Feedback on Veeam technical support

[veremin]

Can you provide with your ticket numbers, so that, we can take a look at them and see whether there is something we can do for you in a better way? Thanks.

[Ben Milligan]

Hi Dan,

Ben Milligan with Veeam Support. I'm sorry to hear about your poor experience with our team, and that is not typical for our customers. We are however listening and want to help.

I was hopeful also that you could provide your case numbers, as I was unable to locate your cases as of yet. I would want to learn what happened in the cases so we can address any problems.

Thanks!

[pvancini]

I would have to agree with most, that the support at VEEAM needs some serious improvement. My most recent case was a replication issue that appeared after upgrading from 8.2 to 8.2b, after going round and round for a month no real solution, but to blame VMware. I would ask them to give me a call to discuss, let them know my hours and they would love to call right when I was leaving for the day (to avoid talking to me). The product is good but support needs some serious help!

[Ben Milligan]

Hi Phil! Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate an opportunity to help. 'Most' actually find our support quite helpful and of a high quality, so we want to learn from every poor experience to continually get better. I've found your case you mentioned, and we are reviewing it in detail.

For anyone else that has had a bad experience from a support ticket or otherwise, I highly encourage you to visit our Customer Portal (cp.veeam.com), and use the "Talk to a Manager" button. This is a direct communication to our Veeam Support Management team, and we want to hear from you. This is important to me, personally, as well as the Veeam team.

[Anders]

Here is some feedback from me.

First, the support/ticket system really really needs some rework. When adding details to a support case, it removes ALL new-lines. This happens both when replying via email and via the support web page. It makes it really hard to actually read stuff in a support case!

Secondly, the supporters needs to read the support case before replying! I dont open a support case unless I've tried everything. When I write in a support case that I've testet A and B, and the first thing the supporter replies with is to test A. And Next I'm asked to test B, I feel like I'm wasting my time writing the same thing over and over Again.
(examples: 01023265, 01003768)

Third, when opening a ticket, you choose a Version of Veeam. You can only choose mayor version, and not patch/build level. So we have to reply back with that when the supporter asks, unless we remember to manually write it in the details. Also, when Version 8 is picked, dont give "offered solution links" to patches for version 6 and 7 - thats just dumb.
(Example: 01023164)

Whats the trick to not get a level 1 supporter that dont even read the support ticket before replying? Could you maybe add a "I'm VMCE Certified - pass me through to Level 2 support" - Just like we get a dedicated VMCE phone number to the support.

Anyways, hope you can use the feedback.
/Anders

[Anders]

Third, when opening a ticket, you choose a Version of Veeam. You can only choose mayor version, and not patch/build level. So we have to reply back with that when the supporter asks, unless we remember to manually write it in the details. Also, when Version 8 is picked, dont give "offered solution links" to patches for version 6 and 7 - thats just dumb.
(Example: 01023164)

I posted that 1:14 pm. And I got this reply to one of my open cases 2:51 pm:

Could you please share with me you Veeam B&R build#?If it's not 8.0.0.2030 please update up to the most recent version: veeam.com/kb2024

Yes - I screamed a bit at my monitor.
Add case 01023265 to examples!

/Anders

[Ben Milligan]

Anders, of COURSE we can use this information, and I really appreciate you taking the time to help us!

1) We actually are aware of this challenge, and working on that internally. We are fixing that as we speak, so hopefully it is not an issue in the near future.

2) I don't like this either, so we are always coaching our engineers to be efficient in communication. In many cases certain steps/testing are necessary to know the most pertinent next steps, and we'll review these cases in detail to continue to improve this. =)

3) I'll be honest here, this has actually been a topic of discussion for us in several occasions, since in many cases we received the incorrect minor builds in the past, and had to clarify in many cases. We'll discuss this internally again.

Lastly, all of our engineers need to review the cases, certainly. I definitely recommend reaching out to my management team using the method I described above, and letting us know if this occurs again.

Thanks Anders!

[ssits]

Here's my terrible experience [Case # 01086682]:

First of all we have standard support, I know what to expect, specially on a severity 3 ticket. But what I got was beyond bad support. I had an issue with a backup copy, for two days the representative asked question after question about my setup, even though I fully explained that I have two other jobs using the exact same settings, repository and transport. They sat on it. I was not going to stand by that and started to dig for the issue myself. Eventually I found a lead, which turned out to be the problem, and required a simple active full backup to reset the chain.... 3 days later I did not hear from them, nor they ever offered to take a look at my setup, instead wasted days asking question about my setup.

