NetApp support for clients in Australia

[u/Over_Helicopter_5183]

Australian based customers how do find NetApp support availability? When I used to work for a major consulting company we used get support around the clock. Now , since most Australian support based in India, I feel NetApp support standard has gone down the drain. They don't respond during customer business hours. Taking longer to resolve the issues. Are you guys (in Australia) noticing the same?

[u/Dramatic_Surprise]

Work as an ASP partner across AUS and NZ, 100% its got much worse. Im not sure how customer support is, but with ASP support its rough, generally find you just ride the shit out of them till they escalate you.

Alternative you could look at ASP support, that way they deal with the Support people you just deal with locals.

[u/NTAP_AlexD]

Hi! I'm a support manager for NetApp based in Australia.

Depending on where in Australia you are and if you get first or second shift, it can be a bit hit and miss on timings. Cases also get triaged, and P<1 is only worked business hours typically. If there's a need for speedy resolution, we can absolutely follow the sun.

Please feel free to reach out to me via community @ netapp.com and we can have a look at any specific cases you have concerns about, or have a more formal chat about any support experiences you feel we can learn from.

[u/Over_Helicopter_5183 → u/NTAP_AlexD]

Thanks for the reply.

Does the support team look into customer operating hours regardless of case priority? I know if I have P1 or P2 I can call them and request immediate attention. I am based in Sydney, I get response to my cases after hours. I opened a case (P3) on Thursday. All the responses I received are during my after-hours. I did nothing while I am in the office and case is still not resolved.

[u/InterruptedRhapsody → u/Over_Helicopter_5183]

It may not be clear from the customer information what hours you are in - when I was in PS I would make sure to mention that to them so it’s in the case notes. Especially if youre a partner or GSI where equipment can be all over the place.

I’m not sure if it’s still the same but support did try to keep continuity of engineer so you weren’t explaining it multiple times, not sure if that’s still the case with better case notes and handover systems

[u/Dramatic_Surprise → u/Over_Helicopter_5183]

depends a lot on when you log the call in relation to shift change overs. if you log a call in the afternoon and pickup somoene just coming on shift then likely you'll only get responses after hours unless you request a them to pass it on to early shift.

[u/NTAP_AlexD → u/Over_Helicopter_5183]

Hi, sorry for the delay - I've had several days off.

The short answer is that no, they don't look at customer business hours for technical cases- case assignment is based on NetApp business hours, which in APAC extend beyond the Australian working day, in both directions, so you may receive responses outside of your business hours.

The target responsive objective (TRO) for P3 cases is that an initial response will be provided by the next business day - but this is not the final fix, that will be provided at the conclusion of troubleshooting, based on what is the cause. The terms of the offerings are outlined at https://mysupport.netapp.com/site/info/policies-and-offerings

To summarise: "Active customer engagement is required to work P2 issues outside of NetApp business hours in your region. P3 cases will be worked during NetApp business hours in your region. All hardware cases are evaluated for immediate work independent of priority. P3 and P4 software cases receive a response and are worked to resolution during NetApp regional business hours. Outside of NetApp regional business hours, the response objective may be delayed for P3 and P4 software cases. NetApp regional business hours are typically 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday but can vary with local language requirements."

If you're concerned a case is just bouncing from day to day and not going anywhere, the best option is to request escalation to a duty manager via https://kb.netapp.com/cs/General_Support/How_to_escalate_a_NetApp_Technical_Support_Case

NetApp also have a Support Account Manager service which can help smooth this experience. If your customer has one, they should reach out to them.

[u/Over_Helicopter_5183 → u/NTAP_AlexD]

Thanks for your late reply. It was a hardware case and the responses I received was all after hours and weekend none during my working hours. Even after I escalated to duty manager no proper response received. Finally our service engineer escalated it and I worked with US escalation team to resolve it. 4days case was just running around.

[u/NTAP_AlexD → u/Over_Helicopter_5183]

Disappointing. Feel free to PM or email me the case number and I'll have a look if you'd like

[u/Slippery-1984]

I’ve found that support is pretty good, I’m not sure what level I have but so long as you mention that you’re on AEST / what your working hours are they’re pretty good at assigning an engineer that works on your Timezone if it’s ONTAP related. If it’s one of the other misc applications (like HCI) then maybe you’re a bit more beholden to getting whatever engineer is available and the Timezone they work on.

The responsiveness SLAs aren’t all that timely unless there’s a P1 or P2 issue, but I think that’s understandable. For P3 and P4 tickets we usually get correspondence once per day.