Why should I have a support contract ?

If you've already used our technical support service, then I'm sure you'll realise what a professional service our technicians offer, however if you've not had the opportunity to utilise technical support you might be asking yourself the following questions:

• Why should I pay for support when there is a comprehensive help file and manual?
• Why should I pay for support when I only occasionally report a bug I think I may have found?
• Why should I pay for support just to get HireTrack Eclipse working when it suddenly stops functioning properly for no apparent reason; shouldn't it always just 'work'?
• Why should I pay for support when I've only ever needed help to re-activate a license that was lost when our server machine failed, particularly as this license is mine and should be restored as a matter of course?

We hope our answers below make a good case for our support policy, which we believe provides an invaluable service for businesses that rely on HireTrack Eclipse as the engine that drives the information flow for quotes, warehouse operations, invoices, purchases and customer account management.

 

Why should I pay for support when there is a comprehensive help file and manual?

It is not uncommon for us to get queries from users that challenge the reliability or validity of data that is displayed, either in the program or in reports. In most cases, after we have thoroughly investigated the matter, we are able to explain the apparent anomaly to the user's complete satisfaction. 
Without a support contract, we would not be able to offer this service.

Why should I pay for support when I only occasionally report a bug I think I may have found?

While we take all bug reports seriously, we give particular priority to resolving issues quickly for customers who have support. In rare cases, where the bug is seriously hampering the way they work, we will even supply a customer with a 'hotfix' build. However, more often than not, bug reports are usually a misunderstanding of some functionality, rather than a fault within the software and an explanation of this, gets the user back on track immediately.
Bugs reported by customers without a support contract are added to our 'issues list' and investigated as and when maintenance on HireTrack Eclipse is scheduled.

Why should I pay for support just to get HireTrack Eclipse working when it suddenly stops functioning properly for no apparent reason; shouldn't it always just 'work'?

Although HireTrack Eclipse is a robust product, it is nonetheless dependent on a multitude of Windows services in order to work correctly, and sometimes these services themselves break down. For example, in January 2009 Microsoft released a security update that, in some circumstances could completely block the communication channels used by thousands of applications, and indeed this caused problems for some our customers. After extensive research our technicians were able to find a solution from Microsoft.
We would not be able to offer this service to stranded customers without a support contract.

Why should I pay for support when I've only ever needed help to re-activate a license that was lost when our server machine failed, particularly as this license is mine and should be restored as a matter of course?

We will always re-supply tokens (licenses) to ALL customers who are unable to transfer them using orthodox methods. 
However, we cannot prioritize this service for customers without support, and only guarantee to re-supply then, within 48 working hours of notification.

I'll just wait until I have a problem, then I'll take out a support contract

There may be up to a 48 hour delay, whilst your renewal is processed before we can deal with your support incident. 
Customers with a continuous support contract, will not have this problem.

Have we made our case? As the owner of a business that depends on HireTrack Eclipse, can you really afford to let your support contract lapse?