avid email support - where?

[tombliss]

I've tried numerous times to find where I can email Avid.

I just bought PTLE8 so am entitled to support, but I haven't been given an ASC

I'm not propared to buy one - and I should not have to.

All I can find (over and over) is:

http://www.avid.com/US/support/customer-assist - no humans there.

http://www.avid.com/US/support/support-center - only resellers, people with an ASC and this forum.

arvato systems NA, Inc - who took my money and authorised the download, can only point me to the above pages.

I've only ever once managed to get a reply from DigiTechSupt here once.

Is there really no free email support these days - even when you're in warranty?

[tombliss]

I've just had a thought. All this is because I only have LE isn't it?

I've always been confused by the Avid approach of preferring to post solutions here no more than once if they can help it - or better still have customers wade through lots of perhaps misinformed or just contradictory advise from other lost sheep - and then telling us to just go search for it and/or work it out ourselves.

But this is because they see LE as just a HOBBY product, right?

So they're assuming we're only making music for fun, and will be happy to waste weeks of time trying to resolve each issue - (hell, fighting with software is what made me want to be a muso in the first place).

The approach is, you wanna use our software, you prove you're good enough. Or even tough enough.

But if so they are making a huge mistake - because the clue is in the word 'Help.'

OK - I'm not a hobbyist, so perhaps morally should shell out for the Pro product (even though it offers nothing I need that LE doesn't provide in spades).

But I'm not ever going to, because I have zero confidence in my ability to progress with ProTools.

In the old days Digidesign were good - great, in fact - so I've stayed with PTLE.

But now I can only see tumbleweeds, and they have my dollar bills stuffed into their branches.

I've been dealing with 20-odd help desks over the past 2 months. Bottom of the list comes MakeMusic, largely for for historical reasons - but even they answer emails within 24 hours, and they have named support staff on both (count them) their forums - who always respond even sooner.

ALL the other apps teams either have a phone number, or timely email support, or a properly modded forum where someone wearing the company badge turns up within a day or so, then stays on the line till the problem is resolved - even Microsoft and Adobe - (and Apple's forums are terriffic - plus they give you a phone number when you buy a new piece of kit).

But Avid?

Zip (almost).

[Park Seward]

Avid support can be improved.

But how to pay for it? Let's say you buy a $250 upgrade. How many hours do you expect a technical support specialist to spend supporting a "small" purchase?

Lets say the profit margin is the same as Apple (around 35%). That would mean a profit of $87. Now, how much does it cost to have this expert on the phone? Let's say he makes $50 an hour. Add to that the cost of the office, phone bank, training, electricity, management overhead and product development.

I figure if he spends 30 minutes on the phone, Avid has lost all profit from the sale.

Also, from what I have seen on the DC, many problems are the result of user mistakes and incompatible software/plug-ins/installation procedures. Who should pay for that phone call? It seems some do not spend enough time with the reference guide.

Some will say that support should be free and not a profit center. Others understand business and realize that companies do not stay in business if they loose money.

I just took a look at Adobe Tech Support. There are now 12 engineers on-line to answer your question. Adobe has 7,000 employees, Avid less than 2,000. I'd love to see more support but it may be difficult given the size of the company and the cost of the software.

One solution is not to even try Avid but rather buy your products from a third-party like Sweetwater and use them for your support questions. You may actually get someone on the phone.

As you know, you can buy direct telephone support for $40 for LE products per incident.

http://shop.avid.com/store/product.d...06917503520336

Have you seen this self-help web page?

http://www.avid.com/US/support/customer-assist

[tombliss]

I disagree - strongly.

It has been proved over and over that good support sells product, while poor customer interaction folds companies - and faster than any other factor - specially when prospective customers browse forums like this one trying to decide where to spend their money.

I'm not - if you read what I said - demanding free phone support, but email support is an absolute must. The support function HAS to be set by the size of the demand (which is itself a bi-function of the design of the product), NOT the size of the company or the price of the product.

This is basic business science. If you can't provide adequate support for the product you have made at the price you are charging then your business model is flawed and your business will eventually fail. Simple.

If they really think they can't afford email support (and digidesign, a far smaller company managed it) then a more proactive presence here would make a huge difference.

You say that many of the problems are user mistakes such as incompatible software/plug-ins/installation procedures. Probably so. But the solutions are usually fairly straightforward. All the Mod has to do is paste in the solution, or a link to the right page - job done.

What you and a lot of people who frequent this board overlook is that you are a very competent around computers. Most of the people who come here with a (often very scary) problem are not - that's why they came here. They don't want to have to wade through lots of seemingly conflicting advice from people who may or may not know what they are talking about. They want someone with Avid on his hat to say, here, let me help. Go here, do this, no sorry that won't work, try this - with a big smiley face.

They may still struggle, but at least they'll feel that their custom is appreciated.

Just read the majority of posts here - it's not a mood you pick up.

