Disappointed in Tech Support

When the 3060 Beta came out, I installed it, and somehow messed up my system.. I followed all the directions, including installing the boot camp tools. However, when trying to use Parallels to get to boot camp, everything crashed. It crashed so bad, I can no longer run Parallels, even after uninstalling, reinstalling, searching and destroying every file related to Parallels in the preferences folders, resetting the n and pram, etc, etc. I even tried writing to tech support, and sent the error messages that were generated. It seems that now, any build of Parallels will cause some kind of kernal fault. All geek to me. I even PAID for tech support over the phone, expecting someone knowledgeable about OSX and Parallels would be able to help me. The person I spoke to just had me do the same old uninstall and reinstall to no avail. He said he couldn't help any further, but some one would follow up, but he wasn't specific. Only a couple of follow up emails, but no advice other than uninstall and reinstall. This is discouraging, as now I can't use the product I bought, and got nowhere for my money on tech support.
Mike Tichon

 

I've had the same experience with email support...

They're useless. In over two months now, I've not been able to install Vista on Parallels. They give me things to try, none of them work and they wait about two weeks between responses AND will only respond if I email multiple times in a "less than happy" tone. At this point, they just don't respond at all. I've almost given up are ready to demand my money back since it's clear they're not interested in supporting the product. Anyone have any last minute suggestions?

 

At least you did get a response to your e-mails, I never received any responses to several of mine. I have uninstalled my copy of paralles desktop and am reluctant to reinstall, chalk it up to experience. This forum is great in trying to help new users.

 

If you browse thru this message board, there are messages that give the instructions for installing VIsta. It is not intuitive, and you need the help. That help is here, and I tried it, and it worked.
Mike Tichon

 

This is exactly why that I don't mess around with betas anymore now I know Parallels puts the final release on the updating feature in their program.

Betas are full of bugs! People get frustrated reporting their problems. Thus Parallels gets overwhelmed with problems. Thus Parallels can't respond. Thus people even get more mad. Blah blah blah YUCK!

Although I will say this, to this bystander it seems that the beta 3036 is more buggier than the betas that I've seen so far. Which is a little bit worrisome to me. Because I'm really waiting for 3.0. HOPEFULLY you have USB 2.0, the ability to burn CDs in your VM and 3D capability.

If Andrew @ Parallels says that this buid is a minor upgrade. Can you imagine what the betas are going be like in 3.0? Well all we can do is to wish Parallels the best.

 

True, but

I know using a beta is a risk, but, I paid for tech support, and to be left dangling with no satisfactory response is not acceptable. I expected someone with knowledge of OSX to help pinpoint where the problem lies. Especially, since I sent the error report with all the crash data, as well as the crash log. All greek to me, so I can't really decipher it.
Mike Tichon

 

You "paid for tech support" yes---but not for the beta release. Using a beta is a whole 'nother animal. Those of us who use a beta know we're giving up some of the support benefits in exchange for a taste of the bleeding edge.

That said I think it's fair to say that this beta has proven to be disappointingly buggy for all concerned. I've suffered that embarrassment myself when issuing a software update. It seems clear to me that Parallels was caught off guard by this one; apparently their internal testing methodology doesn't do a good job of sampling real-world experience. Otherwise the multiple activation issue, for example, would not have been a surprise.

 

Agreed on both parts. I think there should be good support for 1970, but 3036 is a crap shoot.

As for the boot camp issues, I suspect Parallels has just been using a volume licensed version of XP, and had no clue that the VL version is different in licensing respects from a retail copy. I am not at all sure what they can do to get around the issue and I think they are quite stimied by the entire problem.

 

I sympathize with you Mike I really do.

However betas aren't really good and apparently this beta is even worse unfortunately. The unfortunate thing is that Parallels is a small company. When they get overworked by problems they either respond to everybody's problems by talking to them or they try to actually fix the problems in their product.

You know what Parallels ought to do? Is to somehow to make their latest final release work with their new betas. If people choose to run both of the final release AND test the new betas on the computer. That way people can test the betas and report bugs etc. HOWEVER they could go back to the reliable final release and do what they do. This way the problems wouldn't be so urgent because you have a final release on your computer too and not just the beta.

Heck, that way I'll be more than happy to test the betas out too.

