Where is the actual support for Adobe business Catalyst? Why can't I just phone someone like other software companies?

Because they are a large US corporation that doesn't really want to talk to customers one on one. They hide behind call-centers and help sites that are hard to use. It's just better for the bottom line and no one person (or very few)  knows enough to give you a useful answer. This is not just an Adobe problem. But large corporations generally suck at service. It's not good enough - but what are you going to do.  That said we've had reasonable success with the online chat service - just takes days rather than minutes to get satisfactory answers.

You know it goes like this:-

"What seems to be the problem?",

You " I have this problem, I can't find information on X, Ca the BC do this?"

"Please wait while I check (consults documentation - probably the same docs we can see)"

You "hello",

"One sec", 

"I don't seem to be able to find that, can you file a support ticket",

You  "Can't you do that now for me?" 

"Ok I can do that, your support ticket is this xxxx, but we'll email you. We'll come back to you with an answer later",

You "Thanks".

"Is there any thing else we can help you with today?",

You "No Thanks, just the question please".

15 minutes may have passed by this time, you have no useful answer (typically) and will have to wait 1 to 2 days for an answer (typically) and this is often "No sorry we don't support that right now".

This is typical, so generally we contact support as a last resort only. Google usually has better answers.  But then this is what Adobe and most Large Software companies/Corporations want. You almost never get to talk to the "Horses mouth", a manager with clout, the product designer or developer.

We design, build and manage brand experiences for a number of large enterprises, personally we always recommend that these customers set up their support with real phone numbers and email along with contact forms (which I personally hate). In my mind typically you can deal with support matters in the fraction of the time if you can talk to someone directly who knows the product. A good telephone receptionist is 100 times more efficient than any call center (no matter what call center companies and software vendors tell you - the numbers lie).  It means Happier customers. Better feedback to those who make the decisions.

Better all round. But usually companies don't see it that way. Managers want remove themselves as far as possible from customers everyday problems and let an underling or "the system" deal with it.

Maybe that's why few humans actually like dealing with large faceless corporations - yet we do, we put up with it - because they can get away with it.

I can't believe there's not even an online expert to answer questions on this community forum. I think that bad service will eventually catch up to them.

I'm new, so hopefully there's an answer to this.

There are plenty Gail,

There are no questions asked in this thread and I do not see you asking anything on these forums, this is your first post. You can see lots of instances where people are helped here, every day.

The original question was if there was a way to speak to someone. That has not been addressed.

My previous web hosting company had both live chat and 24/7 phone help. I put in an email "ticket" several hours ago. I have a detailed question and would also like to have a direct conversation with someone.

You have a live chat and full ticket system. There is just no phone support. Lots of companies do not offer phone support.

How about asking your question here Gail. I bet someone will provide you the correct answer very quickly.

Hi Liam,

I did get through on Live Chat and was able to get my site up successfully.

I will try the forums in the future.

Thank you for your attention.

Gail

where is this LIVE CHAT support of which you all speak?

Hi. I couldn't quite remembered & I tried to find the answer for you. This is the closest that I could get: http://businesscatalyst.com/admin/Index.aspx I think that we need another MVP on here to clarify if that's the best way to access Live Chat.

Hi Chris,

To access LiveChat, just login to your's site's Admin (yoursite.com/admin) or to http://businesscatalyst.com/admin and go to Help&Support on the top right part of your screen. You'll then get to our support portal landing page from where you can access documentation, forums, LiveChat and the ticketing system.

Thanks and regards,
Florin

I do not what use cases other then the partner disabling it but it seems that some people, maybe via CC Florin that do not have access to that, they just get a different landing page with info about forums etc and no chat. There has been several threads in recent months about that.