Here is my analysis of Walt's problem with MTU (emailed an hour ago), and KHPro 5.00. I spent over 6 hours researching and fixing the problem. It was not as clear as Walt indicated. I spent so much time because I wanted to discover the root cause. This is the first "new" version we have released under our upgraded Registration script. If a problem existed, I wanted to know it first hand to prevent frustrating any more of you honored customers, as Walt truly is to us.
"Dave Cox here... President of MTU. I have dug into your complaint and have found several abnormal situations/problems, which I have listed below.
I would first ask you to think back to the support we have given you this week. A lot of time by both Bryan and Lynne, and now me, has been spent trying to get you running. That is called excellent support and I ask you to realize that. The problem is there are two out of the ordinary situations that prevented you from installing and running KHPro 5.
We added our Chat feature about 3 weeks ago, and Bryan and Lynne both are very excited about it because it allows customers and potential new customers to have instant answers to their questions when Bryan or Lynne are on-line. If both are off-line, it presents a dialog to enter your name, email and question, and submits it as a Support Ticket we can track. Bryan answers these when he is back at work. I can say that our phones have almost stopped ringing as the chat is far more effective. Our sales have also increased do to this superior instant support.
You complained about being cut-off during your chat session with Bryan. He remembers receiving a message that you had closed the chat window, thus ending that chat session. If you say you didn't do it, I can only surmise that the Internet dropped your connection, and terminated the chat session. Both Bryan and Lynne continued with other chat sessions that were ongoing simultaneously with yours so the Chat program was performing correctly. Phone calls can get dropped without any warning, or emails can end up in limbo for months, then get delivered. Unexplainable things happen. You need to realize this or you will be frustrated and get angry with MTU and other companies you do business with.
Bryan and Lynne sometimes are each independently working on up to 3 chat sessions with different people at the same time. Thus, there may be a delay in their answering any one person. They realize the importance of keeping the response time short. However, if someone becomes impatient and closes their chat window, that session is terminated just as if the phone had been hung up.
You wrote: "I can't even reply to the email support sent me because you don't allow reply's." Our Support Tickets do allow replying to. Just click the link within them and reply. They log under the Ticket number. You can even access the total history of your Ticket at our web site. I believe the instructions are included with each Ticket sent, but I may be wrong. I haven't received a Ticket for a long time now because it simply works without problems.
In relation to KHPro 5.00 in your Account, you wrote: "If it was just released how could it expire in 2008." This is part of the OSCommerce store code we use on our site. Over 40,000 other web sites around the world use this code. When we change the "Description" field on a part number (KHPro4100n in this case), it replaces the prior Description in your Account. You see, all fields in the "Account Viewer" that you see are linked to database fields. If we change a field, it is instantly reflected in the Viewer. I wish it wasn't that way, but it is.
Here are the problems that prevented you from installing KHPro 5.00.
Problem #1: KHPro 5.00 as initially released showed up a problem within a day from the few users who installed it. We fixed the problem and re-released a new KHPro 5.00 the next day. We occasionally don't change the version number if the re-release is within 1-2 days of the original release. You were one of the few to jump on the new release instantly, and happened to get the faulty installation program. That was part of the problem you experienced.
SUGGESTION: Don't be the first to download a new release. No matter how much testing we do, occasionally (rarely) there is a problem. Early birds experience the problem. To prevent future frustration, don't be the early bird.
Problem #2: Bryan emailed you what he thought was the correct answer based on what you told him. If you had called him and held him on the line while you tried to do the install, I doubt it would have been possible for him to diagnose right then what was wrong. As it turns out, you ordered the upgrade for the KHPro RegCode you have never used, but you used your other RegCode to try to install KHPro. This alone would prevent installing.
SUGGESTION: Be careful when ordering an Upgrade to know which RegCode you mean to upgrade. Under normal conditions, we have engineered it so when you try to install a new version by "UPGRADE" (versus REMOVE) over a prior installed version, the Installation program automatically capture the RegCode used on that computer, and takes you to an order page showing that RegCode, the product name, the price, and an "Add to Cart" button to place the order. I'm sorry you didn't get to experience all the beauty of our new upgrade features, designed to prevent frustrating our returning users.
