Unprofessional support
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Can you explain to me why I would buy your program if under any circumstances your company would ever write this in a support request:
From: support@a51dev.com
"Well, then you did not upgrade. If you still want this beta, then make a clean copy of activeCollab 1.0.6 (again), add an admin account for us and send over username and passowrd, and we will give it a try... obviously you can't manage to follow the instructions and get this up and working. "
Is this in line with your brand efforts and company policy? The above e-mail was in the last day and word for word, real. i was debating your program when a friend just forwarded me that. You have already lost one sale from this. i wonder what the damages would be if this was posted in every one of your competitors forums when searching for project management or task management software reviews in Google and MSN?
Delete this post and we will see. I expect a professional reply and if you delete this to hide the true facts, I will expose this everywhere i can in the next week. Legally.
From: support@a51dev.com
"Well, then you did not upgrade. If you still want this beta, then make a clean copy of activeCollab 1.0.6 (again), add an admin account for us and send over username and passowrd, and we will give it a try... obviously you can't manage to follow the instructions and get this up and working. "
Is this in line with your brand efforts and company policy? The above e-mail was in the last day and word for word, real. i was debating your program when a friend just forwarded me that. You have already lost one sale from this. i wonder what the damages would be if this was posted in every one of your competitors forums when searching for project management or task management software reviews in Google and MSN?
Delete this post and we will see. I expect a professional reply and if you delete this to hide the true facts, I will expose this everywhere i can in the next week. Legally.
cbtrussell
on Apr 16. 2008. 3:52 am
"Legally" eh? Are you serious? The reply wasn't even sent to you.
Maybe the person who wrote that was having a bad day. Maybe your friend sent in something inappropriate in the original inquiry. We'll never know. But come on... you're not even a customer and you're making demands, that you "expect" a professional reply? As if you are entitled somehow?
If you don't like aC or a51, don't buy the software. But to come on here and act like you are personally offended by an email that wasn't directed to you? Give me a break.
Maybe the person who wrote that was having a bad day. Maybe your friend sent in something inappropriate in the original inquiry. We'll never know. But come on... you're not even a customer and you're making demands, that you "expect" a professional reply? As if you are entitled somehow?
If you don't like aC or a51, don't buy the software. But to come on here and act like you are personally offended by an email that wasn't directed to you? Give me a break.
Ilija Studen
on Apr 16. 2008. 4:41 am
Tone of the reply is wrong and I will have a discussion with person who sent it.
Not everyone is A class system administrator or PHP developer and sometimes people just have problems getting the system up and running. That is something we need to live with when selling installable PHP software - there is no Next -> Next no matter how hard we try to simplify the installation. When customer is having problems with the installation discussion starts - have you tried this, have you tried that, this is not working, what about this... And it goes on until issue is resolved. In some cases we ask for FTP parameters, log in and fix the problem ourselves to save time for both sides.
Support thread you are referring has 55 status changes in 2 days and is one of the longest we ever had since we started selling and supporting activeCollab. 55 status changes is a lot - it's 20+ emails from a customer and similar amount from support.
From what I can see here: Intention was good and not an example of bad support (give me FTP parameters so I can help and save you some time), but the tone was off and we are sorry about that.
Current status of this ticket if someone is interested: installation issue is resolved after FTP parameters were sent and proper explanation provided (wrong value used in configuration file), system is up and running and customer has new, feature related question. Ticket is still open.
Not everyone is A class system administrator or PHP developer and sometimes people just have problems getting the system up and running. That is something we need to live with when selling installable PHP software - there is no Next -> Next no matter how hard we try to simplify the installation. When customer is having problems with the installation discussion starts - have you tried this, have you tried that, this is not working, what about this... And it goes on until issue is resolved. In some cases we ask for FTP parameters, log in and fix the problem ourselves to save time for both sides.
Support thread you are referring has 55 status changes in 2 days and is one of the longest we ever had since we started selling and supporting activeCollab. 55 status changes is a lot - it's 20+ emails from a customer and similar amount from support.
From what I can see here: Intention was good and not an example of bad support (give me FTP parameters so I can help and save you some time), but the tone was off and we are sorry about that.
Current status of this ticket if someone is interested: installation issue is resolved after FTP parameters were sent and proper explanation provided (wrong value used in configuration file), system is up and running and customer has new, feature related question. Ticket is still open.
activeCollab team member | LinkedIn
Just a side note here: I have been running two licenses of aC for a while now and so far have been VERY pleased with the response times and quality levels of aC support.
Also, feature requests, whether by forum or mail, are always read, taken seriously and replied to, which is a big plus, as it allows the community to shape the product.
The only thing one could remark is that dates are flexible and fuzzy in terms of new versions etc., but it has always been like that.
I do agree that the tone in the mail is wrong, but you had totally no idea of the context, and it shows in the tone of your post.
Give us a break.
Also, feature requests, whether by forum or mail, are always read, taken seriously and replied to, which is a big plus, as it allows the community to shape the product.
The only thing one could remark is that dates are flexible and fuzzy in terms of new versions etc., but it has always been like that.
I do agree that the tone in the mail is wrong, but you had totally no idea of the context, and it shows in the tone of your post.
rez:Delete this post and we will see. I expect a professional reply and if you delete this to hide the true facts, I will expose this everywhere i can in the next week. Legally.
