krm@aluxz.UUCP (Kurt Marko) (08/27/88)
There has been a lot of talk on the Net lately about the "maturing" (read, depersonalizing) of the Mac software market, specifically with regard to a degradation in service after a small developer is absorbed into (taken over by) a large software publisher. I don't agree with this as a general assertion, however I do have an individual experience to relate which may sound familiar to many. Like most owners of Lightspeed C, I am excited about the new features offered by their version 3.0. Some may quibble with their upgrade policies and prices...that's not my purpose here. After reading about the imminent release of the upgrade on the Net, I waited (and waited...) for my upgrade notice (I was SURE I registered). It never came. I called Think/Symantec to confirm that I was indeed registered, and yes my name is in the database, and no, they had no idea why I hadn't gotten an upgrade notice (an aside, from others comments, mine is not an isolated incident). Well, I finally got impatient and sent a letter, complete with my Serial number and a check for the required upgrade and shipping charges to the address listed in Rich Siegel's posting (thank you Rich!). I sent the letter on July 18th, the check was cashed around the end of July....and still no package from Think. (I never did receive an upgrade notice!). I called Symantec in California today and they confirmed that I'm at the top of the shipping list as soon as new product arrives. I asked them why they were selling LSC3.0 at Macworld two weeks ago (that's where all of their remaining product went the gentleman offered), when I, a registered owner with a cancelled check still haven't received my upgrade? He apologized. I thank him for his courtesy. Now, I'm not desperate for v3.0; I don't have a product whose success hinges on using 3.0; I won't go hungry tonight because my last dollar was spent on the upgrade...that's not the point. The point is that I believe registered owners of a product (does loyalty mean anything in business?) deserve honest, fair treatment. How about shipping upgrades before filling up the shelves at MacConnection and the booths at Macworld? How about not cashing my check until the item is shipped? This tale is not unique; unfortunately in this new era for Mac software, it's becoming all too common. Kurt Marko ...att!aluxz!krm
mkg@lzsc.ATT.COM (Marsh Gosnell) (08/30/88)
In article <945@aluxz.UUCP>, krm@aluxz.UUCP (Kurt Marko) writes: > How about shipping upgrades before filling up the shelves at MacConnection > and the booths at Macworld? If you haven't received your upgrade yet, when you do you'll see that the upgrade packaging is radically different than the shelf packaging. Although the disks probably come from the same duplicator and the manuals from the same printer, that's about all the two packages have in common. My upgrade arrived in a plain box with nothing but the two manuals and shrink-wrapped disks. Symantec ran out of upgrade packages around the beginning of August and had to manufacture more. It's unfortunate that it coincided with a major show. Marsh Gosnell att!lzma!mkg
jwhitnell@cup.portal.com (09/01/88)
Somebody writes about the LSC 3.0 upgrades... |If you haven't received your upgrade yet, when you do you'll see that |the upgrade packaging is radically different than the shelf packaging. |Although the disks probably come from the same duplicator and the manuals |from the same printer, that's about all the two packages have in common. |My upgrade arrived in a plain box with nothing but the two manuals and |shrink-wrapped disks. The only difference between the two packages is 1) the off-the-shelf comes in a nice 4-color box surrounding the cardboard container (same cardboard container as the upgrade) and 2) the upgrade doesn't include the warrenty card. Otherwise, same manual, same disks, same product advertisments. Even same plain cardboard container. And no, I don't know why Symantec doesn't canabilize the off-the-shelf packages for upgrades. Jerry -- Jerry Whitnell jwhitnell@cup.portal.com ..!sun!cup.portal.com!jwhitnell