In early June, a firewall failure caused remote users to lose access and left the office down for several hours. Support promised an overnight replacement unit, but it took a week to arrive, so I had to purchase a spare.
Barracuda then committed to three things: shipping a replacement, providing a written explanation of how the support failure would be addressed, and issuing at least one month of billing credit. After nearly three weeks without tracking information or an update, I escalated in writing and received a quick response. A call was scheduled with a Partner Success Manager and another representative, and they promised a comprehensive update by the end of that week.
Instead, I was told the billing and logistics review needed more time. A later update said they were waiting for someone to return from leave before completing the contract review. That person has now been back for more than a month, but I still have no tracking number, credit confirmation, or proactive follow-up. Every promised deadline passes unless I chase them again.
Has anyone found an effective way to get Barracuda to close out an issue like this? The reseller is receiving the same vague responses. I'm considering replacing the remaining Barracuda products, but I'd prefer to know whether escalation through a senior contact, the reseller, or formal written notice is likely to move things along faster.
2 Answers
If you purchased through a VAR, keep pressing them to escalate on your behalf and put the requested resolution in writing: replacement status, exact credit amount, and a firm completion date. Since the VAR is getting the same lack of response, that’s also useful evidence that this is a vendor-side failure rather than a communication gap.
At this point, I’d stop treating each new promised date as a real escalation. Send one formal notice summarizing the outage, the commitments made, and the unresolved items, then give a short, specific deadline for a written resolution. In parallel, start replacing the products gradually so you’re not dependent on them if the credit and replacement never materialize.
That’s essentially where I’m headed. We’re already taking steps to replace the other two Barracuda products, one at a time.
The VAR is getting the same runaround. They were considering moving more clients to Barracuda, but this experience has made them hesitant to recommend expanding the relationship.