Really? So it's the consumers fault? Hmmm…………………………………………………….
Bluntly, yes. I face this on a daily basis. Customers 'want' 24/7/365 resilient service / support. So I tell them how much it will cost (not how much I need to charge note) and suddenly they're not interested. Because the 'consumer' buys on price. We (consumers) buy the cheapest insurance, the cheapest broadband, the cheapest food. And it's just not the same as buying a train ticket, or a hotel room. It's all *lovely* right up until the moment something breaks. Then when we have to deal with people whose training consists being given a script (because don't get me started on how much it actually costs to *train* people to technical support, let alone keep them, because no sooner do they know how they bloody systems work, the last thing they want to do is answer the phone to another idiot who can't even be bothered to update their anti-virus software, they go off an get an job with a 50% pay rise as a junior sysadmin), we complain. Like we complain when we find horse in our quarter pounders (I'm sorry, does anyone *really* think that 1 pound of beef can really be grown, slaughtered, processed, turned into burgers, packed, shipped and sold for a *pound*?!), or we complain when our insurance company tries to wriggle out of our claim for $whatever, or that our £3 t-shirts from Primark fall apart after 2 washes or....
(and breaaaaaattthhhhe)
Chris, wasn't Fastnet by any chance, was it? They had the best CS team I ever dealt with (including mine) but they charged for it. By 'eck it was worth it though.
Chris, surely you don't actually believe marketing?
C