Is there an e-mail for us to contact the support center??

[Marjan]

I can't find it anywhere...

[KMcK]

http://www.avid.com/US/support/support-center

Requires a valid ASC code.

[Marjan]

What ??

Do we have to pay in order to get support...?? ...even though it might be a software fault ??

[The Dougfather]

Yup, your best chance is to state your case here and see if any of the forum members help or support chime in, rubbish isn't it?

[Marjan]

Originally Posted by The Dougfather

Yup, your best chance is to state your case here and see if any of the forum members help or support chime in, rubbish isn't it?

Yes, indeed.
I've been a happy PT user for about ten years now, and never really resonated with the usual Digidesign/AVID bash.
But I'm quite disappointed with this. Gosh... I respect other people's perspectives, but I don't think this will work for me for very long. For the first time I'm considering other options.
As time goes by, it seems to me that some companies are not meant to get too big - they either explode or silently desintegrate.

[Dism]

Originally Posted by Marjan

What ??

Do we have to pay in order to get support...?? ...even though it might be a software fault ??

It also might be a user fault... tell us your problem, maybe we can help.

The reason why they charge for support is because so many people ask the same questions over and over again. Imagine sitting at a desk job where all you do is answer the same question 100 times a day when the information is readily available online. The support guys gotta get paid too...

[pinnacle]

Originally Posted by Dism

It also might be a user fault... tell us your problem, maybe we can help.

The reason why they charge for support is because so many people ask the same questions over and over again. Imagine sitting at a desk job where all you do is answer the same question 100 times a day when the information is readily available online. The support guys gotta get paid too...

Sorry but that is BS. Im pretty sure they make plenty enough money to pay for support staff out of the money they make from sales.
If I buy a product for hundreds or thousands of dollars I expect real support by real human beings at least for few months not some kind of pseudo service online. It seems to be the way many of these companies are going these days. Charging more and more and offering no real service to the customers who are keeping them afloat. I have no pity for them , if they dont want to sit their answering the same questions all day then they can go get some other job. And if these companies dont want to help their customers then they wont have them for very long.

[Emcha_audio]

Originally Posted by pinnacle

Sorry but that is BS. Im pretty sure they make plenty enough money to pay for support staff out of the money they make from sales.
If I buy a product for hundreds or thousands of dollars I expect real support by real human beings at least for few months not some kind of pseudo service online. It seems to be the way many of these companies are going these days. Charging more and more and offering no real service to the customers who are keeping them afloat. I have no pity for them , if they dont want to sit their answering the same questions all day then they can go get some other job. And if these companies dont want to help their customers then they wont have them for very long.

Well then you are misinformed. They make so much money that for the past 3 years, share holders have received 0 dividends? http://ir.avid.com/financials-statements.cfm check the last line dividend paid per share. Says a lot. Either it's a mistake or Avid has forgotten to send me a check for the past 3 years.

Now read my quote from an other post and maybe you'll understand why it's not cost effective and thus this way. It's very rare that a company that relies purely on sales, without any monthly income, will have a free tech support. Not only is this due to having a huge line up of product that Avid offers, but also because most of the time, it's user related with third parties hardware, software, drivers, plugins and what not. This is not a simple matter of, oh my cell phone isn't working, or my internet failed, my phone line crackles... All of those are one product without third parties involved. This is not only a software also, you got the gear, which now is not always from avid, and you got the computer which is certainly not from avid and thus may and is often the reason why the software or hardware is not functioning correctly. Now try to imagine the cost of the tech support team that has to spend hours with clients to come up with the result that the consumer was too wasted/dumb/illiterate or what ever reasons someone might have to not check the systems specs, the compatibility charts, not reading the faqs/manual/quick start guide etc etc etc etc and going with the recommended and approved (Ie tested by avid or at least knowledgeable people that have tested it and has been confirmed by others) hardware/computer for Pro tools.

Originally Posted by Emcha_audio

Partly with a sense of humour and partly with truness to it.

