lietb@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Tjeng-Bo Lie) (07/22/88)
Below is a copy of the letter I sent to Ashton-Tate's Customer "Service" Dept. regarding my complain. --------------------------------------------------------- July 20, 1988 Ashton-Tate Customer "Service" Dept. 20101 Hamilton Avenue Torrance, California 90502-1319 Dear Sir/Madam: I am writing this letter to complain against your treatment of my prepaid order for FullWrite Professional through the Ann Arbor Softworks coupon. In my eight year stay in the United States, I've never been treated worse than this before. I had taken Ann Arbor Softworks' prepaid offer and paid my $99.- on December of 1986, and had received the Pre-Release version of FWP from Ann Arbor Softworks on December of 1987. I had also received a letter from Ashton-Tate dated June 1, 1988 telling me that FWP had shipped April 29, and a Customer "Service" number at 213/329-9989. Following the instruction on that letter, I called that number June 16, 1988 when my copy of FWP had not arrived yet. And I spoke to Marva Patterson, and she looked up my name in the Data Base and assured me that I was indeed a registered user (#9903034)for the Pre-Release version of FWP. Later on July 6, 1988, I called again and spoke to Janet Robinson. She told me that there's no order of FWP for me and that she'll place one for me. OK, fine. Today, I called again inquiring about my order, and spoke to Sherrie Haynes(?) who said that it was back-ordered and that I would probably receive my copy when they resumed shipping July 30, 1988. This got me annoyed so I asked her to cancel my order so that I could go out and buy a copy from the shelf of a local store. That's when thing really got exciting: She told me that she would cancel my order, but Ashton-Tate would NOT refund my $99.- since I elected to cancel. Now, WHAT KIND OF A POLICY IS THAT??? Naturally I cancelled my cancellation of the order. Sincerely, "And they wondered why people pirate Software" Tjeng-Bo Lie CC: BBB of Torrance, CA. USENET, MacWorld, MacUser, MacWeek, MACazine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- There... I feel better already! -- ******************************************************************************* * Compu$erve: 76344,3361 * UUCP: killer!lietb * * Delphi: TBLie * USnail: P.O. Box 740483, Dallas, Tx 75374 * *******************************************************************************
awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) (07/22/88)
I'm very sorry for the way you have been treated by Ashton-Tate so far. Is this our policy? Of course not. We don't deliberately mistreat people who want to buy our software. Ashton-Tate's only defense is that it is a large company and it is growing larger. Growth, such as the acquisition of Ann Arbor, brings with it confusion and coordination problems such as you have experienced. Not an excuse; just an explanation. I'm sure your letter will bring a quick, positive response. Not everyone who answers the phone has the same customer-satisfaction attitude as the management who will see your letter. If you are not satisfied by the response you get, please email me and I promise I'll get to the bottom of the situation. I'm just a programmer in a remote development center, but I have a corporate phone book and direct-dial capability and a burning desire to do what I can to reverse Ashton-Tate's "big-and-therefore- insensitive" reputation. By the way, anyone else out there with a gripe about Ashton-Tate would be well advised to send a letter, as well. Address it to Luther Nussbaum, our president--he really cares about things like this. /alastair/