Wednesday 16 May 2012

Really? You can't replicate this?


Sometimes, things happen that seem quite straight forward, quite obvious and quite easy to repeat
And sometimes they are only quite straight forward, quite obvious, and quite easy to repeat to you.

I had a fault with my ASUS EEEPAD Transformer.
I reported it.
NB. I don't have the original report but I asked them to send me a copy and this is apparently what I wrote "memory card slot shoots the card back out"

Now, not a long description but I thought I had written  enough.
I was wrong.

They could not replicate it.

They sent it back.

They did not contact me first before sending it back.

They wiped the system.
I'm not sure why they would even have to turn it on for the fault that I was reporting but what do I know?
The report details read 'test ok/no fault found.'

I emailed back requesting details of their investigation as the fault was still present.
I did not receive details of their investigation, I received no response to that request.

I did receive a request that it be tried with another memory card which I had already done.
I also had not realised that a batch of memory cards with thoughts of freedom had been realised.

I did receive a request for a video of the fault.
I made the video.

There is only 1 memory card slot on the device and it only takes 1 kind of memory card.
I thought this would be easy to replicate. And it is. But not for everybody.

For some unexplained reason I then had to raise another support request.
Device went back and came back.
Fault stated to be fixed.
Do I trust them?
No.
Do I now have duct tape over the memory card slot?
Yes.

Lessons learnt:
Easy and obvious is only easy and obvious to you.
If you can back it up with a video do so from the start.
If something is reported and you can't replicate it contact the people who reported it. It was reported for a reason.
Take and keep notes.

This is the video, could you replicate this?


6 comments:

  1. You should get an iPad instead. :)

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  2. Took me two goes to see it on the video...

    For anyone who missed it: boiiing at 7s.

    Careful with that; it'll have your eye out!

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Pesky James stole my jokes!

    I still think it'd make a great 007 weapon to use at boring meetings - poison tipped cards to mute an over eager colleague...

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  5. Hi Tony,
    i had a similar experience.

    I bought an SMD rework station last year that had controls for the hot air gun and iron. The "sleep" function was a bit hit n miss, then i discovered a light tap on the case caused the display to blackout, a further tap restoring it. Straight away i recorded it and uploaded the video to youtube, my thinking was "how can i explain this behaviour in an email, in such a way as to understood once its been through google translate", the unit was from china. Video was the solution, i received an email within an hour with tracking details for replacement.

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  6. Note to tester: Write down how long did you spend writing the report and trying replicate the issue. Replicate the issue at least once or tell that it doesn't replicate. Be specific about the timestamps so logs can be analyzed.

    Note to developer: Try to replicate it at least twice the time spent on reporting it. Respect the effort that the person does by sending you information about the system you or your colleagues built.

    So write good enough bug reports (or support requests) and treat them with respect. People spend time on creating the documentation and on analyzing it. *Respect!*

    BR, Peksi

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