Getting Simple Answers

I'll get the messaging on our website updated as this is fair feedback but it's nearly impossible for us to provide phone support on products that are typically sub $25 for purchasing for pre or post sales. We would love to do it but the majority of the calls we get are related to helping users fix problems that have nothing to do with the products we sell.

You would be surprised (or maybe not!) the number of emails we get each week being accused of locking people out of their Hotmail/outlook accounts or that we are the reason they cannot login to their windows machine. For us to provide dedicated phone support we would have to raise the prices of our products considerably. 

It's not that we don't jump on the phones when needed, I talk with customers a few times per week on average but it's on the corporate sales side. There are ways to reach out to sales support for pre/post sales, we have support@stardock sales@stardock and corpsales@stardock as well.

Thanks for your prompt response and providing the support email.  I looked for such an email and unless I missed it, could not locate it in on your website.  

I can appreciate the costs associated with providing phone service and being asked idiotic questions for problems that are not related to your products.  Frankly, those kinds of questions should have a simple and polite "we do not support any question not related to our products" so that your time is not wasted.  

However, you also mentioned that it's nearly impossible to provide such support on sub $25 products, and again, I can appreciate that as well.  Yet I would politely point out that you do offer products that are more than $25.  For example, Window Blinds $29.99; Multiplicity $29.99, and the product I was trying to get an answer on during the sale, Object Desktop, $50.  

So, I guess for someone that has a question and your website Q&A doesn't cover it, they post a comment on the forum as I did which is certainly OK, but it does take more time.  

My particular question had to do with subscriptions, specifically, what happens when a subscription ends, does the software stop working or does it continue to work but without future updates and/or technical support.  That's basic information that should be posted on the Stardock website as an item in the Q&A section as well as anywhere there is a subscription product.  It merely helps inform the potential purchaser of the implications of the subscription.  

I have submitted the above question to support.  Unfortunately because I could not get an answer I've lost out on the sale opportunity but will still investigate Object Desktop.

In any case, thanks again for your prompt reply.  

Peter

The forums, discord, and email (email will be a bit slower on the weekends) is how we try to provide frontline support as it's much easier to allow us to lookup an account/pull relevant logs if needed. 

It's a volume game, i wish we could do phone support as talking to customers is the best part of our job and helping solve problems is part of it. But it doesnt work, even on a $50 sale, it doesn't scale well from a time perspective. A phone call/triage is many times longer than email responses/interaction and when we get hundreds of tickets per week, we have to keep the balance.

Here is the good place to get answer regarding Stardock software,especially customized windows products. If regular customers did not get the answer right,mods and staff would step in. 

Object Desktop has two lapse rules. If your account labels the product “Classic Subscription” (the pre-May 2023 type), the titles included when it lapses keep working. With a newer subscription, the software stops functioning when it lapses.

Check the Object Desktop entry in your Stardock account for the “Classic Subscription” label. If it is Classic, keep your installers somewhere safe before the lapse; Stardock does not provide those installers afterward.

The lapse terms do not spell out what happens to support or updates, so I can’t confirm those parts. The subscription page has the full lapse wording.

Thank you Haalee, for providing the link that explains the ramifications of a subscription to Object Desktop.  

Corporations generally can negotiate large-scale software purchases in a favorable way and can chug along with subscriptions; Individuals are not in such a position and subscriptions are generally unattractive, preferring perpetual licenses.  

Most subscriptions of other software (non-Stardock software of course) do not self-destruct and become inoperative if the subscription is not renewed (Microsoft is an exception with its Office 365 which becomes crippled if its subscription is not renewed) will continue to work without future updates, etc.  I currently have a few such applications on my workstation that have expired their initial subscription, and while they do not get the most current updates, they still continue to function and provide value.  So I can't imagine why Stardock would impose such a draconian policy - perhaps there's something I'm missing.   In addition, I can't imagine that such a policy would boost sales either, but that's a whole different matter.   

Since I do not currently have Object Desktop, a purchase at this time would subject me to the current policy that would disable the product after 1 year if I did not renew.  Therefore, I've decided not to go ahead with a purchase.  

If in the future Stardock reverses the current subscription policy and makes available a perpetual license option, or one where the product does not become crippled if the subscription expires, I will reconsider a purchase.

In any-case, thanks again for your response and link with clarification.

Unlike a typical application [even Office 365], Stardock's software integrates with the system, eg as shell enhancements which are almost always OS-specific and even OS release version-specific.

If they are no longer updated via a subscription and the OS on which they are applied itself continues to update results can be 'painful' for the user.

Yes, some people might be able to keep an old Stardock proggy still working on their machine...but not all machines are the same.

When [not if] a user strikes a problem with their OS no longer matching the Stardock enhancements the blame inevitably falls on Stardock, not on the User's willingness to continue with updates as needed.

I always think back to that error code [notice] you would get when one particular shell went wrong... the notice was "You must reinstall Windows".  That's what the OS demanded...the actual solution was a little simpler...a reboot.

People see no issue to on-going subscriptions to AV software protection...simply because they understand the attacks evolve and so must the protection

It's the same with your shell enhancements...when the OS evolves so must Stardock's programs...;)