I've been dealing with a small US company called Prosoft - who make DataBack-up amongst other things. I always get the same guy, Jeremy, and he's absolutely brilliant - not only patiently answering my questions about his own product, but occasionally giving sideways help about others.

As a result I've recommended ProSoft to loads of people - and I do so here again.

A piece of software like ProTools is immensely complicated, and many of us LE users do not use it all the time - as I suspect you may. But that's the Lite market - lots of people like me - and probably fewer like you. If Avid want Protools to be first choice for DAWs they HAVE to find a cost-effective way of looking after the people with the problem. A little of money invested early on in a customer relationship makes a MASSIVE difference in terms of brand loyalty.

My brand loyalty was developed in the Digi days. I have none whatsoever now and really wish I'd bought something else.

I only want to have a few questions answered about the score editor. The manual is VERY badly written on this point, and no-one here seems to know anything about it (the only advice I ever got here on the score editor - while I was researching whether to buy it or not, turned out to be wrong) - and they do have a duty to help me out.

Yes I'm leaning on the guys who took my money, but any way round all this is bad news for Avid (and I was an Avid media composer editor from day one, so I know how good they used to be back then, anyway).

[acorbeth]

Tombliss, you are so right. If it weren't for this forum, I would simply be out of luck and would have wasted all the money and time I've invested in ProTools. A couple of weeks ago I called them, left a message as per their instructions, which said they would call me back. I'm still waiting; they will never call me back! And I was very willing to purchases some kind of support plan from them.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Avid is absolutely one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. I would have upgraded to ProTools 9, but not now, I'll just stay with what I've got and keep my eyes wide open for something comparable from another company to come on the market, or for Avid to finally offer some service. The folks at Avid have to be creating lots of ill will. They sure have with me.

Alan

[AvidCS]

Sorry about the difficulty in reaching us. We have posted kb284115 to help clarify things.

tombliss - We have sent your Avid Support Code to you so that you can start a new case.

acorbeth - We will call you this week to see what happened and get you some assistance.

Thank you.

[Sparky1]

Originally Posted by DigiCS

Sorry about the difficulty in reaching us. We have posted kb284115 to help clarify things.

tombliss - We have sent your Avid Support Code to you so that you can start a new case.

acorbeth - We will call you this week to see what happened and get you some assistance.

Thank you.

Gotta like these folks...

Sparky

[syisrad]

Neg,

That kb284115 just directs you to register and if you want to ask a question you need an Avid Support Code. I don't have a ASC and in my case it seems I need to pay for it???

All I want to know is if MBox 3 Pro purchased in the US will work in Australia?

It's odd that I can't get that simple question answered by them.

[browniespeaks]

Originally Posted by syisrad

Neg,

All I want to know is if MBox 3 Pro purchased in the US will work in Australia?

It's odd that I can't get that simple question answered by them.

That phone call is exactly what i believe Avid would feel does not warrant phone support. Your sales person at whatever distributor you purchase the product from would clarify this for you.

You will need either a generator or transformer in Australia. But I'm pretty sure if you plug it into a 60hz 110v outlet it will work. Heres the standards for power around the world. http://www.controlledpwr.com/help-in...l-voltages.php

[tombliss]

Hello DigiCS

Thank you for the ASC, which has duly arrived.

Please can you explain why it is so hard to find out how customers are supposed to contact you?

And please can you explain why I didn't get an ASC when I bought the upgrade to PTLE8?

I was under a firm impression that I had registered the product (I forget the actual process, but it was certainly not incompatible with other auto-registration systems during an upgrade). Obviously my previous version 7 was registered - as was 6 before that, and the serial number remains the same.

I thought I'd double check, however, and once again I was lost in the la-la land of Avid loony loops.

I followed the registration link from that page you supplied, and got as far as trying to register an 'other' product (all the drop-down options related to old-co Avid video software). But when I click on that I'm asked for not only the serial number, which of course I have, but something called a Avid System ID, which I don't think I do. So that's three, count them, three numbers you're expecting us to manage, which is not very customer friendly or efficient.

This probably means that I hadn't in fact managed to register my upgrade (not that I could possibly have known) - but then as you did have my details, my serial number and my email, your system should really have sent me an ASC code (if you're really convinced that's the best/only way to provide support) when I downloaded the product from your website (I had to provide full ID then, so you could easily have done it).

All this adds up to a lot of loopy hoop-jumping - completely the opposite of what you need to be doing if you want a good reputation for a good app.

I'll repeat my point above: The demand for support is in direct proportion to the quality of the product - specifically the design of the GUI, the searchability of the manuals, and the robustness of the software in terms of compatibility with OSs, plug-ins, hardware etc.

ProTools is a very complicated, processor-heavy program (much more so even than FinalCut Pro, which I've been using professionally since it came out, along with Media Composer) and most people will have a lot of trouble with it. Either you help them through that trouble or you let them discover how much easier to use and more robust other DAWs are.

Tom

PS Brownie, those of us who have been round the block a few time long since learned that it's always best to deal with the organ-grinder.