Is it just my imagination, or is tech support becoming less and less willing to give you support?
I remember a time (two years ago) when even Cisco was willing to hang around and solve your problem. I could be on the line for hours with someone. Most of the time, it was for stuff that wasn't in the documentation, because I was trying to make the software or hardware do something beyond the out-of-the-box functionality. That's why people hire me.
Last night, I was on the phone with a tech support rep. I asked my question, which was one of those "above and beyond" things; I wasn't technically hired to do that sort of thing, but out of a sense of duty, customer service, and yes, professionalism, I was trying to help out my hapless customers.
I asked him how we could use an ASP redirect page to get certain variables in a log file. Their answer to me: buy our other product that does it for you, or have your web developer figure it out.
I was floored. Technically, they didn't have to answer that question, but for crying out loud, they could have given me a hint!
Then, the support guy I spoke to said, "You always ask us hard questions."
I said I think that has something to do with the fact that I read the documentation, and only have to call them when something isn't documented. I really hate calling tech support. It always means hanging around on the line, trying to communicate something that doesn't lend itself well to conversation ("I restarted the service." "Which service, the IIS Web Publisher, Administrative Service..." blah blah blah), and having to mail Mgs and Mgs of log files. So yes, I only call tech support when I need to.
But that kind of attitude just makes it worse. WHY would I call tech support if I could answer my own question?
The answer is that that's what most people do: they call tech support because they don't want to read the documentation. So they're used to softball questions, and they're not prepared to answer the real ones; so people like me are out of luck.
12:09:49 PM 
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