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This forum is a waste of time

Gary_Karasik
Level 5
I have posted 6 questions in the past several days and gotten a satisfactory response on one of them.

As a source for meaningful tech support, I'd have to say that a 17% answer rate is pretty poor.

GaryK
20 REPLIES 20

Kim_Maisch
Level 3
i know how you feel. we have veritas 10 on one server (with valid maintenance), and veritas 8.6 on one of our other servers. It is virtually impossible to get any decent support for 8.6 :(

priya_khire
Level 6
Hello,

We apologise for the inconvenience caused to you in the past. You can put up your problem on the forum and we will try to answer it as soon as possible.

Awaiting your update on the problem.

Regards.

Gary_Karasik
Level 5
>We apologise for the inconvenience caused to you in the past. You can put up your problem on the forum and we will try to answer it as soon as possible.

>Awaiting your update on the problem.

Which problem? If you'd taken the time to carefully read my post, which strikes me as kind of important if you're going to answer it well, I said there were five problems, all of which have my name on them, all of which are marked not answered, all of which have followup questions because the answere you guys provided were either incomplete or not to the point.

You want me to point them out to you? Fine:

On May 25, 8:44am, BACKUP FAILS ON SHADOW COPY:
"Amruta" tells me to uninstall, then reinstall AOFO. I don't have AOFO. I marked it "UNANSWERED" and posted a response asking for clarification. I have not heard back.

On May 25, 8:35am, NOT GETTING ANY HELP HERE WITH SHADOW COPY FAILS: "Amruta" tells me to change permissions on an account but doesn't provide instructions for doing that. I marked it "UNANSWERED" and posted a response asking for further instructions. I have not heard back.

On May 25, 8:26am, SAVE BEWS DATA: "Deepali" cites a Knowledge Base article that instructs me how to save data in BEWS 9. First, my question is about BEWS 10, and second, clicking on the citation returns an "Information is no longer available" page. I marked it "UNANSWERED" and posted a response asking for further instructions. I have not heard back.

On May 25, 3:17am, MANUALLY DELETE BEWS 10: "Ajit" asks me if I've used Add/Remove programs, asks me if I had any errors while doing so, and tells me that he/she is awaiting my response. I responded (although the post isn't there, so I just responded again) that I wanted to know how to manually remove the program. I marked it "UNANSWERED." I have ot heard back.

On May 25, 3:12am, BACKUP JOB WON'T START IF MAILBOXES ARE SELECTED, "Ajit" asks some followup questions, which, again, I answered but which answere never posted.

GaryK

Madhuri_Shenoy
Level 6
Hello Gary,

We understand your concern. We apologize for the confusions so far. We would be replying to the said posts individually.

Thanks for the patience and understanding!

Gary_Karasik
Level 5
No one has replied to any of them.

GaryK

Brian_Ballenger
Level 4
I'm not sure what you expect out of free tech support. I will admit that I have also been frustrated in the past with some of the answers from the Veritas people. It often seems like they do not bother to read the entire question before responding.

There are many posts every day and only a few of them. The advantage of this forum, other than it being free support, is the community. While I have received very few answers directly from Veritas personnel, I have received quite a few solutions from other users.

Gary_Karasik
Level 5
What do I expect? I expect useful and on-point responses.

GaryK

Brian_Ballenger
Level 4
Perhaps it's just me, but that's a rather foreign concept in the world of tech support, even the paid kind.

Gary_Karasik
Level 5
I'm confused as to your point. Are you saying that you think that such poor performance is okay?

GaryK

Brian_Ballenger
Level 4
My point is not that it is ok, but simply that it is a fact of life in the world of tech support. Does that mean we should just accept it? No, not at all.

Creating a thread about how worthless a forum is certainly gets you some attention, though it's not particularly productive.

There are over 6 pages of new topics from today alone. That's over 150 new threads. With that many different topics to weed through, and the small number of actual Veritas employees who work on this forum, it is a wonder anything gets answered properly. It's a free forum. You don't even have to pay for the software to use it, let alone buy the support and maintenance contracts.

This is a nice value-added tool that Veritas has created. It's a knowledge base and a place where users can exchange information. The fact that Veritas dedicates personnel to it at all is generous.

If you're having problems that aren't being addressed here, and you have a paid support contract, call the support center and open a ticket.

Dragon_Point
Level 3
I have to chime in on this topic. We purchased a brand new, full version of BE 10 and have run into something that is a bit of a concern for us as we started using it. I contacted tech support by phone, only to find out no free support is given, even on a brand new product just out of the box. They told me to e-mail them. I e-mail them and receive no reply for days. I call them and this time am told that e-mail support is only if you cannot get the software installed, and that I must use the Veritas forums instead to address my problem, or pay for a support contract. I then post my question in here, and watch as day after day, my post sinks to the bottom of the list. Bumping is apparently no use. For some reason, the mods pick and choose the posts they respond to, as I have seen several posts after mine that were already answered.

