Exabyte support?

I recently tried to get a faulty Exabyte tape drive replaced. The
Exabyte support person was helpful knowledgeable and identified the
fault relatively quickly. Eventually it was found the tape drive was
faulty and needed replacing. At this point Anacomp took over
replacing the drive, I received an invoice for £0 shortly after and I
assumed the drive would be shipped from the US. A few weeks later I
had not heard anything so I tried ringing and emailing them, but only
got a response after chasing them and was told the delivery time would
be 3 weeks. I was told this was because they were relocating their
logistics to another site in Mexico!!! I then read on web that Exabyte
had to leave their offices in Boulder quickly, various reasons were
given, excessive rents etc but was assured drive would be delivered.

Then 8 weeks on when I still did not have the replacement drive I
called round all their offices around the world and was finally told
that they had a severe shortage of drives and was prioritising which
customers should get next shipment!!! I was told the shortage was
caused by having to get an outsourced logistics company up to speed.
They couldn't however give me a date when I would get drive!

I am wondering whether anyone else has had problems like this with
Exabyte? It seems to me they are having real difficulty providing the
level of service that enterprise backup customers expect and need. Has
anyone else experience this and managed to get it resolved?

In article ,
says...

I recently tried to get a faulty Exabyte tape drive replaced. The
Exabyte support person was helpful knowledgeable and identified the
fault relatively quickly. Eventually it was found the tape drive was
faulty and needed replacing. At this point Anacomp took over
replacing the drive, I received an invoice for £0 shortly after and I
assumed the drive would be shipped from the US. A few weeks later I
had not heard anything so I tried ringing and emailing them, but only
got a response after chasing them and was told the delivery time would
be 3 weeks. I was told this was because they were relocating their
logistics to another site in Mexico!!! I then read on web that Exabyte
had to leave their offices in Boulder quickly, various reasons were
given, excessive rents etc but was assured drive would be delivered.

Then 8 weeks on when I still did not have the replacement drive I
called round all their offices around the world and was finally told
that they had a severe shortage of drives and was prioritising which
customers should get next shipment!!! I was told the shortage was
caused by having to get an outsourced logistics company up to speed.
They couldn't however give me a date when I would get drive!

I am wondering whether anyone else has had problems like this with
Exabyte? It seems to me they are having real difficulty providing the
level of service that enterprise backup customers expect and need. Has
anyone else experience this and managed to get it resolved?


the above article, coupled with the rumors that they had been evicted
from their offices, have stopped us from recommending Exabyte

_____ . .
' \\ . . |
O// . . |
\_\ . . |
| | . . . |
/ | . www.EvenEnterprises.com . . . |
/ .| . . . |
/ . | 310-544-9439 / 310-544-9309 fax . . . o
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Authorized - DIRECT VAR/VAD/Distributor for new SCSI/FC-AL peripherals
NAS/SAN/RAID from HP, IBM, Seagate, EMC, QLogic, ATL, OverLand Data

On Thu, 11 Sep 2003 23:33:11 GMT, (Andy)
wrote:

[ Snip ]

the above article, coupled with the rumors that they had been evicted
from their offices, have stopped us from recommending Exabyte

Which says more to me about the quality of your advice than about
Exabyte.

One second-hand data point (which boiled down to what sounded a lot
like a transitional SNAFU -- problematic today but irrelevant
tomorrow) plus an unsubstantiated rumor.

[ And, by the way, even that rumor has been discussed here, but I
doubt you're interested in objective facts. The less sinister
explanation is that Exabyte had an opportunity to get out of their
lease and thus cut costs... but that's not nearly as satisfying as
your innuendo. ]

Gee... if I clicked on a link on your web site and it came up with a
404, would it be sensible or ethical of me to conclude that you are
about to cease operations?

Malc.

In article , says
....

On Thu, 11 Sep 2003 23:33:11 GMT, (Andy)
wrote:

[ Snip ]

the above article, coupled with the rumors that they had been evicted
from their offices, have stopped us from recommending Exabyte

Which says more to me about the quality of your advice than about
Exabyte.

One second-hand data point (which boiled down to what sounded a lot
like a transitional SNAFU -- problematic today but irrelevant
tomorrow) plus an unsubstantiated rumor.

