HPE Storage Users Group

We have been fighting terrible 3par support experiences for over 18 months now. We have been told on more than one occasion by HP executives, that own 3par support, that the problem is being fixed. We also have what is called "Mission Critical" support, which honestly is a joke. We have an assigned TAM and local support team that is supposed to to assist with support issues, but that has turned out for the most part to be fairly useless. Such a shame that such a great product is crippled by such poor support. The most basic of repairs seems to go ok most times, but not always. It seems the 3par model of the local support tech is a puppet for the back end support is a big part of this since the quality of the back end support people are degrading. The big problem is lack of training and lack of ownership by support. And once you do get a case submitted it often falls into the black hole abyss. Do not get me wrong there are some very exceptional people in the 3par organization, the problem is they are few and far between and often are not directly involved with providing support. While HP may have bet their storage future on 3par technology they sure did not do anything to provide the support levels HP storage was known for. This reminds me of the days of the HP server support when you called and got Costa Rica or Columbia they they basically read a script to you. A word of warning for potential 3par customers, be prepared for less than optimal support and buy top level support contracts that will at least get you some visibility and local TAM, although it does not help much.

I had one case where HP did some troubleshooting on poor performance. It went very smooth and the technician displayed high level of competence.
I had two other cases where the case got lost in the “black hole abyss”. Both cases were simple software upgrades