that will most likely be announced tomorrow (Friday, February 16th). I needed to do something inside the report, and I found the software that would do it.
Unfortunately, while testing, it just didn’t work, and in a really zany sort of way. I suspected it must be something I was doing wrong, and I went to the vendor’s website and downloaded the manual they provided, and read it. Twice.
Still no luck. I suspected it might be something incompatible with the software and the report I had prepared with MS Word and a PDF making utility. So, instead of using the utility I was currently using, and had never had a problem with, I downloaded Open Office, which is a free replacement for Word, and can make PDF’s.
After going through that (big download, lengthy installation, and doing the conversion), still no luck. I tried several different ways.
Then I put in a support request to the vendor. Frustrated, I went home and ate dinner, hoping he would get back to me so I could finish up this part of my project.
With no response, I decided maybe it was that I needed to use the real Adobe PDF software, so I got onto my home computer, and downloaded a trial version (268 megabytes of download, which took a while), and tried to install it. Unfortunately I got a famous Adobe message (program has caused errors and will be shut down) during the install process.
So, I figured I didn’t have enough memory on my home computer. Not to worry. I logged onto GoToMyPC to connect to my office computer which is more powerful, downloaded the software again (another 268 megabytes, which took a while), and tried to install it. Again, install program caused errors and shut down. I couldn’t even install the thing! I tried rebooting. No luck.
One last try. I logged onto my laptop which runs Windows XP (the other computers run Windows 2000), downloaded Adobe again (another 268 megabytes which took a while), and installed it, which took a while but actually worked this time. Then I took my document, ran it through Adobe to make a PDF to see if the software I had purchased would like this document better.
Nope.
By then it was after 11 p.m. and I was so frustrated and annoyed I had trouble sleeping all night.
This morning I downloaded my morning emails, and had received a response from the vendor. He was acting like I was an idiot because the problems were documented in the user guide and I should have read about it.
OK, my fault. Except there was no user guide downloaded to my desktop. The program icons were, but the user guide was quietly tucked away in the program files section, not a peep about them, but it was actually there. And yes, it did mention what I was trying to do, and the workaround.
To answer my own question, good customer support is anticipating what the customer is going to need, and making sure he or she has it readily available. Writing something down and hiding it isn’t good customer support.
I can understand vendors can be in far different time zones, I have to live with that, so when I had no response between 2 p.m. and 11 p.m., the man might have been asleep. But the problem was so zany, and the solution so equally zany, that you have to wonder why the user manuals can’t just be downloaded to the desktop in a folder with the programs.
Or am I wrong?
Anyway, end of rant. Big news coming tomorrow, I think. Be here!
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