Does Parallels support even exist?

[conalho]

I know exactly what you mean. They have not been responding to my request for support either, and I'm not a beta tester. I did buy a copy of Parallels. I was wondering where in this forum I can post "suggested features for future release."

I recently purchased Parallels Desktop for Mac, and needed to open a support incident. I opened it two weeks ago, and still no response.

I now need to open another incident, but shoud I bother,if they never get back to me?

Does anyone from Parallels read this board? If so, please reply with how I can get in touch with someone. Otherwise I'll have to beging the process of getting a refund, and try to find another product that suits my needs.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[constant]

.

I recently purchased Parallels Desktop for Mac, and needed to open a support incident. I opened it two weeks ago, and still no response.

What was the request? Should it be expected that they respond to every duplicate request?

I was wondering where in this forum I can post "suggested features for future release."

Wish Lists?
.

 

[dkp]

I know exactly what you mean. They have not been responding to my request for support either, and I'm not a beta tester. I did buy a copy of Parallels. I was wondering where in this forum I can post "suggested features for future release."

Start a new thread, call it FFR, populate it with your wishlist items and let others continue. That's how threaded BBS's work.

dp

 

[Banacek]

I love being considered a "jerk" just because I want tech support for a product I bought. I don't need to start a new thread. My only item on my Parallels wish list is a response from their tech support. Pretty easy if you ask me.

 

[persike]

love being considered a "jerk" just because I want tech support for a product I bought. I don't need to start a new thread. My only item on my Parallels wish list is a response from their tech support. Pretty easy if you ask me.

THX so much for that. In my case I didn't event want tech support but had a question about a special purchase issue. No response for days. So I posted that here and asked if anyone knew a reliable way to contact Parallels sales team. A user already known to this thread advised me to just buy the software despite the fact that how to buy was my problem to start with.

To be clear on that: As much as most of the folks here I LOVE the Parallels solution. It's great software and a giant leap forward for all Mac+Windows users. And whenever I was in contact with anyone of the Parallels team I was treated very kindly and patiently.

But as Banacek's posting implies, one should be allowed to expect tech support when you buy a product. And please do not refer to the oh-so-low price of Parallels. I'd be willing to pay double or triple the price if I had the opportunity to request timely support. A paid premium support option would be a reasonable alternative, too.

 

[dhjdhj]

Although I'm also quite happy with the program (it works great for my needs), I must admit to being quite baffled as to why Parallels people have not commented on this thread. If I were a potential customer and saw this particular thread, I'd be very concerned about buying the product.

I can't help but wonder if the lack of response means that there's something "interesting" going on at Parallels. Hopefully, we'll find out soon.

D
-------------------------------------------------------

THX so much for that. In my case I didn't event want tech support but had a question about a special purchase issue. No response for days. So I posted that here and asked if anyone knew a reliable way to contact Parallels sales team. A user already known to this thread advised me to just buy the software despite the fact that how to buy was my problem to start with.

To be clear on that: As much as most of the folks here I LOVE the Parallels solution. It's great software and a giant leap forward for all Mac+Windows users. And whenever I was in contact with anyone of the Parallels team I was treated very kindly and patiently.

But as Banacek's posting implies, one should be allowed to expect tech support when you buy a product. And please do not refer to the oh-so-low price of Parallels. I'd be willing to pay double or triple the price if I had the opportunity to request timely support. A paid premium support option would be a reasonable alternative, too.

 

[mmak]

....And please do not refer to the oh-so-low price of Parallels. I'd be willing to pay double or triple the price if I had the opportunity to request timely support. A paid premium support option would be a reasonable alternative, too.

I would agree that would be an option, but they will have to charge by the hour. Here is why: The workstation lets you use 2 operating systems (even more than 2) interdependently. Trying to figure out where a problem is from: XP with its myriad of issues (why a lot of us stick to the mac), OS X, which is better that XP but still has problems( anyone had the multiplying like bunnies smbd processes?) or paralells itself.
There should be at least basic support for billing, registration, etc...
Most of the tech suport can be done here. Read over this list and you'll see a lot of questions/problems were solved here.
Just my 2 c.

