No support response is bad business

Blog Navigator abandoned?

Published on September 15, 2005 By DadBart In Community

I posted questions to the Blog Navigator forum and then saw it has been months since anyone has responded to questions there. I then saw other postings where people said they emailed support at Stardock about the BN issues and never got a response - of any kind.

I figured I would try and see. Sure enough no reply for 2 weeks to a post to the newsgroup. An email sent to support 2 weeks ago never replied to, except the auto responder saying I would hear within a couple of days.

One can only assume that people like me who paid for the product have been abandoned with no notice. If that is the case, it is very, very bad business. Right now I feel very reluctant to sink anymore money in to Stardock if I might be ignored and abandoned for things I bought (I have quite a few things registered - and renew every year).

So my question is, is this what we can expect going forward?

Comments (Page 1)

Bichur

on Sep 15, 2005

An email sent to support 2 weeks ago never replied to, except the auto responder saying I would hear within a couple of days.

did that email contain specific instructions on what to do if a response is not recieved within the time frame. All mine did.

DadBart

on Sep 15, 2005

Yes, and I got a short note saying it was being forwarded to developers. That was 9 days ago. I am not the only one having problems getting support for BN. The newsgroup shows a void, since June.

At least a note from someone who is working on it saying someone is working on it would be better than no response at all. This leaves people feeling that it is being ignored.

We're not talking a small bug like the font does not look right. We're talking half the functionality on the main site it supports not working.

DadBart

on Sep 15, 2005

I decided to re-read the original auto-reply since the above reply makes it sound like I somehow did not do something that caused this problem with response. It says visit the related newsgroup, the one not responded to since June. It also says visit the forums, which I did with this post. And it gives a lot of links for FAQs on problems that have nothing to do with the problem or product I detailed. I see reasons why they might not respond, but this does not qualify for that either. I did originally miss the resend piece and have done that.

The "it is being forwarded" reply was actually a response 3 days after my original request. My mistake, I did get one response. Does not change the issue I bring up. Is BN still being supported?

Jafo

on Sep 15, 2005

Yes, and I got a short note saying it was being forwarded to developers. That was 9 days ago.

That really belies the thread heading, doesn't it?.....

Lantec

on Sep 15, 2005

It also says visit the forums, which I did with this post.

I didn't actually see anything related to the problem your having so there's not much help to offer. If you could give a descritpion of what problems your having it may be that someone here can help you out with at least a temporary fix.

DadBart

on Sep 15, 2005

I am not sure what that means, but are you suggesting that a response saying it is being forwarded for a response and then no further word on the problem itself is a response to the problem?

DadBart

on Sep 15, 2005

If you could give a descritpion of what problems your having it may be that someone here can help you out with at least a temporary fix

Thanks for the helpful response. I have been a registered user for years and have paid for several Stardock products and renewals. This is the first time I have had a problem like this, but it is enough to raise an eyebrow. Quite frankly, past posts to the newsgroup on problems by myself and others for this particular product have always been slow to come, but they came. This time there appears to be a void. Here is the quote from my newsgroup and email request:

I recently noticed that I am getting server errors with BN from JoeUser. I
can post a new article with no problem, But if I go to edit or even just
open (not preview) I get "Server Communication error, article not found"
with an address at joeuser. An article window then opens with the correct
header info, but blank article text. When I close the window it asks if I
want to save a local copy. If I click the Get from server button in the
open article window I get the same error. I can view it fine in the Preview
window.

I have the latest version of BN and I can access and edit or delete the
article from a web browser.

Lantec

on Sep 15, 2005

This happens immediately after the posting?
If you try to access in another session or after leaving your site and returning do you still have the error?

Jafo

on Sep 15, 2005

I got a short note saying it was being forwarded to developers.

That IS a response, ergo the thread heading No support response is bad business does not apply to Stardock's handling of your query....but perhaps pertains to practises in general.

It's perhaps not a 'solution', but it IS a response.

