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Support not so good anymore...

I have had Orion since before it was Orion - it was not web enabled and was just called Solarwinds NPM. The last year has been very much worse than the previous ones in getting support. Last week I was about to upgrade and was also working with a test box so I had a few issues.

Ticket 21082: Opened Wed Oct 17. No response (except the automated one). Friday I asked if anyone was going to help. Monday I got a response answering my questions and at the end it said:" Thank you. The issue that you have raised is resolved and the case is now closed. " Good thing I had no follow-up questions...

Ticket 21073: Opened Wed Oct 17, got same day response, but I needed clarification so I emailed back. Never heard from them again.

Ticket 21182: Opened high-priority ticket early morning (Pacific time) October 18 after upgrade to 8.5. Did not hear back (our Orion web was completely down). Called and waited on hold. Tech told me to send the diagnostics log file and when he received it told me he would get back to me. I did not hear back alll day so asked for escalation. No response. Called on the 19th, waited on hold, got another tech who said 8.5.1 would fix it "for sure". It didn't. Called and got another tech, one with whom I had worked successfully before. The more experienced techs are difficult to work with for any continuous length of time, I think, because they are very much in demand. We set up a time for him to help Monday morning. He got me up and running, though there are residual issues (see my other post "Orion 8.5 - oh my"). He had a full schedule and could not continue to assist me that day (we have scheduled the "repair" for another day).

Opened another ticket Friday re:Netflow. Got response that tech needed to look at my installation to work on the issue. I sent my phone contact info in case he did not have it and said when I would be at my desk this afternoon. No response. Would have been nice to get a "I'll call tomorrow" email or something.

After going though the original Netflow disaster and now a bad Orion upgrade, we are really sad about how things have changed with our SolarWinds product and support experience. I know there was a period of growth and change, but at some point that has to get resolved. And they never say, after rough experiences, "How can I make this right by you so we can keep you as a customer"?

Debbi

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mark_wiggans

I'm sorry to hear about your experiences with 8.5- and the responses to getting the issues resolved. I empathize with your frustration and will try to look into these tickets to get an update. Thank you for discussing your specific situation here.

EverestM

Believe me, I hear your pain. I've been working on ticket #16866 since Sept 5th... I've since gotten stuck in the dreaded "we're looking into it" for the past 3 weeks - so I've pretty much given up on that ticket.

dperdue

EverestM,

I just looked at your case and this issue should be fixed in version 8.5.1 released today.

patwill66

I completely agree with what has been said here. I have worked with Orion since 2005 and I remember how great support was. I would call in, I would get a live person in a matter of minutes and my issue would be worked on until it was fixed.

My most recent experience was a couple months ago I upgraded to 8.1 and I had issues regarding the DB, overall performance and crashing. I had three tickes open during this time and it was typically at least 24 hours between respones. I would get an email from support, respond to it within minutes with my answers and follow up questions and I wouldnt hear back until at least the next day. It was very dissapointing. One of my issues needed advanced technical support and I was able to schedule time with a person, which that was fine, but just working with support via email was hideous. And dont even think about calling support and talking to someone. I have been on hold for 45 minutes or longer plenty of times waiting for someone to answer the phone. Every time I have been told how busy the tech support group is and I feel for them, I have been in a similar situation before, but as a company, the technical support side of things needs major improvement.

WINNT

I agree as well. When we first started using Orion in 2004, I would call support and actually talk to someone who knew the product. Now, the SolarWinds support staff has grown, but their knowledge is minimal. It would be nice if they just admitted not knowing the product and pass you up to the next tier. I am so tired of being led through a series of steps on how to use their product, instead of having the bug addressed. There really needs to be a method of contacting an advanced support staff immediately and not waste time with the first level. Here are some of the "delay tactics" of support:

1. Run through instructions on how to use the software.

2. Run a repair which resets all your settings to the default, and your issue still exists. You spend a couple days restoring your custom configurations.

3. Run a diagnostics and send them the file in e-mail which never works because their e-mail system rejects large files. They will then create a method for you to upload the file. Since most of us are very busy, we don't have time to sit and wait for the e-mail to error out and contact them back immediately. Sometimes you don't read the returned e-mail until after support is closed for the day. This always delays getting the issue fixed, because you have to wait for them to get back to you with another upload method. The diagnostics file is getting reviewed by the top tier support group, and you never hear back.

4. You get asked about your server's specs which are always more than enough. They try to find some issue on your end.

5. They tell you a hotfix is coming out and should fix the issue.

6. You wait for hotfix, you install the hotfix, it breaks other stuff. You open a ticket for the new issues, they give you another hotfix which fixes the new issues, but your orignial issue still exists.

7. You go through similar troubleshooting steps again. You send them another diagnostic file, and you never hear back.

8. You call them back to get a status. They tell you the next version is coming out and will fix your issues.

9. You wait for next version, install it, it doesn't fix your issue.

10. You go through trying to fix the new bugs in the new version. You get a hotfix that fixes those, but your original issue still exists.

11. You get told a hotfix is coming out to fix your issues. The hotfix comes out, and it doesn't fix your issues.

Problems with the "ticketing system"

1. You have to enter in all your contact information each time you open a ticket.

2. There is no way to track your ticket numbers and status.

3. Many times the support person handling your ticket will not put their contact information in the e-mail. Not even their name!

4. No reference to your ticket description. I have had multiple tickets opend with SolarWinds and I get responses back like "are you still experiencing the issue?" with no ticket number nor e-mail history referencing what the ticket was about.

I need to get back to work, so I will have to end my rant.