Smoothwall Support - Your comments?

[danbee]

Is it just me but has anyone else been experiencing issues with Smoothwall telephone support? We have logged a few calls with them lately and never get a call back. It is always down to us to do the chasing and even then we have often been promised a call back and never had one.

 

Once you do get a call back then the support is excellent but we've had something logged for over 10 days on this occasion and haven't heard a thing!

 

Don't get me wrong, we think our Smoothie is brilliant but it seems a shame that their telephone support is letting them down at the moment.

[maark]

logged a call 20/11/2012 - -got a call reference number - have never heard back since - managed to solve it in a different way luckily but they should have come back to me.

When I had an urgent problem had to ring account manager to get it bumped up to high priority to get it looked at.

Their support needs sorting out.

[Max_Power]

Snap - had a couple of calls open, one since September and one for a month.

 

Been on hold a few times for 30minutes before it goes to auto voicemail, then they usually call back but days later. There support needs to be a little more flexible I understand we are all busy people but I cant afford to sit on the phone on hold for 30 minutes at a time to then be contacted days later about the issue,. They never update the calls with suggestions or methods which i could try to resolve the issue when I have a moment to spare, any support always seems to be on their terms regarding calling you back and unfortunately as most people will know we cant always be that spontaneous at the drop of a hat.

[tom_newton]

Thanks for the info guys - I will talk to our support manager. I knwo they're trying to fit a load of new procedures in around support with the aim of improving consistency, but it is clearly early days just yet.

[adhutton]

I completely agree. Smoothwall support has been very poor recently.

 

I used to deal with them regularly in another school about 2 years ago and have just recently started dealing with them again in my current school and have noticed a definite drop in service in that time.

 

We used to get quick call backs or email replies it now takes days or you dont even get a reply some times.

 

Not the level of service it used to be!

 

EDIT: I posted a similar question back in September: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/smoothwall-direct-support/101756-have-smoothwall-support-gone-strike.html

 

Andrew

Edited December 3, 2012 by adhutton

[RTFM]

I think the main issue smoothwall has is that their customer base has increased in size x% but their support hasnt been able to increase in size to match it.

 

They end up getting swamped and things fall through the holes. Smoothwall support was the best of any we used upto about a year ago and I feel has been dropping since then......

[zag]

Same similar poor experience here, I posted in another thread about it.

 

Being passed from saleswoman, to support, then to another office, then had to remind them. Then was asked to book an appointment in the future for someone to ring me then they didn't. At no time was I even given a support number.

 

Once I got through to the guy he was excellent though.

[RTFM]

Once I got through to the guy he was excellent though.

 

That is one thing, the guys and girls in support do know the product well

[adhutton]

That is one thing, the guys and girls in support do know the product well

 

Yes, completely agree.

 

Its just getting to that point which seems to be proving difficult these days....

 

Andrew

[sjl]

I have just had the idea of checking edugeek to see if anyone else was having issues with smoothwall support. I logged a call two weeks ago for an issue with our database but have had no contact. I have tried updating the ticket to see if that sparks activity, i can't get through via telephone either. It's a surprise as they have always provided great support - probably one of the best technical support services I have come across.

 

I waited a while for support when Guardian 3 and the new UI came in but I put that down to them being overloaded with upgrade issues. On a completely separate note, I didn't like the new UI changes either!

 

I have used smoothwall for years at various locations and the overall service has always been excellent so I'm willing to overlook teething issues so long as they are resolved and it gets back close to the level it was.

[pantscat]

I can only echo the points made above - logging calls online seems to only lead to an auto-reply email and action only happens when I speak to my account manager.

 

In fact that's just reminded me that I've got a case logged that's now 13 days old...

 

Having said that, the quality of the technical support that I get when I speak to a tech is very good - in particular Chris Richardson is a star.

[tom_newton]

@sjl - drop me an email with comments on the new UI -- we have a full time UI chap now who would be interested to hear how we can improve.

 

As for the slow response to support queries, it is currently #1 priority round here to get this resolved, and we certainly will. There have been a number of issues which seem to have compunded the problem, but we won't hide behind excuses, we need to make this better, and we will.