[ And, by the way, even that rumor has been discussed here, but I
doubt you're interested in objective facts. The less sinister
explanation is that Exabyte had an opportunity to get out of their
lease and thus cut costs... but that's not nearly as satisfying as
your innuendo. ]

Gee... if I clicked on a link on your web site and it came up with a
404, would it be sensible or ethical of me to conclude that you are
about to cease operations?


now i understand why people seem to refer to you (& your little spats)
as a dick since ;
1. the fact that exabyte can't deliver on it's warranty is NOT
"irrelevant" (which says a lot about you)
2. multiple current &/or former exabyte employees have told me
that the "eviction rumor" is true

_____ . .
' \\ . . |
O// . . |
\_\ . . |
| | . . . |
/ | . www.EvenEnterprises.com . . . |
/ .| . . . |
/ . | 310-544-9439 / 310-544-9309 fax . . . o
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Authorized - DIRECT VAR/VAD/Distributor for new SCSI/FC-AL peripherals
NAS/SAN/RAID from HP, IBM, Seagate, EMC, QLogic, ATL, OverLand Data

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 15:07:29 GMT, (Andy)
wrote:

now i understand why people seem to refer to you (& your little spats)
as a dick since ;

Ah, but have you noticed that my point was that *your* actions speak
volumes about *you*?

If you applied your brain, you might realize that it applies to
others, too...

1. the fact that exabyte can't deliver on it's warranty is NOT
"irrelevant" (which says a lot about you)

I said it was TRANSITIONAL. Get a friend and have them explain to you
what that means.

EVERY vendor has transitional issues. We all wish they didn't, but
for various reasons they all do. Manufacturing,

2. multiple current &/or former exabyte employees have told me
that the "eviction rumor" is true

And they know... how? Has it occurred to you that former employees
are not the best sources of information, often due to bitterness at
their being former employees?

Now, *had* the company actually been evicted, there would be a paper
trail (like, a court order evicting them), and you wouldn't have to
rely on "rumors". Yet you do, which in any rational universe suggests
to me that it is NOT true.

Cretin.

Malc.

"Andy" wrote in message
news:XC78b.53261$nf3.25497@fed1read07...

the above article, coupled with the rumors that they had been evicted
from their offices, have stopped us from recommending Exabyte

_____ . .
' \\ . . |
O// . . |
\_\ . . |
| | . . . |
/ | . www.EvenEnterprises.com . . . |
/ .| . . . |
/ . | 310-544-9439 / 310-544-9309 fax . . . o
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Authorized - DIRECT VAR/VAD/Distributor for new SCSI/FC-AL peripherals
NAS/SAN/RAID from HP, IBM, Seagate, EMC, QLogic, ATL, OverLand Data


Funny. A quick Google shows that your tagline has not changed in the past
three or so years. I don't see Exabyte as part of that line. As a loyal and
passionate ATL and Overland disti, when exactly *did* you recommend
Exabyte??

Rob

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 15:07:29 GMT, (Andy)
wrote:


now i understand why people seem to refer to you (& your little spats)
as a dick since ;
1. the fact that exabyte can't deliver on it's warranty is NOT
"irrelevant" (which says a lot about you)
2. multiple current &/or former exabyte employees have told me
that the "eviction rumor" is true


Hey, Andy. I was out in Boulder this spring and the whole town knew of
Exabytes inabilities to pay their rent and the inpending law suit.
Their "transition" to Mexico is not coincidental. If other people can't
understand this type of specific information, then it's their problem.
Don't waste your time.

The Bug!

I have Exabyte 221L LTO libraries in each of our data centers. One
failed and was sent to Exabyte on 8/19/03, fedex confirms receipt on
8/20/03. For the last month and a half we have been told every story
from:

- The drive wasn't received (despite the fed-ex signature from someone
in their shipping department)
- Exabyte has no supply of the drives so our replacement drive will
not be available for a while (even though they are available for sale
from the major distributors.)
- Exabyte moved their offices on very short notice and had to switch
to a new facility before the facility was ready their is chaos they
don't know when they will get through their backlog of RMA's (I waas
told this directly by people in the Exabyte service department.)

Our drive has been at Exabyte for over a month and a half and as of
today they can not even give an estimate as to when we might receive a
replacement. We are about to purchase new libraries because we can't
afford the risk of not having backups if Exabyte goes out of business
or continues to operate as they do.




