While fuming on hold, Art decide to use the time to file his grievance with the Gripe Line. "I'm nearly two hours into a customer service call to Adobe and I'm angry," he vented. "Two years ago I bought the academic version of Flex Builder 2. Today I decided to upgrade. But the site told me my Flex Builder 2 serial number wasn't upgradeable. I could find no warning that the academic version couldn't be upgraded so I called customer service."
Art's call started out just fine. A customer service representative told him his serial numbers should upgrade without a problem; he just needed a "challenge code." But that code didn't work and the service rep couldn't figure out why. So he transferred Art to technical support. Technical support told him his version could not be upgraded.
[ Frustrated by your tech support? You're not alone. Get answers in InfoWorld's Gripe Line newsletter. ]
And thus commenced Art's two-hour circular saga from customer service to technical support and back to customer service. Tech support told him customer service lied. Customer service gave him the impression they think the tech support people are idiots. He even got hung up on a few times along the way.
"My bile is beginning to rise," confesses Art. "But I'm still calm and polite." He asked for a supervisor. He got hung up on some more. He was sent to silent hold for 20 mintes. They even transferred him right out of Adobe's phone system. Finally he reached the sales department.
"I have to admit that this guy took ownership of the problem," he says. "He did some checking, decided tech support was right and customer service was wrong. He wished he could help me, but I was not entitled to upgrade except to another academic version, which I'm no longer eligible for. He said he'd be happy to refund the price of the upgrade edition and let me buy the standard version for $250."
And if that resolution had come when Art called initially, he probably would have been satisfied. "In my present state of mind, though," he says, "I'm tempted to declare that I'll never use Adobe products again or recommend them to a client. But I can't do that. Adobe has a number of products that are essentially unbeatable. I will continue to use them and, where appropriate, recommend them to my clients. It's obvious that the quality of Adobe's developers far surpasses that of its support staff. But the company needs to treat customers better."
Well, that's two hours of Art's life he'll never get back. So I forwarded his letter to Adobe to see if the company wanted to comment on what happened. I heard back within 24 hours.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive InfoWorld Resource Alerts
458 Recommendations
