The joys of official software support: the Macecraft / jv16 episode

[toyo]

This is what you get for having legitimate software: support. I've had a very, very bad experience with incompetent support from Kaspersky and TuneUP until now, so I'm kinda used to it. Will Macecraft join this "losers" club? I hope not :)

So, having a totally legitimate license from the Facebook promo posted in the forums some time ago, I contacted support, as jv16 is now absolutely, completely non-functional :P

Well, what do you think they tried to do, in their response? Extort 6 USD from me for a license upgrade, so I can use jv16 2011 (which I was using just fine in 2.0.0.1009, it's just 2.0.0.1043 that is broken). Here is the whole text, veera beeing the nice consultant:

Hello

I have checked your order. With this email address you have license for jv16 PowerTools 2010 Personal use.

You cannot use jv16 Powertools 2011 with that license, you´ll need to upgrade your license. Existing customers can take advantage of a special offer to purchase the new jv16 Power Tools 2011 for the discounted price of $5.95, no matter which prior version they're using.

If you wish to use the latest 2010 version of powertools, you can download it from http://www.macecraft...b_2.0.0.986.exe

Best Regards

Macecraft Software

Customer Care

Now, let me quote you the text of that promotion:

Would you like to receive a full version of jv16 PowerTools 2010 (and yes, it includes a free update to the upcoming 2011 version)?

All you need is a Facebook account.

In order to receive a free license, join this Facebook group:

and click the Like button of this fan page:

After this, please send an email to [email protected] with your name. After I have verified that you have both joined the group and clicked the Like button, you will be sent a free personal license for jv16 PowerTools!

Please notice that the license can be cancelled if you leave the group or undo the Like click.

Of course I wrote back to support about this all, and will write to Jouni if I have to...

Let's see what will happen next :)

[DKT27]

What exactly is the problem you're having with jv16?

[toyo]

As I said, it won't start. It gives an error, and that would be it. I sent the crash specifics to Macecraft, but as it can be seen from their message, they didn't bother to examine it :)

It says EAccessViolation; Access violation at address 00550DFF, module jv16PT.exe etc.

[DKT27]

I see. Those access violation errors are horrors. :(

[toyo]

Oh well... I get such critical errors very seldom, sometimes I even forget these exist :P

Also, it's not a license issue, I deleted the one I had completely and tried to use jv16 as a trial (or with what we have on the proxy), guess what, it obviously didn't work and crashed with the same error.

What annoys me the most is that a more gullible person would have paid the 6 bucks only to find out jv16 still crashes...

[DKT27]

Haha.

I do believe I faced a access violation problem in jv16 when I last used it a month ago. On the search registry's main tab if I remember correctly.

I remember, on XP, there was a custom made tool that allowed you to change character stats in a sports game, had seen a thousands of those errors, and those errors, if allowed to continue the tool to run, leading to the player stats being f*cked up. :P

[toyo]

OK, so I received a response. These guys are absolutely convinced I need a new license, although the last one was doing just fine in jv16 2011. So I got a new license :o

Here's their answer:

Hello

Thank you for this information. Our system does not apparently recognise what license is facebook promo, so it didn´t let you upgrade for free.

I have made and sent you a new license for jv16 Powertools 2011.

I have (again) sent the bug report, together with screenshot proof I cannot use the application, not even with the new license, lol. I'm curious what's next.

I wonder what will it take to convince support their jv16 is crashing...

[myidisbb]

OK, so I received a response. These guys are absolutely convinced I need a new license, although the last one was doing just fine in jv16 2011. So I got a new license :o

Here's their answer:

Hello

Thank you for this information. Our system does not apparently recognise what license is facebook promo, so it didn´t let you upgrade for free.

I have made and sent you a new license for jv16 Powertools 2011.

I have (again) sent the bug report, together with screenshot proof I cannot use the application, not even with the new license, lol. I'm curious what's next.

