> Whilst on Oracle Support, is it just me, or has the quality of advice and
> information from Oracle Support on their forums slumped to diabolical
> proportions ?
My experiences with Oracle Support have been more along these lines....
- Me: I am having a problem. Here are all my version numbers. Here are
all of the trace files. Here is all of the relevant information that you
could possibly ever use to diagnose my problem.
- Me: Hello....Is anyone there????
- OS: Before I can work on your problem, I need you to run the RDA
script and send me the output.
- Me: Please look at my start to this iTar. You will see the RDA output
that I uploaded.
- OS: It seems to be that you are having a problem. Please apply the
latest patchset.
- Me: If you would please take a look at my iTar, you will clearly see
that I am on the latest patchset. I clearly stated my version when I
filled out the iTar and it shows the latest patchset has been applied.
- Me: Hello....Is anyone there????
- OS: I am working on your problem. I have sent some information of to
another analyst.
- OS: (After multiple days). Have a look at Metalink documents A, B,
and C.
- Me: I did a search of Metalink before I filed the iTar. Metalink
document A does not apply to me because that bug was fixed in version
7.3.4, I am running 9.2.0.4. Metalink document B does not apply to me
because it has to do with iAS. Metalink document C might apply to me,
but I am unsure as it is not viewable to anyone but a select few.
- OS: Waiting on other analyst.
- OS: We want you to try to do X.
- Me: I don't see how doing task X relates in any way to my problem.
(I'm pretty sure they think that I don't have a clue at this point,
because I know that they don't). But I tried to do task X and it didn't
change a thing.
- OS: We want you to try to do Y. (This type of random,
trial-and-error fixes proceeds for many days without any help to my
original problem).
- Me: Hello....Is anyone there????
- Me: Well I couldn't wait any more. Instead of fixing the problem, I
figured I could workaround the problem by doing Z. Or, I could just
rebuild my database from scratch and reload the data. I don't have to
deal with the problem any more.
- OS: (almost immediately I get a response!) Sounds good. I'm closing
this Tar.
I can't tell you the number of times I've fixed my problem myself or
worked around it. Filing an iTar is almost pointless these days. About
the only benefit my company is realizing from its support contract is
the ability to search Metalink for answers and download patches.
Just my experiences...
Brian
--
===================================================================
Brian Peasland
dba_at_remove_spam.peasland.com
Remove the "remove_spam." from the email address to email me.
"I can give it to you cheap, quick, and good. Now pick two out of
the three"
Received on Thu Jan 29 2004 - 09:21:37 CST
