Calling all MOTU tech support people!

Atardecer · Post by **Atardecer** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 2:56 am

Hey,

I want to know if there is any forum member out there who is actually a member of MOTU tech support (or has been in the past), and if they could perhaps give us an insight as to what the hell goes one at tech support HQ (providing you are not sworn to secrecy, that is).

In my own (and many others) experience tech support has been, shall we say, rather "ineffective" in solving people's problems (i'm being polite here) and i would like to know some of the machinations of how MOTU looks at the whole process of dealing with customers from an inside perspective.

Techies, if you have something to say against the MOTU company or, indeed, if youy wish to come to its defence - please post here...

Regards

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:30 am

Oh good... here we go again. C'mon everybody... pile on and beat up on MOTU tech support. LOL. FWIW, many people have good experiences too. It's like anything else.

sdfalk · Post by **sdfalk** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 6:34 am

It is getting a bit over the top.
I've had mostlly great experiences with Motu Tech support
and a couple of bad ones.
Life goes on.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:03 am

Atardecer wrote:Hey,

I want to know if there is any forum member out there who is actually a member of MOTU tech support (or has been in the past), and if they could perhaps give us an insight as to what the hell goes one at tech support HQ (providing you are not sworn to secrecy, that is).

In my own (and many others) experience tech support has been, shall we say, rather "ineffective" in solving people's problems (i'm being polite here) and i would like to know some of the machinations of how MOTU looks at the whole process of dealing with customers from an inside perspective.

Techies, if you have something to say against the MOTU company or, indeed, if youy wish to come to its defence - please post here...

Regards

Well sort of... I guess I'm a wanna be tech support and to prove it, I usually answer all my own questions about DP and refer heavily to the manual. Since they won;t pay me to answer phones, I pay them by buying the program. Then, when I have a little time to kill, come to this site and lurk to see if I can contribute.

Many of the questions are specific to hardware or features I don't use, so I ignore them. Some questions are just plain stupid and/or from folks who use illegal copies. I TRY TO ignore them as well.

And the third set of RELATED questions are similar to yours. Most of these I also ignore, as they are not really related to a technical issue with the program, but usually are the result of a bad experience of some sort (sometimes not related to MOTU at all; sometimes.... ummmm. yes.)

My perspective in participating (and being essentially a volunteer tech support person) is this:

Generally, the more advanced the question, the more intelligent the user. Simple questions (in most cases) come from simple minds. The average user asks good questions and I learn from trying to help or by reading responses from those who do know the answer.

But if I may tiun your question around a bit, what irks me the most is when you help someone and they simply take the answer and leave. No thank you, no nothing! Now if I worked at MOTU and someone did this after a long call, I think I'd be pissed. After a few weeks or months (assuming I lasted THAT long) I'd be jaded and angry and hostile. I'd avoid picking up the phone at all, and try to cut off as many users as i could.

It is this brain stem activity that has not only kept me out of MOTU tech support, but out of dealing with the general public in any service role. I have no patience for rudeness and for those who feel so entitled to service that they treat other humans as they would a shopping cart.

So if you've have a bad exoerience from a tech guy/gal, maybe JUST MAYBE they've had a bad experience with some bimbo and have to blow off steam.

Now then, did you have a question about DP that was NOT resolved by tech support? Well, you found us, so why not ask? We're always happy to serve you...

Disclaimer added April 25, 2006: This was a joke, kids. I have no REAL desire to become a MOTU tech guy.

emulatorloo · Post by **emulatorloo** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:57 pm

Atardecer wrote:In my own (and many others) experience tech support has been, shall we say, rather "ineffective" in solving people's problems (i'm being polite here)

The very few times I have needed it, tech support has been very helpful.

-------------------------

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 6:33 pm

Atardecer wrote:Hey,

I want to know if there is any forum member out there who is actually a member of MOTU tech support (or has been in the past), and if they could perhaps give us an insight as to what the hell goes one at tech support HQ (providing you are not sworn to secrecy, that is).

In my own (and many others) experience tech support has been, shall we say, rather "ineffective" in solving people's problems (i'm being polite here) and i would like to know some of the machinations of how MOTU looks at the whole process of dealing with customers from an inside perspective.

