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So we’re trying to locate and price out the best solution for a desktop product (not going to name any names since all of them are vendors here). I talked to vendor A, the best known, market leader first. They said they would be happy to provide me with pricing but they couldn’t get me any eval units. I contacted vendors B and C and both offered to send me eval units without me even asking.

Vendor A sent me an email apologizing for not being able to provide me with eval units, but asking if I needed any further information. My reply: “No problem. We got a refurb [product] from NeweggBusiness to try out. We’ll have something to compare to the units that vendor B and Vendor C are sending us for free.”

44 Spice ups
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Often seems like the biggest players don’t really want to make plays for their users anymore. Hopefully that shows you that B and C care about your business a bit more!

7 Spice ups
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Heyyy, you named us!!!

24 Spice ups
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Yup, you guys are awesome, and didn’t need to be made fun of. Everyone will know who Vendor A is if I name B and C.

6 Spice ups
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That is pretty smart. Let him know what the competition is doing for their customers. It helps them get on the ball.

8 Spice ups
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I could care less what people did last night or what they had for lunch today, so in that sense Social Media is pretty useless too me.

But when it comes to dealing with vendors, I name names whenever possible. If vendor A doesn’t want the bad press they should step up their game. But I can respect not wanting to do that.

Example: I just had the third Seagate Business NAS I purchased die within 2 years, the first two didn’t make it much over the first 12 months. Seagate is a good company, but they should be ashamed of that product line, so I make a point of mentioning it. :slight_smile:

4 Spice ups
7

I’m with you 100% on this. And really, it’s not so much about letting everyone know what a bad experience you had with Vendor A as it is letting everyone know just how awesome the experience was with Vendors B and C. The companies that may not be industry leaders or have the biggest market share can definitely get a larger piece of the pie by positive experiences that are shared by users.

A positive experience or review shared by a colleague carries a lot more weight with me than big advertising budgets and name recognition.

3 Spice ups
8

Customer service and all, wins everytime.

I was talking with a colleague this evening about @Acronis , who was more than happy to provide full support for an eval compared to another major backup vendor, vendor B, who refused support during a trial. Vendor B would have probably won some business if support was able to resolve a pre-sales type issue. Acronis provided, thus will be receiving monies from what it sounds like soon. The colleague stated this was exactly why they went with Acronis, even though it was slight more expensive, it came down the ‘awesome’ support.

4 Spice ups
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Totally depends on your Rep. they can make or break a business.

1 Spice up
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I am always upfront and transparent with my suppliers, they all know who they are completing against and if someone offers me stuff above and beyond what i am asking for at no extra cost then it all helps me.

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Many years ago when I worked for the UK government, I was involved in a number of large procurements, and competitive evaluation was a very large part of the procurement process. this was all mainframe based.

One major company refused to take part in any competitive evaluations “as a matter of policy” and then always complained when they did not win the business. I used to tell them “well, you scored zero in the evaluation - what do you expect”. The salesman used to tell me “our kit is much better than what you are buying” I said “But you are not prepared to put it to the test. That tells us that you don’t actually believe you are better”.

Another fun time was during evaluation of a new VDU to be rolled out in many locations around the country. A number of potential suppliers brought in a unit to demonstrate. I was present at one demo. During the demo I went and got drinks for everyone. I brought back an extra cup of coffee. The guy demoing the VDU asked who it was for. The boss said “The VDU” and poured it into the keyboard. You should have seen his face. He was so angry he was spluttering and could not get a proper word out. My boss gave him a copy of the requirement document which clearly stated that part of the evaluation was the “cup of coffee test”. the equipment had to withstand a cup of coffee being poured into the keyboard, poured out and then left to dry. The VDU needed to work after the test, and that the test would be performed at the demo. His company had not told him about the test, which his kit failed (a number of models demoed did pass), or had not noticed it in the document. The poor guy was due to go to another two demos that day with the same VDU.

4 Spice ups
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I would be interested to know the response when you got back from Vendor A

I would also like to know the names, this isn’t an official review, and all the information provided so far is perfectly professional.

I also think it may be interesting to know which Vendors are able to provide demo units for anyone else who may be in the same situation, to allow them to know what to plan for when it comes to comparison testing the products.

1 Spice up
13

Interesting they refused you support during the trial… Speaks volumes…

1 Spice up
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Hey @dataless , just want to let you know that we hear you loud and clear! This goes for anyone in the community, if you encounter issues with one of our products, never hesitate to send me a PM or tag Seagate. If it’s not something I can help you with, I’ll be sure to put you in touch with the right person. Customer service and support is something we value highly, and we really appreciate your honesty so that we can continue to improve our products.

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Hey Olivia, I posted details about my troubles with these drives here on Spiceworks and Peter helped me get the RMA process moved along quickly. While I do believe in being honest about troubles with vendors I must also give credit where credit is due.

Social media can be great or it can be a black eye for vendors. In my case, Seagate did step up and help quickly with my troubles. I still think the Business NAS line isn’t very good (at least not the single drive units), but as a company Seagate has worked to try and help me with my troubles.

Any product can have problems, how the vendor responds to that is what’s important. Thankfully Spiceworks allows us to directly interact with vendors and resolve problems.