TI Tech support = $#!&

[Crowbar]

I contacted TI with a question about some parameter of a device they're selling. Instead of getting a response to that, a few days later I got a request to fill out a survey evaluating their (nonexistent) response! What?! Well I did fill out the survey and made it pretty clear what I thought about being asked to evaluate support I never received. They even put the name of the person that (fictionally) "handled" my support request

 

[threepointone]

yeah, companies are like that =( I'm guessing a lot of them don't really bother if they don't see you as a big potential customer. I've had the same experience with Rohm and Toshiba--asked them a couple of things about their H-bridge ICs that they didn't bother to include on the datasheets. Didn't get any response from Toshiba (their datasheet was pretty stupid and didn't bother to mention whether or not each channel was 1A or both channels were 1A total). Rohm just sent me some crap about "look at the datasheet" even though I told them it wasn't on the datasheet. I'd imagine it might be better if you called them, though.

One nice exception: I sent a support request to Microchip on something that looked inconsistent on their datasheet. Got an e-mail response on the same day, and they actually researched the issue and found out that the whole thing was a mistake in the datasheet. Guess that's the sort of reason why hobbyists love using Microchip so much (and probably shows that it's true the other way around too)

 

[error401]

I've never dealt with them myself, but I've always heard good reports about TI's support. People saying they were able to call and get an engineer on the phone who worked through their issue despite it being a hobbyist/student project. Ditto for Maxim.

Maybe try giving them a call?

 

[Crowbar]

After the way I filled out that survey, I got a prompt response LOL

 

[Daroid]

I have good experience with AKM. Even as a hobbyist only, I was contacted by phone by the local distributor (I think) regarding a certain parameter that i couldn't find from their data sheet for the AK4114 digital audio reciever. I don't think he knew i was a hobbyist, but was still very kind and very professional.
The next time, i should probably remember to write in my background a bit.

Also, Maxon are also very responsive. I had a question about one of their motors, and the local distributor wrote me back nearly instantly.

I have never tried TI though, but sometimes i understand these companies with the tons of phone calls and emails pointing something out that in 90% of the cases are by mistake / missing research on the user's behalf, but it's unfortunate that they aren't easy to get hold of for those who really have a valid question.

 

[Nerull]

I can vouch for calling them; they were very responsive and I got to speak with an engineer at the time. Definitely try calling them. The only companies I never get responses from are more obscure and secretive companies that implement DSPs and uControllers. I called about a DSP for a DVD player and I wasn't even able to get a pinout for the thing (unless I was a manufacturer, they wouldn't give me anything).