Rockwell Automation tech support - so Rude!

Recently, I made several phone calls to Rockwell automation tech support. One thing I noticed is the tech support personnel are so arrogant, sarcastic and rude. Not sure if they record the phone calls there but they act as though they are giving free support. If they don't know why something is happening they do not try to find out why but act as though I am lying! I know those people are usually in a hurry but there is definitely a politer way to respond.

I recently bought the DirectConnect Tech contract (paid $800 for one year worth of support) and all I get is this?! Does anyone have similar experience? I am trying to find out where I can send a complaint..

I've contacted AB Tech Support 3 times this week and have been treated very well and they were very good at getting me the assistance I needed and answering my questions. If the tech support person I was talking to did not know they answer they found someone who did. For the most part I've had very good experience with AB Tech Support. Sometimes I can get frustrated with a particular problem and want to take it out on the tech support personnel but I am routinely in their shoes when I have a client call me up for support on work I've done.

If you feel as though you have been mistreated I would contact your local AB distributor and your local AB representative.

Been using Rockwell tech support for years. Never had the experience you are describing. Were you rude to them?

Glad to know others have had good experience.. I was so concerned if I paid too much for nothing.

I have had customers call me several times asking for a quick solution without understanding things take time to figure out so I understand. I have been on the other end too. That is the reason I wasn't trying to rush them into helping me or show my frustration. But as I said, there is a way to let me know to do something or things or being worked on instead of being rude or sarcastic about it. When I did not completely follow their instructions on what they wanted me to do, at one point they said "Ok let me repeat this for the 13th time". That is not professional!

Cryogen said:

Recently, I made several phone calls to Rockwell automation tech support. One thing I noticed is the tech support personnel are so arrogant, sarcastic and rude. Not sure if they record the phone calls there but they act as though they are giving free support. If they don't know why something is happening they do not try to find out why but act as though I am lying! I know those people are usually in a hurry but there is definitely a politer way to respond.

I recently bought the DirectConnect Tech contract (paid $800 for one year worth of support) and all I get is this?! Does anyone have similar experience? I am trying to find out where I can send a complaint..

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You must have caught someone on a bad day, or someone who just got reemed. I have always found them polite, courteous and helpful. Maybe not always correct though.

Cryogen, would you do me a favor ?

Call up your local A-B office and ask to talk to the manager of "Strategic Maintenance"; that's the person who is responsible for the local sales of Tech Connect service. Give him or her your case number and explain about the attitude and tone that you found objectionable.

If you don't have a relationship with your local office, send me a PM with the case number and I'll do this followup.

The old-fashioned "this call may be recorded" method is ineffective, in my opinion. Honest and immediate customer feedback is how we can best provide gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) training and adjustment to the Tech Support engineers and staff.

You might have gotten somebody on a bad day, or you got a new guy who is a jackhole, or an old guy who is a jackhole but is otherwise valuable enough to be tolerated.

I'm amazed at the latitude my customers have given me over the years to be cranky, condescending, and terse. It's probably because I also come through in a pinch a lot. Over twelve years, I've written two apologies to customers (yes, written), only one of which I meant. But I've bought countless beers for guys who put up with me regularly.

I certainly hope your experience was atypical, and I appreciate you taking the time to follow up.

I've never had a bad experience with AB/Rockwell tech support. Hell, they've even called me back on open items to make sure it was resolved.

Ken Roach said:

I've bought countless beers for guys who put up with me regularly.

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Ken I will put up with you anyday of the week or weekend, regardless of the cold beer.

For all I ding them for charging for tech support in the first place, on those occasions where I have had to contact them, I found them to be knowledgable, courteous and professional. They really are top notch guys over there.

You probably got some poor sap who just found out his stock hit the floor. My really bad day was about a week ago, and I'm sure I was no fun to talk to either

TM

Feedback

I'm not sure if you have all the same options, but EVERY single case that I have with them I recieve an electronic feedback form. This also would be an opportunity to rate your experience. I have had positive experiences for the most part. Sometimes, when I am extremely pleased with the support I recieved, they have asked me to contact a superior of theirs to wave an attaboy for them. I've had no problem doing this as well. Let the good know it, and the same for the not so good.

Russ

Thanks for all your replies. These calls I made were for a single case and I probably got the same guy on more than one occasion. I was really surprised by his attitude. Some years ago I did have Rockwell tech support and did not have any bad experience. I also used to get the "rate your experience" email. I did not get that this time. So wondering if things have changed.

I am planning to follow Ken Roach's advice and call my local distributor.

Same experience

I have had nothing but poor service from them. I had just purchased a drive from them which they said should come with 6 months of tech support. When I called and needed some help to build an array. They said that my needs where outside the tech help and that I needed to by a $800 tech support subscription on top of the $2000 I just paid for the drive.

I will never choose to buy from them again.

If you know thier stuff inside and out I think AB has great products. But if you don't, be prepared to pay through your nose.

I've had pretty good service myself. One case in particular that I had for several months and talked to several different guys in several different departments. The last guy to help actually setup a similiar system and tested over a holiday weekend and gave me the results the next business day. It ended up working fine for him and being a IT mistake on our part but at least rockwell did all they could to try and figure out my issue. I also get the emails asking to grade the service I got on each case. If you don't want to take the chance to get a rude person on the phone try using the chat sessions on AB website. This way you can print out every word of your conversation, need it be good or bad.

A Rockwell guy completely chewed my *** off one time. It was my second day at work at a new company. I called him about an RS232 point I/O card. He was yelling at me and the info he gave me was wrong. I was new so I didn't feel like I could tell what I thought. It was crazy Though.