Poor service to new customers/need help

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by Mad2theMax, Aug 21, 2006.

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  1. Mad2theMax

    Mad2theMax Registered Member

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    I am trying to go from the trial version of TI9 to the paid version. Tried to do everything right. Paid my money like a good boy. What did I get a few minutes later when I needed a little support? Well son, if you want to talk to us you gotta pay more money. How much? A rediculous amount. How about live chat support? Oh no son, live chat is for sales only. You see, we have your money already! You just send us an email and we'll try to get back to you. Moo Hoo hoo ha ha ha!
    OK, here's my story. I downloaded the trial version of TI9, backed up my files, then my hard drive crashed. Bought a new computer, but got all my old filed on an external hard drive. So far, so good. The trial version had expired so I bought the paid version and installed it. It appears that the computer won't recognise the new program until I erase the old one. But I can't erase the old one or my backed up files will be gone, right? I could be wrong on any of this. Can anyone offer some advise?
     
  2. crbaker

    crbaker Registered Member

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    Your backed up files should be independent of your program. If it's like my version the backed up files should have the o_O?.tib naming convention.

    It's good, well darn near mandatory, practice to back up to a different drive.

    Example; C: --> D:

    If you search for the files you should find them.
     
  3. Mad2theMax

    Mad2theMax Registered Member

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    Thanks crbaker, So if I understand, the backup files exist as separate entities and can be accessed by any working version of TI9. That makes sense, so I guess I'll go ahead and completely erase the trial version. I'm a little apprehensive as you can imagine. If I make a mistake, all of my important files are gone. This is where a Acronis should have been there to help me out. Thanks again.
     
  4. crbaker

    crbaker Registered Member

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    I think I'd find the files first and make sure they're secured.
     
  5. Mad2theMax

    Mad2theMax Registered Member

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    OK, It looks like everything is working alright. Whew! Thats scary. This forum is the one thing Acronis has done right. Other than that, their customer service is so insulting I will look elsewhere for backup software next time. If Acronis is reading this, here is a clue: Not everybody who uses your software is a computer whiz. When you sell someone software give them 5 days free phone support. You are coming across as trying to rip people off with this paid phone support crap. I'm done with you, and that is the reason. Got it?
     
  6. Detox

    Detox Retired Moderator

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    Off-topic replies removed.
     
  7. aoz

    aoz Registered Member

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    in my humble opinion, I don't think you're going to find a better piece of software (I've tried many), and wth this support forum in place, I don't think you'll find better software information.
    I don't work for acronis; I just use their products, and try to help out on this forum, because they have developed a good package that is fairly clean to use (not bloated, as compared to some software)

    I do agree, it would be nice for phone support for first week or so, but searches on the forum are very fruitful also.

    I hope you give it a second chance.
    Nick
     
  8. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello Mad2theMax,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    We are sorry for the delayed response.

    Please note that as crbaker the image archives created with Acronis True Image by default have a “.tib” extension. Also if you un-install or upgrade the program the image archives are not deleted from the hard drive. After you install the program later you will be able to restore the data from these image archives. Also the latest version is able to restore all the images created using any previous version of the product.

    As for the Acronis Technical Support:

    I'm afraid that we do not provide free phone support at the moment, probably will be implemented in future. Moreover, most of the technical problems are much easier to resolve through e-mail, because the process usually includes some instructions how to obtain certain files, create logs, etc.

    Thank you.
    --
    Aleksandr Isakov
     
  9. guruuno

    guruuno Registered Member

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    I too, think the support thingy stink, as per:

    "As for the Acronis Technical Support:

    I'm afraid that we do not provide free phone support at the moment, probably will be implemented in future. Moreover, most of the technical problems are much easier to resolve through e-mail, because the process usually includes some instructions how to obtain certain files, create logs, etc.

    Thank you.
    --
    Aleksandr Isakov"

    MUCH EASIER VIA E-MAIL?

    I WROTE 8 DAYS AGO, HOW LONG DOES IT TAKEo_O
     
  10. foghorne

    foghorne Registered Member

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    IMHO the issue is not whether email is more or less preferable to phone support; it is about response times. If support incidents were at least replied to within a defined period, I believe customers having problems would be much happier.

    I am delighted with ATI and it has worked fine for me for over four years - but I understand why customers get frustrated with the support. The implications of data backup and recovery tools are clearly that there is an urgency involved which does not usually exist with other types of software.

    F.
     
  11. TryBackup

    TryBackup Registered Member

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    I have been helped quite a bit by non-Acronis posters. If it wasn't for these non-employee forum contibutors, I would likely have returned the TI software. I was new to image creation and image restoring, and had alot of questions that forum posters were very helpful in answering.

    I am not saying that the following applies to Acronis, since the above Acronis posting said that at some time in the future they plan on offering free phone support. However, I believe that the more helpfull non-employee forum posters are, the less likely a company is to offer other free means of customer support. Just think how expensive it would be for a company to offer the kind of free support provided by these forum posters. It could easily cost a company more than $200,000 a year to have paid staff answer all the questions non-employee forum posters answer for free.

