cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu (Andrew M. Cohill) (05/24/90)
So less than three months ago I purchased two copies of Borland C, Professional, at $160 a pop. Is Borland going to give me a free upgrade, since it seems you can buy, as a special promotion, the C++ version for $99. While I like Borland's approach to tool development, they stink at customer support. Filling out and sending in registration cards for Borland products is a joke. In three years of using Borland products I have never even once received an upgrade notice, information about new products, or a damn thing. Microsoft, on the other hand, is religious about keeping customers informed. When Word 4.0 (Mac) was late they kept sending out postcards telling me when they thought it was going to be ready, and kept apologizing for the delay. Plust they make it very easy to obtain upgrades by sending you product releases and order cards. -- | ...we have to look for routes of power our teachers never | imagined, or were encouraged to avoid. T. Pynchon |Andy Cohill cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu VPI&SU |703/231-7855
880716a@aucs.uucp (Dave Astels) (05/26/90)
In article <1457@vtserf.cc.vt.edu> cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu.UUCP (Andrew M. Cohill) writes: >[...] >In three years of using Borland products I >have never even once received an upgrade notice, information about new >products, or a damn thing. I must say that I have not shared your experience. The only Borland product that I have is Turbo Pascal. I bought 4.0 locally. Since then I have recieved the upgrade offers for 5.0 & 5.5 (both of which I took advantage of). I have recieved other things from Borland ... I forget exactly what at the moment. -- - Dave Internet: 880716a@AcadiaU.CA Bitnet: 880716a@Acadia
steve@taumet.COM (Stephen Clamage) (05/26/90)
In article <1457@vtserf.cc.vt.edu> cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu.UUCP (Andrew M. Cohill) writes: >While I like Borland's approach to tool development, they stink at >customer support. Filling out and sending in registration cards for >Borland products is a joke. In three years of using Borland products I >have never even once received an upgrade notice, information about new >products, or a damn thing. Over the years, I have bought many Borland products. For each one I have received upgrade notices, sometimes more than one (although never than more than one of the special coupons). I have friends for whom this is also true. So we have one flame and one good report. I'm sure there are more of each, out there in netland. Why don't you take up your complaints with Borland? -- Steve Clamage, TauMetric Corp, steve@taumet.com
lmhg0369@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (05/27/90)
Well, I have been a Borland customer since 1985 (CP/M!) and have always heard from them whenever a new product came out. This is even for Borland products that I don't have, and yet they offer me the "upgrade" price, specifically Paradox and Quattro. Now, one thing Borland doesn't seem to do often is to pre-announce products. Rather I hear about the products when they're ready. I guess they might lose some business because they don't have a habit of putting out early notices, losing people who go out and buy something else. But I've still waited for Borland C++ instead of buying Zortech. If you've moved and didn't notify them, then perhaps there's a problem. Now all we need is another (minor) upgrade to Sprint to get rid of some of the quirks. Too bad I'm so hooked.... L. Haskins -- l-haskins@uiuc.edu
loseke@suna4.cs.uiuc.edu (05/28/90)
I want to add my 2000 mcents in too!!! Borland has always sent me upgrade notices. I have even seen upgrade notices for products that I have already upgraded to. I always feel that they were worried that they missed me. MSoft has also sent me notices, more than once sometimes, and being the collector that I am, I have always responded. What always impressed me about Borland, is that they have oftem sent me offers to purchase many of their other products at a reduced price. They like my business!!! Now....what am I going to do with that Window 3.0 upgrade and the Turbo Tools upgrade at the same time????? Dave Loseke University of Illinois
jcotugno@KSP.Unisys.COM (Jim Cotugno) (05/29/90)
In article <1457@vtserf.cc.vt.edu> cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu.UUCP (Andrew M. Cohill) writes: >While I like Borland's approach to tool development, they stink at >customer support. Filling out and sending in registration cards for >Borland products is a joke. In three years of using Borland products I >have never even once received an upgrade notice, information about new >products, or a damn thing. That's funny, I've gotten upgrade notices and new product announcements for just about everything Borland sells. I've never had a problem with them on that point. Jim Cotugno jcotugno@ksp.unisys.com
steck@corwin.CCS.Northeastern.EDU (paul a. steckler) (05/30/90)
In article <1457@vtserf.cc.vt.edu> cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu.UUCP (Andrew M. Cohill) writes: >So less than three months ago I purchased two copies of Borland C, >Professional, at $160 a pop. Is Borland going to give me a free >upgrade, since it seems you can buy, as a special promotion, the C++ >version for $99. > >While I like Borland's approach to tool development, they stink at >customer support. Filling out and sending in registration cards for >Borland products is a joke. In three years of using Borland products I >have never even once received an upgrade notice, information about new >products, or a damn thing. When I heard Turbo C++ was available, I called Borland for an upgrade though I had not received my certificate. As I explained to them, I had moved since purchasing Turbo C, and I feared not getting the upgrade notice. They were kind enough to fulfill my order based solely on my disk serial numbber. As it turns out, I DID get an upgrade notice the following day. Somehow, they had gotten my new address, albeit with the wrong zip. How many companies would fulfill an upgrade on your say-so that you own the product? Also, I have received multiple upgrade notices for Pascal 5.5. -- Paul Steckler steck@eric.ccs.northeastern.edu
