Anyone seen the chat window on support.ca.com?

[Carsten Schmitz]

Hi.

 

I just had a call with CA support (for an urgent issue with the Automic products range) and I was told that if I were to go to support.ca.com, and specifically to the "website where I can open a new case", a chat window would possibly pop up. That chat window would allow me to chat with an "engineer". If there currently is no chat window, that's because all engineers are currently busy (or maybe also because I use a popup blocker? Who knows ...).

 

So, has anyone seen this chat window? Does it actually pop up on the website with the "create new case" form? And if so: is this truly a way to directly contact the product engineers as claimed, or would it be the much more economical option of just reaching the same first-line support guy who then tells me to file a ticket?

 

Label me bitter, but admittedly I have doubts about this too-good-to-be-true "engineering shortcut" that will pop up if I stare at the "create a ticket" form long enough ...

 

Thanks!

[Jason Allen]

Hi,

 

I do not work with the Automic team so I cannot specifically comment on your incident, but in general, I can tell you that we have customers using it to contact us on the UIM team frequently, so I know it does appear and customers are using it!  It is true that when all engineers are busy or otherwise engaged, the Chat feature may not be available.

 

Regarding the second bit - some clarification is warranted.  The chat function will put you in contact directly with a support engineer, not a development/product engineer; so you will indeed be using a "quicker avenue" to contact the usual support department engineers, not a shortcut to bypass them and speak directly to development.

 

For this reason, the Chat function is probably more appropriate for simple/quick questions -- "The documentation isn't clear, can you tell me if X version of your software supports Y version of the Operating System?" for example, or "can you tell me if there is an option to disable the software from doing _________?"  whereas if you have an issue that requires engagement and troubleshooting, it's very likely that this will be converted to a standard support case anyway.  On a severity-1 "production down" situation your best bet is to call the Support Center directly for the quickest response.

[ChristieJoy]

Hi!

Thanks for asking this question.  If the product supports chat and there is an agent available, you will see the button like this:

 

Currently Automic Workload Automation is not supported for chat, but we have plans to add it within the next few months. 

Christie

[Carsten Schmitz]

Hi,

 

Many thanks for the screenshot, this is very helpful indeed!

 

Would be great though if CA could spread the info about this not being available for certain products arround among the support colleagues. While my disbelief kept me from staring at the website for hours on end waiting for a window to pop up, not everyone may be as distrusting as I am

 

Cheers,

Carsten