    As others have said, I would not give up on the TI software, as it is very good and is not bloatware. Also, the help you will get in this forum from all the non-employee posters is likely better than the support you are likely to find with many competing products.
     
  12. TryBackup

    TryBackup Registered Member

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    I agree with you 100%. Nothing is worse than putting together a detailed e-mail for customer support and never receiving a response (or waiting a very long time). I am also sure that everyone has called a free customer/technical support number and found that they called just at the time that company was "experiencing unusually high call volume". By now everyone knows that the problem is not the high volume of calls, but rather the low volume of staff.

    I look forward to Acronis's free phone support, and hope that it will be sufficiently staffed.
     
  13. guruuno

    guruuno Registered Member

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    Well, I will look for, and I may have, a reply from way back when, during the infancy of Acronis, a reply to a question regarding the True Image Backup, that I'd love to post here.

    I from memory, think, it was regarding a function of the software that was lacking, and in doing so, made it less desireable, less competetive, and so forth, and upon my inquiry multiple times regarding issues I was having, was pretty much told, blantly, and steadfastly, it wasn't going to happen, nor would it ever.

    Obviously, they were incorrect, as I would not have purchased it if it were lacking some functions I had inquired about.

    Nevertheless, I WILL find that e-mail from many years ago and post for all to see, as lies, inabilties and disregard for consumers is not acceptable.

    I don't want to go on a rampage here, but look. Remember the issues of 'compatiability' from versions like 8 to 9? Still happening.

    The software may work 1000% better than it ever did, but the point is we, all of us who rode the coat tails of a new company, made it what it is. If consumers didn't buy it, they wouldn't have the $$ to develop and sell.

    Therefore, in summary, if Acronis wants to be a market leader, capture a larger share, and be what others only can hope for, they MUST implement a level of support, say for new users for 30 days, THEN charge a fee for a per call basis.

    It's utterly wrong to do it the way they do.

    It's now going on 2 weeks, no reply to my TrueImageNotify.exe errors (as per another post).
     
  14. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    No private emails are to be posted on these forums without the express consent of the sender.
     
  15. aoz

    aoz Registered Member

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    non-employees providing support

    I'm not employeed by acronis

    But I am more than happy to help provide feedback to other users on this site.
    Why? Because in the long run, this company does seem to implement what users request (not instantly), and does seem sincere in their desire to produce a good product.

    I participate in about 10 companies' forums, because of this. Many are smaller companies. I've TRIED to use some larger companies' products, but they don't seem interested in providing ANY forum for support. Just having a DECENT USERS forum in itself is an asset, and acronis does participate in feedback to this forum also.

    They're not perfect, and there are issues I wish were fixed much faster. But compared to the competition; if you look at users of this forum; many are users of a PRIOR other company's product that WAS good,and got swallowed up by a larger company; people moved to this product partiallly due to changes in user/tech support for that competing product.

    I hope this product keeps improving; that the company sees the need to make a solid product (not a BLOATED product), so that my backups/restores are fail-safe. I appreciate the feedback of other users on this forum also, as it has helped me tremendously in my computer use.

    Again, its not perfect, but they keep trying....

    nick
     
  16. Menestheus

    Menestheus Registered Member

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    Re: non-employees providing support

    I am one of those users of competing products that was eager to make the switch to the Acronis Enterprise software having had experience with the home version.

    The trouble I'm running into is the fact that I cannot seem to get any resolution to problems I've run into with the trial version of the software only producing "corrupt" images! Email does get responded to... eventually, but when you only get 15 days to try the product and every email or support question takes over a week to get replied to that is simply unacceptable.

    I do hope I am able to get my situation resolved but from the threads I've been reading on these forums it's caused me to seriously reconsider my even using Acronis on my company's network at all.

    And it's unfortunate because I really enjoy using the home version and the Enterprise/Workstation version looked to be a good fit. :doubt:
     
  17. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    I find it amazing that the people who wish to buy Enterprise version and the like, have trouble getting questions answered by Acronis given the potential revenue from those products.

    To be honest, when I buy something in the price range of TI Home I don't really expect much in the way of rapid response, 24hr telephone support.
     
  18. Menestheus

    Menestheus Registered Member

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    Exactly right (on both counts)!

    And you would think that a trial version for what you would assume to be a more complex program would be more than a mere 15 days. Thirty days seems to be the "norm" for home-type software and I would expect at least that (60 would be better) for an "Enterprise" level product.
     
  19. aoz

    aoz Registered Member

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    I would agree.
    As you said, this is why I don't gripe much, if the HOME version is not with great fast support, BUT the enterprise editions are what can provide dollars to such a product.

    And it would not take much to extend the trial periods to 30 days, instead of 15; little things like that can go a long way.

    Nick
     
  20. Bubba

    Bubba Updates Team

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    OT posts removed - let's keep on topic here Please...."trial version of TI9 to the paid version"
     
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