A question on Phase responsiveness and accessibility

[fotografz]

Yeah, sometimes you wonder who writes some of the stuff on the internet ... especially if it comes from a company headquartered in another country, or from the company's "geek" division ... LOL!

The dealer is supposed to be the human face of the company, but it sure wouldn't hurt if there was a little more compassion squeezed into dry e-mail responses huh?


Hasselblad should have David write the lead-in to any generalized e-response to English speaking clients.

-Marc

 

[David Grover / Phase One]

Based on Jeff's experience we will actually be re-writing the statement.

So even though there was no Phocus bug in the end, some good will out afterall.

Sorry to Jeff for his 'computer says no' experience.

David

 

[dougpeterson]

Jeff,

Part of the sales process should be error handling. Ie. Who to contact when something is amiss. We point you towards the dealer as he is normally in you time zone, speaks the same language and has been trained by us.

We of course do monitor the forum but it is impractical to have someone monitoring it 24/7 when it will still be faster to talk to your dealer.

Please bear in mind this is exactly the same as Phase One operates, even on their official user forum.

As the Head of Technical Services at one of the largest Phase One dealers I have the following disjointed thoughts (it is 5am so please allow for typos and uninspired prose):
- Phase also encourages all support to run through the dealer. As David Grover says they usually speak your language, know your circumstances and equipment, and most importantly: know you. When someone calls me I know most of the time their general level of computer savyness which helps more than you would think with troubleshooting.
- You have a MUCH greater chance of having a bug fixed or a feature added with a medium format company than with a dSLR. With a dealer who chooses to take an active role in their relationship with the manufacturer you (as the end user) have very close access to "the top". When a customer gives me a bug or a feature request in the software or firmware the guy I go to with that information is the HEAD engineer of that division for Phase One or Leaf (hardware or software). Absolutely unprecedented compared to Canon/Nikon/Sony etc. I've seen dozens of improvements specifically requested by us from the early Capture One 4.X days to the current version 5.1.1. I would argue that no company is better in the world in this than Phase One, and that is upheld by the nearly universal praise for Capture One and it's very strong market share amongst 3rd party cameras (canon, nikon, leica etc). However, I am admittedly very biased .
- Often the most expensive piece of any system is assumed to be the source of any problem within that system. Thus the digital back / digital-back-software is suspected when in fact something else is up (lighting/sync/OS/monitor/etc). If I owned a digital back, despite years of experience, I might well do the same thing - very natural tendency. We (and your dealer apparently) are happy to do what we can to help even when we suspect the problem is not with a product we sold you.
- Phase forums are also not meant as the place to go for technical support. It is not practical to do serious tech support via that medium. Still it's a great option for those who want to see what recent issues might have been discovered or to see if someone else has already looked into and found the cause of some issue (even if it wasn't the fault of the mnfr software).
- Glad you got your problem solved!


Doug Peterson (e-mail Me)
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[Guy Mancuso]

Just to add here as I am also a beta tester for C1 and even in these cases if I see something I report it to Doug at CI which he reports to Phase One. Outside of that I run everything through him or if sales related Steve or Dave and sometimes all three. I have a standing issue right now on my back with a spring stuck for my battery compartment I can release the battery but the button is sticking so I have to reach in and hit a little catch inside the compartment. Not a big deal and certainly does not stop me from shooting in the slightest but just something I need to get fixed. My dealer CI has a open RMA for me for whenever I get this in to get repaired. It took all of 5 minutes to get that done when it first happened and Doug is standing by with all my documentation for when I am ready to send it in. Even my direct talks with Phase it is implied to work with your dealer unless you maybe having some issue with them which i am not at all. But my point here is your dealer is a very valuable resource make good use of it and they will always have your back. I specifically chose me dealer before I even started into this world. That is how important I view that relationship. Most time these folks are genuinely very nice and pleasant to work with. I always say pick your dealer well they are the middle to the end result.

 

[Jeffg53]

Thanks folks, the problem isn't solved yet, but it's now being slugged out between two immovable objects.

David, given that I now get paid silly amounts of money to write weasel words, I would happily review anything you put together for antipodean sensitivity.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Thanks folks, the problem isn't solved yet, but it's now being slugged out between two immovable objects.

David, given that I now get paid silly amounts of money to write weasel words, I would happily review anything you put together for antipodean sensitivity.

Sir Isaac Newton F=MA

Force equals mass times acceleration.

Someone just needs a bigger bat to swing :ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

 

[Jeffg53]

Sir Isaac Newton F=MA

Force equals mass times acceleration.

Someone just needs a bigger bat to swing :ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

I'm not sure what sort of bat would move either Adobe or Apple. Neither is renowned for flexibility. I give you printing targets under CS4 as an example. I'm glad I have a workaround. :deadhorse:

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Very true Jeff. Pretty big mountains to move for sure