PAID Technical Support: DON'T DO IT

C

cck85234

Bit poster
I am a very angry Parallels user. Many betas ago Parallels began issuing me script error messages everytime I tried to download licenses for my paid online web audio and video content that is protected with Windows DRM encryption.

After getting absolutely no responses to my multiple emails to Parallels regarding my problem I decided to pay these idiots for their phone-based technical support.

The person who finally answered the phone had a Russian accent so thick I could barely understand him and I had to ask him to repeat his statements over and over. How many times do I have to say that I am running Windows XP???????? How many?????? The guy was in over his head and should never have been assigned the responsibility to handle technical service.

Needless to say, he couldn't address my problem. (By the way, I am an advanced user of Mac OS X and I know my way around a computer; I deleted my virtual machine, reinstalled Parallels, reinstalled Windows, etc.. etc.. etc... I still have this same problem with Digital Rights Management content and Parallels.)

I finally get an email from this Russian fellow who told me:

"Our engineers explain me that it isn't Parallels problem. Also if you
have Windows Vista then you have problems with DRM-content because this
OS has powerful protection against DRM-content. In this case please read
Windows Vista agreement more attentively."

Wait a second, didn't I tell this guy 14 times already that I am NOT USING VISTA!!!! I AM USING XP!!! And, just one more tidbit of info for the Parallels Engineering team: Windows INVENTED DRM!!!!! How can they have a problem with themselves???!!!! But forget this point anyway because I AM NOT USING VISTA!!!!!

My numerous requests for a refund of my $29.99 fee for their useless technical assistance have been ignored.

Parallels software is interesting and mostly works without issue, but I am furious with their ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE customer service and technical support and for that I recommend that people avoid paying them money for a product that they cannot deliver.

Chris in Phoenix
 
Sorry to hear about that Chris... Many many of us agree that Parallels really sucks on the support end of things. There are a few that frequent the forums with good information but not nearly enough.

Hope you get it resolved.

Mark
 
What the hell does Parallels have to do with Microsoft's DRM not working? That's absurd. Much like the claim that Microsoft invented DRM. News flash, they didn't.

I think it's stupid that they charged you for something that isn't even their business to support, and they should refund you, but I also think it's stupid that you seem to think Parallels is supposed to provide support for a Microsoft product... You should have contacted someone in the Microsoft media department, not Parallels.
 
cck85234 said:
The person who finally answered the phone had a Russian accent so thick I could barely understand him and I had to ask him to repeat his statements over and over. How many times do I have to say that I am running Windows XP???????? How many?????? The guy was in over his head and should never have been assigned the responsibility to handle technical service.

"Our engineers explain me that it isn't Parallels problem. Also if you
have Windows Vista then you have problems with DRM-content because this
OS has powerful protection against DRM-content. In this case please read
Windows Vista agreement more attentively."

Chris in Phoenix
Click to expand...

First: Parallels is a RUSSIAN company! I hope they speak Russian!
How do you think they feel each time they call Microsoft and someone with an ENGLISH accent THEY cannot understand talks to them.

Second: They said Parallels IS NOT THE PROBLEM! Maybe you are the one that needs English lessons! They also said IF you are using VISTA! IF!!! Get it? Maybe a course in English Comprhension is also required!

As for wasted money, as the other gentlemen said, dispute the charge and get you money back - and with it maybe a CD course on English 101!

ajm
 
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I don't do ANY paid technical support

let alone Parallels

after 10 years on usenet
and now google
I find all I need for free

Hugh W
 
Thalagyrt said:
What the hell does Parallels have to do with Microsoft's DRM not working? That's absurd. Much like the claim that Microsoft invented DRM. News flash, they didn't.

I think it's stupid that they charged you for something that isn't even their business to support, and they should refund you, but I also think it's stupid that you seem to think Parallels is supposed to provide support for a Microsoft product... You should have contacted someone in the Microsoft media department, not Parallels.
Click to expand...
Parallels is indeed responsible for this DRM issue. The software emulation does not properly handle the inbound receipt of the DRM license via Internet Explorer script. I have captured all of this information for Parallels (screenshots, etc.) but the technical assistance people seem completely lost when I approach them with so much data. The poor tech assist guy seemed at a loss for english words because my problem wasn't documented in their help software.
 
