Support Cheat

I wrote an enthusiastic blog on Skyroam's Solis a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it turns out things are not so rosy. I was hoping to have them solved (or at least handled) by their support team, but this is exactly where the company has been struggling the most.

The first problem with the Solis, which I openly mentioned in the review, was the USB-C port implementation. It is likely that it suffers from the same problem as the Raspberry Pi 4: it can be charged only with a simplified USB-C cable or with a dongle that cuts out the full USB-PD negotiation.

Fair enough. People make mistakes and designers fail to test their products properly. This can happen. But then this is exactly when a support team should kick in, handling the case properly to keep the customer happy. Unfortunately Skyroam's team falls way short of that. I can't remember any other support team driving me so annoyed, ever.

The first thing that Skyroam has been doing repeatedly is closing support tickets without notifications. I report a problem, they close it. I report again, they say I would be transferred to a VIP support (which is an equivalent of /dev/null) and close the ticket. I have NEVER heard back from the VIP team. Ever. And I reported the USB-C charging problem multiple times and every time the ticket was closed with no solution. I'd say it'd be sufficient of acknowledging the issue: "yes, we are aware of that, the plan is....". Nope. They ignore you instead.

The second problem is they don't seem to read anything you write. What happened to me was on one day I could not activate a day plan. The "push-wifi-button" feature did not work (actually that has never worked...) but the other methods (like using the companion app) failed to work either. I ended up finding a guest wifi in  cafe and reaching to one of their chat agents who activated the plan for me. And he suggested I raise a support ticket (why he could not do it is another matter, but anyway...). So I raised the ticket when returning home (stating the precise date and other circumstances" and the response was "move to find a better signal...". Oh that raised the blood pressure in my veins. And then it took me almost a week of back-and forth to explain what the problem was (I was repeating myself in explanations multiple times until they acknowledged the unit might be faulty). The ticket was closed two times in between. And they were answering me with solutions for another customer's problem. Total mess.

I understand some products or services are young and immature. I consciously carry that risk when probing them. But this is exactly when and why the support team must kick in, saving the early adopters, as their willingness to help, patience and curiosity is a great contribution to this young immature business, to help it grow and mature. Unfortunately Skyroam failed that test. They have a promising product but the arrogant, chaotic and incompetent customer service made me change my opinion on them.