Hi all,
 
Back in May I wrote to my contracts coordinator asking that a 2684D (i.e. a
JamJet 2000) and it's associated usage charges be dropped from support.  In
June I received a revised hardware support agreement which I finally got
around to reviewing today (look, I'm *busy*, OK?).
 
The good news is that the monthly extended charge has dropped from something
like $1344 to something like $989.
 
But what's confusing me is that the 2684D and the usage charges are still
listed on the hardware support agreement.  Does anybody know *why* that is?
 Better yet, does anybody know *why* I have to ask this question?
 
For all of the bad attributes of the previous support agreements (prior to
about 2 - 3 years ago); I could at least tell what I was paying for and what
the support start and end dates were.
 
Yes, I know there's something called a "Customer Report" which gives me more
info; but why must I cross reference two documents to figure out (1) what
I'm paying for, (2) the support cost for each item, and (3) whether or not
it bears a close resemblance to reality?
 
I never enjoyed working with support contracts; but with the current format,
just the prospect makes me cranky.
 
I feel like Mr. Bill on Saturday Night Live: "Oh Nooooooooooooo! It's an HP
Support Agreement!"
 
And I wonder whether some evil person at HP designed the support agreements
and the way the revisions are (not) indicated to be intentionally
obfuscating -- perhaps hoping that the unfortunate system administrators and
department secretaries saddled with managing the support agreements would
throw up their hands in resignation and pay whatever HP quotes.
 
Or maybe it's to justify SE's: after all the last time I had an SE, he
explained that part of his job was to review my support contracts.  Let me
get this express this another way: he told me that I was paying a $9000/year
premium in part so that he could tell me how to read my invoices.
 Interestingly, he never recommended any changes in coverage like, say,
dropping the 400 terminals from same day support, or dropping the Eagles on
the development system from support, or reviewing our actual 2680 drum
rotations.  Well...you can understand why I don't have an SE any longer.
 
Sorry, dealing with contracts make me so angry.
 
 -- Evan