Parallels Support - is it really that bad?

B

bgraff

Junior Member
Is customer support from Parallels really as bad as what I am experiencing? I recently purchased Parallels Desktop for Mac and Compressor, have had issues with both, attempted to make contact with Parallels three times, and have heard nothing from them. I have been able to sort out most of the problems with the Desktop for Mac application, but Compressor has not run from day one. Has anyone had the same problem with support from Parallels as me, or can someone who has successfully made contact give me some pointers?

If my peers on the Parallels forum can not help, maybe I can start putting posts like this on all the Mac forums, would be great for Parallels’ business.


Thank you and kind regards,



Brandon
:confused:
 
.
By the sound of it, you ran to support at the first sign of something you didn't recognise. Since then, you have actually taken the time to better understand the product, and as a result, you have solved most of your problems, by yourself.

Plenty of other people have made compressor work, and you should be able to as well.
.
 
In one instance, I did jump the gun in contacting support, and was able to sort out a problem via the forums, but two other questions, which, I can not find answered on the forums, have not been addressed. I can not figure out why compressor will not run. I am running what I would call a very common installation, which means there are no unusual programs running on my machine. The forums are great, and there are a lot of knowledgeable people online. But I do marketing for a large technology company, and we too have forums. Forums are a tool for customers to interact with other customers, they are not meant to be a means to relieve the company of their responsibility to support customers. Customers pay for these products, and they deserve a response from support if that is what they want. My VM continues to get larger and large, especially when I try to run Compressor and it does not work, and eventually, I am going to run out of hard drive space. In the grand scheme of Parallels, seems to be an important issue. Many companies have created wonderful products and failed because they did not support customers, and many companies have created crap products and succeeded because they did support customers. Just my feeling on the topic.
 
bgraff said:
In o
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My VM continues to get larger and large, especially when I try to run Compressor and it does not work, and eventually, I am going to run out of hard drive space.
Click to expand...

where have you posted the facts?

if you are running hthe beta then report it as a bug

on the mac the compressor is automatic
i use a fixed size 7 gb had disk 3 gb empty

Hugh W
 
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The facts regarding my Compressors issues have been emailed directly to Parallels support, I stop posting questions to the forums after the first two went unanswered. Everything I read on the forums indicates that compression is not automatic, and there are a number of other users have issues similar to mine. In addition, if compression is automatic, why is Parallels selling a compression program for the Mac? The instructions that accompany the software specifically say to run the compression software periodically, so I am not getting how this can be automatic, what am I missing?
 
bgraff said:
The facts regarding my Compressors issues have been emailed directly to Parallels support, I stop posting questions to the forums after the first two went unanswered. Everything I read on the forums indicates that compression is not automatic, and there are a number of other users have issues similar to mine. In addition, if compression is automatic, why is Parallels selling a compression program for the Mac? The instructions that accompany the software specifically say to run the compression software periodically, so I am not getting how this can be automatic, what am I missing?
Click to expand...


read the specifications of the Mac package

and of the compressor

preferably before you buy

Hugh W
 
Hugh Watkins said:
read the specifications of the Mac package

and of the compressor

preferably before you buy

Hugh W
Click to expand...
So, you are suggesting that the Compressor product for Mac that Parallels is selling is really not necissary because the process is embedded in the Mac system?
 
bgraff said:
So, you are suggesting that the Compressor product for Mac that Parallels is selling is really not necissary because the process is embedded in the Mac system?
Click to expand...

Quoting Parallels website about Parallels Compressor Workstation:

Optimized for desktop versions of Windows
Parallels Compressor is specifically designed to work with desktop versions of Windows, including Windows XP Professional and Home Editions SP2, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition SP1 and Windows 2000 Professional
​

Where did you find a Parallels Compressor product for Mac?
There is one version for Windows and one for Linux.
I see no Mac version.
 
in Parallels desktop for Mac
menu >> Actions >> Run Parallels Compressor

and in help
Hugh W

Requirements for the Guest Operating System

To run Parallels Compressor your virtual machine should have one of the following guest operating systems installed:

* Windows Vista
* Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition SP0, SP1
* Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP0, SP1
* Windows Server 2003 Web Edition SP0, SP1
* Windows Server 2003 Small Business Edition SP0, SP1
* Windows XP Professional Edition SP2
* Windows XP Home Edition SP2
* Windows 2000 Professional SP4
* Windows 2000 Server SP4
* Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4

In other guest operating systems we recommend using the Disk Compacting Tool.
file:///Library/Parallels/Help/13577.htm
 
POOR customer service

i started a month ago sending emails requesting help, after 7 emails and no response, i figured i'd drop the $28 bucks to talk with someone in person. no luck there either.

it's been a week, 6 phone messages, no return call or return email, and no live voices, only an automated system that allows me to leave yet another message...

has anyone been able to get support from this group?

bye the way, regardless of how easy the fix may be, it's no excuse for not responding to customers. especially if (as in my case) i dropped the extra cash for the live voice.

frustrated,
asg
 
Olivier said:
Quoting Parallels website about Parallels Compressor Workstation:

Optimized for desktop versions of Windows
Parallels Compressor is specifically designed to work with desktop versions of Windows, including Windows XP Professional and Home Editions SP2, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition SP1 and Windows 2000 Professional
​

Where did you find a Parallels Compressor product for Mac?
There is one version for Windows and one for Linux.
I see no Mac version.
Click to expand...
I purchased Parallels Compressor right off the home page when I purchased Parallels desktop for Mac. The home page says, "Parallels Compressor is a robust virtual hard disk management tool that helps users to significantly reduce the virtual disk size of any Windows 2000, 2003 or XP virtual machine!" I keyed on the word, "any," which if the description was accurate, would include Macs. I am a novice to the Mac and VM world, and I assummed that the Compressor ran inside the Windows VM.

Given the other responses I have seen from users, and the complete lack of response from Parallels, this looks more like a hobby than a production product.
 
Brandon-

Uh, maybe you could have read this thread-

http://forum.parallels.com/thread2980.html

It appeared in June. Your thread is 6 months later. Also, in the initial Desktop program startup, check out-

Parallels Desktop -> Help -> Parallels Desktop Help -> Using Parallels Compressor

Some good clues there too.

Might want to give the folks at Parallels some slack for being on the cutting edge OR use Virtual PC for real satisfaction.

DaveB
 
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