|
[Home] [Back] [Next] [Search] [SiteMap] [Order Form]
Discover how to minimize your
antique mall’s paperwork hassle. Save time
|
What do Others Think of Antiques SOS for Windows? How Will Antiques SOS for Windows Help Me Antiques SOS Product Features Chart Antiques SOS for Windows Premium |
Support Policy for the Antiques SOS™ for Windows® Product Family What is support ?Support consists of all the things you have come to expect from Software Gallery when you call to ask questions about your computer software system. It includes questions about how to use Antiques SOS™ for Windows®, "How do I extract myself from this situation" questions, equipment failure issues, "Can I do this" questions, and occasionally actual problems with the software. Why support ? Any responsible software vendor should provide support for the occasional questions which always occur in the use of any software product. From the customer point of view, support is essential to their business well being. The software vendor also sometimes benefits from support calls in that careful examination of the nature and content of the calls can yield information about desirable changes in the software. Who and what have we been supporting ? We have provided needed support for the SOS product group since its inception in 1987. Like it or not, we have also provided a tremendous amount of support for the equipment upon which SOS runs. The computers, printers, connecting cables, hard drives, monitors, cash drawers, network software, operating system software and applications software sometimes fail and create problems for you, our clients. And despite the fact that equipment is not our responsibility, we have helped you. How have we been providing the support you needed ? Much of the support you needed was provided by telephone, fax and e-mail. Some was even provided in person and on site. We have answered the telephone seven days a week, every day we are here, sometimes very early in the morning or very late at night. Calls from our clients have been returned from virtually inaccessible places like the top of Mt Rainier as well as other rare vacation destinations. When the problems you reported were not directly related to our products, it would have been easy to say "We didn't provide the equipment. It isn't our problem. Call the vendor you purchased it from". But we haven't done that because doing so wouldn't have solved your problem. Instead we have worked with you, sometimes for long periods of time, and usually quite successfully, to resolve those issues of importance to you – even when unrelated to the software product we develop and sell. What does it take to provide the support everyone has come to expect ? It takes knowledge, it takes time, it takes dedication and, yes, it takes money. We read and study constantly and regularly take training courses. This is so that we will have the knowledge needed to resolve issues related to the equipment and the non SOS items, including network systems you use. Time is always an issue, especially when a client requests something "just a little different and special". We have responded well and as promptly as possible to serve your needs. Why is this a financial burden ? Few realize the expenses involved in providing the kind of service that you have come to expect. We spend thousands of dollars each year on postage, express services, telephone charges, printing and labor. Most support problems are not directly attributable to Antiques SOS™ but rather result from other factors, even including operator error. We simply could not afford to continue this practice without compensation. Frankly, we weren't very fair to ourselves by not charging for support and this had to change. No software company can afford to provide long term free support and stay in business. The cash flow simply will not be there to support new equipment, additional training, software and telephone charges. It really is like being a new car dealership which provides free long term service with each car sold: service which includes oil changes, free parts, unlimited phone calls, labor, new tires and business advice. It is also like a lawyer or physician never charging you for services after an initial visit. That's not how the real world operates. What do we want to accomplish ? In early 2002 we started working on revising our products to run on newer Microsoft Windows operating systems (2000/XP) that have been introduced. However, our first and continuing priority is to provide the same or better high level of support to you, our clients. Our next priority is to provide that support more efficiently and at lower cost. Additionally, support will be more easily and directly accessible through printed and electronic media. You will be given the means to answer most of the routine questions asked about SOS yourself. We will, of course, continue to provide answers to more complex questions, which require developer interpretation or resolution by email, fax and telephone. What have we decided to do and what will be included ? We will be providing better and more detailed information about SOS, its uses and intricacies, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and the resolutions of user reported problems. To do this we are planning changes in the way we provide the support you require. Changes will occur in the way some of the support functions are delivered, new methods of providing support will be instituted, and we will be taking additional training to provide for massive changes we see coming in the retailing, software and computer worlds. A new internet support site for Antiques SOS™ and related products will be operational in a year or so. Details will be released as the site develops. A newsletter is also under development and will be issued periodically or as the spirit moves us. It will contain information about support issues, new developments, management issues and other topics of interest to our clients. As the Antiques SOS™ product group has grown, it has become increasingly necessary to organize and plan for the future growth and increased value of the product. It is especially important to have adequate time for the development of additional features, new added value products, and, yes some mental rejuvenation. Therefore, the hours and days during which support calls will be received will change. A 7 day per week, 24 hour per day answering system with access to our nationwide pager and cellular phone will answer when we are not in the office. Non-emergency and routine support calls will be taken by us, or by our answering system, in the event we are not in the office. We will establish priorities for the calls we receive and answer then as promptly as possible, usually within a few hours. Please refer to the attached product group Support Policy. It will remain in effect until, based upon our experience with it, we decide to change it. You are being provided with the means to help yourself, at any time of the day or night, with your support questions. Many of you have already done so. Others have not. You are being asked to, in the future, to use the extensive help system we are building and will be increasingly