 

[rpetges]

Well, I finally get in touch with a person at Parallels and he told me that they're a really small company and that they are aware of lack of support. I must say that I was treated very kindly and patiently by this person !

They currently train more people for the support team and things should be on track in a few weeks.

Romain

 

[Banacek]

Well, I finally get in touch with a person at Parallels and he told me that they're a really small company and that they are aware of lack of support. I must say that I was treated very kindly and patiently by this person !

They currently train more people for the support team and things should be on track in a few weeks.

Romain

Good to hear. In all honesty I think I'm so passionate about getting a response from the Parallels team is because I really want it to work for me. I hope to hear from them soon.

 

[dkp]

I love being considered a "jerk" just because I want tech support for a product I bought. I don't need to start a new thread. My only item on my Parallels wish list is a response from their tech support. Pretty easy if you ask me.

I did a search on jerk and you and it only comes up in your message. Wassup widat?

dp

 

[dmgwork]

try calling them (703) 234-5549 or faxing them (703) 935-2630 because they dont respond to email. Occasionally they respond to a posting on the board, but it takes 2-3 days. This makes conversations very slow. Last one I had by bbs took 2 weeks for 3 exchanges of information

 

[mikesax]

Parallels is squandering a unique opportunity and their reputation.

Bottom line (for me):

1) I've paid Paralllels the $50, which is OK value for me, even though there's no customer service and USB support is virtually non-existent for my needs.

2) As soon as VMWare has a Mac solution I'll switch in a heart beat. I'll be very happy to pay $299 or more for a well working, well supported product.

Taking care of your customers is essential for long term success. I can sympathize that they have limited development and support resources, but they've released an unfinished product and they're putting their head in the sand with regards to the support situation, at the expense of their earliest customers.

 

[joem]

Bottom line (for me):

1) I've paid Paralllels the $50, which is OK value for me, even though there's no customer service and USB support is virtually non-existent for my needs.

IME, most $50 products come with KB and FAQ support, and not personal support unless there's an actual bug in the product, and helping a customer will help them confirm the bug and fix it. That's just life in the software industry these days.

2) As soon as VMWare has a Mac solution I'll switch in a heart beat. I'll be very happy to pay $299 or more for a well working, well supported product.

Boy, there's motivation for Parallels to help you! What makes you think that VMWare will have a better solution? I'd guess there will be a different set of problems, but better? Maybe. Of course, if VMWare actually provides better handholding and you want to pay the price, fine, but for me at least, the current version of Parallels is useful, and I'm happy with it even though it doesn't do everything I want or everything I think it should. Improvements have been promised, and I'd rather have the current version that I can actually use NOW than wait for perfection a few months down the road.

Taking care of your customers is essential for long term success. I can sympathize that they have limited development and support resources, but they've released an unfinished product and they're putting their head in the sand with regards to the support situation, at the expense of their earliest customers.

Yes, in a sense it is an unfinished product, but if you look at Apple's very first Macintosh (if you were around then) and every Mac released since, including all the 68k based generations, the PPC versions, and now Intel, Apple has released a long string of useful but unfinished products, and will probably continue to do so for a long time. Every version of Windows since 3.1 (where I started) through today has been an unfinsihed product, as has every version of Linux, etc., etc.

Parallels will continue to improve the product, and each release will satisfy another group of users, and leave others unsatisfied. That's how life works.

I'd like full USB 2.0 pass through since one of my apps needs it and I have to keep a PC around until that happens (or use bootcamp, but the PC is less effort). Other folks would like better graphics support. Still others would like things that are either a truly huge amount of work (if possible at all), or would compromise the security of the VM concept and those things probably won't happen at all.

If you're starving, and really, really want roast beef and someone offers a peanut butter sandwich, do you maintain your high expectations and starve, or lower them and eat and survive? For me, I'll eat peanut butter today so I'll live to get the roast some other day.