roott@lance.tis.llnl.gov (Tom Root) (05/31/90)
In article <1990May26.131842.3799@aucs.uucp> 880716a@aucs.UUCP (Dave Astels) writes: >In article <1457@vtserf.cc.vt.edu> cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu.UUCP (Andrew M. Cohill) writes: >>[...] >>In three years of using Borland products I >>have never even once received an upgrade notice, information about new >>products, or a damn thing. > >I must say that I have not shared your experience. The only Borland product >that I have is Turbo Pascal. I bought 4.0 locally. Since then I have recieved >the upgrade offers for 5.0 & 5.5 (both of which I took advantage of). I have >recieved other things from Borland ... I forget exactly what at the moment. > > >-- >- Dave > >Internet: 880716a@AcadiaU.CA >Bitnet: 880716a@Acadia I have NEVER had any bad relations with Borland, I own their entire compiler line, and others. When I had bad disk problems, they expressed a new copy to me. also I have received ALL upgrade notices even to programs I didn't own, and I did get the discount. Tom R. roott@ec-rdn1.tis.llnl.gov
richard@pantor.UUCP (Richard Sargent) (05/31/90)
> From: jcotugno@KSP.Unisys.COM (Jim Cotugno) > Message-ID: <756@bbking.KSP.Unisys.COM> ... > That's funny, I've gotten upgrade notices and new product announcements for > just about everything Borland sells. I've never had a problem with them on > that point. That's funny. I have filled in just about every product registration card I have ever received, and almost never have received upgrade notifications. Not one from Borland, nor Zortech, nor Microsoft. And, it's not as if Toronto, Ontario is in some benighted corner of the third world. :-( (Politics aside, of course :-) This is pretty sad, considering that Canada represents about a 10% market from North American sales (based on population). That represents a lot of potential, but ignored, revenue. Richard Sargent Internet: richard@pantor.UUCP Systems Analyst UUCP: ...!mnetor!becker!pantor!richard
kim@spock (Kim Letkeman) (06/05/90)
In article <76.UUL1.3#5109@pantor.UUCP>, richard@pantor.UUCP (Richard Sargent) writes: | > From: jcotugno@KSP.Unisys.COM (Jim Cotugno) | > Message-ID: <756@bbking.KSP.Unisys.COM> | ... | > That's funny, I've gotten upgrade notices and new product announcements for | > just about everything Borland sells. I've never had a problem with them on | > that point. | | That's funny. I have filled in just about every product registration | card I have ever received, and almost never have received upgrade | notifications. Not one from Borland, nor Zortech, nor Microsoft. Don't use crayon ... just kidding :):):):):):):):):):) | And, it's not as if Toronto, Ontario is in some benighted corner | of the third world. :-( (Politics aside, of course :-) A good friend of mine regularly gets upgrade notices from Borland over here in Ottawa. Perhaps it's just the luck of the draw. Might be worth sending a letter or making a call if you haven't had any luck. Borland has gone through periods of shipping hundreds (thousands?) of packages daily. This no doubt causes some strain on their support organizations. | This is pretty sad, considering that Canada represents about | a 10% market from North American sales (based on population). | That represents a lot of potential, but ignored, revenue. This generalization might be a bit sweeping considering the sample size of 1. -- Kim Letkeman uunet!mitel!spock!kim
bwb@sei.cmu.edu (Bruce Benson) (06/07/90)
In article <711@corwin.CCS.Northeastern.EDU> steck@corwin.UUCP (paul a. steckler) writes: >When I heard Turbo C++ was available, I called Borland for an upgrade >though I had not received my certificate. As I explained to them, >I had moved since purchasing Turbo C, and I feared not getting the >upgrade notice. They were kind enough to fulfill my order based >solely on my disk serial numbber. As it turns out, I DID get an >upgrade notice the following day. Somehow, they had gotten my new >address, albeit with the wrong zip. How many companies would fulfill an >upgrade on your say-so that you own the product? > Microsoft took my request for an upgrade to Windows 3.0 based upon my say so over the phone (two upgrades, plus upgrade for Excel). I asked the order taker how they can do this, and she said "well, we just trust you". Kinda makes one want to go out and pay for all that shareware you've collected. * Bruce Benson + Internet - bwb@sei.cmu.edu + + * Software Engineering Institute + Compuserv - 76226,3407 + >--|> * Carnegie Mellon University + Voice - 412 268 8496 + + * Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890 + + US Air Force
philip@Kermit.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick) (06/08/90)
In article <7457@fy.sei.cmu.edu>, bwb@sei.cmu.edu (Bruce Benson) writes: > Microsoft took my request for an upgrade to Windows 3.0 based upon my say so > over the phone (two upgrades, plus upgrade for Excel). I asked the order > taker how they can do this, and she said "well, we just trust you". Kinda > makes one want to go out and pay for all that shareware you've collected. Hmm, yes. Of course, the "upgrade price" on many software products simply reflects the fact that the dealer's cut has been removed... Philip Machanick philip@pescadero.stanford.edu