Category: the Rant Board
this is reposted from my lj.
Hi journalers and Fudge because I know that this might interest you... If I didn't want to swich to GW micro I do now. I have spent over an hour and a half on the phone with Freedom scientific tech support, and was not only not helped, but I had my knolege insulted, told that I believe things to easily, and I should not believe anything anyone tells me about scripts, and that they know everything and pretty much that I know nothing. Not in thouse exact words.
I called them with the fact that my display seemed to be messed up. I have tried everything from uninstalling, and reinstalling jaws, and vidio intercept manager. I have tried system restores, and all kinds of other things. I finally decided to swich to what I'm using now window eyes, but everyone said call freedom scientific. They will help you. I tried it. He had me first go get the vidio intercept for 10 from the website. I installed that. Then he had me go get both the 88 update, and the demo version of 10. I first put on 8, and once that was installed I went to the program where I use my jaws curser the most. I went to Mirc With speech, and signed in to bitlbee. I tabbed to the user list and it said no selected item. He says then. Well it's not supported by us so there for there probibly are no scripts for it. I told him that there were built in to the program, and he told me not to believe anything I hear.
Then he had me install 10, and the same thing happened. He told me well you'll have to reinstall it or something. There are oviusly no scripts for this program... There most sirtainly are.
He then told me atleast it is fixxed and hung up. I then using jaws 10 went on to windows messenger,, and tried to strike up a convorsation with Jdx. When I back spaced it was just saying blank blank blank. I tried to reead the history and everything was showing up blank. I tried to delete characters, and they were just saying space space space. I called back, and got the same person, and told him the issue I was having. He then said he forgot to have me change display settings. Now correct me if I am wrong, but everywhere I look it tells me to put my theme to windows classic, and none none, and classic. I had it set to this, but he had me change the theme to xp. Ok what ever. I did what he said and then went through and made the changes he told me to there and in system, and he said it should be fixxed. He then told me that I have to get windows live messenger because windows messenger is not supported by freedom scientific... Since when?
BTW the changes in display did not help. Here I am again with window eyes and jaws a sack of the brown stuff.
Holy hell! The only time I remember having to call Freedom Scientific was earlier this year when I discovered that my JAWS installation CD, even though it is a legit one, didn't have an authorization number... which is wack, but I digress. lol I didn't really have that experience, so seems like this guy just had something wedged up his arse. I mean, obviously you know what you're doing, so he had no right to be such a dick. Good luck with all your screenreader problems.
Namaste,
Becky
fortunately i'm in the UK, yes we might not get listened to by fs, but our techincal support is great. of course, we are not technically supported by fs directly. we use a reseller.
You know, whenever I have to call any tech support center for anything and my problem isn't fixed the first time, I always call again and speak to someone else because, in variably, they will tell jme to do something else. Tech support people are not necessarily intelligent. They use flow cheets that tell them, "if the customer tell you this, then tell them that". They're only doing what they're instructions tell them to do because they'd be too stupid to help you otherwise.
2 things to that. if they have flo sheets they all have the same one. I've worked in customer service and they are famous for scripts. We all got the same one. The other thing, he was the only one who seemed to be there. i called two different times. and he didn't have to be an asshole to me...
The only experience I have ever had with FS support was also unpleasant. I wanted to know if my Braille 'n Speak could be repaired and how much it would cost. I could not get a direct answer to this question. The guy kept trying to sell me a PacMate. It didn't matter how many times I told him I could not afford, nor did I want, a PacMate, he would not stop trying. Finally after almost an hour he addressed my question and basically told me that for what had happened to my BNS he doubted it could be repaired. But why the hell didn't he just address that in the first place instead of not listening to what I was saying and trying to talk me into something I did not want?
Wow... yeah, that's pretty ricockulous.
it's the american way in sales though isn't it? sell something if they can, regardless of the situation? lol jk.
I remember one time when I had to call fs because I couldn't get my bns to print. Well the person i got told me to change a lot of stuff i the printer setts and that didn't help. so then this person told me to buy some ceral cable for the printer and after i spent the twenty or twenty five bucks on the darn cable I still couldn't print!
lol Codiac, you might have a point there.
I've had several experiences with Freedom Scientific tech support, and only one was positive. Like Mrs. M, they insulted my knowledge, though in most cases, I knew more about their damn products than the rep I was talking to. That was particularly the case with the BNS and Braille Lite. Freedom is all friendly when they're selling you something, but their support is crap. But as Kodiak said, that's the way of sales. I have had many thoughts about switching to GW Micro, but thus far haven't been able to do it.
I've delt with f s support in the past and they were quite nasty...they took a sharp tone with me and they made me feel stupid.
I spoke to the person's superior and got everything worked out.
I e-mailed technical support asking how much it would cost to repair my PAC Mate, and they responded by saying I'd have to pay a flat rate of $325. Sheesh, screw that.
windows messenger quit working for me with jaws eight or seven. so he may be right there. i switched to live and it worked fine.
