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23-Emerald IV
TomU23-Emerald IV
23-Emerald IV
May 10, 2017
Question

Frustrating Tech Support Articles

  • May 10, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 3162 views

I'm a pretty laid back guy, but every time I see an article like this I get really frustrated.  How hard is it to just answer the question?

Maybe say, "No, this is not currently possible and we haven't been able to find any workaround."  ["We didn't think anyone would actually want to do this and so we never bothered adding the capability.  If you really want it, find 1,000 other people to vote for it and maybe we'll consider adding it to Windchill 25.0".]

Okay, the last part was over the top, but you get the point.  Use plain language, answer the questions (all of them), set realistic expectations, and be as helpful as possible. If there is any remote possibility of a workaround, say so!  If this can't be done, what should be done instead?  The more information provided, the better.  This boiler plate response communicates all the wrong things about both support and PTC.  More critically, it provides NO HELP for the end user who is searching the knowledge base trying to solve problems.

    1 reply

    H
    Heidi5-Regular Member
    5-Regular Member
    May 11, 2017

    Hi Tom,

    Thank you for bringing this article to our attention. Our aim is to enable customers like yourself to solve their issues with the knowledge that we share so we do strive to have all our articles provide a solution or workaround to the issue but there are occasions when it's just not possible because of the way the software is working.  We do use some "boiler plate" phrases for specific situations in order to provide a common look and feel to our articles but these are not intended to be a replacement for "real solutions".

    I will follow up with the engineers involved in writing this article to understand what additional information we can add to make it more helpful. I'll also take a look at what we can do to improve these types of articles to make them more helpful going forwards.

      Marco Tosin
      21-Topaz I
      Marco Tosin21-Topaz I
      21-Topaz I
      May 11, 2017

      Hi Heidi,

      I think that the answer in this article could be a good way to reply at customer request.

      https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?source=subscription&n=CS160265

      Marco
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