made available to you. You will be able to answer most of your routine questions through the use of this system. Contact us After first using the help system, the best method to contact Software Gallery, LLC is to send us an email containing the information we need to address the issue concerning you at sos@carbonpower.net. This will enable us to take your requests according to our established priority and contact you with our response. The next best method to contact us is to send us a fax at 307-745-8787. We have and still are wrestling with another significant issue. Sue and I, since the very early days of Antiques SOS™ have been very reluctant to provide the equipment required to properly use our product. Why? First, because we are not in the business of supplying equipment, network software or operating systems. And second and probably most important, we are not in a position to support them at a level appropriate to your needs. Nonetheless we do find, contrary to our intent, that at least to some degree, Antiques SOS™ and the infrastructure associated with it are sometimes inseparable. Many of the support calls we receive are not due to our software, but we find ourselves having to answer them anyway. As a part of our service we will try to help, but as always, your primary source of information about associated equipment and software must be the appropriate vendor or manufacturer. It is not our intent nor is it our obligation to respond to questions not directly related to SOS. All questions about your computers, printers, networks and Microsoft Windows® and other SOS non-provided components are off limits. It is your exclusive responsibility and obligation to secure and use the support resources that exist for them. We strongly suggest and encourage you to establish a working relationship with a local equipment vendor who has the ability to help you set up your equipment and associated software and provide prompt, high quality, service when it is required. Sooner or later it will pay major dividends. When does it take effect ? Our new support policy is in effect now. Each client has been notified in writing about their status. Those with existing free support periods remaining will continue to receive free support until the free period ends. And, of course, what will it cost ? Our primary goal in setting support fees was to be fair -- fair to you and to ourselves. We seem to never hear from some clients. Others are more inclined to have problems which require our intervention. Clients with multi-computer networks require significantly more assistance than those with single computer systems. That is just a fact of life borne out by our long term experience. We are convinced that our support offerings have to be flexible to cover the many individual circumstances our clients experience. We are offering annual support agreements for those who use our services on a regular basis or who want the assurance of not exceeding a fixed annual fee. You should consider it to be an insurance policy. When you need it you're really glad you have it. For those who don't require regular assistance we will offer a per incident charge. Most of you will probably be better off with yearly support agreements. Those few who don't ever seem to need help may elect to use the "per incident" plan. An incident is defined as one call or a series of calls directly related to the same problem. As always, where, in our sole judgment, a support call is required in response to problems directly related to the Antiques SOS™ software system, there will be no charge to you. The reason for this is that we want to know about our problems so that we can fix them. Obviously, it makes no sense to penalize you for helping us have a better product. Please refer to the Support Policy for details. Also note that annual support subscribers always take precedence over non-subscribers. SOS™ is modified and improved on a regular and continuous basis. Our policy will be to post bug fixes in downloadable form in a planned "clients only" section of our internet web site. They will be available to all clients on a no charge basis. Functional improvements and upgrades to our products will be available as a new version approximately once each year. They will be offered free to all registered clients with prepaid annual support agreements or on a fee basis to all clients who have elected to be on a pay as you go basis. All support calls not covered by a prepaid annual support agreement are to be paid in advance by credit card. We cannot and will not invoice for support services. The "fine print" Nobody likes the "fine print" but it is necessary for clarity and understanding. So here goes. Each client site at which SOS is installed is different. As you would expect, there is no consistency between sites with respect to computers, printers, networks, power quality, personnel, operational competence or anything else. Therefore, because Software Gallery, LLC does not control any aspect of the client’s use of SOS, we cannot and do not offer any guarantees with respect to any aspect of technical support, including desirable outcomes or immediacy of availability. What we do offer is support on a good faith, best efforts basis. There will be times when, for various reasons, we will not be available to take your calls. If we are away from the office for an extended period of time, we periodically check for messages. Higher priority calls will be returned as promptly as possible, so please try to indicate the nature and severity of the problem you have encountered. Our intent is to provide a means to quickly reach us with EMERGENCY messages. This will be for emergencies only!! Please understand that the level and means of support provided by Software Gallery, LLC is solely and exclusively at our discretion. Over the years we have successfully tried to provide excellent support for our products. Sometimes the intensity and scope of the demands for that service have been unreasonable but we have consistently tried to meet your expectations. We expect to continue that tradition. On the matter of "out of agreement" support: "Out of agreement" support is defined as support required by equipment or non SOS software malfunctions or actions which could have or should have been under the control of the user. This includes, without limitation, willful failure to follow prescribed operating and backup procedures as well as failure to properly protect and condition the input power to the computer(s) and components upon which SOS is installed. We have chosen not to use a toll free "800" or "888" support telephone number. Frankly, we didn't know how to be fair about factoring in the considerable expense of offering a so-called toll free telephone number, which someone has to pay for. So we elected not to offer one rather than increase the support fee. There is, never has been and never will be such a thing as a "free lunch". Phone companies do charge vigorously for calls to 800 and 888 numbers.
|
|
[Home]
[Mailing List] [Publications]
[About Us] [Contact Us]
[Product Info] [Value] [Site
Map] Send mail to
sos@carbonpower.net with questions or
comments about this web site |