They completely wasted my time, I did all the work and found my own solution. Our firm does not tolerate this kind of support and apparently if you want to feel like an appreciated customer you must pay for premium support. I now feel terrible for moving into this product, and even though it is an amazing product, I rather have the support behind it regardless of support type than the software.

That's just my two cents.

[Ben Milligan]

Hi Omar!

Thank you for your feedback, we appreciate the time you took to let us know. I see we responded to your case in 16 minutes, and the SLA for this kind of issue is 12 hours. This initial response contained many questions, yes, to clarify the situation best.

I see also you opened this case via email however preferred a phone call. We are more than happy to provide this, however I can see the engineer was not made aware of this need initially. Don't hesitate to call us on our support lines, or request a phone call in your case, we're happy to oblige. We also asked if you wanted a remote session.

Lastly, despite you noting 3 day delays, this case was opened on Oct. 19th, and was closed on Oct. 20th.

I'm not trying to be defensive here, just stating the information from this ticket, and the above contains many inaccurate statements against my team and engineer. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us for help in the future.

[vmexpert]

This made me smile, perception vs. facts lol

[rccl_ecain]

I have had nothing but excellent support. And I also would like to say, if you are angry when you figure out the solution before the support agent can, you are missing an opportunity to learn, and help others learn. These people, are people, just like you, and not everyone knows everything, and with how complicated the software and hardware is that most environments consist of, you have to understand that sometimes questions, even ones with obvious answers may be needed. If you want a webex, if you want a call, ask for it nicely. And last but not least, treat the support agents with the same respect you want them to show you. Remember, you aren't always as smart as you think you are.

[mbiesheuvel]

I work for a company in the Netherlands. We maintain multiple customers with all different kind of environments (VMware / HV). I think in all we have 75 customers on Veeam. Started from Veeam 4 years ago to Veeam 8 now.

In all those years I have seen Veeam grow from a Baby to Adulthood. I think they have had a lot of growing pains.

I have created a lot of support tickets over the years with all different kind of problems. Some my own, some VMware, some Veeam. A whole soup. From licensing, to SQL DB problems to VSS and Sync Problems and even Veeam One problems.

Some problems are solved easier than others but almost all my problems were solved in the end. I sometimes had to call HP, VMware or Microsoft but at that time Veeam did the investigations and I only needed to give the evidence to the other vendor.

I am really happy with the support. The only thing I don't like is the fact that ALL COMMUNICATION is send to the End User. I am NEVER the end user so I ALWAYS log an case for a customer under his name and then send in the details my contact information. This is often ignored by Veeam Support and they only email the End User. He just deletes the email or send it days later to me. This is annoying.

The solution to this is easy. Let there be a system like VMware's. Let me add the customers to my account (not the licensing account used by our sales team but MY Account) so I can give support without having to login to different customers etc.

Overall I am very happy with the quality of the product and the support team and will be using Veeam Products for years to come.

[extremesanity]

In my opinion, Veeam is in the top three for support from all of the vendors I work with, and we work with a LOT of vendors.

It helps a ton that I rarely even have to open a support ticket as the software just works and the documentation is very good.

[MarvinSt]

I am really happy with the support. The only thing I don't like is the fact that ALL COMMUNICATION is send to the End User. I am NEVER the end user so I ALWAYS log an case for a customer under his name and then send in the details my contact information. This is often ignored by Veeam Support and they only email the End User. He just deletes the email or send it days later to me. This is annoying.

The solution to this is easy. Let there be a system like VMware's. Let me add the customers to my account (not the licensing account used by our sales team but MY Account) so I can give support without having to login to different customers etc.

I'm in a very similar situation like you are and I also agree with you that they need a support portal like VMware. Maybe you already knew this but if you're a Veeam ProPartner you can also create your support tickets from your own Veeam account without the need to use credentials/accounts from your customers.

[mbiesheuvel]

Yea I know but that account is used by our Sales Team and not by us Technical guys.

[matt_tulk]

I agree entirely I have been in this industry for 18 years I have worked for backup vendors and Veeam would be with out a doubt the worst support I have ever encountered.

