Can adobe customer service be less helpful?

[Talmerian]

This is what happened when I went to adobe for assistance with my account.

Thank you for contacting Adobe.
A representative will be with you shortly.

Thank you for your patience.

While you wait, you can try our community forums where experts are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We are still assisting other customers, thank you for your patience. You can also try ourcommunity forums, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We are still assisting other customers, thank you for your patience. You can also try ourcommunity forums, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We are still assisting other customers, thank you for your patience. You can also try ourcommunity forums, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We are still assisting other customers, thank you for your patience. You can also try ourcommunity forums, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We are still assisting other customers, thank you for your patience. You can also try ourcommunity forums, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We are still assisting other customers, thank you for your patience. You can also try ourcommunity forums, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We are still assisting other customers, thank you for your patience. You can also try ourcommunity forums, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You are now chatting with Abhinav.

Abhinav: Hello! Welcome to Adobe Customer Service.

Abhinav: Please allow me a moment to search for the information.

Abhinav: We have not heard from you for some time.  Do you wish to continue to chat?

Abhinav: You can go ahead and purchase Acrobat pro.

Abhinav: Since we have not heard from you for some time, we will now end this chat.  Please click to chat with us again if we can be of further assistance.

William Terrance: You have never heard from me before

I had been waiting, went to check on other stuff while periodically checking back on the computer, then was told that it too ME too long to get back to them. The last line from Abhinav came through AS I was typing my response.

Furthermore, I have never contacted adobe before, I am a new customer.The third line really confused me, "We have not heard from you in some time." Hence my initial response that I have never contacted them, why would Abhinav have expected me to have been heard from ever?

I realized when the second post regarding my lack of rapidity responding that Abhinav apparently expected that my response time would be light years faster than Adobe's.

I know that Adobe has representatives on this forum. I hope this example can be used in some type of training that allows people, who have been waiting for a while, a goodly amount of time to respond. Perhaps I am distracted by the forums or have gone to clean some dishes...poor show.

[Phillip_M_Jones]

You'd be wrong. It would be surprising if other than the person eventually in charge of all the forums might be a Adobe employee. Other than him/her, I is my doubt if adobe even knows that these forums exist.

The reason it took you so long to connect is, all phone and Chat support is done from India. From people that barely know how to speak English. Typically they are give scripts to read and they scan over their notes  and pick out one, or two that may fix you issue. If the notes they read don't help you situation you get a song and dance routine, noting they will escalate to a higher power most of the time it forgotten.

These are User to User to Forums and odds are you will get help, more help, and better help, from the volunteers here, than from the so called support. But don't get angry. Many software and computer companies with the notable exception of Apple doing almost the same thing. Sadly Adobe and Intuit vie for last place for support. Sometimes Intuit ranks better. I have several Adobe products, Acrobat, Reader, Photoshop 5.5, Latest Photoshop Express, Lightroom 5, DreamWeaver 5.5 and others. Yet I get most help fro these forums Most of the time I fly by seat of my pants, as being a Mac User, I get little support. (Turns out I know more than most and I from time to time answer Mac adobe product questions.)

[pwillener]

Phillip Jones wrote:

From people that barely know how to speak English.

There is no reason to be insulting!  I have used Adobe chat support a number of times, and I never had any difficulties

1. being understood
2. understanding the answers given

The reason why the o/p's chat session was terminated is that s/he never replied to any of the prompts given by the agent, e.g. "We have not heard from you for some time.  Do you wish to continue to chat?" - a simple "yes" would have been enough.  I do not even know if these prompts (and the decision to end the session) are done by the agent himself, or by the chat software.

[Phillip_M_Jones]

Well you've been lucky. Sorry if I seemed insulting.  My experiences have been the opposite. And its not just Adobe, it other companies as well. I know some people from Poland that have very heavy Polish accents (they run a Local Hot Dog place). I Know two Austrian Women through their husbands. One ran a Key and Lock Shop locally, and the other, her and her husband ran a TV shop. Sometimes I would visit the people that ran TV shop. Both had heavy accents. The one that ran the TV shop we would go somewhere to eat and I would end up telling servers what she wanted. Because they couldn't understand her accent. So its not like I can't deal with accents. But the ones I ran into on phones.  Even I couldn't understand after trying to get across two simple sentences after 20 minutes I gave up.

