Adobe sweepstake!

Currently been on hold to Adobe for over 80 mins and no one has yet answered the phone, anyone want to have a guess as to how long it will be before I get to speak to a human!!??

Nearest guess wins!

Wins what?

104 mins.

Er.... bragging rights?

91 mins and counting!

Mike, try saynoto0870.com - they list a few different numbers.

Decided to hang up after 148 mins, my ear was getting sore.

On a more serious note, this was an activation issue and experiences like these lead people to try alternative routes, could have probably got a cracked version in ten minutes, instead I have a non working legit version after 2 and a half hours!

I never condone piracy, but if this is what to expect, my money goes elsewhere in the future.

Can anyone else top that?

Isa Town Market, Bahrain.

Any software for BD1 (Bahrain Dinar 1) about 1.60

When you ask is it legal, of course sir, is the reply.

It must be...it works very well.....

Hang up and try Scottish Power

Moral issues aside, getting a cracked version may give you more than you expected.

True, cracked software can hide all sorts of nasties. And you do risk a knock at the door when your software decides to phone home without you knowing.

But is Adobe's service any better? It may be legal but shows utter contempt for paying customers, the people who keep it in business. Of course a company has a right to be paid for it's products and to see a return on it's r&d but Adobe service is disgustingly bad. Some of it's design software never gets improved more than an average beta release before the next version is released.

No wonder Adobe is loosing money at the moment, sales of CS4 are down significantly. So much so that Adobe was forced to buy out another company today for £1bn. Only way to sustain growth apparently. Imagine how much improvement they could make by investing half of that in sorting out activation bugs?

The sad thing is, if you had got through to an Adobe service rep they have a reputation for being seriously rude and patronising. Adobe needs to step up it's game or people will jump ship in droves as soon as a viable alternative is available. Just as designers left QuarkXpress for Adobe InDesign a few years ago.

Genuinely agree with the morals.

As far as “True, cracked software can hide all sorts of nasties. And you do risk a knock at the door when your software decides to phone home without you knowing.”.

I have for many years used the free version of Zone Alarm firewall. I NEVER use Windows firewalls. AVG allows you to decide what and what does not “go out” from your PC.

Example. Windows Explorer actually will go out onto the Net. Windows firewall will allow it. So why would this program want outside access? After all, ALL of the files on your PC are visible there.

AVG allows you to deny access as well as any other programs that you do not want to “phone home”.

If you right click on a photo in Windows Explorer and choose “send to-mail recipient” AVG will ask permission for Explorer to access the “safe zone” this is OK as your email program “Outlook Express” will already have permission to access the Net.

A lot of your data is visible to others if you use the Windows Firewall…..

Regards

George Orwell.
:

Sorted out this morning, but what an experience!

Obviously non-english, would not listen to me and to cut a long story short, it took 20 mins of arguing just for him to say, 'oh, you need to press the next button'

My previous experience was no better as that ended up taking 5 weeks to do an upgrade, absolutley pathetic.

I really really do hope that I never have to call them again.

Looking forward to what Aperture 3 might bring!

I suspect these third-world call-centres aren't as cost-effective as the people who commission them think.

The language barrier not only leads to misunderstandings, but also unnecessary delays when the person at the other end hasn't heard of Manchester, or wherever, and you have to spell every word of an address.

My bank uses people in Scotland to man the telephone banking system, and whilst I don't always see eye to eye with them on other parts of their service, the quality of their staff makes the idea of changing banks distinctly unattractive.

G

Like I said, rude, patronising. Unfortunately I was correct.

Absolutely George. This kind of cost-cutting looks great on paper and even seems to work. What they don't realise it that it seriously affects the front-line sales - bad will, brand damage, choosing alternative products.

If these idiots would start looking at their businesses holistically rather than separate "profit-centres" (sic) we may get a better service and they may make more money.

Don't think it was third world either, sure it was somewhere like the Netherlands.

It's not so much the language barrier, but a culture one. As George says if they haven't heard of say Manchester, or other things such as names it makes life extremely difficult.

Strange how you do not seem to encounter as many problems on the sales lines!

Problem with CS3????

Installation of CS3 sucked, such that a lot of people were fed up with Adobe.....

A whole raft of new features on each new version is so poorly developed that Adobe gets used to users to do their QC for them....only in the next version is that feature working properly.

But it's the installation that got to a lot of people, reminding them of old times when you had to use floppies