When you have a choice……

As part of my move to a MacBook I’ve had to find software for various tasks. Since last year all my business sites (for my consultancy and for my photography) have been hosted – a long story, perhaps for another blog entry – and I need software to move files to the host site. So I search for ftp software. The first, and it seems popular product, is ‘RBrowser’.

It has a crippled version that doesn’t allow me to create directories – a pretty fundamental task – so I purchase the full version. It’s a modest cost, $35 I believe. Except that I don’t get my key (turns out the spam system has eaten it). I find it eventually, and even with the full version, it is – to say the least – a disappointing product. So I uninstall it (having made my living in Intellectual Property (IP) for the last ummmmmmm years, I’m pretty anal about licensing and removal, etc, etc.) and decide that it is bad enough that I should write and request a refund – making clear that I have removed and destroyed the software.

In the meantime, I download CuteFTP – not a product I was fond of on the PC, for reasons I don’t remember – and use that to upload my files. A full working version, but time limited. I like it, so I buy the license. OK, except that the license install is, let’s say, poor. It doesn’t work. I email support and they are not instant answerers. So I call. The support guy tells me that the Mac version isn’t perfect (not my experience except for the license problem) and instantly offers a refund. I persist! The email from support arrives and gives a working alternative, so I have my working product and have used it ever since.

My request to the Rbrowser support (it looks like a single individual who writes AND support) and get the most amazing response:

“Sir, you have agreed to the license terms before purchase. On the terms page you had to go through, it was thorougly explained that 1. You can try the software for free for 20 days. 2. From the license agreement ‘Once the permanent license is delivered there is NO refund.’ The reason is that there is no way for us to take back a license string once it has been sent out. When you bought the license it was explained to you on the confirmation page that SPAM filters often eat the license email, so if you do not get it on the same day, please alert us and we will resend it to you.
To request a refund now is against the license terms you have agreed to, and it is grossly unfair, it amounts to an attempt to steal the software. Please reconsider your request. We have tried to make the terms as acceptable as possible, we give people plenty of time to make up their minds before any purchase.
Thanx for your understanding.
Robert Vasvari”

So a request for a refund for a product that doesn’t work properly is “AN ATTEMPT TO STEAL THE SOFTWARE”. Well Mr Vasvari, I’m very ethical – to the point of anality – on IP. Your product does not function fully – personally, I’d regard the creation of a directory as a basic, working element, and my (polite) request made clear that I was not trying to rip you off.

So what’s the answer? As with many other products, companies and services – Suck It Up. But from an individual, running his own company? To be so directly rude to someone seems outlandish to me. Rub your (now ex) customer’s nose in it…

So, DO buy CuteFTP, great product, great honesty, great (well sort of!) customer support.

RBrowser? Crap. That’s as pointed as I guess I can say it in a business journal. If you are a Mac user, avoid it and Mr Vasvari, like the plague.

{Product, Bad Customer Service, Customer Service, Product Management}

Technorati Tags: Bad Customer Service, Customer Service, Product, Product Management

Perhaps progress

Perhaps we are making progress in improving packaging! Jackie Huba bought new headphones recently and praised the packaging. I commented there that, perhaps, marketers are starting to get the message. I got a new HP printer this week and the packaging and installation was a delight. Packaging really was the minimum to transport the device safely and securely, the security/packing tape was orange, minimal, and the instructions to remove it clear. It plugged in and just worked! Fantastic! Really! Now if I can get over my apprehension on what each sheet printed costs………

Actually, we have been on a year end business equipment spree. And in almost all cases the service, shipping logistics and products have been excellent. I’d particularly recommend B&H Photo for their outstanding service and shipping. If you are into consumer electronics, and especially photography they really are the best – and for members of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals they ship for free. I’ve also spent some time with a couple of Infrant network attached storage systems. I have had one of the older systems for about 18 months now and have loved the support forums and the automatic updates. I bought a new device the NV+ for my old company (to do auto backups for 10 people in the office) before I left. I was impressed enough with that short experience to buy one to replace my old system at my home office.

In 18 months the capacity of the disks has doubled (from 1 terabyte to 2), the product is completely redesiged to be smaller, quieter, and the price has come down a fraction. All with service and support, updates and excellent service (this device emailed me when a fan stopped working!).

You might ask why I want one at all. Well, I do lots of photography and raw pictures take up a LOT of space. But most of all, this thing sits on the network, needs no attention and because it has something called RAID 5, one disk can fail, be replaced and data remains intact. That’s the key. The fact that it streams all my CDs (stored on the device) to iTunes on Mac and PCs in the house, streams Classicfm, BBC radio etc (and all the music) to my Squeezebox are nice addons

Merry Christmas!

Technorati Tags: Marketing, Product, User Experience

How to P$#@ Off your customer – Sekonic non-service

I’m an ardent photographer. I’ve been the owner of a Sekonic L-358 light meter for a number of years and found it a good machine. I started shooting with studio strobes earlier in the year and tried use the meter to fire them, as it’s designed to do. No joy, either with a cable or with the wireless system.

The meter sat around for a while and I eventually the note to get it fixed reached the top of the to-do list and I sent it into the importer MAC Group. They have a form on their service site that i filled out (important for later!) and I send it off via UPS.

A month later, a tickler comes up to check (I’m getting VERY good at implementing David Allen’s GTD) and lo, nothing heard, no meter back on my desk. So I call MAC. Usual hold and voicemail crap, but eventually I get through.

‘You don’t have it?’

“No I wouldn’t be calling if I had”

‘Oh, I see it’s a grey import, we just rejected it and sent it back. We won’t touch it’ ‘We’ll give you 15% off a trade in for a new meter’ ‘We don’t have an email or phone number to contact you.’ Not true, it’s on the form, which they must have as they did, five weeks after receiving it and doing nothing with it, deign to send back to me – at the address on the form.

“I was asking for it to be repaired as a charged item, not a warranty repair”

‘We can’t do anything with them, they are different, the boards are not the same, the frequencies are different.’ First I had heard about the frequency of light being different in different parts of the globe…….
I quote, directly off the US Sekonic web site “Optional Plug-in Radio Transmitter Module Simultaneously trigger your flash and measure the exposure.
Wirelessly — compatible with all PocketWizards”

I pointed out that as she could hear, I had an accent from a different part of the world too. I asked them what I could do. She would call me back. Want to run a sweepstake on how long that will be? Three days and counting so far.

So Sekonic, I bought, at retail prices, in good faith your product. Now, because you choose some arbitrary geographic limits – presumably for YOUR pricing and / or business practice convenience – I’m supposed to throw it away? Actually no, I’m supposed to give it to you, sorry trade it in, for circa $37 and buy the identical item for circa $260 plus the cost of the wireless trigger (a mere $50).

Let me think about that for a millisecond or less. I buy a product from you, you decide that – even though it is repairable for $90 or so – that I should buy a new one. I’m sure I’ll feel like a valued customer if I did so.

Sure I’m going to buy from you! After all, you cherish me as a customer that has spent thousands of dollars on your products (turns out they make/import other products I’ve bought too) by kicking me at the first opportunity you get. Sure I’ll do more business with you. Like hell!

So I’ll make my usual plea, vote with your checkbooks. I will. Even if it means (same importer / manufacturer) replacing my newly acquired PocketWizard studio system to fire the flash heads I have. You don’t deserve to succeed, let alone thrive.

Technorati Tags: Marketing, Product, User Experience, WOM