Is Parallels taking its' users for granted?

ryanplusplus said:
Has anyone gotten anything useful out of their 'support' emails? I received a response and the ticket was closed right away. The response was a complete blow off email.
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Same case. No response whatsoever. I've already got some 7 other friends monitoring this. If there's nothing by this friday, we're all collectively sinking our money in to VMWare, AND warning people off Parallels. And since 2 of them are in the retail business, taking Parallels off the shelf + warning potential customers/switchers about the bad service is an easy thing to do.

Good luck Parallels, but while you're first to market a virtualization solution for Windows, you're also the first to blow your customers away big time.

I've already contacted VMWare, and they will extend the switchers' benefits to my group of friends and I.
 
Looks like they've done the expected thing - to delete and hide customer complaints.

That's it. It's Friday where I am, and we're leaving. Seven plus many other could-have-been-potential customers are removing of Parallels from computers and store shelves plus spreading the word the company's only after their own customers' money.
 
Technical support finally told me to email customer support, but it's been almost 3 days with no response from them.

John, can you help me contact someone?
 
firesong said:
Looks like they've done the expected thing - to delete and hide customer complaints.

That's it. It's Friday where I am, and we're leaving. Seven plus many other could-have-been-potential customers are removing of Parallels from computers and store shelves plus spreading the word the company's only after their own customers' money.
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Umm, what posts have been deleted?
 
bi11 said:
Umm, what posts have been deleted?
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A couple of them in the linked Linux thread. I don't have screenies, but I'm sure I saw them - as did many of the other Linux users.

I've already moved on to VMWare, so my participation in here is going to be very much minimised, unless something happens to the management of Parallels.

Oh, and the management of a store my friend worked at has seen this thread (and the Linux and Beta testers threads) and they have concluded that Parallels is not worth customers' money. There're printouts of the threads and tables stating the upgrade+promises practises of both VMWare and Parallels, and already word is spreading amongst new (and old) mac users about how Parallels is indeed taking their customers for granted and fleecing them for money.
 
Customer support is ignoring me

As instructed by technical support, I have forwarded my concerns to customer support. It has been six days so far and I have not received a response. John, can you please see that I get some help on this matter?
 
I am still waiting for a response from their support. The ticket status keeps changing but I still haven't see any effort to resolve this, nor have I received a refund as I requested since they can't deliver on their promises for PD3.
 
There are many people out there who don't mind paying for a quality product of premium value and the support behind it.

Since you cited the economy trouble across the globe, we think our customers deserve more during times like this. Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac includes value-added bonus software (Parallels Internet Security, Acronis True Image Home, and Acronis Disk Director Suite) that’s worth $175 in additional value, which itself more than covers the cost of upgrading.

To top that, Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac has over 50+ new features and enhancements including improved performance that makes the purchase worth the while. You probably know from our past record that build updates were provided for Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac at no charge. Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac does more now as a program than it did upon release, the reasons are in the consistent build updates that goes into the product. Product aside, we also provide free e-mail support (within 24 hour response time) and online knowledge database support, something our closest competitors do not provide to their customers.

Parallels continuously strives to provide its customers with products of the highest quality, premium value, and innovations. We are committed to delivering the best user experience, which is why we stand behind our products.

Lastly, in regards to the Linux thread. It was locked because the discussion had strayed a long way off from the topic. This thread, on the other hand, will remain open for the time being so the Parallels community can voice their feedback, granted this post clears up any misconceptions about Parallel's position as a company in relation to Desktop 4.0 for Mac. If there are further concerns, please address them here instead of posting in issue-related threads so we can keep this message board useful for technical support purposes.
 
Leto, how do you respond to the features promised on the press release page about Vista Aero (and thus DX9) for PD3 that never materialized?
 
Leto said:
There are many people out there who don't mind paying for a quality product of premium value and the support behind it.

Since you cited the economy trouble across the globe, we think our customers deserve more during times like this. Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac includes value-added bonus software (Parallels Internet Security, Acronis True Image Home, and Acronis Disk Director Suite) that’s worth $175 in additional value, which itself more than covers the cost of upgrading.
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That's assuming that your customers buy Parallels Desktop 4.0 to use with Windows-based operating systems, and then only if they don't already have or require the included software. Some people may exclusively be using a Windows Server operating system or Linux/Unix based systems instead. The inclusion of the software is a mere nicety. Personally I'd rather select my own software for the task to be quite honest. You also don't mention how much it costs to renew the Kaspersky Internet Security suite - any link takes you to a holding page.

