I ordered 801-1205-5000 watchdog contract from a reseller, now what?

[jjbase]

Hello, roughly 24hrs ago I ordered a 801-1205-5000 5yrs watchdog support for my ZD1205 because I want to have software upgrades for my ZD and attached APs (4 r700 and upcoming 1 r720), being an home user/enthusiast with no business connections I literally bought it from the first google result reseller that looked legit, used Paypal and offered international orders (I’m in EU), namely “Barcode Discount” based in Chicago (parent company is Barcodes LLC that operates a number of similar sites).

Now while I wait for my (very pricey, for a home user) order to be honored, I’m growing puzzled about the whole process. Just puzzled for now. First of all, one would expect like a 5 minutes instant digital delivery, but apparently 2-3 days will be needed. (honestly Ruckus should just put a giant “buy premium support with Paypal” button in the ZD dashboard, why they don’t do it and force you thru sales channels is beyond me, but I digress). After an hour I called the reseller (thanks Skype for cheap overseas calls) to ask about the whole process and they said that in the coming days Ruckus themselves would honor the order via email. I find it weird, how so? I paid the reseller and never told them the S/N of my ZD. They have my email of course. And I’m from another world region.

Getting all this to work is also a prerequisite for buying my next R720 ap because otherwise my ZD1205 on an old software would not support it...

So, tldr, I dropped a lot of money on an order and I’m puzzled about the whole process, reseller CS said Ruckus will honor, if tomorrow none of the involved parties (the reseller or Ruckus) digitally delivers my watchdog activation code I will have to make some calls via Skype again...

[kj_liu]

Thanks for the update. That's helpful the recommendation to go through an official local reseller. The reason I'm still following this thread is I started out having an online reseller quote me on the right support contract — and they ended up relaying the serial numbers of my three R710 APs to Ruckus, and then quoting matching 3-yr support contracts for those as well. Then they disappeared when I asked about 1-yr and 2-yr options, and also whether I could update the AP firmware with just the ZD1205 support contract.

The reseller seems pretty well-known in the States as well. Same initials as California's.

I'll try a *local* reseller this time in the hopes they know what's going on. Please let us know if your activation goes through and if you can update your APs' firmware with just the support contract you purchased.

[jjbase]

10 days and still no news from the local reseller...is Ruckus currently so slow to generate support codes? Is it normal?

[sander_groen]

Hi, I use a ruckus 1205 zonedirector and 3 R500 AP's at home. My support will end at the end of this year and I am also struggling on how and where to extend support for my ZD and ap's. I would be interested to hear on what you will eventually end up buying. Thanks.

[jjbase]

Hi, as I said, the first rule is to not DYI and instead go thru a reseller.
Start the process early because it WILL take time, today I found out there are actually not 2 but 3 stages of b2b hell (sorry, 1 month to get an activation code to be able to install a software update is ridiculous) to go thru
1) stage 1: the reseller (1 week to make them understand what you need and fend off their attempts to upsell you with their added services, including a preliminary VPN incursion in your network that I declined)
2) stage 2: the distributor (1-2 weeks); actually I contacted a distributor first (I later learned), I speaked to two very competent guys, one was like “why can’t WE sell him the contract?” to the other guy, but eventually they pointed me to the local reseller
3) stage 3: the Ruckus ordering team (7-10 business days, according to Ruckus support chat), finally

So the whole process could easily take a month, if you don’t have the right connections already.
It should take a minute.

Or at least Ruckus could create a “Watchdog Lite” one click contract just for software updates. I understand that a more comprehensive support contract requires more vetting and local referents.

[sander_groen]

I have asked a local reseller regarding a support contract for my zd1205 and 3 R500 ap's. Still waiting for an answer.