Techies, if you have something to say against the MOTU company or, indeed, if youy wish to come to its defence - please post here...

Regards

I would guess that 95% of the features in Digital Performer are user-driven. That means we have talked to MOTU, asked questions, explained our needs, then sent in formal requests, which were in addition echoed by their tech support people from our conversations. The fact that DP does so much, so well, is an indication that the front lines--the tech support people--are doing their job pretty well.

Shooshie

Atardecer · Post by **Atardecer** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:03 pm

James Steele wrote:Oh good... here we go again. C'mon everybody... pile on and beat up on MOTU tech support. LOL. FWIW, many people have good experiences too. It's like anything else.

This is not to slag off MOTU. As i said, If people have had great experiences in dealing with them then please relate.

If there was any angst in my message then it is only because it is wholly justified in my case. I have explained my problem to them and they have basically refused to tackle it. In the last email, the guy told me to contact the Japanese distributor for TECH SUPPORT! If MOTU tech support cant help you with a technical problem, why would an international distributer be able to help me? In any event, they did not reply to my email...

Whats more, the guy at MOTU did not offer even one opinion or suggestion about my problem. NOT ONE (other than factory reset of course, but that doesnt count). This is in a series of about 5 emails (BTW, i was polite!). And I'm still stuck with an unusable 828MKII. I'm sorry but that is NOT technical support and i have a right to be pissed off about it!

Anyway (steps down from soapbox), i would only like to know if there is some sort of policy or set strategy MOTU have to approach hardware issues because it seems like i am getting the same reply every time. Thats not to say that they arent nice, because they are. But nice doesnt get my gear working! Perhaps, there are good ones and there are bad ones and i am getting the latter...

Regards

Klaus · Post by **Klaus** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:44 pm

Well all who want to solve this one, pretty urgent and unsolved by Techsupp at MotU...
How can I make the Link button in CueMix ( FW 1.4.1 ) work with my 896HD ?
If one wants to talk to the artists, listening at the same time is essential, not ?
The GUI ( link button ) works / highlights, but talking and listening at the same time not.
Note that talk / listen works seperatly.
This one drives me crazy re Techsupport to, they ask questions that are outlined below in the mail...
Buuhh

Klaus

Best

Klaus

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 2:21 pm

Atardecer wrote:If there was any angst in my message then it is only because it is wholly justified in my case. I have explained my problem to them and they have basically refused to tackle it.

Of course it was.

So, why don't you share you problem here and see if someone on this board can help you solve it? That's really what this board was meant for all along, was for users to help users.

Also, let me just share my philosophy... and I'm speaking only for myself. I started this board because I pretty much assumed that when I bought a system like MOTU's that offered so much bang for the buck... that was so inexpensive relative to the Digidesign stuff, that I'd have to help myself if I had issues. Sure... there's a tech support number... great. But I'm one of those guys that when I have an issue with a printer, or interface, or whatever, I use Google, etc. and I get out there on the net and I find the answers myself most of the time.

I think you need to make allowances considering how relatively *inexpensive* the MOTU stuff is. Otherwise, drop a fortune on some Digi stuff and I imagine you'll get really good phone support, although I believe it's only free for a limited time after your purchase.

Atardecer · Post by **Atardecer** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:37 pm

Indeed. This IS the first place i go to when i have a problem. Going to tech support was a last resort because i have done absolutely everything i can think of to find out what is wrong (and spent quite a bit of money). I have put up about 10 emails about my issue and while people have been very helpful and offered good ideas, in this case, it hasnt solved my problem. So i go to MOTU tech support but they dont give me any tech support! The fact that the guy didnt put forward one idea or suggestion is just absurd. Indeed, MOTU are much cheaper than many other manufacturers, but they're are also many other manufacturers making the same product for the same price and who i know for a fact offer far superior support. In my opinion, MOTU are just shooting themselves in the foot. Why make a product that they cant seem to support adequately? I know many people's experiences with them and their products have been great but there is an unusually large amount off pissed off people here! Myself included! Ah, i must stop whinging! Enough from me...

Regards

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:27 pm

Atardecer wrote:but there is an unusually large amount off pissed off people here!