Give us a break.
www.synergetics.be | www.davor.be
cyandesign
on Apr 16. 2008. 11:43 pm
Just to chime in here. I have purchased the small biz version the day it came out & upgraded to the corp version shortly after -- And even though I have modified a few areas, support has always been quick to fix any issues I have had.
Personally I am quite happy with the support staff here at aC.
Personally I am quite happy with the support staff here at aC.
I'd also like to note that I have found the support to be excellent. I have been using the Corporate Edition since last Oct and have found AC to be very useful. I'd recommend it. I'n glad to see 1.1 around the corner as well.
Guy
Guy
"Tone of the reply is wrong and I will have a discussion with person who sent it."
Ilija, thanks for this. That was my first impression of your company. Right or wrong, extreme or jumping the gun, that's what happens.
"not an example of bad support"- I disagree. The customer shouldn't be made to feel like an idiot or like they are being bothersome because they need a lot of support. That one statement can be deleted and completely change the support to being a helpful offer. That statement does nothing for your company or the customer. The "intention" of that particular statement was to insult. That's what brought me here and i cut to the chase.
Anyway, thanks for your reply. My first impression may be wrong. And a good company has nothing to worry about.
As for the cbtrussell nonsense, I can reply to everything you have said but it doesn't contribute anything. You are a huge fan of activeCollab, that's fine.
Davor, cyandesign, gcortesi- thanks for the support opinions. Good to know. As far as my comments about "exposing this everywhere..." Absolutely. I am currently searching out project management software and have found about 50 programs with reviews. This is presales. I will be looking into forums and review responses all over the Internet. If a company is taking personal shots at customers or has a bad tone, i will mention it when in any other presales forums or whatever. Pasting that mail can have a HUGE affect on a brand (Amazon reviews for example). I don't get the "give us/me a break" comments. Anyway... thanks for the feedback.
Ilija, thanks for this. That was my first impression of your company. Right or wrong, extreme or jumping the gun, that's what happens.
"not an example of bad support"- I disagree. The customer shouldn't be made to feel like an idiot or like they are being bothersome because they need a lot of support. That one statement can be deleted and completely change the support to being a helpful offer. That statement does nothing for your company or the customer. The "intention" of that particular statement was to insult. That's what brought me here and i cut to the chase.
Anyway, thanks for your reply. My first impression may be wrong. And a good company has nothing to worry about.
As for the cbtrussell nonsense, I can reply to everything you have said but it doesn't contribute anything. You are a huge fan of activeCollab, that's fine.
Davor, cyandesign, gcortesi- thanks for the support opinions. Good to know. As far as my comments about "exposing this everywhere..." Absolutely. I am currently searching out project management software and have found about 50 programs with reviews. This is presales. I will be looking into forums and review responses all over the Internet. If a company is taking personal shots at customers or has a bad tone, i will mention it when in any other presales forums or whatever. Pasting that mail can have a HUGE affect on a brand (Amazon reviews for example). I don't get the "give us/me a break" comments. Anyway... thanks for the feedback.
andrewCharron
on Apr 17. 2008. 12:45 pm
Im curious as to the language used in the other 20 emails by your friend, Id like to know the tone used there as well. Also, someone who hasnt tried the software or apparently contacted support themselves is probably not the best person to be posting reviews.
Quite frankly, that email wasnt all that bad. You have a right to post this and ask why, but to threaten to post it everywhere is just plain silly.
"Yeah, a friend of a friend got a single bad email reply. Do not buy, despite how good everyone elses support was and the quality of the software"
Quite frankly, that email wasnt all that bad. You have a right to post this and ask why, but to threaten to post it everywhere is just plain silly.
"Yeah, a friend of a friend got a single bad email reply. Do not buy, despite how good everyone elses support was and the quality of the software"
My only input to this thread is that from my experience, when I needed support, the aC team responded quickly, professionally and with a quality fix/suggestion to resolve my issue.
@andrewCharron: +1 with what you said.
@rez: "Can you explain to me why I would buy your program..." - yes I can explain why you should get aC.. but seeing as though your perception of aC is already negative, I'd recommend you try the software for yourself. If you have any issues you can ask the community or aC team for support. I'm sure I can speak on the behalf of the community that we'd be happy to help where possible - although Ilija will probably answer before we do ;) He's very quick around here.
@Ilija: You can't control the actions of everyone in your team, after all they're human. I like that you recognised that the email tone was off, and that the person would be spoken to. +1 for taking action.
@andrewCharron: +1 with what you said.
@rez: "Can you explain to me why I would buy your program..." - yes I can explain why you should get aC.. but seeing as though your perception of aC is already negative, I'd recommend you try the software for yourself. If you have any issues you can ask the community or aC team for support. I'm sure I can speak on the behalf of the community that we'd be happy to help where possible - although Ilija will probably answer before we do ;) He's very quick around here.
@Ilija: You can't control the actions of everyone in your team, after all they're human. I like that you recognised that the email tone was off, and that the person would be spoken to. +1 for taking action.
Oliver Maksimović
on Apr 17. 2008. 3:01 pm
@Leon: Ilija is out of the office for a short period of time (maybe for another day or two) so his response time may not be as short as usually ;)
activeCollab team member, too ;)
