Unhappy Customer

[kat7]

Purchased Video Studio Pro X4 on Jan 17 2012
Just found out there is an X5.

Also found there is no free upgrade.
This kind of service is terrible.
I do not think I have ever in my life purchased software that did not have a free upgrade for 6 month to a year.
30 days is inexcusable.
1. I would not have ever purchased this software if I had known there was going to be an upgrade.
I was told by Cliff at customer service they do not know when there will be an upgrade until there is one.
Is this so they nab the suckers like me who would wait and perhaps find something better?

2. This will be the last corel product I will purchase.

Definitly not a happy customer

[Ken Berry]

We can understand your frustration. Quite a few people are caught out like this every time. But the matter is in the hands of Corel. This Board is run by volunteer users like you -- it is a user to user board. As far as we are aware, apart from one or two Corel employees who show up here from time to time to help out on specific issues, no one from Corel managements looks at the Board apart, perhaps, from the Wish List thread at the top. And none of us know exactly when a new version is to be released. So I am afraid your anger is misdirected if you think that you are talking to Corel here.

[kat7]

Thank you for your reply

I am sorry Ken unfortunately Corel is mistaken if they pay no heed to this board which has a corel.com after its address.

You can however be assured I will be venting my frustration in other places for this shoddy business practice.
Have already vented on Amazon and will continue on my search for other forums.

It probably does not hurt the users here to also be aware in case they are caught off guard.
As you already know if the users demand better service they will get it.
If they choose to be screwed that will also remain the case.

Still unhappy with Corel.

[canuck]

Purchased Video Studio Pro X4 on Jan 17 2011
Just found out there is an X5.

Also found there is no free upgrade.
This kind of service is terrible.
I do not think I have ever in my life purchased software that did not have a free upgrade for 6 month to a year.
30 days is inexcusable.
1. I would not have ever purchased this software if I had known there was going to be an upgrade.
I was told by Cliff at customer service they do not know when there will be an upgrade until there is one.
Is this so they nab the suckers like me who would wait and perhaps find something better?

2. This will be the last corel product I will purchase.

Definitly not a happy customer

From Jan 17 2011 to Mar 28 2012 is obviously over a year - I don't know what you are complaining about

[DVDDoug]

kat7,

Sorry you feel cheated. Did you get a discount? Usually Corel lowers the price before an upgrade so that the cost of the software plus the upgrade is not higher than buying the new version. (I haven't been checking the price regularly.)

And, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if it's LESS than 30-days you can get a refund and buy the new version. I suppose that just makes you MORE mad if you bought the old version 31 days ago.

BTW - I seem to remember buying a copy of Win95 about a week before Win98 came out... and I didn't get a free upgrade. The difference is I knew Win98 was coming out but I had no choice.

[kat7]

By the way my purchase was made in Jan of 2012 not 2011 canuck ... so that was 49 days until the new program came out. Better understood now?

DVDDoug ... Yes I did get a discount ... however I would have not purchased the program for more than $50 anyway.
As I will not be purchasing the upgrade for another $60.

To be honest its a nice program but not any better than others on the market for the same price or less. I actually do not need the upgrade ... it is the principal of the matter.

I already have Camtasia so do not need the new X 5 desktop video capture feature and I own Adobe Premiere Pro (have not even tried it yet) in my Adobe Master Collection 5.5 ... when all is said and done it was an incredibly stupid purchase on my part.

A friend told me about this program because he felt it was simple to use (he could not afford Adobe) and we could learn it together.
Stupidly I forked out the money.
The positive side of this is I now know Corel has a crappy selling policy and will pass the BUYER BEWARE on to others.

Being a beta tester for Adobe (now on Photoshop CS6), Qarbon as well as Microsoft to name a few ... it's nice to understand what companies to promote and those to avoid.

Kat

[TonyP]

Free software upgrade 6months to a year. I haven't seen that one yet. I would love to know the programs that work with that kind of deal.
Do I consider it bad business practice? Not especially. You got the program that you wanted at a discounted price. Maybe if they sold it a full price and offered the update when available, it might be better. It's like warranties. Each company determines the length of it. You, the consumer should be aware of them and buy accordingly. If it is not what you are looking for, move on. Corel gives a 30day money back. I think that's pretty good. That is their policy. You were up to 40-something days.
You have the program, use it. It works pretty darn well! I do not think getting what you paid for as being "screwed".

