I have a customer who has 15 users.
They installed a BPS server, and purchased 15 Client Access Licenses - $1500.
They purchased a TSupport contract for $800 ($500 for the server, $20 for each handheld.)
They are running the latest BPS - v4.1.4.
Their TSupport contract was sold with the following features:
o - Support for your existing BlackBerry solution
o - FREE access to the latest software releases
o - Access to various levels of support to accommodate your business needs
o - Product knowledge and support expertise direct from the manufacturer
o - Access to our online self service center
So, today we realized that we had a problem.
When setting the Out Of Office (OOF) feature on our Exchange 2007 server, the OOF feature would fail after 20 minutes.
We spent 3 hours on the phone with Microsoft, before finding some articles that the problem was caused with ANY Blackbery v4.1.4 software.
We called TSupport.
They basically said that this was a KNOWN BUG with the software.
They said that the BPS software was NOT being updated, and they would NOT fix the bug.
They said that the ONLY fix to the problem would be to run 4.1.5SP1 or 4.1.6 versions of software (which is where they DID fix the bug.)
In order to get this 'newer' software, we needed to pay the BPS -> BES upgrade fee of $2800.
So, we paid $2300 up front.
We paid for support.
Support CANNOT help us.
Customer Care WILL NOT help us.
Sales WILL NOT help us.
Even though we PAID for TSupport that promises the LATEST SOFTWARE RELEASES - they are NOT releasing any new versions, or ANY bug fixes, so this is USELESS.
They are refusing to refund our TSupport money, or anything.
They are refusing to give us a discount the the BES software - even though we don't need ANY of the 'better' features, or the 30+ user headcount.
Nobody at RIM gives a cr*p about us.
Even though this is a known BUG - nobody will help us.
I have lots of small business customers, and will NEVER AGAIN recommend that they get a blackberry solution.
Shame on you, not RIM. From my vantage point it sounds like you did your customer a horrible disservice. You implemented a solution for them you knew nothing about. If you did you would have known the shortcomings at the beginning and educated them. Due to the internet and VZ I knew up front what to expect from BPS.
My situation- I have 10 users on BPS and paid a tick under 5 bills. I was able to download and test (for free) with 1 user (and RIM/VZ threw in a second). Testing, I find, is key to a roll out like this. On top of that I have, free of charge, a support incident I can use with RIM. Due to building a relationship with VZ/RIM I can move to a total of 12 users for that same 5 hundy investment.
Really - for not knowing about the BUGS in their software, and their refusal to fix them.
I did test this product, and everything appeared to work.
Emails flowed, calendar & contacts synced.
Every time I tested OOF, it appeared to work - however I now find out that it dies after 20 minutes.
I purchased a TSupport contract to make sure that things would continue to work. At no point did the sales rep tell me that the product was EOL, or that they could not / would not fix bugs.
My sales rep has followed up BES / BPS discussions by saying that small companies should see BES as an incentive to grow their company. Basically saying that they consider small businesses worthless, and that small companies should see their attitude as a good reason to be a big company.
The sales rep I spoke to yesterday basically said that there was NOTHING he would do to help me.
He would not get me a discount to the full BES, and he would not "see what he could do".
He basically sat there an said NO at every opportunity, and refused to help.
I'm very fed up with sales attitude that this is a FREE product, and I get what I paid for.
I've paid $2300 for 15 licenses and 1 year of support.
I've gotten no support.
Their product is still broken.
I think the first problem is that they paid for the BPS server and the CALs in the first place. Their wireless business sales rep should have gotten the provider to get them a free set of licenses from RIM under a promo. BPS licenses are like mattresses; there is always a sale. We just did a BPS install a couple months ago and I got my client's Verizon rep to throw in a BPS and 20 CALs to go along with their 15 new BlackBerry's. Oh, and BTW, BPS Express (same thing as BPS) with 1 CAL is free to anyone willing to submit their PIN on the BlackBerry website. Before BPS the promo was for BES Express. Your client got HOSED.
In terms of their Tech Support contracts, I have always found their support to be crap when you have a really complicated issue. The only benefit of the contract is access to the latest releases and patches. But for us we get access to tech support even if our client doesn't have a contract for being an Alliance Partner.
Getting back to your conclusion that BPS is crap, we have a number of SMB's on BPS and I am not having this problem with ANY of them, and I support a lot of BPS/BES servers and users. Maybe the tech support rep you spoke to was wrong or just having a bad day, and maybe their is another problem? I know there have been a lot of issues with BPS/BES and Exchange 2007, but most if not all have been resolved to my knowledge. One question I have is are your BPS and Exchange on the same server, and if so, what is the OS of the server? I know on our BPS I had all kinds of issues getting it to run on the Server 2008 x64 box that has Exchange 2007 on it. I finally gave up and installed a Server 2003 32-bit VM under hyper-v and put the BPS on that and it has been running perfectly since.
If you want to hate on BPS, please, go ahead; it won't hurt my feelings. It isn't as robust as BES, but it is virtually free if you work the promos. You can't beat it for the money and it gives you all of the functionality of a full BES that you need in an SMB without the enterprise price tag. I haven't experienced the same issue as you before in my travels, but I am not discounting your frustation. I would just make sure and cover all the bases, OS, permissions, group memberships (protected groups have kicked my *** several times before), and user issues before you throw in the towel. Also, maybe bump up your logging and see if you can find a pattern. I just can't understand why it works for 20 minutes and then doesn't.
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"If it doesn't fit, beat it with a hammer. If that doesn't work, get a bigger hammer." - Jesse James
BPS was never released as supporting exchange 2007.
Microsoft changed the goal posts in exchange 2007 when they moved the location of the out of office message in the MAPI profile. This was done to accomodate in internal and external out of office messages.
As RIM have never said that exchange 2007 is supported that is why they don't see it as a bug.
I've heard that there will be a new small business product in the future but not until BES 5.0 has calmed down.
I hope the BPS is installed on its own server that way you can replace the BPS software with BES.
If I were you I would remove the BPS software. Replace the BPS CAL in the database with a full BES CAL and then install BES using the same database. But this is illegal as you haven't bought full BES, but hey, is all your software legal?
Blackberry Professional Server = RIP OFF! 
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