Does SAGETV Customer Support Actually Exist?

[oldmike60]

New to the product. Bought a HD THeater 300 unit with Media Center software. Got the box, no SW or instructions of how to activate, so using Demo for now. The box is great when it works, but resets itself from time to time, so I asked for a swap. This is DAY 3, not a peep about any of this. No human to call, just email into the ether.

Anybody know how to actually talk to someone at SAGE?

[gplasky]

It can take up to 72 hours before receiving a response from support.

Gerry

[paulbeers]

Also, I would recommend you check your junk mail box to make sure it didn't end up there.

Have you upgraded the firmware? What comes on them, is an older version of the firmware that causes a lot of troubles....

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by oldmike60

Got the box, no SW or instructions of how to activate, so using Demo for now.

You should have received an email back from SageTV shortly after your purchase containing your activation/license key. Instructions on how to install SageTV Version 6, as well as how to enter the license key, can be found in the following document link.

http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_Manual.pdf

[oldmike60]

Three days is considered customer "service"?

Using SAGETV7, but I'll check on the firmware. Guess I'll have to pay the upgrade price on 7, but think I need to have version 6 activated to get the upgrade price.

Thanks; checking firmware now.

[oldmike60]

Well, my apologies all around. I did indeed get an email with the SW key.

[Fuzzy]

You also have to realize that, unlike most support centers, SageTV's support is actually done by the developers, instead of a bunch of call-center workers with a script. The trade off here is you actually get decent support, but lose some response speed.

[KeithAbbott]

When I run into an issue, I usually search this forum first to see if someone else has already solved it. If that search is unsuccessful, I'll post a new forum entry and see if anyone has suggestions. Many problems can be resolved in a matter of hours with this approach. If this still doesn't solve the problem, I'd create a support ticket at that point, and wait in queue for support from Sage.

The more issues the forum community can help solve without developer involvement, the more time the Sage developers have to build cool new stuff for us! (like HDHomeRun Prime support)

[Clift]

Originally Posted by oldmike60

Three days is considered customer "service"?

Using SAGETV7, but I'll check on the firmware. Guess I'll have to pay the upgrade price on 7, but think I need to have version 6 activated to get the upgrade price.

Thanks; checking firmware now.

If you bought a new bundle, you don't have to pay an upgrade fee for a V7 license. Your v6 license key should activate v7

[mayamaniac]

What a silly question, of course there's customer support, his name is George.

[drewg]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

You also have to realize that, unlike most support centers, SageTV's support is actually done by the developers, instead of a bunch of call-center workers with a script. The trade off here is you actually get decent support, but lose some response speed.

It is very frustrating for a customer to mail support and not get a response for days. It makes you think your email got swallowed by a spam filter or something. I have no idea how SageTV tracks bugs internally. But their email interface sucks on at least the customer end. All subjects are reduced to "SageTV Support Request" when you open a request via the web interface. If their developers have a zillion threads all with the same subject, it is no wonder things can get lost and response time is terrible.

I work for a small IHV where the support is done by the developers as well. However, we don't make people wait days for a response. We use the RT bug tracking system (http://bestpractical.com/rt/). At the bare minimum, customers see an immediate acknowledgment email with a bug number in it the subject. They often get a response from a developer within a few hours. On the developer side, it is nice as all email & attachments are logged in the system, and can be accessed by everyone internally via a web interface. You can do things like search on the customer, search on strings in the ticket, etc.

Drew

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by drewg

It is very frustrating for a customer to mail support and not get a response for days.

But is this a normal response time or once a rare circumstance?

My personal experience was never that long, usually I get a response the next day.

[reggie14]

I usually get a response in a day. Sometimes 2 days. I don't really know what George's role at Sage is. It seems plausible that he's pretty busy with the recent release of the HD300, and perhaps he's involved with developing or testing the v7 beta.

Still, the one-day response times can be a bit annoying. You can't really expect anything better than that, but problems can drag on and on. Usually if I get to a point where I'm emailing support I've exhausted all my options on the forums, meaning I'm probably dealing with a tough problem. So, you can go through lots of rounds of emails. For example, on day 1 I submit a support request, on Day 2 I get a response asking to try something and submit logs, on Day 3 I send the results, on day four I get a response with a different idea, etc.

Still, places with telephone support aren't any better. I spent more than ten hours on the phone with Acronis over a 1 week period before they finally admitted there was a bug in their product, and that it wouldn't be fixed until the next release (which was 5 months off). That doesn't happen with Sage. Usually if its a bug on their end they figure it out pretty quickly, and with any luck its fixed in days.

[drewg]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

But is this a normal response time or once a rare circumstance?

My personal experience was never that long, usually I get a response the next day.

I was basing "3 days" based on gplasky's "up to 72 hours" comment, which I'm sure I've seen elsewhere (like on their web page).

My own experience is about 36 hours on average between submitting a ticket, and getting a response. All my tickets are submitted early in the morning before work, and I generally get a response late in the evening the next day..

Drew

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by drewg

I was basing "3 days" based on gplasky's "up to 72 hours" comment, which I'm sure I've seen elsewhere (like on their web page).

My reading of it is that the 72 hours figure is meant to cover the fact that George doesn't normally work weekends. Submit a request on Friday and you should get a response on Monday. It's not an excuse for them to sit on your request for three days.