I actually had a Sales puke tell me that there was NO way I could get the full version for testing because "We don't want you to just use it then delete it..." o.O
So, I've been a Symantec customer for over 10 years but I CAN'T BE TRUSTED FOR 30 DAYS?!? Way to build brand loyalty!
My only suggestion is to be annoyingly persistant. It makes NO sense to allow us to test the trialware version of the software but not be able test the one key feature, imho. I mean really, if I can't test the restore to dissimular hardware, what's the point of the trial? I can restore a backup to the same hardware, why do I need this porgram?
As for the support, I cannot in good conscious recommend it. First of all, you must buy the "Essential Support" because they don't offer the "Basic Support" option. The $ difference is a few hundred per server. The support offering is something to the effect of M-F 9-5 access for Basic with 4 hour call back and 24x7 with 4 hour callback with the Essential. If I don't need weekend support, why do I need to pay for it? Also, unless you get the right guy you could be left wondering why they even off support, as even the product developer was stumped by an issue we had and this forum does NOT supply answers on a timely basis.
Rich L was the hero on the issue we had. Despite phone support having the same data for over 3 months, they couldn't give us any answer or even identify where the problem might be coming from.
I would suggest giving UltraBac a shot. Full 90 trial, tech support that works with you during the trial. It's a little more expensive (you get what you pay for) but it functioned as well as BESR did with some minor issues that only required a little bit of pre-recovery setup.
Symantec's "Trial Support" is catch as catch can... they will work on your issue if and when they have time - Symantec's response not just my sour grapes...
We actually ended up buying 3 copies for testing so we could get "real" support for the issues we had and we only agreed to that because they guaranteed that we could return the product.
It seems to me that Symantec's gotten a bit too big for thier britches and needs to refocus on customer support.