From: makmur@porthos.rutgers.edu (Hanz Makmur)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm
Subject: TechSupport PROBLEM.. -Bad Support-
Keywords: problem,Asante, SuperMac, CE Software
Date: 2 Sep 92 22:39:33 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


Hi everyone, 
Have anyone been dealing with Asante and SuperMac  tech support lately
? It seem to me that lots of  company have been cutting lots of support
people. I call SuperMac for tech support question, I got answering
machine which promise that my called will be returned in FOUR(4)
busines days. If you call on Wednesday, that means you will get an
answer the following Tuesday..

When I call Asante, I got answering service who can only promise that my
call will be returned.

I call CE Software ( a few months ago), I got music and a message that
my call will be answered after 15 minutes at the latest. At the end of
the 15 minutes, someone magically answer the call. Sound like someone in
CE has a stock in long distance company and/or trying to discourage you
from asking questions. The trick is that if you know how, you can get
to the support person immidiately. So what's with the 15 minutes  wait ?

Out of the most, I am very upset at Asante. If someone reading this
know my solution, please help.


Here is my reasons on Asante.

I purchased a couple of Asante "3 in 1" ethernet cards for MacIIsi.
I read in the manual of the card I previously purchased that  the
"3in1" card from Asante is compatible with SuperMac VideoSpigot si.
(page 2-7) I also called the tech support to  confirm about the
compatibility before I purchase more cards.

Knowing that it would work with the video spigot si, I order ethernet
card "3in1" and a video Spigot for my new multimedia MacII si.

To my surprise, the ethernet card and the Spigot are not compatible.
The bracket does not fit and they have different hole sizes.

After wasting a few hours trying to figure out ways to install both
cards together, I called the Asante Tech support.

I spoke with 2 Asante Tech Support people. The first person, have no
idea what a Video Spigot card is. I even directed him to the page in
the manual. He did not have any idea what I was talking about.
He told me that he would call me the next day after he found out about
the info.

Over 24 hours later, I still did not get the call. I call Asante and 3
hrs later, I got a different person who I had dealt with before. He
was also surprised about the fact on video spigot. 

I directed him to the same page in the manual. He promised to call me
back in 24 hrs. He did not. I called back and found him. He still got
no solution  but this time claimed that the info about video Spigot in
the manual is a TYPO.

He then promised to inform the right people and promise to find a way to
get their card to work with  Video Spigot. He promised to call in a
week. A week passed and I got no call.  

I tried to contact Asante to find him, as expected, he refused to
return my call. 

So the question is : Does any one out there have any ethernet card
(Asante or Not) that works with Video Spigot with MacII Si ?

How do people deal with these tech support  people ?

I also notice that anytime before you purchase anything from a dealer,
they are very nice. Right after you purchase the stuff, suddendly the
dealer ignores your questions. How do you deal with these situation ?

Hanz Makmur
Rutgers University