PCLaw used to have one of the best tech support departments of any software company. Wait times were generally under 1 minute (except at year end), and support was very good. Now, support is being moved from Toronto to Dayton and first level support is staffed by friendly – and completely inexperienced – midwesteners. But at least at the first sign of a non-trivial question, they would escalate to second level support in Toronto.
But now it seems that the second level support in Toronto is being dismissed en masse (presumably so LexisNexis won’t have to pay Canadian severance packages) and then only 8 or 10 are being rehired. So in essence, LexisNexis is destroying what used to be one of the best support operations in the business (plus, it was a profit center for PCLaw). And the remaining support people are not exactly going to have a warm and fuzzy feeling about job security. Even for Lexis, this seems like a completely irrational move.
At NY LegalTech in February, a number of people remarked that every time Lexis acquires another product it is more money in the pocket of the companies that have remained independent. In this case, Amicus Attorney (also located in Toronto) will have a great opportunity to pick up some experienced technical support people. Meanwhile, PCLaw support will continue to deteriorate.
absolutely true; we have been using pclaw for a long time. really sad.
Posted by: asa | August 26, 2009 at 06:53 PM