Creamware customer service? Absolutely appalling.

batfink · Post by **batfink** » Mon May 17, 2004 10:30 am

Strong words you might think. But justified.

Almost two months ago now I advertised my Prophet Plus and Solaris plug-ins for sale on this site. Some poor guy from Italy agreed to buy them both from me and send payment in Euros through registered post.

Not a 'poor' guy because the plug-ins were no good - far from it - but because after two months Creamware can't even organise two straight forward (!!!!????) plug-in transfers.

Promises were repeatedly broken after contacting them by phone because my emails weren't answered. "We'll have it done within 1/2 an hour" was common in respnose to my complaints. After having confirmed receipt of my emails I have been repeatedly informed by Ralf (Bach) that someone is "on the case" and the transfer will be resolved ASAP. The only single email I received from Creamware was to confirm that Ralf was no longer dealing with my problem and that it had been passed on to a "Mr Fassbender". Fat lot of good that did - 10 days later still nothing had happened. No correspondence whatsoever.

Here I am now on Mon 17 May and the guy who had long since paid me for these plug-ins wants his money back. Can't say I blame him. Today once more after speaking to Ralf I was informed that I should receive an email "within the next few minutes" containing the (first) relevant file to carry out the transfer. No email was received and 28 (I counted ) subsequent phone calls (to Germany...) went unanswered as they were either engaged or no one picked up (I counted as I made each call). All calls within 45 minutes, to either Frank Hund or the main (Ralf's) number !!!

No apology and no reason given why I hadn't been sent the file weeks ago when I first contacted them regarding the transfer.

Now I have to re-imburse the guy who I sold them to (he sent me cash in Euros so I have to do the same, including registered post) ending up significantly out-of-pocket and thoroughly pissed off with the whole affair.

I am not one of these people who moans about customer service frequently - my mood here is a direct result of Creamware's inaction and evidently appalling service. I am writing to Frank Hund at the time of writing and if I am not satisfied with his response the full contents of my letter to him will appear on this site, together with all relevant names, correspondence and dates.

Creamware have themselves to blame.

[ This Message was edited by: AMJones on 2004-05-17 11:33 ]

[ This Message was edited by: AMJones on 2004-05-17 11:35 ]

[ This Message was edited by: AMJones on 2004-05-17 12:42 ]

virtualstudio · Post by **virtualstudio** » Mon May 17, 2004 10:56 am

I've also a problem with the transfer of a few plug-ins I've sold, some people are waiting almost two month's now.

The strange thing is I sold one Vectron to a German guy that called himself with CW and the next day the transfer was done!!!

as English and German is not my native tonque, I don't understand all that technical s**t

I do give them some credit, because there was a lot going on in the CW firm,
maybe they have had time enough now to get things back on track.

Terranova-Amsterdam

batfink · Post by **batfink** » Mon May 17, 2004 11:39 am

Of course CW have had quite a few problems recently, but my issue here is that I have been made many promises that were subsequently broken, and remain broken.

Why should I have to put up with being messed around for weeks, while the guy who has already paid me is (perhaps understandably) blaming me for for the transfers not going through??

He doesn't know me, has put his faith in me, and now I feel guilty that I'm ripping him off, when it's clearly Creamware's fault. To date I am fully justified in having zero faith in CW customer service - my only need to contact them has resulted in frustration and much wasted time. This should undoubtedly be the most straight forward issue to resolve.

I have two cards (a Pulsar II and a PowerPulsar) registered with CW - well over £2000 worth of hardware - and the least I expect is reasonable customer service. At present it's bloody awful.

[ This Message was edited by: AMJones on 2004-05-17 12:40 ]

BingoTheClowno · Post by **BingoTheClowno** » Mon May 17, 2004 11:44 am

Write to Ralph, he will resolve your problem.

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Mon May 17, 2004 12:03 pm

To give you an idea of the wait times, I'm in his queue for 1-2 months for a key transfer now. :/

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Mon May 17, 2004 12:09 pm

On 2004-05-17 12:39, AMJones wrote:
Of course CW have had quite a few problems recently, but my issue here is that I have been made many promises that were subsequently broken, and remain broken.
...

imho you're absolutely right to bring the issue to notice at such a 'prominent' place.
some clarification, at least an excuse needed...

cheers, Tom

batfink · Post by **batfink** » Mon May 17, 2004 1:29 pm

Hi Atomic

I know that CW have had re-organisational problems recently and of course to an extent I sympathise with their situation, but 1-2 months is simply inexcusable as I've been told, over the phone, on more than one occasion (including earlier today) that the transfers would take no more than 1/2 an hour once I respond to the emails sent to me.

No such emails arrived, so I end up repeatedly misinforming the buyer, who has already paid me a long time ago, and generally feeling like a prick.

At the time of advertisment, at least, there were no indications that transfers would take this long, in fact no indications at all. I expected it to take two weeks or so, thinking that was reasonable enough for the exchange of a couple of files/emails.

