

Screw live chat, I'm calling customer service - neeharc
http://neeharcherabuddi.tumblr.com/post/46010035111/screw-live-chat-im-calling-customer-service

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jawns
Just being a devil's advocate:

"Hi, I bought the VHS tape for this movie, but I don't actually have a VHS
player. Can I get a digital download instead?"

If you purchased a box with a DVD in it, shouldn't you ... have a DVD drive?

Of course, it's in Adobe's interests to give you the digital download anyway,
since you're a loyal customer ... but should you have an _expectation_ that
they provide you with the software in a format other than the format it came
in when you bought it?

~~~
onemorepassword
This is software. You don't buy the DVD, you don't even buy the software.

You buy the license.

The license isn't bound to a delivery format, and in 2013 downloads are the
common delivery formats for anything other than console games. If any party is
being deliberately obtuse, it's Adobe.

~~~
superuser2
But it is bound to a platform.

If you've bought Creative Suite and they've since released a new version, they
won't do a cross-grade, so there's a thousand-dollar plus penalty for
switching from Mac to Windows (or vice versa, though you could run Windows in
a VM).

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pringles

         "I work at a software company and am an engineer by profession
         so i know this is technically possible"
    

I hate it when people say this. Just because you also happen to work for a
completely different company in the same industry, it doesn't give you any
insight whatsoever into how things operate anywhere else.

~~~
seanlinehan
The point he was making is that he knows that it is _possible_ to supply a
digital download link. I think it absolutely does give him the insight into
the range of things that are possible within the industry. Whether or not the
company is _willing_ to provide such a thing is a completely different
question, but _technical possibility_ is what he was attempting to
communicate...

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imjared
Every time I have ever used live chat it has been horribly slow, obviously
outsourced, textbook/flow-chart driven, and almost entirely worthless. I have
spent hours upon hours dealing with people who can not communicate clearly
from Hostgator to Comcast and had almost every experience end in failure.

Similar to the author, when I have called a US-based customer service number
and spoken to a representative, my problems are either resolved almost
immediately or I receive a very clear explanation of what the issue is
(usually at this point it becomes apparent that I've misinterpreted
something).

Another option that can sometimes work well is tweeting the customer service
or brand account. I kind of hate that customer service is being pushed to 140
characters or less but I think the perception of what it means to be "good" at
social media results in companies over-delivering or at least being very
mindful of customer needs. This has been my experience with Comcast.

my live chat example from Comcast:
<https://gist.github.com/jfsiii/4450046#comment-712192>

~~~
bcx
I think you could probably qualify this with the statement that most Fortune
500 companies are more willing to outsource live chat out side of the US
because it's easier for a non native speaker to chat than to talk on the
phone. Outsourced support leaves individual reps with pretty little power, and
worse support for edge cases.

I am not sure what the right solution for this is, but many small-medium
companies without outsourced support teams do quite a good job providing chat
support. (i.e. Bonobos, Joyant, Rackspace, Gilt Group, Trunk Club, etc..)

I guess the real question is more about how do you scale good support when you
grow. Especially when most people see support as a cost center. (Not every CEO
wants to be Zappos)

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azov
I think it has nothing to do with live chat vs phone calls and everything with
incompetent/inconsistent customer service.

I'd personally prefer live chat to phone call any day - at least it gives me a
transcript I can refer to later, quote in emails, etc.

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dredmorbius
And you cannot buy an external DVD drive why?

Granted, Adobe's failure to provide for downloadable installation is pretty
pathetic, but there is a workaround.

~~~
nemothekid
Seems kind of wasteful to buy an external DVD drive that will only likely ever
be used once for this one case.

Is a $60 superdrive really worth more than just hopping on the phone?

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
It won't be used just this once though, there are tons of things still on
DVD/CD. He even mentions in the article he wife needed one to install
Microsoft Word.

Plus a "superdrive" is just an over-priced Apple branded version of a generic
USB DVD-RW/CD caddy. The Apple one is £61, the Samsung one is £25.

Anyone who buys a "superdrive" is a huge sucker.

~~~
jodrellblank
_He even mentions in the article he wife needed one to install Microsoft
Word._

Nope. That was a core of his argument - Microsoft _did_ let her download Word,
taking the DVD license key as evidence, so why wouldn't Adobe do the same?

