Cognos/Service??
Whittall, Conrad
Conrad.Whittall@Cognos.COM
Wed, 6 Sep 2000 16:47:40 -0400
Hello George,
Your original message, that I forwarded to Bob Berry, suggested that you
could be contacted on a phone number at the top of your message. We looked,
but couldn't find the number to which you were referring. Bob also tried the
one telephone number that did appear in your e-mail (262 780 8881) without
success.
Consequently Bob has sent two e-mails to your e-mail address, asking for you
to contact him directly on 1-800-426-4667 ext.2270, or send him a number on
which he can reach you. Perhaps these e-mail have failed to get through.
Please call Bob as soon as possible, as he is very anxious to help resolve
your issues.
Best regards,
Conrad
Conrad Whittall
Marketing Manager, Application Development Tools, Cognos Incorporated
enterprise2000 - the North American Cognos User Conference
October 2-5, Anaheim, California
Join over one thousand customers and Cognos staff at this annual event
to see and hear how Cognos products are being used worldwide to create
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Full details can be found at http://www.cognos.com/enterprise2000
-----Original Message-----
From: george.j.wen@us.abb.com [mailto:george.j.wen@us.abb.com]
Sent: Wednesday 6 September 2000 11:35
To: 'powerh-l@list.swau.edu'
Cc: michael.demartino@us.abb.com; joann.l.olsen@us.abb.com
Subject: Cognos/Service??
Does anyone out there in listland know how to get Cognos to call you back??
We've been trying to buy support and a set of manuals. I admit we have a
couple
of issues. Our quote for support exceeded the purchase price of the
software
so we took exceptions to that. Our 'salesman' said he'd look into the
problem
but
we haven't heard from him since. Secondly we purchased a set PH manuals
with
the software (full PH for AS/400) for a price of around $200. When I went
to
order a
second set the price was well over $400. I complained but couldn't get
anywhere
with this issue either.
I even contacted Conrad Whittall thinking that maybe because he's active on
this
list and seems helpful out here he might be able to help. That was on 8/25.
He
forwarded the message to someone - nothing yet.
I'm hoping that putting my problem out on this public forum will give me
some
leverage. I hate to put all our dirty laundry out in public but what else
can I
do.
Does anyone know the name of a person at Cognos who will handle a problem,
someone who will actually call back, follow up, and see things through to a
satisfactory conclusion?
Who do I talk to? Please help...........
Best Regards,
george j
PS. If it wasn't for the people on the List Service we'd be hurting even
more.
Many
thanks to you (including Cognos people).
(Embedded "Whittall, Conrad" <Conrad.Whittall@Cognos.COM>
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To: George J. Wen/NB/USFAC/ABB@ABB_USFAC
cc:
Subject: RE: Let's spend $Money
Security Level:? Internal
Hello George,
I have checked with Bob Berry and he admitted that he misread my message and
believed that you would be contacting him. He will be calling you tomorrow.
Best regards,
Conrad
-----Original Message-----
From: george.j.wen@us.abb.com [mailto:george.j.wen@us.abb.com]
Sent: Wednesday 30 August 2000 16:45
To: Whittall, Conrad
Subject: RE: Let's spend $Money
Conrad,
Thank you for your prompt response.
I still, as you said "appear to be having problems". I've had no response
from
anyone at Cognos It's been 4 business days since your response.
And thank you for the 'info-mercial'. ABB is a 38 billion dollar
international
company with 210,000 employees and is about to embark an a massive
e-business and technology transformation. Our web presence and activity
will be dramatically increased. A number of Cognos products could provide
solutions in our future as our company transitions to new systems and
products.
However, I surely don't understand how Cognos gets much business when
it's so difficult to get a response to a simple problem. Is it because at
Cognos
we as a customer "appear" to be having problems?
Regards,
George J Wen
(Embedded "Whittall, Conrad" <Conrad.Whittall@Cognos.COM>
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To: George J. Wen/NB/USFAC/ABB@ABB_USFAC
cc:
Subject: RE: Let's spend $Money
Security Level:? Internal
Hello George,
I'm sorry to hear that you appear to be having so many problems. Thank you
for bring this to my attention. I have passed your message on to Bob Berry,
who is Director of Customer Retention for our North American operations. I'm
sure that he will be in touch with either Mike or yourself early next week
so that we can resolve these matters as quickly as possible.
