Uk Retail Box Buyers - Read This

This isn't well publicised; in fact, I went and paid for an upgrade (which took nearly the full 24 hours to be activated/key sent - I haven't used the key due to this new information) because I needed Parallels to work and hadn't found this forum or the information about 10.4.10 - and have been unable to contact Parallels or their store provider since. I can send emails, but I have had NO responses from them.

Anyway.

IF you bought the retail boxed version of Parallels from say, an Apple store, in the UK, it's handled by Avanquest. It's also version 2.2 which will update to 2.5.

HOWEVER.

If you bought after 1st May 2007, you are entitled to a free upgrade to Parallels 3.0. You need to email/fax/post your proof of purchase and a form from the Avanquest website.

Parallels do NOT post this information on their website - at least not anywhere obvious - and will charge you £27.50 to upgrade.

CHECK YOUR RECEIPT. If you know that you bought after May 1st, get the upgrade free, do NOT pay Parallels for it. I've had no progress on being refunded for this and I'm rather annoyed about it, and will probably have to resort to getting my card issuer to chase it up.

And yes. This experience will be going in my published review of the software. I'm very unimpressed with SWSoft. When I had an issue with a PocketPC product bought through Handango that was incompatible with my T-Mobile Ameo, I got an instant refund when I explained the issue.

 

Is this review intended to help SWSoft improve their product or is it intended to damage their reputation? If the latter then you are no friend to this BBS where there is already no shortage of rants and drive-by snark which offer no help with solving problems. This particular drum has been beat to death, in fact. There is nothing new to add except your own "me too". You are encouraged to turn your experience into a positive influence for the benefit of all of us. As "Red Green" says, we're all in this together.

 

It's a magazine review. In a UK market published magazine. Where I will tell readers as part of a review of the iMac (somewhat belated, but Apple PR are notorious, so I'm reviewing the one I bought) and Adobe Creative Suite CS3, that Parallels exists, that it works, and that this is the experience I've had from their customer service (or lack thereof). It is neither intended to harm or help, though I'd be a lot happier if they had given me some sort of response at all.

So, if you're telling me that Parallel's customer service entirely failing to get back to me about an upgrade I paid for when it was available free is "me too", then hey, there's a LOT of people who are due money I guess.

We don't get Red Green in the UK. and whilst I'm not francophonic, I do like bacon.

Don't know what your position is for your "well, that's a helpful thing to do" attitude, but if SWSoft is going to muck their customers around, I think that informing potential customers of it is pretty damn useful.

 

Sounds very much like a "me too" write-up. You might as well start from an informed position if you've not already done so. Google "refund sitearallels.com". Most places don't get Red Green on the telly - it's Canadian, eh. Not quite Benny Hill but damn funny at times.

 

I know it's Canadian. Hence the reference to bacon and francophonic, though you'd probably miss that unless you were an MST3K fan. I've contacted Parallels though almost every imaginable channel with no response; mostly the lack of response from Element5 concerns me as they should be governed by EU selling regulations. Messing about with people's card purchases is always unwise.

 

You and I are not the only ones reading this. I was expanding the topic for the larger audience.

Surely you have evidence they're messing with card purchases as a better explanation than the possible fact that 650,000 people got to them first with purchases, service requests, refund requests, etc., and simply overwhelmed their resources. I expect you do as you seem like a reasonable fellow. I'm interested in reading it.

 

If Parallels are dealing with 650,000 support requests, that doesn't actually explain why Element5 - the firm my contractual obligations are with (Digital River GmbH) haven't responded to a single support ticket as yet. I doubt 650,000 people have this issue.

Regardless, the main point of my post was not to slag off Parallels. It was to draw attention to the upgrade available to Avanquest purchasers as there doesn't appear to be a sticky, or other helpful post, doing so - a search of the forum reveals only a couple of posts in other threads regarding this. Parallels would have fewer issues with people requesting upgrades if localized buyers knew in advance what was available.

 

I would like to say as a UK user in defence of Parallels that I have had nothing but excellent service from them. Firstly, I bought one copy and then realised that I could get a discount if I bought 2 copies together. I spoke to Parallels and they said go ahead and buy 2 and they would give me a full refund on the first. Secondly, I bought in May, I then got an email in June with a free 3.0 upgrade key. OK I had to wait a few days because they were absolutely overwhelmed with demand, which is hardly unsurprising due to the groundbreaking nature of their software.

