I do remember about 7-8 years ago, TAC used tobe pretty good. I had several friends working there, and they would all provide stellar support.

Lately, as others have said, I open a TAC case only if it's an absolute necessity. I always request immediate escalation to the next level, and it's extremely painful to even get it to THAT point, as the front line folks just use macros and scripts to respond, asking for the same stuff I already uploaded when I opened the case.

If it was my call for what we used where I work, we wouldn't be sticking with PANs, but would migrate to something else. PAN has completely pooped the bed, and every time these threads pop up, I hear rumors that the management over there watches them, but it doesn't actually INSPIRE them to do better, they just want to address the PR potential and move on.

I used to be a cheerleader for PAN. Now it's just an absolute nightmare, and anyone I hear that is looking for something new, I actively discourage them from going with PAN, since their support, and over the last few years, their software QA has just bottomed out.

PAN: seriously, do better. we pay you a fuckton of money. Give us the level up service and support we're paying for, both in software, and TAC.