It might be a small point, but Cognos has not discontinued PowerHouse for
the AS/400. It is true that we currently have no plans to enhance the
product, but it is still a fully supported product for which we continue to
provide technical support (via telephone and the Web) and bug-fixing, and
for which we plan to maintain operating system and database compliance -- in
line with the versions of OS/400 that IBM release.
You might not be aware that it is also possible to use your PowerHouse
skills to implement Windows 2000/NT-based PowerHouse Web and Axiant
client/server solutions that access your AS/400-resident data -- through the
IBM Client Access/400 ODBC driver. Web solutions can either be developed
within Axiant (our visual PowerHouse development environment running on a
Windows 2000/NT/98/95 workstation) and deployed to PowerHouse Web running on
a Windows 2000/NT server. They can also be developed using the version of
PowerHouse 4GL that is available for Windows 2000/NT workstations (which
includes PDL, QDESIGN, QUIZ and QTP -- although there is no QUICK, as
Windows does not support traditional character-cell terminals).
Although there is no version of PowerHouse for the AS/400 that is compatible
with Axiant, it is also possible to develop two- and three-tier
client/server solutions that use your AS/400 as a data server, Windows
2000/NT servers as PowerHouse application servers, and Windows 2000/NT/98/95
workstations as clients and development workstations. Again, these solutions
would leverage your (and your colleagues') existing PowerHouse skills and
use the Client Access/400 ODBC driver to access your AS/400-resident data.
At just $895 per developer I believe that Axiant is a very affordable
addition to any PowerHouse customer's arsenal of development tools.
Best regards,
Conrad
Conrad Whittall
Marketing Manager, Application Development Tools, Cognos Incorporated
3755 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 4K9, Canada
Tel. +1 (613) 738-1338 ext.7229
Fax. +1 (613) 727-0236
SeeBusiness. ShareBusiness. UniteBusiness.
Developer productivity never goes out of style!
Save up to 90% of your developers' time on your Web, Windows
and terminal-based business applications. See how Cognos PowerHouse can
help you do this at http://www.cognos.com/powerhouse.
-----Original Message-----
From: george.j.wen@us.abb.com [mailto:george.j.wen@us.abb.com]
Sent: Friday 25 August 2000 13:20
To: Whittall, Conrad
Subject: Let's spend $Money
I hope that subject title get a little attention. We want to spend money,
but not too much of course.
I'm in kind of a precarious situation here, caught between you guys and my
boss. I'm a Systems Analyst at ABB. About a year ago we went live on an
AS/400 system using JD-Edwards after having been on VMS with a product
called Visibility for many years. We had cancelled our support on the VMS
and had no plans to use PH on the 400.
However, after seeing how slow and cumbersome development was using RPG I
myself convinced my boss to buy PH-full development for our AS/400 even
though it is a discontinued product - this in unfortunate but another issue
entirely. We're starting to move some programs into the JDE system and would
certainly like to have PH support.
The problem is getting someone who cares to attend to our needs. My boss
doesn't want to deal with the situation because we're not getting much
response from our sales-man Phil Johnson or Cognos in general so I'm caught
in the middle. We have 2 issues, the 1st is the cost of a set of manuals
and the 2nd is the cost of the support.
We were billed 194.27 for our 1st set but I'm getting quotes of well over
400 for another set. Naturally I get a funny look from my boss when he sees
that. Shouldn't you stand behind your pricing? It makes it look like "Once
we've got you....". I looked into this some months ago and was referred to
a person, then another person, etc. You get kind of tired of battling the
beuracracy after a while and who's got time. Can't someone just send me a
set of manuals at the original price and be done with it.
Regarding the support the quote we're getting is far in excess of the
purchase price of the software. There seems to be an issue of 'back
support' and so on. I'm not sure of the all the detail. Phil was asked if
he could check into this by my boss (Mike Demartino) but has not been
responsive. His attitude seems to make us feel like we're a nuisance
customer. My bose Mike Demartino deosn't even want to talk to him anymore.
Relatively speaking we're not spending a lot but who knows what the future
will bring and isn't a customer a customer? Shouldn't that be your
attitude?
So here I am with my boss not really wanting to deal with you but several
programmers here wishing we had support. I use the list service, where I
see your name from time to time and you seem to be quite responsive out
there. I've dealt with you before too and you do seem like a person who
cares about customer service.
Can you help me? PLEASE!
Sincerely,
George J Wen
My e-mail address and phone is at the top. Mike Demartino's are:
Michael DeMartino/NB/USFAC/ABB
262 780 8881
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