Avid works with a pay to support basis. Basically because it doesn't have monthly incomes like cable and phone companies for say, that gives those company the resources to keep a full time team to answer every 1000 questions even the dumbest ones. Not saying yours is one, but stating where I have been at when I was working as a tech support.

Instead this system forces the user to look for the answers that most of them will find easily by reading the forums, the faqs or other sources. THEN if they don't find it, they can contact Avid, and yes pay again points to my other paragraph why.

I'm going to give you an example of why their system works that way.

you got 60 employees that are generally paid in between 15 to 23 bucks an hour. Work in three teams for 8 hours. So that's 60 employes that you have to pay a total of 8 hours each at 15 to 23 bucks an hour per day times that;s roughly 240 days if you take out the mandatory off days due to different days. so that's 240 days x 8 hours x 15 $/h x 60 employees (going with the lowest price in this example)

that's a grand total of a million seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand to pay 60 employees yea-round to do tech support. Yep you read right 1 728 000. That's just not cost effective when you rely on sales and not monthly incomes.

Could they have smaller teams? sure, would it make a difference in the cost effectiveness, not one bit.

The way Avid is doing it is very cost effective for them and still provide a service for those that truly needs it. For the twits, that just don't read and think that their err why don't my pro tools work? .. hmm did you plug it in.. ooh d'uh.. is a valid question (oh yes trust me I've seen those when I was an ISP tech support) are truly not.

So maybe this can en-light a few on why Avid charges if not well stay in the dark ages

[pinnacle]

Originally Posted by Emcha_audio

Well then you are misinformed. They make so much money that for the past 3 years, share holders have received 0 dividends? http://ir.avid.com/financials-statements.cfm check the last line dividend paid per share. Says a lot. Either it's a mistake or Avid has forgotten to send me a check for the past 3 years.

Now read my quote from an other post and maybe you'll understand why it's not cost effective and thus this way. It's very rare that a company that relies purely on sales, without any monthly income, will have a free tech support. Not only is this due to having a huge line up of product that Avid offers, but also because most of the time, it's user related with third parties hardware, software, drivers, plugins and what not. This is not a simple matter of, oh my cell phone isn't working, or my internet failed, my phone line crackles... All of those are one product without third parties involved. This is not only a software also, you got the gear, which now is not always from avid, and you got the computer which is certainly not from avid and thus may and is often the reason why the software or hardware is not functioning correctly. Now try to imagine the cost of the tech support team that has to spend hours with clients to come up with the result that the consumer was too wasted/dumb/illiterate or what ever reasons someone might have to not check the systems specs, the compatibility charts, not reading the faqs/manual/quick start guide etc etc etc etc and going with the recommended and approved (Ie tested by avid or at least knowledgeable people that have tested it and has been confirmed by others) hardware/computer for Pro tools.

oh boohoo spare me the sob story for share holders. Next youll be telling us the banks are hard done by and that the telcos have to have crappy overseas call centres because otherwise they might only make 100 billion a year instead of 110 billion pfft!

Theres no excuses. You wanna sell me the goods you provide the service end of story. Otherwise seeya my money walks.

[Emcha_audio]

NO but you have something that you have to get in your heads. Avid is a business. It's there to make money. Right now it's not, it's actually losing money, read the link I gave you. At the end of 2010 (dec) avid was at -36 millions of net income. And as any business that is run as it should be, it's doing what it has to do so it stays afloat, and this means in parts, no free tech support as in this case it's really not cost effective for them to do so.

Maybe you don't get this because well you're not a business owner and you don't have much experience in corporate life, maybe you do get it, but you don't care because the me myself and I is stronger than your business sense. But that wont change the facts. Avid does not provide free tech and I sure wish they don't, until they have the means to do so. And right now, they don't.

I prefer they keep placing money into R&D and let people use their common sense, take the steps they need to take as the bright people they are. Finding the solutions within the documentations, the web, this forum. And then as a last result if nothing can be found, well they can use their ASC, if it's not expired from the time they bought their product. If it is, well that's like any other thing on the market that a warranty expires, cars, cells phones, tv, computers and what not, if the warranty is gone pay for it.