need to fix it NOW! not in 10 minutes. NOW!!!

[lions-tambua.livejournal.com]

Customer: Our Tapedrive failed! we cant backup! you need to replace it!
me: "ok, explain me the problem. what exactly doesnt work ?"
customer: "no time for you stupid troubleshooting! its broken, ok ? you need to fix it! we have an 4h support warranty so you come here and fix it NOW!"
me: "iam afraid i cant do that. i first need to check WHAT the exactly problem is or otherwise we might swap the tapedrive and the problem persists eventually.
customer: "i can live with that. the chance that it is fixed afterwards is even bigger. so come here and swap the tapedrive!"
me: "ok, i can do so. but if that WONT fix the problem, we'd have to charge you the costs for the call."
customer: "oh... and... that would be how much ?"
me: "lets see. an LTO3 drive, and the tech, about... 4000 euro" (about 4500 US-Dollar)
customer: "WHAT ????? no! NO ! NOOOO! we have an support warranty!! you have to swap it for free!"
me: "yes. when WE find out whats wrong. so if you do the troubleshoot as i ask you to do, we will swap it and if it wont fix the problem then, you wont have to pay for it. but you WOULD have to pay for it if YOUR diagnostic is wrong."
customer: "OK, as long as we get the new tapedrive TODAY its ok. what do you need ?"
me: "first i need the backup-job log of the failed backup and the log of the last working backup."
customer: "ok, i can send you the logs of the failed job. but iam afraid i cant give you the logs of the last working"
me: "oh ? why that ?"
customer: "the last working backup was two months ago. since then we have that problem"

me: ....... *tilt* . o O (why, in gods name, do they always make stress about problems they have since TWO MONTHS!!!! wihtout even calling in ONE fucking time ???)

after 3 days of troubleshoot we found out, the firmware was out of date. his veritas-database was corrupt (reinstall veritas), some of his tapes are defect (wrong stocking) and he didnt have an terminator on the tapedrive.

Comments

[lions-tambua.livejournal.com]

and i still ask myself if i should x-post that to bofhen >:)

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

You need a new charging policy based on the length of time they take to report something.

[lions-tambua.livejournal.com]

well, iam sitting here in ANY way and our line is 'clean' (normally NO waiting time. max 1 minute) so i can easily handle an customer over a few days. :)

[kallell.livejournal.com]

"didnt have an terminator on the tapedrive."

There is a governer of california joke in there somewhere . . .

[lions-tambua.livejournal.com]

*gnaaa* *headdesk*

[jecook]

*groans*

There are at least a few tape drives out there that are... wait for it... self terminating.

THank you, Thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the Veal!

forget wikipedia. I'll explain a few things to you!

[lions-tambua.livejournal.com]

----------
Termination problems ?
F***ing incompetent T1-Series!
----------
Autotermination: suicide ?
----------
determination: rebellious Terminator ?
----------
termination cycle: 5kpm (5 kills per minute)
----------
TERMsig: ey ya dammed program! youre fucked!
----------
termination of a contract: *hands you an zippo*
----------
termination pay: i pay, you kill
----------
terms of termination: you die.
----------
bring something to an termination: "Iron Maiden - Bring your daughter..."

Re: forget wikipedia. I'll explain a few things to you!

[kalium.livejournal.com]

...to the slaughter

mv daughter /dev/null

Re: forget wikipedia. I'll explain a few things to you!

[lions-tambua.livejournal.com]

i prefer "cat /dev/null > daughter"

Re: forget wikipedia. I'll explain a few things to you!

[kalium.livejournal.com]

Either way.

[ex-deliveryboy.livejournal.com]

They'll be back

[sketchydave.livejournal.com]

Message to all companies. If you require a tape backup system you require a competant IT person on payroll. Can't afford it? *SLAP* Can you afford to lose 2 months of data? *SLAP* Don't talk back next time, it will hurt less ;-)