 

[conalho]

Well, I finally get in touch with a person at Parallels and he told me that they're a really small company and that they are aware of lack of support. I must say that I was treated very kindly and patiently by this person !

They currently train more people for the support team and things should be on track in a few weeks.

Romain

This statement from a Parallels member is a good one. You know, when they are overwhelmed with resources, the better tactic to use is admit to having limited resources and that they are doing something about it, as opposed to keeping mum about it.

Someone in this thread asked me if they should respond to my support request if the request was duplicated somewhere else. Well, OF COURSE! My technical problem is my problem even if it has happened elsewhere. Do we see Apple (or other companies with good technical support) telling customers that the answer to their problem is out there somewhere and they should search it themselves? After all, I did buy Parallels. I'm not using a beta version!

 

[netdog]

This is the support forum. Presumably that implies that the company would be providing support here.

I understand that Parallels is probably overwhelmed with such a success on their hands, but when you sell a lot of software, you have to create support facilities.

I agree that they would be best off responding here and copping to the fact that they are overwhelmed. They are a great company with a great product, and I hope that they navigate through these growing pains quickly.

 

[joem]

Someone in this thread asked me if they should respond to my support request if the request was duplicated somewhere else. Well, OF COURSE! My technical problem is my problem even if it has happened elsewhere. Do we see Apple (or other companies with good technical support) telling customers that the answer to their problem is out there somewhere and they should search it themselves? After all, I did buy Parallels. I'm not using a beta version!

This is a peer support forum, with occasional input from Parallels. There are many such forums around, and it's customary to try to help yourself by, among other things, searching to see if someone else has already answered your question. Most answers here come from your peers, and we don't like to answer the same questions over and over. You'll find the same attitude in other peer forums. It's the custom.

 

[Banacek]

This is a peer support forum, with occasional input from Parallels. There are many such forums around, and it's customary to try to help yourself by, among other things, searching to see if someone else has already answered your question. Most answers here come from your peers, and we don't like to answer the same questions over and over. You'll find the same attitude in other peer forums. It's the custom.

Who is hosting this forum? Peers, or Parallels, the company I bought software from.

Also, I noticed Parallels team members posting since this thread was started, and still no response from them in here letting us know that they are a bit overwhelmed right now. I can't comphend why no one has responded to this thread.

 

[hairyneanderthal]

Whilst personally I am 99%+ happy with Parallels Desktop and I am a regular member of this forum (if only a lurker most of the time...) I am well aware that the issue of support or lack of it is a regular topic.
Whilst my needs now are supported I would still like to know that if I needed support I would get them. No response to support issues is not acceptible.... so I would really like to see better support in this area.
Parallels have an excellent product in my opinion but Microsoft or VMWare with their much better support infrastructure could come in and sweep this advantage away if they were so inclined...

 

[dhjdhj]

Hmmm ---- my experience with large companies including Microsoft, Symantec, Adobe and others indicates that their support is TERRIBLE.....I've no idea how good or bad is Apple support because I've never had a problem with an Apple product!

D

Do we see Apple (or other companies with good technical support) telling customers that the answer to their problem is out there somewhere and they should search it themselves? After all, I did buy Parallels. I'm not using a beta version!

 

[VTMac]

Who is hosting this forum? Peers, or Parallels, the company I bought software from.

I certainly understand your frustration. Are you being serious with this comment. There a plenty of support forums hosted by a company, but not officially monitored or responded to by the company. Apple's support forums are one such example. In case you may not be familiar with this concept, companies often setup the infrastructure to facility user to user collaboration to help support each other. Parallels has done this with this forum. It is very common in the software world. I can't think of major vendor who does no do this.

Naturally this doesn't absolve them from responding to support email requests etc, but just because it's setup by Parallels doesn't mean it is reasonable/customary to expect them to respond here. In fact, the majority of the time companies do not respond to their own support forums.