[Simcfc73]

I've got to the stage that I am looking elsewhere for web filtering, the new support website is terrible also. There only seems like there are 20 articles and most searches bring up a big fat zero.

[SmoothSupporter]

As the Service Delivery Manager, I am responsible for the support function at Smoothwall. I do apologise for the apparent decline in response times you are noticing and can assure you that not only are we working very, very hard to reduce the backlog of support cases that we have but that we are also actively recruiting to increase the size of our support team dramatically.

 

As I can see very clearly that you all have outstanding support cases and are disappointed with the responses you have received (or in some cases the lack of), I am happy for you to contact me directly on [email protected] and I will re-prioritise your cases and ensure that they are dealt with promptly.

 

Your business is very important to us and I genuinely don't wish for you to feel that you have been ignored so please, despite the fact that my inbox may be bombarded, contact me and let me know any outstanding cases that you have logged with us.

 

I do take pride in the comments that the quality of our support team is up there with the best, we will never sacrifice that quality but I can commit to you that we will improve the speed of our service.

 

Assuring you all of my total commitment.

 

Michael Marks

Service Delivery Manager

Smoothwall

[sjatkn]

Unfortunately I've got a couple of calls open with them at the moment and it is taking a quite some time for them to get to me. As others have said, when you do get to the support engineer they do a great job. Last time I had a problem it took a week to get a call from them and about 10 minutes to fix it as they knew exactly what to do. I do just wish the waiting a week could be shaved down considerably.

[RTFM]

I do take pride in the comments that the quality of our support team is up there with the best, we will never sacrifice that quality but I can commit to you that we will improve the speed of our service.

 

Ultimately that's the bottom line and the root of the issue.

 

Keeping the current quality of support when you get to speak to someone Vs having enough people doing support to get to speak to someone quickly.

 

Training people up takes time, especially to get to the levels of the people currently on support who know the product inside out. You don't usually pluck people like that off the street, it takes time.

 

[Max_Power]

Ultimately that's the bottom line and the root of the issue.

 

Keeping the current quality of support when you get to speak to someone Vs having enough people doing support to get to speak to someone quickly.

 

Training people up takes time, especially to get to the levels of the people currently on support who know the product inside out. You don't usually pluck people like that off the street, it takes time.

 

 

While I agree and understand what you are saying, that doesn't offer much help when SMT are breathing down your neck to resolve issues that staff are coming to them with because it has taken so long to resolve an issue or in some instances remain un-resolved for significant periods (one call open since September). They then question why we have chosen a product which up until now hasn't fulfilled our requirements because it lacks the support etc.

 

EDIT* not implying that SMT do not support our judgement on buying smoothwall from a technical and capability aspect (from that sense its very good) but question the support of a product which is a market leader, and when we have committed to a contract term.

Edited December 4, 2012 by Max_Power

[RTFM]

While I agree and understand what you are saying, that doesn't offer much help when SMT are breathing down your neck to resolve issues that staff are coming to them with because it has taken so long to resolve an issue or in some instances remain un-resolved for significant periods (one call open since September). They then question why we have chosen a product which up until now hasn't fulfilled our requirements and lacks the support etc.

 

What sort of issues are staff coming to you with that you can't fix inhouse? Unblocking websites for example is a pretty standard one we get a lot from staff which we get done ourselves.......beyond that it isn't fulfilling staff requirements which we have any issues with, it's bigger issues with things like iOS support and tweaking things like that to change the way we work which is usually driven from within IT support and SMT.....

 

That's not me having a go by the way, its a genuine question (i re-read it and thought it might come across wrong with saying this!!).

 

Without wanting to sound patronising, we've had smoothwall nearly 3 years, if you want to drop me a PM i'll be happy to offer any advice if I can which might help....depending on what the issue is that is!!!! Haha

[Max_Power]

An example of the current long standing issue we are having is that we are unable to report on a users activity for that exact moment in time, via the logs and reports > logs > web filter and then filtering the log via username. The reports never compile and time out giving no results. We are able to generate a full report for a specific user for under logs and reports > reports > user analysis but these reports can take 40 minutes to generate (last report ran for a 15 minute window of activity for a specific user) which isn't good enough.