Says who? Furthermore, there would be a disproportionate amount since nobody ever writes in to a board to say "Hey everyone... just letting you know my system is still working great today!"

mhschmieder · Post by **mhschmieder** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:15 pm

My system is still working great today!

chamelion · Post by **chamelion** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 2:47 pm

Atardecer wrote:Indeed. This IS the first place i go to when i have a problem. Going to tech support was a last resort because i have done absolutely everything i can think of to find out what is wrong (and spent quite a bit of money).....Ah, i must stop whinging! Enough from me...
Regards

Hey Atardecer, I can't believe I've been reading through this catalog of disaster and gnashing of teeth, and still have no clue about what the actual problem is with your 828 MK11.

Atardecer wrote:Whats more, the guy at MOTU did not offer even one opinion or suggestion about my problem. NOT ONE (other than factory reset of course, but that doesnt count).

Well guess what? That tip about restoring factory reset is is the best advice anyone ever gave me regarding my 828 MK11. It has malfunctioned maybe 6 time in the past 3 years, and every single time, restoring factory settings has fixed the problem.

I've noticed a couple of offers on this thread to outline your problem to see if any of us can throw any light on it for you, but you seem to be more intent on complaining about MOTU's service than actually fixing your problem.

With the aggregated skill, experience, enthusiasm and empathy of the members of this forum, you're almost guaranteed to get up and running in the shortest possible time, get quick (sometimes instantaneous feedback), and never have the need to get involved with MOTUs service department.

So out with it. What's the problem?

Take care,

Geoff

Hadrien · Post by **Hadrien** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:59 pm

Hey Atardecer,
I was (a member of the motu techsupport team, a few years back, actually, the end of another millenium).

So be nice

"Hellow, Mark of the Unicorn Technical support, how may I help you ?"
(good ol'days - sigh)

What did you want to know about motu, Atardecer.
I'm not sure I understand your question

Atardecer · Post by **Atardecer** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:08 pm

Hey all,

I am sorry for all the vitriolics but i am really desperate now. This has been going on for about 4-5 months now. I wasnt intending to outline the problem here again because i've posted heaps of times before but to no effect. But well, here goes...

I have been experiencing completely random dropouts with my 828MKII. Things will seem to be going fine and then all of a sudden the unit resets itself and tries to reconnect. Sometimes it will reconnect but usually i have to power off the unit and turn it back on. It is exceptionally annoying as when it reconnects if goes back to default settings with the gain at 0db, thus nearly blowing my speakers. This will be completely random - it might be fine for a couple of hours and then it will happen every 30 seconds. Some days it will happen within the first minute. Usually when it happens the first time, it will just keep happening i just walk away frustrated!

So it seems something is interrupting the firewire connection but i do not know what. Here are some of the things ive tried/checked:

Factory reset, voltage switch, new firewire cable, 4 different MOTU drivers, checked for IRQ conflicts (none), different OS (XP SP1 & SP2), installed & uninstalled firewire hotfixes, set ADAT in/out to ADAT, different firewire cards (TI PCI card, TI firewire port on M/B), VIA PCI card), disabled network adapter.

Unfortunately, none of this has worked. I have also tried the unit on 3 different computers and the problem still exists. Its also worth pointing out that the LCD does not work (the light is gone) which makes the unit practically useless for any work without a computer.

All in all, its a really useless piece of junk at the moment. I am trying to avoid sending it in as i have heard it will take maybe 3 months to get it back (im in australia). I am at uni studying audio and i need this card for assignments and i cant afford to be out of action that long. I've already spent too much money on this. It may be cheaper for me just to buy a different card altogether if this cannot be solved. But that just makes me angry

Any help would be most appreciated. If u can fix this problem i will love u forever!
regards

PS: feel free to move this to hardware forum if need be!!

Specs: P4 3.6ghz, Intel 91945P Pro M/B, 2GB RAM, Texas Instruments PCI firewire card, 300GB RAID, Cubase SX3, Reason 3, Microkontrol, MOTU 828MK II.

MOTUnation.com

Calling all MOTU tech support people!

Calling all MOTU tech support people!

Re: Calling all MOTU tech support people!

Re: Calling all MOTU tech support people!

Re: Calling all MOTU tech support people!

Well... I WAS!