From: Ryan Moffett (ryanmoffett1@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Apr 09 2006 - 11:51:41 GMT-3
My lab date is April 19th. Over 45 days ago, I registered a block of 10
days in a row, starting yesterday, of remote lab access with a reputable
online rack vendor that I will not name here. Yesterday, I ran into all
kinds of issues. Notably, one of the features they advertise is the ability
to push the base configs (IP addressing, loopbacks, VTY and Console
settings) down to the routers to save on time. That feature doesn't work.
So, I wasted a bunch of time playing around and trying to make it work,
thinking I was doing something wrong, I gave up and eventually pasted all
the configs in myself. In the meantime, I tried and tried to get support,
but the only means of getting support was via email and they were
unresponsive during my entire block of time I reserved. When I did get to
exchange emails, the person told me that if that feature doesn't work, then
I should just not waste time with it, I should simply just paste the configs
in. Okay, I get that.
Now, today, I was supposed to have a block of time reserved for me, but it
has since disappeared. I have the receipt for it, but my block of time for
today is gone from their scheduling board and I have sent a few emails to
them with no response. I'm into my second wasted day of study time,
critical study time because it was the 2nd weekend before my lab and I'm not
getting a response.
Officially, this vendor only gives an email address as the means of
support. However, out of frustration, I've looked them up on a Whois search
and I now have their phone number. It's out of protocol to call, but I
believe they are out of protocol in terms of how they are handling me as a
customer. What would you do if you were me? Ultimately, I don't want to
cancel because, at this point in the game, none of the other rack vendors
have any openings for me because it is so close to my lab date. On the
other hand, I'm very frustrated that this vendor isn't being responsive,
isn't providing much in terms of help, is falsely advertising that features
are there when they aren't...
Ryan
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