Time to brag about two companies that I’ve been dealing with lately that have offered me exceptional support.

The first great experience was from the guys at DbVisualizer (one very cool database query tool with an astoundingly good Swing interface). For $99, this tools is really great value, and well worth the dollars. What has surprised me is that, even at the lower end of the $ spectrum, the support has also been absolutely outstanding.

I’ve been having problems with DB2 nicknames on a quite old verson of DB2. Each time I’ve emailed Minq I’ve had a response same day with updates and fixes that won’t “officially” be released till later in the year. No fobbing off, just genuine interest and concern with the problem - even though our version of DB2 is pretty ancient. These guys are quality - full stop.

My second great support experience has been with the guys at SWT Designer. I’ve sent a bunch of emails to support and all of them have been answered in a few hours (I don’t know when they sleep since I’m in GMT+10) with, again, a genuine interest in helping out. They’re also including a bunch of my recommendations in the next release of the product (which seems to be every few weeks). Again, awesome product, awesome service.

I’m interested whether this is just an “excellence” as a culture thing. If you put out a first class product, do you have a culture of “first class” that translates to the pride you take in your support operations too?

Interested in hearing any other recommendations from people that have had “first class” experiences dealing with a Java vendor. To qualify, they have to be “support experiences worth raving about”.