Would you suggest contacting MS paid support?

22 Jun 2006 7:14 PM

gshawn3

Hi,

I am having what seems to be an obscure issue with SQL Server 2000. I
posted about the problem in these groups about 2 days ago but did not
receive any suggestions.

I have never contacted MS paid support before, so I am not sure what to
expect. How much would I need to pay for assistance with this issue?
Does it sound like a problem that can be fixed with a single phone
call, or do you think I would likely need to call in multiple times?
(see: "SQL to Oracle update trigger fails due to distributed
transaction error 7391")

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
George S.

22 Jun 2006 7:20 PM

Arnie Rowland

I think the current charge is about $175 per incident (correct me if I'm
behind the times). Even if it takes 20 phones calls -its still one incident.

It is a very good investment for obsure problems. If the problem is found to
be a known or unknown software 'bug', the fee is refunded.

They accept major credit cards...

--
Arnie Rowland, YACE*
"To be successful, your heart must accompany your knowledge."

*Yet Another Certification Exam

<gsha***@hotmail.com> wrote in message

Show quote

news:1151003695.339264.235790@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I am having what seems to be an obscure issue with SQL Server 2000. I
> posted about the problem in these groups about 2 days ago but did not
> receive any suggestions.
>
> I have never contacted MS paid support before, so I am not sure what to
> expect. How much would I need to pay for assistance with this issue?
> Does it sound like a problem that can be fixed with a single phone
> call, or do you think I would likely need to call in multiple times?
> (see: "SQL to Oracle update trigger fails due to distributed
> transaction error 7391")
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Regards,
> George S.
>

23 Jun 2006 4:15 AM

Greg D. Moore (Strider)

"Arnie Rowland" <ar***@1568.com> wrote in message
news:eUPW%23DjlGHA.676@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> I think the current charge is about $175 per incident (correct me if I'm
> behind the times). Even if it takes 20 phones calls -its still one
incident.
>
> It is a very good investment for obsure problems. If the problem is found
to
> be a known or unknown software 'bug', the fee is refunded.

For the record, we've probably used them about 1/2 dozen times.

And in 1-2 of those cases had our money refunded (since they couldn't solve
the problem. Which is actually VERY rare, but we had a couple of very
obscure issues.)

Overall I've found the support varies from ok to great. And generally if OK
folks can't solve your problem, you'll work up to the graet people.

And as Arnie says, one call or 100, they'll work towards a solution if one
exists.

I'd say of the remaining calls, MS "lost" money on us. (i.e if you figure
it's costing them say $50/hour (including overhead, etc). we definitely used
more the 4-5 hours of their time.)

The ONLY issue I've had is sometimes they've had a hard time understanding,
"we're a 24x7 environment, I can't just 'take the database down to try this
quick fix'" But generally once I point that out, we work around it.

Show quote

>
> They accept major credit cards...
>
> --
> Arnie Rowland, YACE*
> "To be successful, your heart must accompany your knowledge."
>
> *Yet Another Certification Exam
>
>
> <gsha***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1151003695.339264.235790@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am having what seems to be an obscure issue with SQL Server 2000. I
> > posted about the problem in these groups about 2 days ago but did not
> > receive any suggestions.
> >
> > I have never contacted MS paid support before, so I am not sure what to
> > expect. How much would I need to pay for assistance with this issue?
> > Does it sound like a problem that can be fixed with a single phone
> > call, or do you think I would likely need to call in multiple times?
> > (see: "SQL to Oracle update trigger fails due to distributed
> > transaction error 7391")
> >
> > Thanks in advance!
> >
> > Regards,
> > George S.
> >
>
>