But I will say this - the inclusion of the branded Kaspersky's Internet Security is a considerable improvement over VMware Fusion's McAfee security suite which is (a) dog slow and (b) a resource monster.

Leto said:
To top that, Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac has over 50+ new features and enhancements including improved performance that makes the purchase worth the while. You probably know from our past record that build updates were provided for Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac at no charge. Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac does more now as a program than it did upon release, the reasons are in the consistent build updates that goes into the product. Product aside, we also provide free e-mail support (within 24 hour response time) and online knowledge database support, something our closest competitors do not provide to their customers.
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Yes, but even with the newest build I've still been unable to view DRM protected videos with Parallels and there has been much back and forth discussion with the support team over this. If I had merely been using the trial, it'd have expired by now, but as it is I paid for the upgrade and am now awaiting a refund from Element 5 as I cannot spend any more time trying to resolve this issue.

Leto said:
Parallels continuously strives to provide its customers with products of the highest quality, premium value, and innovations. We are committed to delivering the best user experience, which is why we stand behind our products.
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Perhaps, but you've also got to be a lot more careful about what is said on these forums about the inclusion of features into future builds. As I've said many times before, there have been statements made here that said that 64-bit and multi-core support would be included as a free upgrade within the 3.x series.

I have absolutely no qualms about paying for upgrades, but a clearer definition of what is happening needs to be addressed. And I am disapointed that I never received notification about the beta program - the only inkling that I had about that was when I logged into my Parallels account to download the trial version of 4.0 and found all the previous beta and RC builds. No email was ever received about the availability of these versions.

I like what you guys do, but the communication and timing thing seriously needs improvement in my humble opinion.

M.
 
ryanplusplus said:
Leto, how do you respond to the features promised on the press release page about Vista Aero (and thus DX9) for PD3 that never materialized?
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The press release for Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac can be found HERE in our archives, but it doesn't mention Vista Aero. Every feature mentioned in that press release was present in the Desktop 3.0 for Mac product.
 
movielad said:
Yes, but even with the newest build I've still been unable to view DRM protected videos with Parallels and there has been much back and forth discussion with the support team over this. If I had merely been using the trial, it'd have expired by now, but as it is I paid for the upgrade and am now awaiting a refund from Element 5 as I cannot spend any more time trying to resolve this issue.
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Thanks for the reply.

I've noticed you have mentioned this is a few different places but I don't see a specific thread posted for it. I may be wrong and simply overlooking it. If not, then how have you communicated with customer support so far about the issue with DRM protected videos?
 
Movielad, I am able to play DRM protected videos in Full Screen Mode and Windows mode. However, I cannot play them in Coherence mode. This was pointed out during the beta version, and I believe Parallels developers have this on their fix list.

I am using Windows XP, Imac 4.0 gb.
I do not know what works or does not work in Vista.

Regards.
 
General,

I already did this with John.

I submitted a report on November 11th, ticket #611487 as advised by John. On November 17th I was told in response that technical support could not help me and that I should email them. I emailed customer support on November 17th and November 23rd and have not received a response. I then emailed the last person that I was in contact with in technical support over ticket #611487 on the morning of November 23rd and was assured that my request would be forwarded to sales. I have still not received any response from sales or customer support.

At this point I don't expect an email response and if there is a number that I can call, I would much rather make a phone call instead of being dodged and jerked around for another two weeks.

Is there anything you can do to help me?
 
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What can I say?

I have been a very vocal critic of Parallels lately, mostly in their handling of Parallels Desktop for Mac, and the lack of handling Parallels Workstation. It took some loud complaining and many days waiting, but I finally got with someone in their customer service department and we were able to resolve my issues with Parallels Desktop. Hopefully they'll still get around to updating Parallels Workstation because it did have nice potential. I especially liked its user interface. For now I'll just have to stick to other programs for hosting virtual machines on my Windows and Linux boxes though.

Bottom line, I have to give them credit for resolving my Parallels Desktop dilemma.
 
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