I wonder what will it take to convince support their jv16 is crashing...

could the facebook promo been fake and install crap on your system?

[toyo]

Nah, it's just a legit promo, that in the end gives you a license (xbin file), so there's nothing to install :)

[toyo]

So I got another reply. This one acknowledges the problem (so it's a few good lost days, just to get them to acknowledge a issue). As you will see, they are still wrong, as my Windows is English, and I didn't install language packs or anything.

Here it is:

Hello

There is a problem in the build 1043 of jv16 PowerTools 2011 released earlier this week.

The problem causes the product not to start under some non-English versions of Windows. We are currently working on a fix.

If you have already updated and you wish to go back to the previous version, you can download the previous version from here http://www.macecraft..._2.0.0.1009.exe

The bug only affects the startup of the product. If the latest version starts in your computer, it's safe to use. If it doesn't start, please downgrade to the previous version and wait for the problem to be fixed.

We are sorry for the inconvenience.

[DKT27]

:lol:

Give me a bucket of popcorn. I'm loving to watch them fail. :P

I was expecting something better from them. But you got to keep trying. :)

[toyo]

I do keep trying :D

I let them know that my OS is English, right from MSDN, and language settings are English, and everything is English... even the apps (including jv16), I always install without other languages. So it's not "some non-English version of Windows" :P

It takes jv16 support more than a day to answer simple questions like this, but it's still better than the 2-3 weeks horrific experience I had with TuneUP.

[Tweety.Abd]

I do keep trying :D

I let them know that my OS is English, right from MSDN, and language settings are English, and everything is English... even the apps (including jv16), I always install without other languages. So it's not "some non-English version of Windows" :P

It takes jv16 support more than a day to answer simple questions like this, but it's still better than the 2-3 weeks horrific experience I had with TuneUP.

I contacted Tune-Up a few months ago and I had a good experience talking to them, and they replied me back within 48 hours at most, but usually it was like 20 hours. Maybe, it depends on the support personnel too?

[toyo]

Obviously, not all consultants are prepared the same for this task. It's also different when they have to provide data about crashes/bugs or troubleshooting (which is easier).

Now, a new message. Seems jv16 support decided to ask additional questions, so I'm helping them finding the cause of the crash if I can:

Hello

Thank you for this information.

I would like to know does the previous version 2.0.0.1009 work fine?

Maybe they'll solve this issue soon ...

[DKT27]

Some positive steps. :)

[RadioActive]

Slightly off-topic but still on the subject of support;

I had a license for Wondershare MobileGo from a promo but there was a bug that kept crashing the program when I tried to restore, so I e-mailed them about the problem and at first they suggested it might be a USB cable problem but after further examination they said it was a real bug related to s pecific case and they're gonna fix by the time of the next release and they apologized for the inconvenience and even offered me 20% on any of their product as a compensation :D

Irrelevant, yeah, but I thought I'd mention it since I was pleasantly surprised by them :)

[toyo]

So, avoiding to be pretty offtopic in today's jv16 release topic, the 2.0.0.1053 version fixes the crash (Bug fix: The program doesn't start in some systems, usually this occurs under a non-English Windows).

jv16 starts again - amazing - I almost forgot I had it installed ;) It still wants to delete my Illustrator, dBpoweramp and PACE Anti-Piracy (yeah, I need this :P) registry entries (among other legit stuff, so you better take a look at what you're deleting), and although the last version claimed to Bug fix: The program can access the floppy disk drive while performing the registry scan (which I obviously couldn't verify, since the 2.0.0.1043 never worked for me), it has now probably regressed and the floppy gets terribly noisy during the "Fix" stage.

For now, I'm (mildly) satisfied they took care of the bug in a reasonable time interval. I wonder how many of their users just jumped in the CCleaner free boat when their "trusty" jv16 reg cleaner died without any resurrection attempt possible, but to use a older version...

[DKT27]

Glad to hear that. Atleast they came to know that this doesn't only happen on non-English systems. :)