I posted this to my Facebook page the other day (there's now an update that I'll include):
Dear Autodesk, I'm sure at the executive level everyone sits around wondering why your losing sales and why it seems like customers are always complaining. Well, here's an example of things your company does that makes us hate you. My subscription for Softimage ran out in January. I was alerted to this by email and given a link to renew it automatically on the Autodesk website. The only problem was, the Autodesk website gave me an error every time I tried to renew my subscription. After a several weeks of being unable to renew I was contacted by my local reseller. Now the interesting thing here is - I've never talked to this reseller, I've never done business with this reseller, and I have no interest in doing business with this reseller. In my opinion, the idea of a software company having resellers is about as modern as wagon wheel factories. But when Autodesk bought Softimage from Avid, they also forced upon us the Autodesk reseller network. Be that as it may, the reseller informed me that because I'd let my subscription lapse I would be forced to pay a $100 late fee. Yes, that's right. The Autodesk website renewal system was broken and because of that I must pay a $100 late fee. Way to go Autodesk! That's customer service! At this point I started to file complaints with Autodesk and thankfully I know some really good people who work there. After another week or so, it turns out the AD website should never have offered to let me renew online and I always should have been forced to do business with a reseller I don't want. Autodesk kindly decided they'd wave the $100 fine and give me the honor of paying the reseller. The reseller contacted me to let me know of the situation and sent a new PDF quote. To which I responded "How do I pay for this with my corporate card?". Their reply? "Print out the PDF, fill out your credit card information, sign it and then FAX it back to us." FAX? Did I time-travel back to 1995? Does anyone use faxes to renew software licenses these days? Autodesk does! Then they let me in on one more bit of good news. For the privilege of using these modern new "credit cards" I would have to pay a 3% service fee. I always thought it was illegal to charge someone a fee to use a credit card. But hey, that's good old Autodesk for you. So, if I don't want to pay the 3% fee I suppose I'll now need to drive to my local bank, get a certified check and mail it to the reseller in order to renew my software license. Autodesk.... if you want to retain customers, how about starting to set up systems that work in the 21st century? You're handing out fines to people if they don't renew quickly enough? What are you, a credit card company? It's really too bad Softimage is owned by Autodesk. It's a great piece of 3D software. -Paul UPDATE: I heard from the reseller this morning. They REQUIRE a printed, signed copy of my renewal to be on file. The only way to avoid paying a 3% credit card fee is if I send them a corporate check by MAIL along with my signed renewal contract. Seriously.... How old-fashioned and out-of-date can a company be? Fax machines? Mailing checks for a LICENSE KEY? I'm not getting boxed software. I'm not getting anything at all other than renewing an existing license. There's no reason on earth I should have to be jumping through this many hoops to SEND MONEY to Autodesk! Autodesk - this is why people absolutely hate you. -PG
