Okay, so the title was to garner attention to read the article. Glad you stopped by for a bit. :) Am I alone in wondering... 1. Why are we paying thousands of dollars per year to read an internet file on how to do something? 2. Isn't customer support, traditionally, a purchase item in which the vendor actually helps you with the issue at hand? Instead I hear a lot of blandly stated, "Sorry, I am not allowed to step you through how to do something." It is not the service representatives fault, and I do not wish to convey they are the problem. They are usually very nice when they say it. It is disheartening to know before you even make the call that you will probably not receive help because they are being payed to answer the phone, search up a knowledge base solution and email it to you. Which is actually something I would do myself if it didn't return five million things I don't want with the search and the instruction included all the right steps to complete the task. :) 3. Am I the only confused and dazed RE user wondering why we continue to pay thousands just to read a knowledge base and have nothing fixed when we report bugs. Upset, but chugging right along, Vernon

It has been a while since I have called support and I have not experienced this yet. I rarely call for support but if I ever had any vendor I was paying maintenance to say they could not walk me through the process over the phone I would politely but sternly reply to put someone on the phone who could. Blackbaud needs to understand the support should be the way the customer wants it, not the way they want to do it. Bob Crawford Director of MIS Volunteers of America Kentucky and Tennessee (502) 636-0771 (502) 636-4640 - Direct Line [Email Removed]

I'm not sure what kinds of questions you're asking, but I have never had an experience where I called support and they have refused to walk me through something. On the contrary, they walk me through things every time I call if the situation warrants it. A few weeks ago I had a question and the rep thought that what I wanted to do couldn't be done. Two weeks later I got an email from her that let me know that she thought she had figured out a solution. It still wasn't quite what I was looking for, but I was impressed that she was still working on it even after we got off the phone and my case was closed. There are a lot of things about Blackbaud that bug me, but the customer support line certainly isn't one of them. If you're not getting the assistance you need, hang up and call back. You'll get someone different on the phone, I pretty much guarantee it, and you can try again. Karen Warr Development Associate LifeWorks NW 14600 NW Cornell Road Portland, OR 97229 (503) 645-3581, x385 [Email Removed]

I would say that between 96 and 99% of the time I have received outstanding service from support. Every once in a while I will get a new tech (you can tell by the questions they ask) or someone, who for what ever reason, is not as helpful as I EXPECT them to be. My expectations are extremely high. (I agree that we are paying a pretty dollar or two for support so by golly - not only am I going to use it - I'm going to get the schools $ worth!) On the rare occasions I get poor service, I too will ask to speak to another rep, or log case notes accordingly. Just this week I had a tech who suggest a solution - I told them it did not work; for what ever reason they closed the case. I logged notes indicating the soluction did not work. Subsequently, I did hear back from the tech, so I may have just caught them on a bad day. I usually look at the KB to see if I can find something, but I don't spend copious amounts of time searching... sometimes it works in my favor as I'll find a solution or a link to "add my name to the list" for a software suggestion. If it takes me more than 5 minutes to find something, I'm on the phone to support. When they say "the KB indicates....." I ask them "How did you search on that? Was there a specific keyword?" So, my point is stay focused and stand up for your rights as a BB customer. Best Regards, Elaine Elaine Tucker Stewardship Coordinator St. Mark's School of Texas www.smtexas.org  [Email Removed] --- Edited at 3/3/2006 5:28:34 PM by Elaine Tucker --- Edited at 3/3/2006 5:30:03 PM by Elaine Tucker

It seems they did not like what we had to say. Blackbaud has censored and deleted a number of posts to this thread.

You think they did censored? And here is the best comment so far because it's the big picture instead of being only one person experience: "Blackbaud needs to understand the support should be the way the customer wants it, not the way they want to do it." I am gonna tell my experience also: When I call the support I feel the person answering never used Raiser's Edge. I feel they know less than me. And it's not the kind of help I am looking for. Of course when I have a problem unsolved I call again to get an other person on the phone, but It's the same. I also contact my account manager to see what kind of help he can give me. We got a new one, and I can see he is trying a lot to help me. But sometimes it's not enough. Is there a way to get talk to somebody who actually know how Raiser's Edge works other than searching on the Forum (that is actually the best help I got so far!!) ?? Some small issues can be solved on the Knowledge base, but some times it needs more discussion to find a best solution. For the price we pay for the support, yes I am frustrated to have to do the work almost all by myself (search knowledge base, search Forum, lose time calling support for stuff I already found, lose time waiting for the same kind of aswere from the account manager). And by the way, instead of trying to solve the problem with the powerfull tool Raiser's Edge can be, they always try to sell us an other module (product). Melanie Moreau Fondation franco-ontarienne [Email Removed]

I had to post to this thread because I also have had exemplary support and service from Blackbaud support. I've worked with applications for 20 years and Blackbaud support is one of the best I've worked with, if not the best. They do use the knowledgebase as their first resource, but if they don't find the answer there, then I've seen them use any resource available. It's true there are always bugs in an application and there are things I would like changed. That is typical with any complex application. I agree with Elaine that if I felt I had a person who was not knowledgeable, I would ask for another. If I wasn't statisfied, I'd keep pushing and I definitely would also involve my account manager. It's obvious, you don't feel you are getting the type of support you need. I would definitely work with your account manager to come up with a solution that helps you get your job done. Nora Isaac Manager, Information Technology The ALS Association, Greater Phila. Chapter [Email Removed]

