Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Support and how it should work.

During our XE to XE6 upgrade project, we felt it was time to redo our build process.

We are using FinalBuilder and ContinuaCI produced by VSoft Technologies in Canberra, Australia.

During the process we ran into some minor bugs, in the product.    We also had some major and minor feature requests.

Anytime I ran into one of these, I would shoot off an email to the product support email address.  

Sending an email to them would result in a automatic Ticket Number response email from the FogBugz software they are using.   I don't know much about FogBugz, but as customer I love the interaction and being able to see the status of the emailed ticket at any time.

Then after sending the email, I would then leave for the day,  the next morning I would come in and have a response to my ticket.

What made me happy about these responses was most of the time they contained a link to a build with a fix to the problem I was experiencing.     If I had made a minor feature request, that commonly was also implemented in the same time period.     For major feature requests, I was informed that the request was placed on the list to implement, some times with follow up questions to ensure they knew what I was asking for.

Typical response time for a bug fix: < 24 hours.
Longest I remember waiting on a bug fix < 2 weeks.

As a customer I have never felt my opinion or bug was under valued or should be discounted because of some other mitigating factor.    A behavior I commonly get from other companies.

I could be getting lucky with my requests, but I highly doubt it as we have seen this behavior several times over the years we have been using their products.   I am sure sooner or later something nasty will come up that will take longer, but I know it won't just be sidelined, it will be worked on, and I will be kept informed of what is going on.

My point is, VSoft Technologies really has support covered.   I wish other companies, I work with had that level of support.