How Not To Do Tech Support
I just had to fill out a form that looked more like marketing propaganda just to get a bit of support. Mind you, the docs I needed should have been available on the site without my having to email and beg for them. I don’t want to mention them by name because I really don’t want to piss off anyone from Meyer Sound Labs. Apparently I’ve been known to do that at least once or twice before.
My current gig I spec a Digico D5 and 12 UM-1P and a couple of CQs. The powered Meyer stuff is great for this act. Easy to use, sounds really good. Due primarily to budget constraints, I don’t get the D5. Bummer. For me. I do get a Heritage 3k more often than not and that’s good enough for me. Tonight we picked up the package for our Spanish leg. I’ve used these guys before, they’re good. Conzert Sound in Valencia. They’ll do the next few shows with us. They didn’t quite get the package right and as a result I’m using a UP-J for a cue wedge. And that sucks a hog rod.
What sucks more though is I have a few enclosures that don’t sound right at all. I suspect polarity issues. Normally, I plug them in, graphs almost flat and rock with it. Err, I guess jazz with it… The problem child boxes are almost all horn, very little woof. I’m going to troubleshoot it properly tomarrow, but today it didn’t go so good. I’m cutting the hi mid and highs radically and bossting, yes kids, boosting the lows to get it to sound like a voice at lower levels. If I really hammer down on the box, the woof kicks in. At about 105 or 110 dBa or so. The problem is, I need to run the show at more like 95 to 100 dBa peak. Our poor guys are working their asses off in the hot sun all day. I want to jump in and help. I figured that I could just go online and download comprehensive technical docs. Well, you know what they say about ASSuming anything.
Now, the good folks in Berkely have left for the evening. That’s cool, no problem with that. I’m going to need to be using these again before they open tomarrow. Again, no problem. I don’t expect them to keep my Euro schedule, though it would be nice to have a Euro tech available during Euro business hours. My beef is with me having to fill out a form to download something that should be available for public download. I’m going to crack these enclosures open in the morning, about six hours before support gets into the office. It would have been nice to have real tech docs to use before I did that. But my balls are big and I probably won’t damage anything. For the amount of money these things cost the tech docs should be on the Web AND you should get a free reach around. And what’s the deal with all the marketing stuff on the tech support request form? Does it really matter who I am, how I heard about you or what I do? I’ve got broken shit that needs to be fixed and having the resources to do just that will enable me to spec more of your expensive gear.
UPDATE: My pal Swingin’ Jim from the manufacturer in question just emailed regarding the situation. That was quick, less than a half hour. Seems they do have a Euro guy, though it’s not listed on the site. I can understand centralizing the communications but these docs should be online. Just to be clear, my beef is in not having all the data available to anyone that needs to download it. My goal isn’t so much to bust their balls, but to get them to put all the docs they have online.