OK, folks, simmer down. While I greatly appreciate the zeal with which many of you regularly leap to AB's defense, that's still not justification for leaping to conclusions and coming down hard on someone. :-)
The fact is that the security mechanism of V2 was cracked and there are countless people out there using pirated copies. There's nothing that can be done about that at this point in time. The good news is that V3 has not been cracked (yet, at least). From my perspective, if someone has paid for V3 then they are a legitimate customer and must be treated with the same courtesy and respect that loyal users from back in the V1 days receive. The past use of a pirated copy of V1 or V2 is irrelevant once they buy the product.
If someone purchases V3 for a game system that doesn't have data files yet, then they absolutely missed multiple reminders from us that would have avoided the problem. But the reality is that, in business, good customer service means making sure the customer is taken care of, even if they are at least partially culpable in the problem. Since we pride ourselves on good customer service - I'm guessing that's why many of our loyal users ARE so loyal - it's not about pointing the finger and fixing the blame. It's about fixing the problem.
In this case, fixing the problem may mean refunding a purchase. That's OK. I would much rather have a customer grouse about having gotten a refund because we don't support what he wants than grouse about having paid for a product he can't use. The latter is simply bad press, while the former re-affirms that we stand by our products and will do what we can to make sure customers are not disappointed in their purchase. That fosters trust, which is something sorely lacking is most of the business world these days.
OK, it's time for me to step down off the soapbox. Again, I greatly appreciate the support voiced by everyone. All I'm asking for is that the accusations and blame assignment be reserved for the idiots that show up asking for a cracked copy of the product. :-)
Thanks, Rob
At 06:51 AM 1/21/2006, you wrote:
Quote:
harkan wrote:
hang on, you are complaining about paying for the upgrade and yet you are saying that you have been ripping off the company using a pirate version! Quit whinging!
Yeah, I noticed that myself...Not the brightest thing to say on a company sponsored website... [img]./modules/mdforum/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]
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