(ITguy_uk) wrote in message . com...
I recently tried to get a faulty Exabyte tape drive replaced. The
Exabyte support person was helpful knowledgeable and identified the
fault relatively quickly. Eventually it was found the tape drive was
faulty and needed replacing. At this point Anacomp took over
replacing the drive, I received an invoice for £0 shortly after and I
assumed the drive would be shipped from the US. A few weeks later I
had not heard anything so I tried ringing and emailing them, but only
got a response after chasing them and was told the delivery time would
be 3 weeks. I was told this was because they were relocating their
logistics to another site in Mexico!!! I then read on web that Exabyte
had to leave their offices in Boulder quickly, various reasons were
given, excessive rents etc but was assured drive would be delivered.

Then 8 weeks on when I still did not have the replacement drive I
called round all their offices around the world and was finally told
that they had a severe shortage of drives and was prioritising which
customers should get next shipment!!! I was told the shortage was
caused by having to get an outsourced logistics company up to speed.
They couldn't however give me a date when I would get drive!

I am wondering whether anyone else has had problems like this with
Exabyte? It seems to me they are having real difficulty providing the
level of service that enterprise backup customers expect and need. Has
anyone else experience this and managed to get it resolved?

Craig,

I would seriously consider an alternative we have been waiting 12
weeks for a replacement drive!

You may also want to read the following article (old I know but issues
mentioned are obviously still not resolved)

http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/...542033,00.html

The company experienced a sales slowdown for many reasons according to
Marriner. Exabyte's distributors reduced inventories during the
quarter and the company has not been able to meet demand for its M2
media due to problems with its suppliers and their production of
media. "With media now available in quantity at all of our major
distributors, we believe sales of M2 drives and libraries will begin
to improve," said Marriner.
The M2 drives have been experiencing trouble on the technical side as
well. The M2 drive uses a thin, fragile media, one that hasn't been
faring well against the operation of the drive. "We've found a
particular issue with the design of the tape path that causes the
drive to handle the media roughly," said Marriner. "Extended usage can
damage the media." Exabyte said that it has discovered the root of the
problem and have implemented a rework of the tape deck on all of it s
products going out the door.

I also found the following reviews of Exabyte tape drives and the
support they provide:

http://www.sysopt.com/userreviews/ta...ERNAL_M21.html

http://www.sysopt.com/userreviews/ta..._External.html

There seems to be a recurring theme in all of these posts. Exabyte
cannot support their clients (for whatever reason) which for an
Enterprise backup company is pretty poor!



(Craig Winter) wrote in message om...
I have Exabyte 221L LTO libraries in each of our data centers. One
failed and was sent to Exabyte on 8/19/03, fedex confirms receipt on
8/20/03. For the last month and a half we have been told every story
from:

- The drive wasn't received (despite the fed-ex signature from someone
in their shipping department)
- Exabyte has no supply of the drives so our replacement drive will
not be available for a while (even though they are available for sale
from the major distributors.)
- Exabyte moved their offices on very short notice and had to switch
to a new facility before the facility was ready their is chaos they
don't know when they will get through their backlog of RMA's (I waas
told this directly by people in the Exabyte service department.)

Our drive has been at Exabyte for over a month and a half and as of
today they can not even give an estimate as to when we might receive a
replacement. We are about to purchase new libraries because we can't
afford the risk of not having backups if Exabyte goes out of business
or continues to operate as they do.




(ITguy_uk) wrote in message . com...
I recently tried to get a faulty Exabyte tape drive replaced. The
Exabyte support person was helpful knowledgeable and identified the
fault relatively quickly. Eventually it was found the tape drive was
faulty and needed replacing. At this point Anacomp took over
replacing the drive, I received an invoice for £0 shortly after and I
assumed the drive would be shipped from the US. A few weeks later I
had not heard anything so I tried ringing and emailing them, but only
got a response after chasing them and was told the delivery time would
be 3 weeks. I was told this was because they were relocating their
logistics to another site in Mexico!!! I then read on web that Exabyte
had to leave their offices in Boulder quickly, various reasons were
given, excessive rents etc but was assured drive would be delivered.

Then 8 weeks on when I still did not have the replacement drive I
called round all their offices around the world and was finally told
that they had a severe shortage of drives and was prioritising which
customers should get next shipment!!! I was told the shortage was
caused by having to get an outsourced logistics company up to speed.
They couldn't however give me a date when I would get drive!

I am wondering whether anyone else has had problems like this with
Exabyte? It seems to me they are having real difficulty providing the
level of service that enterprise backup customers expect and need. Has
anyone else experience this and managed to get it resolved?