First impressions mean a great deal. I can tell you horror stories about every company in the blindness field. I have said it before, and I will say it again; if the companies who sell these products were in a mainstream business, they would have gone belly up a long time ago. For the most part, none of them provide first class service, they do not provide first class customer support, and they do not seem the least bit interested in improving upon this. And now ladies and gentleman, here's the reason why. If you have purchased a Pac Mate, or a Braillenote, it is highly unlikely that you will suddenly be able to afford to purchase the other product. In other words, if you've had had a difficult time with Freedom Scientific, chances are you will not be able to simply go out and purchase a Braillenote. And the reverse is also true. These devices are too costly, and the majority of the purchases are made by state and Federal agencies in the United States and the companies who are not providing first class technical support and first class repair services don't have to change anything because people are still purchasing their products. What is needed is some way to make all of the companies in this field feel that they are indeed accountable. If a car manufacturer produces bad cars, the news media are on it like flies on dead meat. Unfortunately, when we deal with products whose total market is probably less than one per cent of the population, that isn't going to happen. I am not damning or praising any particular company here, I am stating that in this man's opinion none of the companies in this field are providing either technical support and/or customer service at a level that reflects much respect for their customer base. No one should be told that a call will be returned and then no call is ever received. I have also seen cases where individuals call a company and receive conflicting information. The only way I believe that this situation will ever change is if an independent group of individuals from state and Federal agencies and consumer organizations and other interested parties forms and attempts to monitor the kind of service that customers are receiving from these companies. Perhaps such a watch dog group could publish newsletters discussing the kind of service people are receiving. Without such a mechanism in place, we always receive second class service from all of the companies in this field.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Milissa Garside Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 9:00 AM To: Braillenote List Subject: [Braillenote] Disappointed with Humanware Tech Support Hi Everyone, For those of you on the list who live in the united states, what has your experience been with Humanware tech support? I have called tech support out in California several times regarding a battery issue with my voice note MPower. Each time I have called, I have always been told either by an actual person or by a recorded voice to leave a message and someone from tech support will get back to me. This method is all well and good except that a humanware tech support person has never returned any of my calls. Considering I have paid over 2000 dollars out of my own pocket for my MPower, not being able to get in touch with a tech support person is unacceptable! I hate to say this but, in terms of tech support, Freedom Scientific takes much better care of it's customers than Humanware in the United States does. I have been more than happy with Humanware in every other aspect accept for tech support. It should not take me a month and a half to get in touch with a tech support person. For those of you who are part of humanware on this list, how can I get in contact with a humanware tech support person? I suspect that my MPower is going to need to be sent out for repair. I begin my fall semester of school on September 5th. If in fact my MPower needs to be sent in for repair, I need to send it bakc very soon and need to have it back in my hands by Tuesday September 5th. Any help you can give to expidite this process would me much appreciated. Thank you. Milissa [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