I am also a premium customer and have just closed a ticket after two weeks due to it not being resolved and a dis engaged engineer.

My last employer used Commvault and boy what a difference you log a ticket an engineer is on the phone in under the required SLA and if the problem isn't resolved its escalated to backline team and they will provide a fix.

in this day an age to have Critical servers that haven't backed up for two weeks and you opened up a ticket on the 5th of May and its still isn't resolved then you might as well not have opened up the ticket at all.

[foggy]

Hi Matt, I've seen your another thread regarding the issue, so I guess the case you're talking about is #01789067. Sorry to hear that your experience with support team so far was poor, however, I assure you this is not typical, you can see the opposite feedback here on forums and in this particular thread as well. The rule of thumb is not to close the case but push it until resolution. Cases requiring deeper investigation are escalated to a higher tier, until finally they reach R&D and get a hotfix, if required.

Moreover, if you feel your case is not treated properly, you are encouraged to use the Talk to a Manager option available at the Customer Portal to provide your feedback (how do we know otherwise?).

That said, I've already paid support management attention to your case, so I suppose it will be re-opened for further investigation.

Thanks!

[ober72]

Hi Folks,

I will add my 2 cents. I have worked with many vendors. Veeam support has performed much better than the rest of them. Of course there is always room for improvement but I honestly can't remember any cases that were not handled well.

[matt_tulk]

Hi
this by all means isn't an isolated incident I have probably logged about 10 tickets over the past year and only one of them was actually escalated to someone in the US who actually knew what he was doing and resolved it on the spot. I have just got a voicemail now from 430pm yesterday from an engineer whom I can barely understand.

he didn't leave a number to contact him on only an extension and hasn't followed this up with an email and more then likely I will need to chase them down again when it should be the other way around.

I have told Veeam on about 5 occasions contacting me later afternoon isn't going to work and that I want to be contacted first thing in the morning.

here is another example

[ID# 01378657] Lots of failures since upgrading to the latest Patch

opened 11 Jan finally resolved 29th of Feb


[ID# 01720138] Errors backing up Vsphere machine

Product: Veeam Backup & Replication

Severity: 2

Opened: 07.03.2016 21:45

this issue not resolved closed on 18th of May


These are two examples only there are others on top of the latest case.

I can only make a comparison to other vendors and this level of support isn't premium in my books its not even close.

sending people emails asking for logs and asking to send screen shots of the same information you have already provided is the oldest stalling tactic in the support play book and I know this as I have sat on the other end of the phone.

[matt_tulk]

Oh and as an FYI I sent the Technical support manager and our Sales contact an email on the same day the ticket was opened I have done more then my fair share of pushing in the past to get things resolved.

its not up to a customer to need to do this every time a ticket is opened I have a million and one other things to be dealing with on a day to day basis backups are just one portion of it.

The support Manager should be keeping on eye on the engineers case loads and if a ticket has been opened for a long time then it should be escalated its that simple.

its the engineers responsibility to be chasing down the customer constantly (which is what Commvault Support does and Microsoft) and quite a large section of other vendors do well.

the fact if this doesn't happen means you do not have sound support processes in place or a proper ticket management escalation procedure.

it is left up to the engineer and if they are busy working other tickets then yours falls between the cracks.

that's not what support is about I am afraid.

if you are going to offer an Enterprise Product than the support has to match.

[ckent]

very very poor support with an exceptionally poor attitude if you complain.

[hyvokar]

Wont go in to detail, but support is in my experience Veeam's weakest link.

[cbc-tgschultz]

>in my 17+ years in the IT field i have never seen a company so bad in support.

I get pretty frustrated with Veeam support at times, but they will never be as bad as Synology support.
Of course, you don't pay for Synology support, so it's more expected that they're really awful.

Overall actually Veeam support is pretty alright as long as your issue isn't too complicated.

[Ben Milligan]

Hello everyone - Ben Milligan with Veeam Support. I appreciate your taking the time to write us and let us know about your frustrations and feedback. We are listening and we are working to provide the best support experience. If you want to share more about your experience, please don't hesitate to reach out to me; ben.milligan@veeam.com. My goal is to understand your situation and help if I can.

