One Thing You Don’t Expect from a Vendor – Attitude
Yesterday I ran into a roadblock on this one little project I was working on, and I realized that the docs were useless, the data dumps weren't helping, and in the end I needed to talk to the tech support folks. So I wrote up a little message saying in very clear terms what I was looking at in the client, and that I needed to have programmatic access in their development language to those values.
Pretty simple stuff.
I was not expecting what I got back.
The first person responded saying that the values I was referring to were wrong, and why would I want them? Answer: because the user wants me to get them.
But those numbers are wrong... Here... let me show you how to set them properly (with screen shots, etc.) OK... but that didn't tell me how to get them even one they were 'right'
To this last exchange I wrote back saying "Hey, right or wrong, I just need to know how to get the data." Clearly, I wasn't getting through. I thought I'd get the answer I needed. Silly me...
The next reply was from the second level support asking why I needed that data, and what was I going to do with it? Holy Cow, people... is this an Inquisition, or what? I just want to know how to get at the data that I can see with my own eyes in the Client. I can get all the other pieces I can see, why not this one?
"Bob, if you'd just let us know the background, I'm sure we can help you."
Finally, I gave up. I told them I was making a report for the users and needed the data as they have highlighted it as the data they want to see. To this, I finally get "OK, we'll see what we can do".
I was stunned. Why it matters to them what lead me to this place, or what on earth I wanted to do with it was, and is, so totally beyond me I can't even begin to put it into a common frame of reference. I know for a fact that the first and second levels have no idea how to get the data I need, so maybe they are just stalling for time. But to be as belligerent about this as they were is something I never expected from a vendor - Attitude.
So now I know... when I want a piece of data, I have to ask for it in the right way or they're just going to keep at me to ask it in the "right" way until I do. Only then will I get the information I asked for. Needless to say, most of my co-workers thought I showed considerable patience with this interchange. Many were using not-safe-for-work language after the second email.
Just amazing.