Adobe Product Support Woes Continue

Adobe,Adobe Support,technical support,product support,adobe premiere,Adobe Flash,flash,user support

Adobe Support Fails Corporate Authenticity

Adobe clients who are furious with their product issues have no method of receiving help. Again and again I’ve seen them write that after weeks of being ignored, they post into the user forums hoping for an escalation.

In software, core compentency must be combined with quality product support, or as these angry customers point out, they’ll go elsewhere. And not only will they leave, they’ll also scorch you online. My previous post about Corporate Authenticity talks about this in detail.

End User Support is NOT a Cost Center

As users become collectively disenfranchised (to steal a term) other options become more attractive. Simply purchasing a maintenance agreement year after year reinforces the level of support that you receive. Product support should be a heavy factor in purchasing software from any vendor.

Simply put, there is no common sense in supporting poor customer service and poor technical support.

How Much Does Adobe Spend | How Does Tech Support Spending Rank?

ASP Online has a Technical Support Cost Ratios survey worth a glance:

Overall, software companies currently spend a little over 8% (median) of their revenues on tech support, almost exactly the number we reported in our 1997 survey. Not surprisingly, several variables impact this ratio.

Small companies typically spend more on support (20% of revenues), in part because their support staffs spend a good deal of time on such non-support tasks as software testing, customer service, documentation, training, and internal MIS functions.

I’m currently researching Adobe’s revenue spending on tech support. Note that the small company ratio is roughly two and a half times what the average spending is.

Update: After reviewing Adobe’s 10-K SEC filing, it turns out their support revenue spending is 3% of the total budget.

Again, Adobe Misses The Cluetrain

The issues we spoke about previously regarding Adobe RoboHelp pale in comparison. This is just pure poor handling and, as cluetrain.org states, these users have a voice.

From Cluetrain.org – Talk is Cheap:

“Customer loyalty” is not a commodity a company owns. Where it exists at all — and the cases in which it does are rare — loyalty to a company is based on respect. And that respect is based on how the company has conducted itself in conversations with the market.

Not conversing, participating, is not an option. If we don’t engage people inside and outside our organization in conversation, someone else will.

Start talking.

Check out this thread on Adobe’s forums. If they take it down, click here for the .pdf of the text. The core related to how the sales promotion wasn’t able to be taken advantage of by a consumer.
cj0nes posts in response:

Let’s recap the situation – try to absorb some of what I’ve written this time – and see if I am still a “whiny jerk”. Adobe’s promotion stated that if I get Premiere Pro 2 before August 28, I am eligible to receive a free CS3 upgrade. It is not unreasonable to assume that this means that Premiere Pro 2 will be available up until August 28.

I emailed with several questions about this, and didn’t receive a reply until 5 WEEKS LATER. The reply did not even answer a single one of my questions.

The first of July passed, and suddenly Premiere 2 became unavailable. Their free upgrade offer also, suddenly, disappeared from their site, even though it is still in effect. Questionable ethical conduct, don’t you think?

Personally, I would have to take the view of either this customer completely fell through the cracks (unacceptable) or he was victim of a bait and switch (also unacceptable). Where is the knowledgable customer support manager?

In a prior life at eHelp, Var Galpchian handled these issues directly – all day long – while I worked there. That’s how they won awards in their product support category. She was the central nexus between Customer Care and Technical Support.

Another thread titled ‘Adobe Support Sucks‘ says it all, this time concerning Adobe Flash. Here’s the .pdf of this thread in case it gets removed.

Am beginning to HATE Adobe!!! Spent 5 hours on the phone today (mostly on hold) – being given BAD information. Tried to get through to a manager to report the situation, was repeatedly put on hold – only to be recycled thru the Help Desk again. Have been a LOYAL ADOBE CUSTOMER for over 15 years, and am currently running CS2 and Studio 8 (Macromedia) on a PC.

Had a Flash Prof. 8 problem and all Adobe Tech Support could recommend was for me to upgrade (again) – which I did in Feb 07. Am totally frustrated…you simply cannot penetrate that wall of incompetence to get thru to anyone who can really help.

The East Indians are nice enough, but I seriously cannot understand what they’re saying half the time, and end up just saying ‘yeah’ to keep the conversation moving along.

It should be noted, that at the time Macromedia was absorbed into Adobe, according to their final SEC 10-K filing, MACR included their stateside employee count:

At March 31, 2005, we had 1,445 full-time employees worldwide with 1,151 of these employees located in the United States.

The user’s Adobe support failure rant continues:

Adobe’s support for LEGITIMATE REGISTERED PAYING CUSTOMERS is worse than Microsoft…and even DELL!!!

Maybe I’ll start doing all my flash work in SwishMax…at least you can reach those people – and they’re in Australia! Absolutely no reason from Adobe to snub their customer base.

There is accountability within the web. For Adobe customers ‘cheezed off’ by the corporation, please first Contact Adobe Support. If your product issue is not resolved, feel free to post away within the Comments section below.