As I said Adobe is not the only company doing this. I don't care who is manning the phones. They could be Martians. I am not prejudiced, wasn't brought up that way. And, when I worked for school system I got along with all. But companies before putting people on line should teach fluency the the language of the people they would be serving and should require them to take and pass diction classes, before they would be allowed to take up a Phone.  Sorry for my cynicism. 

[mytaxsite]

You appear to be so negative of people from other countries that says something about you, yourself.  Either you don't meet people from other countries where you are currently residing or that you don't travel outside United states.  Either way this is 21st century and you will have to get used to other nationalities because the business model itself is going or becoming global by the day.

The support services can't be supplied from United states or Europe because the people are not prepared to do such mundane jobs daily on relatively low wages.  In any case, when a person buys a software package, he should have some ideas how to install it and how to use it and what it can do for him.  If he hasn't got this basic ideas then clearly no amount of support is going to help that person even by a native English speaking person because that person is likely to get bored trying to explain basic things to somebody who hasn't done any background research before asking the question.

[pwillener]

And it's not about phone support; it's about chat.  And the written English I have seen from Adobe Support is in fact on a much higher standard than many posts I have seen from you!  I really resent that "barely speak English" comment of yours.

[Phillip_M_Jones]

I  am sorry you feel that way. But I have run into many times people I couldn't understand people on the other end of the phone.

I admit I am not  perfect. Far from it. English and Grammar was not my strong suite in school.  I was more into Electronics, Woodworking, Algebra, & Trig. In English I was barely average. I grew up during a time, where only women and students destined to go to a Major College/ University took typing.

So excuse my hunt & peck typing.

And although I live in a small town I run into all languages, we have Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mexican (or Spanish Speaking), German/Austrian, Polish, Indians (from India), Sieks, Jewish People, Blacks, etc. I have no problem with the accents. What accents I do have any problem with are usually Indian/Sieks. And only if they have just arrived. If I happen to run into any that have been a few years I have no trouble.

Typically the Indian/Sieks  own/run convenience stores, hotel/motels. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Polish, usually either work for or own Restaurants, The Jewish people usually own clothing businesses , The German/Austrian usually in various types of Service businesses.  They all work hard.

I still say anyone manning phones should be required to be trained in the language they are supposed serve, and be required take Diction classes.

You may have been lucky and never got hold of someone, you can't understand on the phone. But I have on too many occasions.

Sorry if I come off as Biased, or raciest. I am neither.

[~graffiti]

Phillip Jones wrote:

The reason it took you so long to connect is, all phone and Chat support is done from India. From people that barely know how to speak English.

If you do not use support often, why not just say it instead of what you typed above (which I can assure you is not true)? If I didn't know any better, I would swear you just want to see yourself type.

Most support folks I have dealt with in my over 20 year history using Adobe products have been knowledgeable and very understandable.

[Phillip_M_Jones]

I don't use service chats every day but I  do frequent them ad I get the least understandable help from Adobe phone support and Chats.

Everyone's experiences are different maybe I am just unlucky and get all the crappy help, and You are blessed with all the perfect help.  If so, so be it.

All I am say people that man support phones regardless of what country they originally were from should be understandable to the people they are charged with helping. If they come from Mars or Pluto they should be able to speak properly to the people they are charged with helping.

[bagtay]

You are lucky. I don't even get to CHAT

[mytaxsite]

bagtay wrote:

You are lucky. I don't even get to CHAT

If you want any assistance with Adobe products, then your best bet is to use these forums.  You are very likely to get help here then anywhere else unless, of course, the problem relates to payment and other Adobe account queries.

These forums are very active when it comes to providing solutions to something you want to do in Adobe products.