Our policy has always been to charge for major version upgrades. As a long time customer I'm sure you know we are very diligent to fix reported bugs ASAP and get a new fixed release out quickly. I'm sure you also realize we offer massive discounts to returning customers who want to upgrade and use the newest features. However, our older security prevented us from delivering free bug fixes for prior major releases. We now can do this, and we have been very generous in making bug fixed versions available for free (that were released even 2 years later) if a user's Upgrade Expired Date allows installing the prior major version.
Below is part of the Administrative view showing tables from your Account. You can see the order "Date" (on top at left) with the "Upgrade" (Expire Date - blue underlined below) we set for each of your RegCodes. This was done by a special script our webmaster wrote to upgrade our hundreds of thousands of customer records quickly. I told him; "Allow everyone to continue running the latest version of each program they have installed". That explains why the "Upgrade" date on all your orders are at least 12 months later and some up to 4 years later. You can still install the last version you had obtained from our web site. Whether you had the right to install them or not is our fault in making them available. We are glad you took advantage of this free opportunity that we knowingly allowed while we worked on improving our service to you.
[removed private user data]
Order # 62357 for KHPro4100n has a RegCode ending ...073e that has never been used to install KHPro. This shows 2011-09-03 08:53:23 for its Upgrade Expire Date. Your RegCode ending ...d454 still needed upgrading to be able to install 5.00. I am sorry you accidentally upgraded the wrong RegCode. I will talk with our webmaster about how we can overcome this type of "user error" in the future. I consider this a failure on MTU's part and commit to you and others I will work diligently with our webmaster to prevent or reduce the possibility of this happening in the future.
I have manually changed your "Upgrade Expire Dates" (blue underlined) so the first RegCode (...d454) you use can now install the current KHPro 5.00 download version. Be sure you download again to get the later 5.00 version Installation program. You can see my changes in your Account by logging in.
Our old way of providing low cost upgrades required you to keep the older Installation program and original RegCode so you could install it on a new computer, and then install an upgrade release over it using your upgrade RegCode. It was complex, but it worked without user complaints. As you can see above, ordering an Upgrade today simply extends the Upgrade Expire Date for the RegCode you select. Thus, your "original" RegCodes can now be upgraded to install new releases, when you desire to do so.
ADDED JUST NOW: Also, our web scripts know what version you are installing, regardless of the version your original RegCode was created to install. Any RegCode can now work with any version you try to install. This is all possible because we now require on-line registration.
Also, important PRIOR versions of each program are now available on our download.mtu.com site so our customers who don't save a backup copy of the Installation files on CDROM can get them without MTU's help. This too was a major support feature we provided and many users have thanked us for this. I'm not aware of any competitor who does this. If they come out with a new release, you must buy it at their full retail price. We have worked for over 10 years to get to the order upgrading we now have that allows us to offer our customers maximum flexibility and value.
You can also remove an installed program while on-line and the RegCode used is freed from that computer. You can then install it on another computer... all without contacting MTU for help. That flexibility is unavailable in any product we have ever bought and installed.
Since all our releases are FULL programs that include all new features, changes and bug fixes from the first release to the latest, you don't have to stay current with each product. If we release a new version that you want, and its been 3 years (example) since your last upgrade, you can upgrade and install the latest version.
We don't place phone calls to customers. We have found more than half the time that the phone numbers entered on orders (in our database for each Account) often don't work, or are a home number (we don't know this), and our customer is chatting or emailing from work. It is extremely frustrating to us, when we are trying to solve a problem for a user, to not be able to reach them. So we don't place phone calls.
Lynne just informed me you have discovered what I have done to solve your problem. I am very pleased to here you are happy with us again. As a token of our appreciation of you as a long standing customer, we will leave the credit for your KHPro upgrade order."
I posted this to show that MTU has done an excellent job of support, and that a long standing customer was treated fairly and the problem finally solved. The unique condition of a user error and a bad installation file exceeded what we normally expect when diagnosing a problem. Also, KHPro 5.00 is a MAJOR new upgrade, and as such can have bugs surface as folks use it. As always, we will fix these quickly, and make those upgrades available for free to all who have the right to install V5.00.