Being able to communicate with your customers is a basic requirement

nycruza said:
First: Parallels is a RUSSIAN company! I hope they speak Russian!
Click to expand...

They clearly state that they are providing support only in English. Therefore, whoever is doing the support needs to speak English clearly enough that they can be understood by their customers. Especially for $30/question.

nycruza said:
How do you think they feel each time they call Microsoft and someone with an ENGLISH accent THEY cannot understand talks to them.
Click to expand...

Non sequitur. A better question would be "How would they feel if Microsoft was offering $30 per incident tech support IN RUSSIAN and they called up and the person's English accent was so thick (or their Russian so poor) that they could not be understood?"

If you want to rail against the dominance of the English language over the rest of the world, that's fine, but let's not confuse your anger with the issue here, which is: if you offer to help me IN ENGLISH for $30, you need to be able to communicate effectively in English.

nycruza said:
Second: They said Parallels IS NOT THE PROBLEM! Maybe you are the one that needs English lessons! They also said IF you are using VISTA! IF!!! Get it? Maybe a course in English Comprhension is also required!
Click to expand...

What you are failing to "get" is that he had clearly and repeatedly told them that he was NOT using Vista, and so their giving him back any answer which says "If you are using Vista" indicates they are simply not paying attention.

Let's look at what the OP said that the email told him:

"Our engineers explain me that it isn't Parallels problem.

Also if you have Windows Vista then you have problems with DRM-content because this
OS has powerful protection against DRM-content.

In this case please read Windows Vista agreement more attentively."
Click to expand...

a) They say that it isn't a problem, but give no explanation as to how they reached this conclusion. What told them that the problem isn't Parallels? If they can tell so conclusively what do they believe the problem to be?

b) He then spends the next two sentences taking about Vista, which he has already told them, repeatedly, that he is not using.

So the answer that he paid $30 to get is "It's not our problem" and the subtext is "We haven't really been paying that much attention."

Perhaps a course in Sympathy 101 would help you understand how frustrating this might be. Would you have just accepted their answer that "It's not Parallels fault"? I would have wanted more of an explanation.
 
nycruza said:
First: Parallels is a RUSSIAN company! I hope they speak Russian!
How do you think they feel each time they call Microsoft and someone with an ENGLISH accent THEY cannot understand talks to them.

Second: They said Parallels IS NOT THE PROBLEM! Maybe you are the one that needs English lessons! They also said IF you are using VISTA! IF!!! Get it? Maybe a course in English Comprhension is also required!

As for wasted money, as the other gentlemen said, dispute the charge and get you money back - and with it maybe a CD course on English 101!

ajm
Click to expand...
Dear Senior Member,

Your snide response to my post is absolutely absurd. People likie you should stay off these message boards. There is no problem with my English. They should have never asked me about Vista if they had been able to read the information they gathered about my system/problem.

Parallels' emulation is indeed the problem with the Microsoft DRM management. If you had taken the time to read the rest of my post you would have seen just how bad their tech help really is: the tech assist person stated that Microsoft has powerful protection against DRM!!!! Wow. Even MICROSOFT can't be so dumb to do something like that!

Do you speak English? You must work for Parallels, eh???
 
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I have learned that frankly there is no tech support for Parallels. I also had issues when I called and got a fellow with an Indian accent so thick I could not understand what he was saying. Afterwards he simply told me to call Microsoft. The lack of tech support for Parallels is a given and the only help you will get is from people here at the forum
 
i dunno why these threads about parallels support keep coming up over and over.. we all know how bad they are.. a simple search of these forums should help you work out if you want to spend $30 or not.

Treat parallels like open source, the support is provided by the community, not the developer. In time, I expect they will address this issue, until then, maybe we should be pulling together to help each other, rather than cutting each other to shreds.

If the product has one failing, it has a few, but its also a very young product.. vmware has the advantage of being around a heck of a lot longer.... theyve probably run into these issues and know what to plan for, but that doesnt mean they will produce a better mac product.

We all had the opportunity to trial the product and if you chose to buy it, then it must have passed your own criteria. Lets face it, when a problem arises, Parallels arent going to write a patch for your personal issue, they'll be prioritising the issues they receive and working on them, as they have done in the past..otherwise we'd be having a release every day!
 
darkone said:
i dunno why these threads about parallels support keep coming up over and over.. we all know how bad they are.. a simple search of these forums should help you work out if you want to spend $30 or not.