[ckent]

Ben.

im sure lots of people will be reading your post and thinking its just more of the same old same old.
this isn't the first topic to discuss this issue and unlikely to be the last.
So to prove these people wrong can you list a couple of actions that you have taken in recent times to support the ideal of "providing the best support experience"

[Ben Milligan]

Certainly, and we are always working hard to improve our customers experience and take this feedback very seriously. So, I do want to share a few things that we have put in place, many recently, in an effort to do this very thing. You had mentioned a time frame in which cases are running for a longer than desirable duration. If a case is open for 2 weeks, it is reviewed by the engineers Team Lead for checking into escalation to Tier 2. This is to ensure that nothing 'falls between the cracks'. Our system is also configured to sent automated notifications if we are still waiting on information/feedback from the customer side, over a period of a couple weeks, followed up with an outgoing phone call, to ensure that a case is not closed prematurely or incorrectly.

There were also some mistakes made during the cases I've reviewed below, additionally, that we are updating our policy to reflect. I can see there were some definite problems with scheduling time with the engineer(s) specifically and we are taking steps to enhance this greatly, including coaching the engineers involved. We have additionally rolled out a new Customer Portal: My.Veeam.Com, where many improvements to case interactions have been made. Please don't hesitate to let me know any comments or questions.

[matt_tulk]

Hi Ben

I think you need to take a step back and look at the SLAs as that determines how the case should be handled which doesn't appear to take place.

at the moment you have standard and premium and if you are standard your lucky to get a response at all. My suggestion would be to factor in paying for support across the board and then setting the SLA based on problem severity.

your SLA as way to long in my opinion and it most cases are not met.

for example you should be using a model like below.

SEV1 = 30 minute response production system down and loss of business function

SEV2= 1 hour response some production down and partial loss of production

SEV3 = 3 hour response non critical / question.

SEV4 = Next business day response question or License enquiry ect.

the only time an email response should be acceptable is on a SEV 3 or SEV4 but in MOST cases the first touch of a ticket should involve picking up the phone.

The second issues is the logs on your webpage do not upload properly so you waste a lot of time trying to preform a simple function.

I would suggest you either re write the Veeam server to upload directly from the GUI or You set up a permanent FTP site using ticket numbers etc. that does NOT change each case.

this way customers get into the habit of uploading as part of the ticket logging process.

Remember the window to look at backup problems is during the day as at night the backups are running so when people need it sorted it has be done quickly.

I hope this gives you a better idea of what I have experienced having worked for about 5 vendors in support myself.

[ckent]

the speed at which a ticket is responded too is only relevant if the response is of some help.
a scripted reply listing the same suggestions regardless of the fault is of no help at all.
There is no question in my mind that the original tickets do not get read or are given the time/skill to be understood.
it just leads to lots of copy paste emails and suggestions for everyone to try the same thing over and over.

as important in all this is the hostility from your support staff which is a reaction to the frustration veeam cause in the first place.

[Ben Milligan]

Appreciate all the quality feedback, gentlemen.

Matt - I appreciate the feedback on the SLA's, we will discuss and consider these possibilities. One note, however, is may have caused some confusion, is that the SLA is based on initial response, not subsequent responses. For severity 1, we do average much faster than 1 hour, respectively, as critical issues are to be handled always in an urgent manner. We have an entirely separate group of engineers that focuses on these high severity issues, and they receive prompt attention, as it should be.

Some good news, we are currently reworking the log upload methodology on the customer portal and it should be ready in the near future. As mentioned in my previous post, our updated portal was built to help more with case management, including better FTP/Log upload capability. I really appreciate you taking the time to share this feedback!

Colin - Hostility is the antithesis of what we teach and coach here at Veeam Support, so again, taking this quite seriously. We will continue to listen and work hard to make sure that future interactions with our engineers are much more positive. Thank you.

[HHo]

I was browsing the forum to see if I can find a solution to my Veeam replication issue, and stumble on this thread. I have a support case open on this issue. The initial reply from Veeam was after hours, which is fine since this is not an urgent case. The initial reply have me go through a wmi query. My query came back with permission issue, which I email back to Veeam support.

The next response from Veeam is to contact Microsoft to fix this problem first. My initial reaction is "this is bad". They have not even look at the environment, and already blame the problem on Microsoft. I've seen some bad customer service before. This is one of those rare time that I see the vendor blame on someone else right away.