 

As well as being able to monitor the student we find it useful in order to analyse why certain sites are blocked and which category they are being blocked by etc. 40minutes minutes to look why a particular site is being blocked because we have to generate a full report isn't good. An example includes the telegraph news paper being permitted but some students suggest aspects are blocked, therefore we need to audit the activity in order to see which category is blocking that particular aspect of the site.

[RTFM]

As well as being able to monitor the student we find it useful in order to analyse why certain sites are blocked and which category they are being blocked by etc. 40minutes minutes to look why a particular site is being blocked because we have to generate a full report isn't good. An example includes the telegraph news paper being permitted but some students suggest aspects are blocked, therefore we need to audit the activity in order to see which category is blocking that particular aspect of the site.

 

You don't need to generate a report to do that, you can see it in real time. We hardly ever generate reports for unblocking sites and getting things working, we do it all through the real time filter. It'll be that there is some content being pulled which is hitting a block policy, the URL it is being pulled from will likely need allowing for the content to display.

 

It's easy enough to test this with a test pupil account, see whats being blocked in the real time filter then start allowing things until it works, then work backwards to see what worked / didnt work and go from there. It's how we usually do it

 

The reporting in Smoothwall is one thing we dont particularly use, but then dont particularly like either. We tend to only generate reports when we have issues, or are specifically asked to do so.

[twin--turbo]

It's sad to hear there are problems with support as SW is on our list for possibly replacing our current solution in a 18 months time.

 

We hardly ever use support services, it's almost always when we haev totaly exhausted all possible options, often we have a better idea of the problem than 1st line support ( took me 50 mins on the phone on friday to get our current filtering provider to understand that their own system was not working correctly and it was not just us being silly!

 

Hopefully things will improve.

 

Rob

[Max_Power]

You don't need to generate a report to do that, you can see it in real time. We hardly ever generate reports for unblocking sites and getting things working, we do it all through the real time filter. It'll be that there is some content being pulled which is hitting a block policy, the URL it is being pulled from will likely need allowing for the content to display.

 

It's easy enough to test this with a test pupil account, see whats being blocked in the real time filter then start allowing things until it works, then work backwards to see what worked / didnt work and go from there. It's how we usually do it

 

The reporting in Smoothwall is one thing we dont particularly use, but then dont particularly like either. We tend to only generate reports when we have issues, or are specifically asked to do so.

 

While i am able to do as you suggest and do so frequently the live monitor doesnt always come back with information and hangs, also the issue comes when staff and students request for a blocked page to be unblocked and we get around to it say a day later, they say the telegraph doesn't work, when in reality it does and we need to trawl back and test and look for a specific page that's being blocked.

 

We dont always have time to log in as a student user to test out websites. The smoothwall was new in summer, and I understand there will be teething problems related to the unblocking of things required, however it just seems to be a painful task at the moment.

We generally can receive around 15 requests a day to unblock sites and we have asked for more information on how to allow specifics more efficiently as a result.

An example being during PHSE lessons the students are asked to find out information on certain drugs, but we obviously don't want to allow the websites that sell them. So a best practice for instances such as that would be useful.

 

Under no illusions that some aspects are quite possibly training related or at least require a conversation on how to get the best out of smoothwall for what we want, but at the moment that isn't forthcoming, despite asking the questions.

 

Smoothwall was the best product on the market when we reviewed content filtering and protection etc but it feels like its a battle at the moment.

[Steveduk]

Logged a call 27/11/12, got a ref, no further contact.

 

Come on Smoothy, sort yourselves out!

 

We've used SchoolGuardian for years now and I've always recommended SmoothWall to potential customers. Every problem we've had has been due to the database and reporting systems, the latest issue being Postgres bogging down.

[danbee]

We eventually got a call back today from Tanya who was very helpful and sorted the issue for us.

[Stuart_C]

Unfoprtunately I do have to say that I feel the support has got worse of late. Smoothwall used to be my joint top techncall support but of late it's been a bit below par...

 

Sorry to say.