Treat parallels like open source, the support is provided by the community, not the developer. In time, I expect they will address this issue, until then, maybe we should be pulling together to help each other, rather than cutting each other to shreds.

If the product has one failing, it has a few, but its also a very young product.. vmware has the advantage of being around a heck of a lot longer.... theyve probably run into these issues and know what to plan for, but that doesnt mean they will produce a better mac product.

We all had the opportunity to trial the product and if you chose to buy it, then it must have passed your own criteria. Lets face it, when a problem arises, Parallels arent going to write a patch for your personal issue, they'll be prioritising the issues they receive and working on them, as they have done in the past..otherwise we'd be having a release every day!
Click to expand...
Thank you for your comments. The reason I posted my problem was to 1) further vocalize the poor support for an expensive product with expensive pay-per-use technical support, and also 2) to publicly ask for help about a problem with DRM that did not exist in earlier versions of this software.

I would like for all future posts to this thread be with technical pointers to help resolve my, as well as other users', DRM issues. Nothing is gained by barking at one another.

Is anyone successfully using the latest version of Parallels with a DRM managed content site?

Chris

P.S. I do have to say this: THANK YOU Parallels for finally fixing the USB issues. My Blackberry now works PERFECTLY.
 
nycruza said:
First: Parallels is a RUSSIAN company! I hope they speak Russian!
How do you think they feel each time they call Microsoft and someone with an ENGLISH accent THEY cannot understand talks to them.
Click to expand...

Parallels is not a Russian company - they are here in Washington State, and although it seems at times as if this is a socialist political state (well, because it is) we are not yet a Russian state. Parallels is owned by SWSoft and that does have Russian roots. Like all modern companies, Parallels' telephone support may or may not be in the US. The correct response to language problems is to politely express your inability to converse well and to request help from a different support person, possibly one from your own timezone and with strong skills in your language.
 
dkp said:
Parallels is not a Russian company - they are here in Washington State,
Click to expand...

It would appear their front offices are in WA, but that the entire development team and support staff are in Russia. Have you been to their offices? Any clue as to how many people actually work at the WA office? (no sarcasm intended, legitimate questions)
 
cck85234 said:
Thank you for your comments. The reason I posted my problem was to 1) further vocalize the poor support for an expensive product with expensive pay-per-use technical support,
Click to expand...


While you're dead on accurate in your portrayal of their "support" as it is, calling parallels "expensive" is a bit of hyperbole. Parallels is incredibly cheap compared to comparable solution on other platforms. Frankly, if an extra $40-50 per user would solve their support problems, they'd be wise to just raise the price and deal with the issues.
 
wingdo said:
It would appear their front offices are in WA, but that the entire development team and support staff are in Russia. Have you been to their offices? Any clue as to how many people actually work at the WA office? (no sarcasm intended, legitimate questions)
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying. Outsourcing is common place - some company's products are made entirely overseas, but that does not make the company itself an off-shore company. Boeing, for example, has plants all over the world but it is a US corporation now based out of Chicago. In any event it cannot be considered a "Russian" company unless one suspects the Kremlin is running it. It may be more accurately said to be a company owned by Russians, or even expat Russians, but really, who cares? I'd heard the PNW office is around 85 or so in various roles. I'm not often called for lunches.
 
I think the bottom line is that no matter how great the Paralles software is, it will inevitably have bugs and users who need support. And if they insist on not investing in good technical support, especially for enterprise customers they will remain a niche compnay, and VMWare will blow them out of the water even if Fusion is not as good as Parallels. IT managers wont invest the money in Parallels if they dont have the support infrastructure to back up the software. I'd like to see Parallels be a serious competitor b/c it would be a shame to see such a great product fail, but if they continue to thumb their nose at the idea of having decent tech support, they will never grow into an enterprise solution.
 
It does seem they're blowing a lot of user-gifted goodwill. That's better than money in the bank if you work it right, but you get just one chance.
 
cck85234,

We apologize for the inconvenience.
I have initiated the money back process. The refund for Phone Support order should hit your credit card account shortly.
We are working hard on improving our quality of services.
 
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