I was informed twice by Ralf that they "did not have time to respond to all emails". Even if CW have a backlog, which may be expected for an apparently small company, the least they could do is email you to say so. Instead you're kept entirely in the dark not knowing where you stand.

I have now spent literally hours (not to mention money, on reimbursing the buyer) dealing with what should have been a pretty trivial issue.

It's a shame that I like my CW cards so much!!

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Mon May 17, 2004 4:00 pm

Hi, I am one of those people who constantly complains and I fear having to call Germany. I don't live near there and I know it would be very expensive to call. I probably would buy a special calling card. The few times I called Canada, Paul Tanti was very helful. He will be sorely missed.

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Mon May 17, 2004 4:19 pm

Gee WHIZ!

Hey Kor! After having read what AMJones wrote, aren't you glad I'm a patient guy?

Braincell, have you spoken with Ali in B.C.? I did and I think he's going to be great. Although I will miss Paul Tanti for sure!

RoonSmits · Post by **RoonSmits** » Mon May 17, 2004 5:01 pm

Well,

to be honest, I had a question about the 50% discount offer. I emailed CWA at 21:50 and got an answer in minutes:

-----Original Message-----
From: info [mailto:info@creamware.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 22:00
To: 'Musician'
Subject: RE: 50% offer gone ?
--------------------------

Nothing bad to mention about response times, ten o'clock at night !

regards
Ronald

Post by **Guest** » Mon May 17, 2004 5:17 pm

You got to excuse them they are over worked these days.

if this has been in their mail box then I am sure it will not be among these trasfers that will cost you money.

CWA should only charge for all the requests that reached their mailbox after the fee was implemented.

that is fair I guess

contact rb@creamware.de once more and shortly let him know it was not done.

[ This Message was edited by: antar on 2004-05-17 18:23 ]

Post by **hubird** » Mon May 17, 2004 6:48 pm

On 2004-05-17 18:17, antar wrote:
CWA should only charge for all the requests that reached their mailbox after the fee was implemented.

I wouldn't count on that, on the contrary I don't think this will be the case

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Mon May 17, 2004 6:59 pm

I've talked with Ali before and he's really nice. I also think Ralf should give him the key generation software (or whatever they use) so Ralf doesn't have to do everything himself. Also Ali's on Pacific time so it's a lot easier to get hold of him for us in the U.S.

Unfortunately any hardware repairs have to be done in Germany as well, so Ali can't really do anything except troubleshoot software problems.

Shayne

Post by **garyb** » Tue May 18, 2004 12:33 am

for registration issues, the best address to get things done is webmaster@creamware.de .

batfink · Post by **batfink** » Wed May 19, 2004 5:54 am

You got to excuse them they are over worked these days.

I disagree with the apparent view that CW are some kind of special case. Any other company with such long response times to customer emails (still waiting...) would surely be slated by all of us.

Yes they may be busy with all their recent troubles, but my own experience shows that they simply fail to meet the (not unreasonable) demands of their customers. They don't even email you back with any explanation. On Monday this week I explained to Ralf on the phone (yes I got through) that the guy wanted his money back unless resolved that day. Promised, imminent emails never arrived... once more.

Andy

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Fri May 21, 2004 11:55 am

I think what is really upsetting about this is that it is caused by Creamware being paranoid about being ripped off. They ought to be more concerned with customer satisfaction first and foremost but instead customers are like an annoyance to them. Any copy protection is okay with us as long as it does not get in the way or is a hindrance.

I will not attempt to sell any software after reading about this nightmare story. It also will affect my purchasing when duplicate software is involed.

We are the reason the company exists and if they forget about that or take us for granted they might regret it later on.

[ This Message was edited by: braincell on 2004-05-21 13:06 ]

craighuddy · Post by **craighuddy** » Sat May 22, 2004 12:24 pm

On 2004-05-18 01:33, garyb wrote:
for registration issues, the best address to get things done is webmaster@creamware.de .

FWIW, I did a simple hardware transfer 3 weeks ago and they still have not transfered over. I have emailed that address 3 times. Looks like CW's site is down at the moment.

maxol · Post by **maxol** » Sun May 23, 2004 8:43 am

Yes its very patchy, I emailed them several weeks ago as their site failed to generate and email me a license key for Scope v4.
I sent them a follow up email a couple of weeks ago and have still heard nothing.
I expect a better level of customer service than this.

Post by **garyb** » Sun May 23, 2004 2:49 pm

they can't help you with that 4.0 reg problem. just keep trying it 'till it works.(and it will..)

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Sun May 23, 2004 3:07 pm

To Maxol.

Hello,

please write again to rb@creamware.de and i will take care ASAP, to generate the SCOPE 4.0 key for you.

cheers
Ralf

On 2004-05-23 09:43, maxol wrote:
Yes its very patchy, I emailed them several weeks ago as their site failed to generate and email me a license key for Scope v4.
I sent them a follow up email a couple of weeks ago and have still heard nothing.
I expect a better level of customer service than this.

[ This Message was edited by: Ralf on 2004-05-23 16:09 ]