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hcarvalhoalves
I would just download it from The Pirate Bay and use my license key. :)

~~~
nivla
I wonder the legality of this. Given most pirated softwares come with a patch
that has to manually applied before/after installing. Wouldn't you remain in
the grey area until you apply that patch?

~~~
mdszy
That patch is only applied if you don't have a license key. You just torrent
the software, use your license key and you're done.

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DanBlake
I bought CS4 a while back on adobe.com and I dont have a way to download it
again now (new computer) so I guess its either upgrade to CS6 or go without
it. Really makes me rethink buying shit not in physical form.

~~~
neeharc
You should call their customer service. It's just their live chat you should
avoid.

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jib
Do you guys feel like live chat is a bad support medium? Or just that it is
easier to outsource badly?

I hate phone support, so I'm curious. Phone support is expensive (to run),
costs more time for the customer, and often forces you into a horrible DTMF
IVR or an at best mediocre voice recognition IVR.

Give me web chat any day. Easier authentication, easier info transfer and I
can be on hold in a way less intrusive manner so I don't mind wait times as
much.

To me, unless you're selling me hardware I want you to be a web chat first
support company.

~~~
metajack
I prefer live chat, but more than half the time I've used it, it hasn't worked
for various reasons. Sometimes it's similar to the OP, sometimes they ask you
immediately for a phone number to call you, etc.

It's getting better. It's incredibly frustrating when customer support
personnel aren't empowered to help you regardless of the medium of
communication.

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joeblau
I think this is more of an outsourcing/language barrier problem than a live
chat problem. I had a similar situation calling an outsourced support arm for
US Airways. I called and I just needed to get my voucher applied to a domestic
flight and the guy simply could not figure it out.

What I did figure out though is that if you press the number for
"International" travel, you get someone in the US (Apparently US Airways
thinks International traveler support shouldn't be outsourced). She was able
to apply my voucher in under 5 minutes.

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jiggy2011
I've never had anything other than comically bad customer service from live
chat systems.

I remember trying to renew a domain that was due to expire very shortly (can't
remember the company sorry) and getting a nonsensical error in the renewal
process. It took 10-15 minutes for the chat person to reply each time and the
most conclusive answer I got was "don't know".

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tedchs
If you have another Mac with an optical drive, you can very easily share the
drive over your network: <http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5287> . Or, rip it to
an ISO on another machine and put the ISO (or just its files) on a thumbdrive.

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hardik988
This is aside the point of your blog post, but IMO it is entirely unreasonable
to assume that you'll receive a digital download when you've bought a software
on DVD.

I'm a huge proponent of DRM-free and open software. But think about this: It
just happened to be that you were dealing with Adobe, who have the resources
to make huge digital downloads available. What if the software on your DVD was
made by a small company who can't afford to host multi-gigabyte downloads?
When you bought the DVD, it was with an explicit assumption that you could use
the DVD in a DVD drive.

Finally, yes, customer-service chats suck (except for Amazon - I continue to
be amazed by how awesome their service is), and calling a company up is almost
always more effective.

~~~
neeharc
In today's day and age I think its reasonable. Even when I bought it, I knew I
could download it online and use the same license key. That was an option
until Adobe released the new CS6. Further, this download is still available to
you if you bought the digital download. What I couldn't understand is why they
would not provide the same service to a customer who buys via DVD.

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niggler
Does anyone have info regarding how much it costs to do customer service
inhouse versus using a third party call service versus using a third party
live chat service? I suspect that live chat is far cheaper.

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jzd131
This is exactly why we are building our company SaleMove for sales not
customer service

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Hilyin
Can't you just download the trial version of CS5 and register it with your box
serial?

~~~
neeharc
They don't have the trial version of CS 5 on the website. Only CS 6.

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dirkgently
"I’m somewhat of an Adobe fanboy"

So, there is no such thing as "fan" anymore? As in, if you like something, do
you have to be a "fan _boy_ " or "fan _girl_ "?

Also, nobody understands the difference between "fan" and "fanboy"?

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ErikRogneby
my blood pressure spiked just reading this...