Is it just me, or do FS's products crash quite a bit? It seems like the note-takers crash every other week.
Becky
The note takers always crash.
Getting back on track, fs people have no people skills in my opinion.
I still use a 4.51 JAWS, and the last time I called them it was all right. Really, I was just asking for a replacement.
Hmmm, the only time I ever had t ouse tech support, it all seemed quite well! The person I got was pretty friendly, and was there to walk me through everything, and I didn't have any problems! But you're gonna have crappy people that's pretty much anywhere! There's always someone who wants to act like they dont know anything, or want to treat you as such! But wow! Good luck with that!
Fs is a ripoff itself. They sell you products that are too expensive, and that are very unstable. I'm not looking forward to calling tech support to see what's wrong with my stupid pacmate. My advice is, if you want a screen reader, go with system access. If you need a note taker or braille display, go with humanware.
Katie
My problem with humanware is that the braille note does not support third party applications. I absolutely love the braille note's built in features, but the pacmate, in a way, is better. I had one for a year and never had any major problems with it. I only had to hard reset it once or twice, and fortunately I had everything backed up. I have also heard that the omni doesn't have nearly as many issues as the older pacmate, but haven't gotten that confirmed.
As for technical support, I've had some bad experiences, but i've also had some decent people who were able to help me with problems i was having. I called in once about my braille lite, and the person I spoke to did recommend the pacmate, but didn't go on and on about it. He just said that since it was newer and the braille lite wasn't nearly as well supported, I might want to consider getting a pacmate. However, I have had some bad experiences. i've never actually had one of them insult my intelligence, but I've had people who have told me that jaws just didn't support one thing or another. And, jaws not supporting windows messenger? That is crap. i've used jaws 9 and below with windows messenger just fine, and even narrator works with it for crying out loud.
I've had all good experiences with technical support, the time when I had a problem with my braille note, I called them up, told them what it was, and the lady that I spoke with, knew exactly what it was, told me what to do and their it was done. When I called to get my external replaced from western digital, the guy again knew what was wrong, and told me that because it was still under warranty to just mail it back, and they'd send me a new one.
as i've mentioned in another topic concerning complaints towards FS. u should be aware that the vice president of FS, jonathan mosen, has a zone bbs account by the username jmosen. so if u have any complaints about FS, try bringing them up with him directly.
I can see were FS might have some people that are not good at their job, but that is any company. Now on their side of the fince you have to remember they assume your computer is correctly formated, has legit software, has been reasonibley cared for, and a host of other things or factors that may not be so. They better techs will admit they simpy don't know, but some refused to admit this fact. If you get a bad one on the phone simply ask for a supervisor. These people don't have a chrystal ball, so can determine what you've done to that machine your arguing with them about, so give the good ones a brake. Lol The latest feature in Jaws 10 should solve some of this. If given permission they will have a crystal ball and can tell you your computer is jinxed. Get one that works better. Lol
Peace!
jaws not working with windows messinger? um... yah, it does, because I use it with jaws 8 fine.
I'd like to add what happens to that poor tech that has to deal with users that don't know how to get to the places she, or he is asking them to go? You have to not only solve the issue, but teach computing as well. This adds even more stress to the situation. If you are a "computer guru," and are calling to argue your skill level and will not just allow the tech to guide you FS provides a extensive manual for you to read, that way you should be able to solve your issue. Leave the techs to the people that really need them.
Peace.
PocketPC, I'm sure that if Jonathan Mosen even logs into the Zone at all, he's here to relax, not take complaints about work. Probably why he doesn't come on here.
some of it could also be the computer and not just the JAWS.
That doesn't excuse the behavior of many of their tech support people. I was a staunch JFW user for ten years even despite the fact that I ever had a favorable experience with FS tech support. Of course the only reason I was so steadfast was because the folks responsible for my instruction conveniently didn't mention the existence of other screen readers. Even when they didn't insult my intelligence they still came off as arrogant and haughty. So when I discovered that JFW 7 wouldn't read PDF documents properly without some sort of tinkering I didn't even bother. I switched to GW Micro. I've rarely had to call tech support and they were great on those few occasions when I did. I've far more often called their Sales department to check on the balance of my payment plan which, I've mentioned in other posts, is another reason why I don't regret the switch. Try asking FS to let you buy one of their products on time payments and they'd probably hang you out to dry. Granted the only product so far that GW offers payment plans on is Window-Eyes but it's still a major plus in my book. I mean let's be realistic here. Who geerally has the kind of money to buy a screen reader right up front except for a state agency? And for the most part they're contracted by FS, so of course their clients don't know any better. What I'd like to know is why the heck Mr. Mosun left Humanware. I've used few of their products but the ones I have used have so far proven far more reliable than anything from FS ever has.