Ken Robertson is tired of templated customer service, so do I. Almost every time when I fire up a support case, I get an immediate response with templated content that usually tells me nothing other than they have received it. Immediate response is good but usually I don't need it. If I fire up a support case via email or through the web form, it usually means it's not urgent and can wait. Or, I will just find the number and pick up the phone instead, even though sometimes I have to be put on hold for uncertain amount of time.
Recently, I upgraded our GFI MailArchiver server to the latest version but encountered an database schema update problem after. So I emailed their support team with a brief information about the problem. I had to email them 3 times to finally get a human to response, and of course, I got 3 templated email response with 3 different ticket numbers. Then I was told to provide a detailed description of my issue again. Obviously, my original message was archived and unreadable for some reason. Then I was told to generate a log file by following their instruction, and then I was told to give them a call to discuss in person, and then I got the following another templated message (not mentioned that they even put my case into the wrong product category) after I called and left the message which was gone mystery again.
My last correspondence with you regarding Support Case xxxxx has gone unanswered for three days. Please respond with the requested information so that we can proceed toward a resolution. If the issue has already been resolved it is not necessary to respond, as we will archive the case after 3 days.
And then I called them again, and got hold of another tech guy who offered me a solution which didn't help to solve the problem. And then my case went quiet for 3 days after I told this guy that your solution didn't work. And yes, because there was no communication for 3 days I got the same templated message again. After I replied with complaining that their support service sucks, he finally seriously took look the log file I provided earlier and quickly pointed a solution which solved the problem immediately.
The whole case took over 20 days to get addressed, and as you can see, was full of miscommunication, in which templated customer service obviously played a very important role, which decreased the human interactive ability and reduced the quality of the service as the result. Sorry, folks in GFI, I can list a full of other examples here but I just want to point it out so somehow to get your attention. Your products rock but the service definitely has a huge room to improve.