I've had a DirectConnect contract over the last few years and it has always struck me as being somewhat exce$$ive. I am now considering eConnect but I have a few reservation for the one or two times I need to talk to someone immediately. (My local supplier tech support is not very useful.)
Last year I called Rockwell TechConnect 20 times.
13 of the times, the problem was because of some sort of failure by the software or hardware. (Usually corrected by upgrading the firmware or replacing a component.) 2 or 3 of the times, this was an emergency situation and required a (more or less) immediate response.
6 of the times were for minor issues that I called about just because I had the contract and I figured I'd try to get my money's worth. Since these calls were not linked to known problems with the products, TechConnect seemed to be ill-equipped to tackle them and I usually ended up with a work around on my own.
1 of the times was because I simply didn't know what I was doing and TechConnect set me straight.
In most (if not all) of these cases where TechConnect was helpful, it seemed like the tech support person was just referring to a knowledgebase for their answers. Would eConnect provide me with the same resourses the tech support people have access to?
Has anyone else switched to eConnect with a call history similar to mine? If so, how has it worked out?
If you have eConnect and a barn burning emergency that required expertise beyond your own, what do you do?
How do the eConnect online support requests measure up to the real time phone support. Do you get the same results, but they just take longer?
Followup: I posted this assuming that eConnect was significantly less expensive that DirectConnect. I recall some previous posts that said the poster was paying in the vicinity of $500/year for eConnect. I just recieved a quote for eConnect and it is only 40% less than Directconnect. Directconnect is around $5000/year. Do others pay these sort of prices???