Tony

Tony

 

I said they were in the queue first for all reasons, not just this issue. Dealing with those volumes can tax any startup, regardless of the individual's specific problem.

That is a friendlier and more helpful position than your earlier not so veiled threats. It may not be so important then for your lawyers to know all this was published on the Parallels website in various locations such as News and the blog where you'd expect to see new and topical information.

 

SWSoft are hardly a startup, and neither are Digital River/Element5. I stand by my comments that a: my contract for the upgrade I erroneously ordered was with Element5 (who have now contacted me), and b: the customer care experience I've had is sub-par.

Users should not need to search forums to find information of this level; there should be a link on the front page saying something along the lines of "Bought Parallels recently? Click here for upgrade information". And Parallels had two weeks at least between my emailing them the first time expressing surprise at there being a paid upgrade with no apparent information for recent purchasers of admittedly "dated" retail box packaging, and my experience now. A simple email saying "Check the forums", or "Check the Avanquest website, as your UK boxed copy is supplied through them" would have avoided this, but instead every email I have sent to Parallels has gone unacknowledged.

I again draw attention to Handango's online store experience, where I expect there is a much greater turnover, and the very prompt contact I had from them - and indeed, Astraware's experience where they ask for feedback after a purchase, and the feedback I'd left got an instant response.

The News section of the Forum contains old posts. In fact, I can find no information about the UK upgrade either with search tools or browsing, apart from responses - no headline threads.

My not-at-all-veiled threat to tell people exactly what my experience with Parallels has been is not a "threat". Are you suggesting my experience hasn't been accurately described? Because I have rather more important things to do that waste time chasing after firms that don't make their upgrade schemes clear.

Fundamentally I think the issue is with the confusion between Parallels, Avanquest and Element5. Too many cooks. People buying hardware from Apple bricks and mortar stores (and maybe online store?) are going to get the boxed, Avanquest edition in the UK, and Parallels-the-website doesn't concern itself with Avanquest - it does talk about Nova, presumably the US distributor, and about online purchases. In the blog. In the blog archive, in fact. The News section doesn't contain this information at all.

 

Tony, I think you were at an advantage by buying online and dealing directly with them. If anyone buys now, they'll get 3.0 anyway - but if they buy the Avanquest retail box still on shelves in the UK, they'll get 2.2, and the upgrade information is not exactly "emblazoned" on the site.

I like that the site offers an upgrade price. How about when the page is clicked, it has an extra line saying "Note: If you bought a boxed copy of Parallels after May 1st, you will be entitled (I hate that word, but it's appropriate I guess) to a free upgrade. Please contact your distributor in the (link to appropriate site) (region)" Wouldn't have been difficult to implement.

I'd feel better if Parallels had provided some response, rather than no response whatsoever.

 

I'm not even in the UK and I found the information long ago. I presume you have some reason to believe SWSoft has thrown its considerable weight behind Parallels and that the small team working out of Renton, Washington is not the entirety of manpower working all aspects of Parallels development, testing, production, shipping, sales, and call center activity? Or did you just assume they have?

If something isn't in the News area perhaps it is because it is no longer news. I see the recent activities at 10 Downing Street have dropped off Google News, to make a point.

And before you go thinking that the UK was singled out for sub-par service you should know that all localized versions of Parallels updates were delayed. However, the May 7 date for free updates applies to all purchasers as was offered on the web site. As for why you were unable to find that information I can't say. I don't see it as a good topic for a printed magazine, it's a bit whiney, truth be known, and dashing off to the EU with hysterical suggestions of the vendor's messing about with card purchases rather seals that view, but perhaps you have an entertaining way of expressing yourself there that doesn't come across here. Good luck with your article.

Nothing to see here, folks - move along, back to your homes.

 

*shrugs* Dashing off to the EU/making the point about EU distance selling regulations are rather different things. I think that quite rightly so, you have absolutely no clue what I do or whom I write for, and for a forum contributor not tagged as on the Parallels team, you're pretty defensive of Parallels

There entirely is something to see here, however, and that is maintaining an easily found thread that DOES point people to the upgrade information that they require. I think that the mods would be well advised to put a sticky up with their own, non-reflecting-bad-customer-experiences, Important Upgrade information for boxed retail customers.