If and when the 'developers' can duplicate and/or resolve the problem the 'response' may be even pertinent to your issue...

DadBart

on Sep 15, 2005

This happens immediately after the posting?
If you try to access in another session or after leaving your site and returning do you still have the error?

All of the above. In fact I can not open any article in any blog in a window, I can only view them in the preview pane. I only noticed this since the last update in July.

DadBart

on Sep 15, 2005

That IS a response, ergo the thread heading

That is playing with semantics. The heading stands. I have run support centers and this would be considered a customer not receiving a response to their problems and it is bad business to fall into that approach. It may very well be, and likely is, a problem isolated to a specific point at Stardock, but if it affects a paying customer in a negative way it is a bad business practice that reflects on the whole company. Every person who works there represents them in their entirety and their actions create the image for the company as a whole.

Like I said, even a note saying it is being looked at by those who should be looking at it is better than dead air. I like Stardock, have for years. That is why I have shelled out a lot of money over the years for their products. This concerns me. It is fine to defend them no matter what, but if there is a problem it is in their best interests for the customer to say so and expect it to be addressed, even if it ends up being a tie straightening for the customer.

Jafo

on Sep 15, 2005

I got a short note saying it was being forwarded to developers.

Like I said, even a note saying it is being looked at by those who should be looking at it

I'm sorry, but I read that as exactly the same thing....semantics or not.

Therefore I am justified in repeating....

No support response is bad business does not apply to Stardock's handling of your query....but perhaps pertains to practises in general.

The NEXT procedure is to wait a reasonable length of time for your 'problem' to be tested and resolved, noting that 'reasonable length' is open to conjecture....

DadBart

on Sep 15, 2005

Just as an aside to all of this, apparently this was necessary. This is the first response to Blog Navigator problems I have seen since June. Developer Lantec has done more in the past hour than has been received in the past 3 months. It should not have had to come to this kind of agitated post by someone like me to accomplish that. I am completely satisfied with Developer Lantec's attempts to help, even asking questions makes me feel like someone cares and that the product is still supported. I understand solutions can take time and I understand the difference between a response and a solution. The posts here are direct responses to my problems, not solutions, but they are designed to get to a solution. I am fine with that until a solution presents itself.

CerebroJD

on Sep 15, 2005

Another alternative would be to visit the stardock IRC channel, where the developer for this particular product hangs out about 80% of the time.

mIRC, an irc chat client.
Server: irc.stardock.com
Channel: #stardock

DadBart

on Sep 15, 2005

The NEXT procedure is to wait a reasonable length of time for your 'problem' to be tested and resolved, noting that 'reasonable length' is open to conjecture

I agree. Since no problems have been responded to in the newsgroup since June and I am not the only one not getting a response via email (as stated in the newsgroup), I think it qualifies as a reasonable amount of time to at least have an acknowledgement that it is still being looked at by those who might find the solution.

I am not trying to be confrontative, just get some support for a problem with something I purchased. I think 2 weeks would be considered reasonable anywhere for at least an ackowledgement by those actually looking at the problem. Right now, for all I know the "forwarded" email has not even been looked at.

I don't know what your relationship to Stardock is, but it is not my intent to get in to an argument over what qualifies as "reasonable" support. I am the paying customer. In my view I have not received support for something I paid for. It is not an opinion formed after waiting only a couple of days or because I did not like the answer I got on the problem. There is nothing out of line with my reaction to this and it would be viewed that way most anywhere.

I would be extremely surprised (and dismayed) if the management at Stardock looked at this set of circumstances and said "This guy has no issue". If I am feeling this way and others are having similar experiences, it is likely others are feeling this way too. When customers start feeling this way they start avoiding the company in question. Customers are lost and business flags. I don't think this is what Stardock is trying to do. I think they care about their customers and do not want them to have experiences like this. If it took an agitated thread subject to get the ball rolling then so be it. I am sure they will look at why it happened and how it can be avoided in the future.

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