[teknisyan]

I'm sorry if you felt cheated, however if you can always contact the Corel Sales Team in your country and they'll be more than happy to help and answer any questions that you have regarding your purchase.

[Ricohoc]

For the small cost of upgrading, I have never been disappointed in Corel in any of their products. I've been using DRAW since v3.0 and have upgraded to X5 Video Studio Ultimate.

[wstagner]

For the past coupla release cycles, new VS versions seem to occur in the Feb-April tyme frame. Watch for the depest discount you've every seen on the product and that's a good indicator.

[kat7]

Well Tony apparently you are not dealing with the right companies then.
CoffeeCup has free upgrades FOR LIFE.
Artisteer for a year.
These are just 2 there are many more.

It is nice you are thrilled with your product and the fact that you do not get an upgrade within a 31 day period from purchase. You know what they say about the "I haven't seen that one yet"? ... ignorance is bliss.
Call me a spoiled brat for dealing with software companies that have a better business model than this.
By the way I have had Corel products since 1996 ... they were not this way back then.

Free software upgrade 6months to a year. I haven't seen that one yet. I would love to know the programs that work with that kind of deal.
Do I consider it bad business practice? Not especially. You got the program that you wanted at a discounted price. Maybe if they sold it a full price and offered the update when available, it might be better. It's like warranties. Each company determines the length of it. You, the consumer should be aware of them and buy accordingly. If it is not what you are looking for, move on. Corel gives a 30day money back. I think that's pretty good. That is their policy. You were up to 40-something days.
You have the program, use it. It works pretty darn well! I do not think getting what you paid for as being "screwed".

[TonyP]

Well Tony apparently you are not dealing with the right companies then.
CoffeeCup has free upgrades FOR LIFE.
Artisteer for a year.
These are just 2 there are many more.

It is nice you are thrilled with your product and the fact that you do not get an upgrade within a 31 day period from purchase. You know what they say about the "I haven't seen that one yet"? ... ignorance is bliss.
Call me a spoiled brat for dealing with software companies that have a better business model than this.
By the way I have had Corel products since 1996 ... they were not this way back then.

Let's see, I thought we were talking about NLE's. Sorry if we weren't. I have a title editor that I get free "updates" for life also, but they now have a "pro" version. I would think that qualifies as an update, but I guess not. It costs money. Or they will have a new plugin, which I think too, is an update but they charge for that also. Only time will tell if that business model remains with your web building apps. I don't consider bug fixes "upgrades" unless they are full revisions with new features. If it's a bug fix, then that is something that most companies do. If it's full revision with new features, then you hit the jackpot for web apps. How many other companies do this? Adobe? Avid? Sony? CyberLink? Magix? From my "ignorance", I have not seen any of them offer free for life. Oh, they do offer buy full price now, get update free when released. But not free for life.
I do find Corel a pretty decent company. They offer a good product at a fair price. You say that back in 1996, they ran a different business model. I guess they thought that it didn't work for them so they changed. As I said in my post, if they sold it to you at full price with the promise of free upgrade when released (some companies do this when a new release is imminent), fine. But if you got it at a discount price, you got what you paid for.

[Pete Waterman]

Hi All
I'm not sure if this has any relevance on this? I've just installed VSX5 on my laptop & got this screen before I registered the software
All a bit confusing?

[canuck]

Hi Pete, what do you find confusing?

the "free upgrades" (as well as the other features mentioned) refer to the "Protection Plans" offered by Corel which of course are not free and propably have a annual fee.

[lata]

Hi Pete

If you have already set up a Corel Account where you should have registered other Corel programs all you have to do is provide the e-mail address used for your account.

If you have already registered the program via the desktop then give the e-mail address again from the laptop then this window will open as the full Corel Guide.
Then tell it not to open on start, a tick box lower left I think its lower left.