Comments on: Poor Customer Support: The Hidden Cost of “Free” Software http://www.businesspundit.com/poor-customer-support-the-hidden-cost-of-free-software/ Entrepreneurship, Startup Companies and Business Philosophy Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:09:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bystander http://www.businesspundit.com/poor-customer-support-the-hidden-cost-of-free-software/comment-page-1/#comment-21062 Bystander Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:06:27 +0000 http://www.businesspundit.com/?p=17779#comment-21062 Honestly, I expect no support from free software. No one should: you've paid for nothing, expect nothing. If it works, more power to you, but if it doesn't then uninstall it and move on. The bigger problem is no support from expensive, "professional" grade software and hardware companies. Too many companies are impossible to get on the phone, don't answer their e-mails, and are too quick to abandon a product when THEY decide it's obsolete. My most recent experience was with a company called Spectrasonics who produce music production software. I had an older copy of one of their products and was interested in upgrading to the latest version. There was a deal online where registered users could get a discount on the upgrade and I was more than willing to pay the price. Unfortunately the online system wouldn't accept my previous registration information. After a couple of e-mails back and forth they just stopped responding to me. Needless to say I didn't buy the upgrade. I didn't want to deal with a company that wasn't even willing to fix a problem in order to make a sale. Honestly, I expect no support from free software. No one should: you’ve paid for nothing, expect nothing. If it works, more power to you, but if it doesn’t then uninstall it and move on.

The bigger problem is no support from expensive, “professional” grade software and hardware companies. Too many companies are impossible to get on the phone, don’t answer their e-mails, and are too quick to abandon a product when THEY decide it’s obsolete. My most recent experience was with a company called Spectrasonics who produce music production software. I had an older copy of one of their products and was interested in upgrading to the latest version. There was a deal online where registered users could get a discount on the upgrade and I was more than willing to pay the price. Unfortunately the online system wouldn’t accept my previous registration information. After a couple of e-mails back and forth they just stopped responding to me. Needless to say I didn’t buy the upgrade. I didn’t want to deal with a company that wasn’t even willing to fix a problem in order to make a sale.

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