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Apple support… funny and sad
Yesterday, our Xsan went down. My assistant, who is Xsan certified, could not figure out the problem. So he called Apple Xsan support, which we pay for. Even though it was Saturday, we reached someone in just a few minutes. He took us through several trouble-shooting steps (which my assistant had already tried, but figured it was worth doing again). Ultimately though, the Apple tech couldn’t figure out the problem either. Then he emailed some further suggestions and this zinger:
“I will have to escalate this issue to a response engineer. The
response time for this high priority escalation is from one to three
business days.”So… a with a low priority issue, we get through to someone quickly. But if it’s a HIGH priority problem, we have to wait up to three days. I suppose if it were a life-threatening issue, the response could take a week.
Seriously, if Apple wants to court the professional film and video world, they need to do better than this. In particular with a product as user-unfriendly as Xsan, high level engineering support needs to be available quickly.
My shop has 8 Avids on a Unity and 3 FCP stations on Xsan. I’m trying to get more of my fellow editors to take FCP seriously. Incidents like this don’t make it easy.
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12 Replies
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Seriously. In the post world…ONE lost day is a disaster.
I can’t believe that. I mean, they might have like 4 engineers who know more than the average tech, and they might be a bit busy…if so, hire more. If it takes that long, that is TOO long.
Shane Ross
Alokut Productions
http://www.lfhd.net -
I’ve got an idea, self diagnosing, fault tolerant raids. When it senses an issue it connects to Apple and talks about its issues. This goes up the chain as the analysis deems it more critical. The guys who can fix such issues get an email and phone call from the computer about an issue only they might be able to deal with. All hands on deck when it seems a remote solution is not working.
The fault tolerant side of things would mean the system can isolate an issue before things go critical. You might lose some footage etc but, its better then losing a few days. I am guessing Apple will get here some day, and we can all talk about how hard it was back then
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Fortunately, we only lost a few hours of work time, not a whole day. We were able to copy our media directly from the raid onto firewire drives and work the old fashioned way: with local storage.
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Dear “Welder”,
Gimme a break! You’ve never had a similar experience with Avid phone support? Don’t you remember the days when you were lucky if anyone even answered the phone at Avid? I learned most of what I know about fixing Avids from reading the manual while waiting on hold for the tech support I paid for! Talk about unresponsive! Go to the AVID-L (1 or 2) and do a search for complaints about phone support. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of them. In fact, that’s why that user group got started… to support each other in lieu of the inadequate phone support then available.
If you’re so nervous that you can’t handle any downtime, then I suggest you either improve the quality of your “on site” support or contract a local firm for tech support. X-SAN is NOT a simple “plug and play” system. Like a Unity, it requires a significant amount of “IT” knowledge. As you know from operating the Avid side of your building, it’s very hard to diagnose “system” problems on the phone. Why do you expect that FCP with X-san would be any different?
You don’t say what the problem was or how it was resolved. Sure it could be equipment/software related, but it could also be something “user related”. The tone of your post smugly suggests that if Apple wants a piece of the “professional” market they better shape up. I’ve got news for you… Apple’s not “courting” pros, they’re already in bed with plenty of them.
mark
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Wow, Mark, settle down. You seem to be reacting to some post other than mine.
Believe me, I know about Avid support. I’ve dealt with them for 15 years. I remember the days when you were lucky to get someone on the phone within a half-hour. And I, like many others, complained frequently about that service. And Avid support is much better now, I think mostly because of our complaints. And the fact that Avid’s support hasn’t been perfect doesn’t mean I don’t have the right to occasionally complain about Apple’s.
I’m simply saying that a product marketed to professionals deserves professional level support. This applies to Apple and Avid.
I posted about a specific incident and the irony of the message I got from the tech. I tried to be fair in my post and pointed out that we did reach an Apple tech, on a Saturday, within a few minutes. It was not at all a “I hate Apple” rant, as you seem to take it. Believe me, I know Xsan is difficult, and I know our problems could be our fault. I’m not above admitting user error. I just was hoping that a problem that a low level tech couldn’t solve would result in a quicker response from a higher level, not a slower one.
And c’mon, we all get nervous about down time. But it’s inevitable, and we all deal with it. In my second post I described how we coped with ours.
Believe me, Mark, I really want FCP and Xsan to be a success. That’s why I’ve invested in it and am trying to move away from a dependence on Avid. I’m on your side. So peace, okay?
Incidentally, I’ve been reading your posts on the Cow for a long time. I’ve clipped and saved quite a few. You’ve been very generous with your time and experience. And you probably have more working experience with Xsan than just about any video professional. That fact that you’re satisfied with it, working in a much more complex environment that ours, helped convinced me to buy it. I’m sure we’ll be happy with it too after our initial growing pains.
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Welder,
I think the suggestion to find a local “IT” vendor who can provide on site rapid response is in order for your facility.
The problem you mentioned is not unique to Avid or Apple as I have had the same problems with other large vendors such as Sony (don’t get me started on how bad they are). Honestly the only tech support which I have never been disappointed with is AJA or Ikegami but I have to say they are unique in the industry.
The only solution is to back yourself up with a local qualified professional who you can hire on a freelance as need basis. You may need to find more than one depending on their availability.
Good luck,
Tony Salgado
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After making my post I realized I missed an opportunity to riff on one of my favorite topics, shared storage is not a good idea, or put another way, shared storage is proof that the geeks get what they want regardless of how beneficial it might theoretically be.
I’m a local storage guy. Its amazing what shared storage can do, like Unity, SO WHAT! One of the worst events in cutting with shared storage comes early on, its one of the first conversations you have when you walk into a place that uses shared storage. It goes something like this, Hi Blub, meet Joe, Joe is our IT guy, he
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So, let me get this straight, because support is bad at a few other places, you’re supposed to pay Apple lots of $$$$ for bad service and like it??? And, then you gotta take abuse from people here when you complain too??? Jeeze, I’m surprised Apple doesn’t advertise this on any of the S&M sites.
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As usual David, right on, nail hit firmly on head and a high-five in your direction once again!!
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Thanks Christopher, just calling ’em as I see ’em. I know I’d be a bit pissed, and I’d want sympathy from my peers, not salt in my wounds.
DRW
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