 

The strange thing is I'm not having one single problem with the beta. I can see where the coherance needs to be fine tuned but it is working and for the last 3 days I've run Parallels in coherance mode all day long at work with no issues. So far no crashes.

I did do a full system backup before I installed the beta but frankly for me it is very stable. Now I'm still using the standard disk based VM. I haven't tried to connect to a bootcamp partition or anything strange. Just running the beta exactly as I ran 1970 and it is fine.

M

 

Maybe I didn't make it clear. I can't even install 1970. It's icon blinks on and off and goes away with an error message that the program closed unexpectedly. The error report says something about an access error. I was really asking for support on getting 1970 running again. There is a stray bit of code somewhere. Even when I uninstall and clean everything out that I know of. I just wanted some advice on where else to look, or what to reinstall from OSX to cure a corruption. Otherwise, I am well aware of the horrors of a bad beta. I've seen a few in my day. I will say that 3060, especially the coherence mode, is really cool!
Mike Tichon

 

Mike, if you're having problems with the release version, and the tech support folks aren't being helpful, then yes you have entirely valid and reasonable complaint.

 

Yes, I totally agree with this.

 

Good News!

Some thing I did fixed the problem. One tip. If you uninstall things, make sure to empty the trash, as I had kept stuff in there and maybe it was still affecting the system.
Also, Tech Support is still emailing me with questions, so, they may be under water as others have suggested.
Now, I hope I can find my key, otherwise, I will donate to the cause and buy another one.
Mike Tichon

 

I have had the same experience with parallels tech support. It sucks. I'd like to to use the forum, but it is completely opaque to a new user. I am a PC convert with 15 years experience (though not a geek by any means) and I can't even figure out how to post a new message and then how to look for a reply. I have just downloaded the installer for new update to Parallels (Parallells 1970) and can't find any installation instructions. My old version runs winxp pretty well (except for my scanner) so I'm reluctant to fix it if it ain't broke, since I know I'll be left for dead if things go wrong.

Knowing how to use The Forum would be a big comfort. Please help if you can.
sf

 

.
Well, I for one, can understand the Parallels position.

Look at Mike there, complaining about support in multiple posts, with the root cause of his woes being a lack of OS X knowledge. Nothing to do with Parallels, but he was going to bag them anyway. And they weren't doing enough to figure out his problem, which was really his lack of OS knowledge.

From the view point of a non mac person, it appears that, no reading before complaining, is very common practice amongst mac users.
.

 

Simple Farmer, I am not sure what you are having a problem with regarding the forum here, as you were able to post to my thread. I can try to recreate how I started this thread and come back with more info. As to tracking messages and replies, I just check in everyonce and a while to see what's up.
Mike

 

Simple Farmer, to post a new thread, the option is there once you enter the area for a particular product like parallels for the Mac. THere is a new thread button. Also, there is a button to chose new posts which seems to list all new posts on the forum in the area you are interested in. I hope this helps.
Mike TIchon

 

Simple Farmer, to post a new thread, the option is there once you enter the area for a particular product like parallels for the Mac. THere is a new thread button. Also, there is a button to chose new posts which seems to list all new posts on the forum in the area you are interested in. I hope this helps.
Mike TIchon

 

when posting demonstratively vituperative notice, do not refuse to withdraw.
For the first and last time I'm quoting it instead of you.

"Hello Robert, I remembered after the last email that I had
uninstalled Parallels and not re-installed it. I reinstalled it and
ran the command that you wanted me to run and here is the result:

Last login: Mon Dec 11 05:50:28 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
administrators-computer-8:~ mtichon1$ ls /Library/Receipts/ |grep
Parallels
Parallels-Desktop.pkg
administrators-computer-8:~ mtichon1$


Now, the interesting thing is that I tried to run Parallels again,
and, surprise! It worked like it is supposed to work!. The only thing
I can think of that is different this time is that I had several
uninstalls and reinstalls. I had gone and downloaded the program
again, and I had kept the dmg files in the Trash, also with some
preference files, etc that I had found. I also had looked at various
cache files, but, I am not sure that I had done anything with them,
as I didn't understand what they did. Suffice it to say that I did
remove anything I found that was identified as a Parallels file.
Now, my problem is finding my owner's key so I can use the program."