Greetings, below is what I guess you can consider my rant. I'll restate, as briefly as possible, what I've said below. I apologize beforehand, I don't mean to insult, demean or speak poorly about any one person. I'm stating my frustration with what is apparently now accepted "Adobe Policy" regarding how the company regards Customer Support now and what I (anyone else?) used to receive when I contacted Adobe.
First, I accept the responsibility that my situation is due to my inability to keep accurate record keeping. I've had the bad luck of losing 5 Hard Drives in about 7 years. Frustration and Installation don't rhyme for no reason, ha. Most of the time I was able to re-install my software with little to no help from Adobe Support or other companies from whom I had purchased paid applications. But, due to the number of times that I had the bad luck of Hard Drives crashing, basically as soon as I had Formatted, Installed and then copied over files I found myself in a peat and repeat situation. No sooner would I have new Drive up and running than it would crash and I'd have to begin again. Five Drives in 7 years. I'm 60 and my mental energy just ain't what it used to be. Somewhere in the middle I re-installed my PS Elements 6 on OS 10.6.8. Much to my chagrin, search though I may, on Hard Drives, DVD's or paperwork, there was no Serial Number to be found for Elements 6. In desperation/frustration I called Adobe Support. I'm guessing it was sometime in July of 2015 possibly 2016. I could be mistaken but I think I'm close. I was able to reach a real, live, breathing Support person. I explained my problem and after some questions that I managed to answer he gave me my Serial Number. I was back up and running, at least with Elements 6. Recently I purchased a new, external Hard Drive and installed macOS Sierra version 10.12.6. I still have the external Hard Drive running 10.6.8 and the working copy of Elements 6. I'm wanting to avail myself of any type of possible Upgrade of Elements ?10-19? on the new OS 10.12.6. I'm not trying or expecting a free copy but would like to avail myself of any discounted upgrade if I'm entitled due to having bought Elements 6. Below I've elaborated my interaction with Adobe Support by phone. A long phone call to India that provided absolutely little to no satisfaction and only added frustration due to the two young gentlemen that I spoke with who were poorly trained although they were helpful at times. After 1 1/2 hours of speaking with India I discovered they weren't as interested as they sounded because they tired of our strained communication skills and told me they would have to send me to a Support Page to help solve my Microsoft Windows problem. I began the call by telling them all of the above concerning my Operating System and Elements Upgrade (Possible upgrade discount) if it were possible. I've elaborated all below so I won't go into here.
Second, I need to do what I've already done once. Confirm my Elements 6 Registration from the past. It's' been done once already and I'm non-plussed as to why no records exist now when they did once before. With Confirmation I can then determine whether I have to pay full price or qualify for the discount as well as possible other Education discount possibility. It's not a lot of money and I don't have that much of a problem of paying. But it's the matter of having purchased a product in good faith then reaching out to Adobe Support and receiving that support along with information provided by me and the Support Staff Person. Bad luck once again intervened and I figured I would simply have to repeat the process again. Instead, as I've 'elaborated' below I find that Adobe has radically changed it's Customer Support so that, if I understand correctly, I can no longer reach a real person who can help resolve my problem in a timely, customer friendly manner. Instead I have found that 'Support' now consists of confusing, frustrating and ambiguous pages/links that apparently lead in a type of loop that would seem that it was actually designed to prevent previous customers from being successfully accommodated with serious, honest problems. I'll be honest and admit that this has had a serious impact on my future consideration of purchasing or recommending other Adobe products. I would REALLY appreciate if someone could, would provide me with information that would provide a level of satisfaction that, in my humble opinion, Americans in general expected just as a matter of course. Just providing a service for having paid for a product.
I apologize for how I expressed myself below. I don't apologize for what I said just how I said it. There is a fair amount of more interaction that I had with other 'Support' that brought no better help than described already. So, if Adobe still has any American Ethical Business sense left I dearly hope that someone here can help me connect to them by phone, email or even snail mail. I'd really like to resolve this in a manner befitting the interaction between customer and service provider, especially in a timely manner.
Just so you know I'm not a novice when it comes to Mac Computers. I've been using/working on them since the Performa 550. That goes back a ways. By the same token I've not kept up with the 'Light Speed Advancement" of all computer systems. I have however, managed to at least hold my own for the most part.
Any help that anyone might provide would be greatly appreciated. Again, I apologize for any wording below that leaves an impression on my part of being unprofessional. Thank you in advance.
Greg Lamb
[Personal information removed by moderator.]
The Great State of Lawton, Oklahoma
God Bless the United States of America
God Bless to any and all who take pity on an old man.
I can't believe I purchased a product, PS Elements 6, had to re-install a couple years later on new computer/Drive, lost Serial #, called Adobe sometime around/before 2014 and spoke to a LIVING person. He asked me a few questions which I was able to provide answers to and then he gave me my Serial #. My fault but I'm in same situation now. Called Support, wound up talking to 2 ill educated 'Support People' based in India. After 45 minutes the 1st 'Support' told me he would have to send me to a Support Page to help solve my Microsoft Windows problem. This after I had started the phone conversation by informing him I was operating on a new, external Hard Drive with macOS Sierra 10.12.6. and wanted to ask a couple questions about upgrading Elements 6 & compatibility with newer OS. "Frustratingly" but politely, firmly, I asked to speak to his Manager. Conversation actually went downhill from there. I gave up and began searching, wound up here. Once here I went to kitchen for glass of water. Gone literally 90 seconds. When I returned Adobe Page was asking if I wanted to participate in this ?Survey? RE how you can improve a better forums experience. (Bizarre is the best adjective I can bring to mind) I wasn't interested in participating but had no option available to decline or opt out and continue search/post to forums. Catch 22 times 1000. I feel like I'm an active character in an OLD Doctor Who Episode with the robot Daleks haunting/hunting me at every turn, turn, turn, turn, . . SURPRISE! You're back at the beginning. I recall paying around $45.00-$65.00 for Elements 6. Probably higher. I have old Drives that I can’t use as Startups but can for BackUp. Searched the oldest and did a Get Info on the Elements 6 App. It shows me owning/using the App on: Created - Saturday, July 19, 2014. So that’s almost 3 1/2 years I’ve been using. I use App fairly frequently so that means that the App has dialed Home an incredible number of times. Thereby verifying that I have a working App that Adobe is aware of. Serial # was never ‘Canceled’ or App ‘Disabled’. Why? Because I PAID for it and somewhere in the dark recesses of Adobe’s Backup System my version of the App was recognized. My account info, REGISTRATION was also recognized by a live person when I called in asking for my Serial Number and he GLADLY gave it to me after I answered his necessary questions. Now I can’t get help except I ride through the endless Adobe Loop. Admittedly it's my fault, I should have backed up, printed out info. I never dreamed in my wildest nightmares I would be paying for this kind of support. I'll end here so I can hit the Finish button and HOPEFULLY be able to at least READ/SEARCH the forums before I get slung back into the magic portal that seems to be Adobe,. . . . 2019. Forewarned is Forearmed. I won't have 'Good Customer Reviews' to pass on when discussing Adobe products to future friends, family and or passers by. I’ll seriously consider whether I buy anything “ADOBE” again. I actually, ACTUALLY PAID for this.
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