The lack of any sort of reliable, free support for a period of time on new software is ridiculous. Had I known that it was going to be next to impossible to get help, I would have chosen another backup product for our new server. In spite of what appears to be a pretty polished new version of the program, there is no way at this point I would ever recommend this software to my clients based on the track record for support.

Gary_Karasik
Level 5
I'm not sure what this will mean to you, but paid support--which I have--is a problem too. I've waited on hold for up to two hours just to get to a tech to explain my problem. Sometimes they're helpful. Sometimes they're not, and if they can't figure out the problem easily, it's Uninstall/Reinstall, as though that's no big deal (and it isn't, to them).

FWIW, I agree completely that there should be free support during an installation period, given how complex this software is and how closely it ties to the OS.

Rather than being inspired by generosity, Veritas created this forum in an attempt to find a relatively inexpensive way to provide some support and to quiet criticism!such as yours.

It isn't working.l

GaryK

Brian_Ballenger
Level 4
Well, it was just my two cents. I have often found that other people have already experienced the same problems I have, so I can find the answer already in the forums. For the few times where that was not the case, my question was answered relatively promptly, usually by another forum user rather than a Veritas employee. I have only had to call phone support once, and while it did take a couple of days for them to get back to me, they had the correct answer when they finally did. I guess I've just been lucky.

I also have had the good fortune of having a good reseller and good hardware support for my tape devices. My reseller has been able to offer me support on the software a few times, and the good guys who I buy all of my hardware from also have an amazing support department that is very familiar with Veritas products.

I guess I always viewed this forum as just one of many tools for solving a Veritas related issue.

It's only a waste of your time if you let it be. If you don't find the answer here, look elsewhere.

I do have to agree that the often given advice of uninstall/reinstall is somewhat annoying. It's not an easy process anyway, let alone if you have many different jobs and job histories already in place.

Ross_Smith
Level 4
I can see the frustration if this forum is your only source of support, but Veritas software like so many other professional products should always be purchased with a support contract.

If you weren't advised this when you purchased the software then you really need to take this up with the retailer who sold you the program.

Personally I think this forum is a great idea. Ok, veritas don't respond to everything on here, but it's a great resource to search for solutions and a valuable addition to their knowledgebase. It's also a very useful place for us to air our frustrations, just as you are doing now. If enough people agree with you, then at least you can be confident that Veritas are aware of the scale of the problem.

Ross

Justin_Howell
Level 3
> It often seems like they do not
> bother to read the entire question before responding.

I concur. I posted about an error with AOFO. The server had SQL 2000 installed, but I wasn't backing it up. I get three posts saying "You can't backup up files and a SQL server in the same job." Twice I posted that " I am *NOT* backing up SQL" and the only answers I get say don't back up SQL. Again, the forum is a nice gesture, but at least staff it with people that can read and comprehend. Sheesh.

Mark_McLaughl1
Level 3
Put me in the thumbs up group.
I appreciate this forum as a resource, but if I have critical issues I need answered now, I will call support, as I pay for it.
I use the forums in the hopes that someone has asked the same question and has received a satisfactory answer, or for general questions I am not in a hurry to have answered.
Any questions I have asked here though, I have gotten answers.
I appreciate the job the 4 or 5 Veritas employees are doing answering questions here but don't rely on it.

Sharvari_Deshmu
Level 6
Hello Gary,

The different threads mentioned will be addressed individually. As for this thread please post a technical query and we will try to answer it.

Additional Information :

For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm


NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked "assumed answered" and would be moved to "answered questions" pool.


Thanks,

steven_fernande
Level 3
I am fully agreed the comments made in this forum that this form is west of time. Recently we purchase Veritas BE 10.x server with combo licenses including several agents. I had problem while configuring ISA 2004 server, for the help I called Veritas support and they refused answer my query and ask me to post my query on tech forum. If this forum is free than I wasted my money for purchasing combo licenses for nothing.

Mike_Marks
Level 3
Amen to all the above!!
I have a 9.1 version (in the original box) of Veritas that needed to be reloaded (server crashed), but the previous IT tech lost the key for it. When I called Veritas for support and the key they said, "too bad - buy a new one", then we will support it.
I bought the newest 10d and am having problems getting it to work, so when I called for support they said, "too bad, pay for the support." Or, they said I could go to this forum. So far no answers on here either.
I wish I had known all this before hand and I would have purchased Arc Serve or something else.
Veritas' support (or the absence thereof) is pathetic!!