Like I said, my review will be entirely fair. Parallels will get the write up appropriate to the software's abilities - trust me, I don't pay for software, and so if I was prepared to cough up for it instead of going to the Press Office and asking for a review copy, then I found the trial pretty useful and the pricing fair - but I will include a paragraph that clarifies the difference between boxed retail and online purchases, and the lack of response I got from Parallels.

How many clicks do you consider "reasonable" from front page to IMO, fairly important customer information?

Edit: Forgot to address your comments about SWSoft/Parallels. I don't, as a consumer, give a rat's ass what excuses a firm has for not responding to a customer query on an email address published for that purpose for two weeks. I don't care if the CEO is out there manually putting the CDs in the boxes (except they're not, that's Nova's job in the US and Avanquests in the UK). If you are going to offer a commercial product for a commercial price, then you need to factor in support; and with SWSoft as the parent company for the past three years or so, I would expect that if these areas were previously lacking, as a valuable revenue stream for the parent company, support to improve these areas would be provided.

 

Would you like to hear a little story? I don't even use Parallels. I use Fusion from VMWare. However I am a Parallels customer having purchased 3 upgrades. I uninstalled it when I found some significant security issues. They've promised to correct the problems.

As for who you write for - it hardly matters. Same as for who you are. You have no idea who I write for, either, and even if you did I don't see how that would affect you one way or another.

I'm here only as an advocate for the customers and users, but would also like to see the company succeed and get through these startup problems. That is consistant with my first reply in this thread. If I am defensive it is only because I and other volunteers have put a lot of effort into helping users work through problems and I at least really don't care to hear about some whiney mysterious writer who had to actually go down a couple levels on the web page to find what is actually rather esoteric information. Could they have done it better? Certainly. And isn't that the beauty of hindsight. Will it be better next time? It has been the case so far.

There is no evidence that Parallels are doing anything but trying hard to improve all aspects of their business, and with a little time and some useful feedback they can succeed. There is a massive amount of evidence that suggests they badly underestimated the demand for this product and that is understandable given they are the only company that producing software in this arena. Staffing has improved immensely and based on my own observations the backlog is growing smaller. And the fact is they have a lot of happy customers, including me.

If you are a recent joiner to this party you won't have had the opportunity to watch this company struggle with these issues and to have seen the steady improvements along the way. It is a shame that you don't give a rip about certain things because while you are demonstrating legitimate concern for potential purchasers, the rest of us who are already invested in this product would like to see them succeed and to continue to provide improvements and to fulfill the expectation behind our decision to purchase their product. It is unlikely that a single mysterious writer for an unnamed UK magazine is going to result in failure, it does, none the less undo a lot of effort we volunteers have put into the company. So expect push back if you are not part of the solution.

 

You raise some very salient points there. And you're quite right, what I write will have no bearing on the success of the firm, nor would I intend it to "result in failure" - merely making sure that if my readers chose to buy the software, they could have some indication of what level of support may well be available.

The total lack of feedback is of course utterly acceptable for any firm, let alone one acquired by a significantly larger firm nearly three years ago, and it is entirely irrelevant that actually my main problem with regards to the refund isn't Parallels, but Digital River/Element5.

Of course I haven't been paying attention, was totally unaware of Parallels until I bought it, and have no idea what "struggles" (honestly, sticking a link on the homepage around the same area as "Upgrade" information?) the firm has gone through (and the existence of Parallels had no influence on my decision to replace several machines with an Intel iMac).

But your arguments have completely convinced me of one thing.

Damned if I'm giving a column inch to Parallels. I want my upgrades sorted, I wish them the best of luck, but encountering you has made me extremely disinclined to even mention the existence of the application.

See, as a consumer, I don't think "we're all in this together". This is not some evangelical journey of discovery, and you or I (well, I can't speak for you, but buying three upgrades is not exactly stunning) are not in some magical way contributing to Parallels' great quest to, er, have commercial success flogging VM technology to Mac users. This is a support forum, and frankly, if the drum of Parallels' poor customer support has been beaten to death, then that really, genuinely signifies that they need to do something about it. Even if it's a matter of sending out automated responses to info@parallels.com or whatever saying "Sorry, we are experiencing an unexpected number of enquiries at present, please bear with us, we have received your email".

You should go read comp.sys.mac.advocacy. I reckon you'd fit right in there.

 

Ah - we're getting on much better now. Cheers.