I am not sure I understand what happened on this call but is it possible that you needed training and not support? Customer support is for handling problems and issues. They are not a live telephone training system (as much as I wish they were). CS reps are usually happy to point you in the direction of some great quick solution IDs when you say - I've never done that before how do I do it? If you try it and follow the steps and do not get what you want you may need to contact them again. I've had this happen multiple times. But my expectation is not so much that they teach me but help me when I apply my learning and it comes out wrong. I agree I've had my issues with BB Customer support but in general I get my issues either resolved or filed as a suggestion. *** my spelling is fine, it's my typing that stinks. Where is spell check? Melissa S. Graves Manager, Development Database & Direct Mail Planned Parenthood of Connecticut [Email Removed] 203-752-2804

Vernon, I am sorry you have a bad taste for customer support from BB. Last year we had sometime here where we did not have a Development Associate so I ended up filling in. I am the associate for AFN (Accounting for non profits) so I know a lot about BB Accounting side, had a little knowledge of SQL and no knowledge of RE. This just happen to start right when we were trying to close out the fiscal year, I had to learn quickly how to do everything from gift batches to closing the books. I called Support a lot and explained that I was not a RE user and my situation, and every Representative I got was very helpful and they did walk me through some basic steps on how to do things especially when it came to short cuts. The only thing I can suggest is if you don't like the answer one rep gives you maybe you should call and speak to another. I always look at the knowledge base first and try the steps there and if they don't work I have a print out copy of all the solutions I tried and I give the rep those BB numbers so they know that they did not help me. It is some times frustrating when you can get something done right away but I think the better prepared you are before you speak to the support the better results you receive from them.

Ok I guess a lot of people are happy with the support. ahah no I do not need training (well may be advance), I got the RE part I and part II. Here are the two worst time: one where I needed some precisions about what physical material we needed in order to make sure everything is fine to have RE: Anywhere working. Me and our computer technicians, search the documents but nothing was clear enough. So WE called many times the support. The only thing some could tell us was what they could read that was also on the website but they could not answere our question.. No way to get somebody else to answere us. I tried also with the account manager. It took so much time, like almost two months, we got finnaly an engineer helping us with that. My second problem was about trying to find a solution to manage mass emailings. I first had a question about if it was possible to have input a file to a query and get an output file of the results instead of reruning a query thousands of times. This could have been part of my solution. I asked about if I could use VB to do that. Anyways, you still have no idea of what happened. I think for basic stuff they can help but for the rest, we should just be able to get some more competent help. Melanie

You are NOT alone Melanie. There are people just like you who have had unsatisfying experiences with BB customer support. And we SHOULD be able to get more knowledgeable support represenatives and NOT have to pay EXTRA for it. Denise Stengl School Sisters of St. Francis Milwaukee, WI [Email Removed] Don't forget to check out the RE Users Forum at: http://www.reusers.server-planet.com/forum.php

I see a strain between many of the fairly advanced/experienced users in the field and the support analysts. When I was just starting out, I called support all the time and they were amazing. Now that I've been using Raiser's Edge for years, I still call support occasionally, but I find that I am now asking questions where the work-around is outside of Raiser's Edge, or where what I'm asking is just not possible to do. The support analysts are trained in Raiser's Edge - they have a scope of practice which they often can't or aren't able to step outside of. They're not the ones who HAVE TO find a work-around for whatever particular, unique problem we each come up with regularly. They'll try to help you in every way they can, but there is a limit. And yes, there is lots of variation in how helpful support can be. I chalk it up to a mix of personality - I get along with some people better than others - and skill set. Some analysts are just born creative problem solvers. Others are just doing the best they can at their job. Just like the rest of us. Now I often find my best help on the forums, because other advanced users HAVE TO find a work-around to those thorny issues. Plus, so many more people see the forum posts; it's like having 500 (or 5,000?) analysts review your case, instead of just one. But yes, I too, would like occasional access to a very advanced Raiser's Edge support analyst without having to pay extra, or to go through all the first layers of basic problem solving, which I've already tried on my own. Faith Danforth Development Database Manager The Library Foundation Portland, Oregon

I agree with you Faith, Let's do something about that! We need more people to post their comments so we can get all and send it to each our account manager for a start may be. Melanie Moreau Fondation franco-ontarienne Ottawa (ON) Canada [Email Removed]

Just a suggestion if any one who has communicated about this issue is going to the Conference in October maybe we can all get together and share information and make up our own little support group. One where we could put out problems we are having and hopefully some one else has a way to get around it. I am not sure who will be going from here yet but I am positive that if it is either of the two of us who are the systems associates we would be more than willng to meet with others and discuss this.

Robi, Isn't that exactly what this forum is for? There is also the non BB forum that exists on http://reusers.server-planet.com/ . I most frequenly would post my questions here if we have exhausted Customer Support or know that CS is not the best place to go. I do not think we need anything additional to these 2 forums. They work great. All of the users on the other forum (mentioned above) who are going to the conference are getting together there. If you are going to the conference I'd suggest you join this other forum and search the archives for the discussions about it. *** my spelling is fine, it's my typing that stinks. Where is spell check? Melissa S. Graves Manager, Development Database & Direct Mail Planned Parenthood of Connecticut [Email Removed] 203-752-2804 --- Edited at 8/25/2006 1:37:57 PM by Melissa S. Graves --- Edited at 8/25/2006 1:38:33 PM by Melissa S. Graves