how long should I wait for a reply to a 'Tech Note"?

BruceBanner · Post by **BruceBanner** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:01 pm

...before I start getting frustrated?

what's the normal turnaround time on those?

RonaldDumsfeld · Post by **RonaldDumsfeld** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 3:39 am

Good question. Be interesting to hear the experience of others.

I waited 5 weeks and no one at MOTU even read my first Tech Note'. Fortunately the local distributor for my territory (MusicTrack) intervened on my behalf. It took me another 2 weeks to convince them I knew what I was talking about.

When they finally got round to repeating my tests (i.e. plugging an Ultralite into a USB controller less than 4 years old resulted in immediate, catastrophic and BSOD) they did get to work. 4 weeks and 7 beta versions later there was a new driver release that fixed it.

I reported 4 other less serious bugs at the same time - MOTU accknowledged they did exost but so far none have been fixed 9 months and 2 further releases down the line.

I wouldn't bother again. If something comes up I cannot either learn to live with or fix myself with the help of boards like this then I'd simply cut my loses and buy something else. Lifes too short.

BruceBanner · Post by **BruceBanner** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:14 am

HOLY CRAP!!!
I had no idea it was like that.

I don't normally deal with this kind of stuff at the studio, but since this my own privet setup, I had to do the trouble shooting. Now I understand why when our brand new 24io had physical problems we didn't even bother trying to contact them, we just took it to a tech and had him fix it (3 times now).

Although, after complaining on here last night about how long this was taking, I had a reply to my tech note first thing this morning.

BruceBanner · Post by **BruceBanner** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:17 am

oh, I am using the wrong words, I have been calling a"TECHLINK" a TECHNOTE. I am sooooo stupid. But you guys catch my drift right? Their service and support is really slow.

stubbsonic · Post by **stubbsonic** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 3:44 pm

I've been with MOTU since the early 90's. During some of this time, I could send out an email and get an answer (a useful answer) in a few hours- to a day. That slowed down, but still worked ok.

At the point when they switched to the TechLinks system, they are slow to respond, they often mis-read my issues-- causing me to have to re-write some of my original post. That's frustrating because you feel like you have to wait around again for another cycle.

If they would just give you a more complete answer, you could avoid all that back & forth.

I have waited up to 5 months for an answer.

Also, I don't like that if you don't copy and paste the text from your TechLink to a text file, there's no way of retrieving it after a certain amount of time goes by. Also, they don't seem to add any of the solutions that they arrive at via techlinks to their searchable support documents.

I think MOTU software is amazing (though a bit buggy), but their online support interface with users is impersonal, and ineffective. I'm glad they are still in the game, and I hope they continue to develop, but this is an area I wish they could improve. With excellent support, DP would be much easier to recommend.

billruys · Post by **billruys** » Sun Oct 17, 2010 4:19 pm

A few months ago, I posted in defence of MOTU tech support, after an engineer read a post I made on this forum and offered help.

More recently, I decided to log a technote after my MOTU 24I/O started to give a problem with a burning smell. That technote is now well over a month old and its status is still "unread".

I am now seeing what all the fuss is about. A month (or much more, as some of you have experienced) is far too long to wait to have your technote even read, never mind actioned.

What is going on here? I dumped my M-Audio gear because at the time, I was waiting over a year for a usable driver, but at least they responded to tech support queries.

It seems in the pro audio world, you just can't count on support after you leave the store with your product - MOTU aren't alone in this. But it's just not good enough!

j_e_f · Post by **j_e_f** » Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:39 pm

Maybe it takes a month to get your technote translated to Hindu, sent off to India, and the returned reply translated back to English?

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:41 pm

j_e_f wrote:Maybe it takes a month to get your technote translated to Hindu, sent off to India, and the returned reply translated back to English?

Anything useful to contribute here, or is this it?

billruys · Post by **billruys** » Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:20 am

j_e_f wrote:Maybe it takes a month to get your technote translated to Hindu, sent off to India, and the returned reply translated back to English?

All jokes aside, if it meant clearing the backlog of tech support issues, maybe contracting out first level support isn't such a bad idea.

In my case, I know I have a hardware fault - I just need someone to tell me where to send my unit and give me a reference number.

I know MOTU would rather keep all tech support in the US, but is this helping or hurting the situation?

SmilesLots · Post by **SmilesLots** » Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:57 am

Call them on the phone at 9:05 AM. You can almost always get thru at that time. Afterwards you will probably get a busy signal.

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