Avantquest?

[catfish_pete]

I'm having a horrible time trying to purchase an upgrade to V11 from Avantquest.

I'm hoping I haven't been totally conned - are these people now the official Alpha dealer in the UK? And if so, do we have to deal with them?

My dispute has now gone to Paypal. I've never had this kind of trouble before with purchases direct from Alpha.

[Keith Hubert]

Hi Peter,

are these people now the official Alpha dealer in the UK? And if so, do we have to deal with them?

Yes.

I'm hoping I haven't been totally conned

No you have not.

Give me a call, maybe I can help.

[Mike Vance]

I have purchaed software from Avanquest before and have been happy with their service and my purchases. However .....

I received an email from Aplpha US re the v11 desktop offer which expires on 6th February. I decided to buy the Alpha Five v11 Desktop Edition and Unlimited Runtime bundle priced at $349.

When I clicked Add to Cart I was directed to the Avanquest UK shop and found that the offer was not available there.

Can someone explain why UK customers are deprived of this offer?

[catfish_pete]

Thanks, Keith, I'll call you.

It seems like a seriously backward step appointing a UK distrib, though. The "upgrade" file to V11 as paid for and downloaded is actually corrupt!

Avantquest's "customer service" consists of a form email, telling you to check their FAQ for "technical support". Leaving aside the question that this is a *sales* matter, not one for tech support, searching for Alpha in the FAQ reveals:

"Alphabet Games"

And that's all. Jeez!

Phoning Avantquest's help line is equally frustrating. "All our lines are currently busy. Please try again in a few minutes". I did - five times.

Never had anything like this when dealing direct with Alpha Stateside. You can see why I'm asking Paypal for a refund.

[Mike Vance]

I'm getting totally confused here. Perhaps you can enlightem me Keith or maybe some else can.

In another post Richard said that Brett would help me buy V11 and later changed that stating that Avanquest would be making a UK special offer matching the current US one in price in the coming days. Fine either way. I was ready to buy and assumed I could upgrade my V10 with feature packs I had purchased included in the upgrade.

Then someone in the other post implies that the runtime is included in the basic V11 version already, probably a 3 user one if that's true. It now seems I don't need to buy the runtime unless I need an unlimited one.

Now Pete is saying that the support from Avanquest is terrible/non existent which implies that UK buyers will no longer get support from the US Alpha experts.

All these uncertainties make me go off thinking further about buying V11 until the dust settles. In any case I haven't a clue which offer to buy if I do proceed now.

Mike

[covistaIT]

This is a worrying thread, I was just about to make the decision to sign up for the subscription based on the deep discount email that I received from Avantquest the other day. Having second thoughts now and whilst Alpha is an astonishing product set, if the supply chain can't be relied upon, can we really be confident in marekting this as a solution to potential clients? It would be interesting to get some Alpha/Avantquest feedback or committment on this.

the support from the stateside team has, for me anyway, always been of exceptionally good quality and that is one of the things that has always differentiated Alpha from the others.

[catfish_pete]

Thank you for your help on the phone just now, Keith. I've just tried calling Mike Corbett from Avantquest on his mobile, as you suggested. Unfortunately, he's out of the office for another week (until the 13th).

So the situation is still the same - I've paid for the V11 upgrade, received a corrupt file from Avantquest, and none of my attempts to contact them has been successful. This is very unsatisfactory customer service.

I simply don't understand why Alpha felt it necessary to appoint a "local" distributor in the UK. In the internet age, aren't we all supposed to be global?

If the option for UK users is "Avantquest or nothing", then I'll be in the market for another database program.

[Esio Trot]

Yes, likewise I'm very disappointed in the tactics being used for the UK user base.

I too have been considering buying v11, and have been getting attractive upgrade offers in USD similar to the OP's offer of $349, and likewise when clicking the link it eventually directs me to the alpha .co.uk site and seems to me to be almost what M$ do: just change the $ sign for £ (admittedly rounding down to £300).

In practical terms, it means that should I choose to accept this offer, I'll be paying around £60 extra for residing in the UK, particularly as I'm not VAT registered.

I've copied the link to my private PC at home which has Cyberghost anonymous browsing software to see if I can force a US download.

If this doesn't work, I'll stay with v9, as this does all I want - it was just that I liked the thought of the most up-to-date version, even though it's not necessary.

[Richard Rabins]

We are in the process of sorting this out. In the meantime just email brett@alphasoftware.com and he will assist.

Thanks

[Richard Rabins]

I'm getting totally confused here. Perhaps you can enlightem me Keith or maybe some else can.

In another post Richard said that Brett would help me buy V11 and later changed that stating that Avanquest would be making a UK special offer matching the current US one in price in the coming days. Fine either way. I was ready to buy and assumed I could upgrade my V10 with feature packs I had purchased included in the upgrade.

Then someone in the other post implies that the runtime is included in the basic V11 version already, probably a 3 user one if that's true. It now seems I don't need to buy the runtime unless I need an unlimited one.

Now Pete is saying that the support from Avanquest is terrible/non existent which implies that UK buyers will no longer get support from the US Alpha experts.

All these uncertainties make me go off thinking further about buying V11 until the dust settles. In any case I haven't a clue which offer to buy if I do proceed now.

Mike

Mike - please email brett@alphasoftware.com and he will assist!

[catfish_pete]

Can I point out that it is now nine days since I paid for - but did not receive - this upgrade.

I have asked Avanquest UK for a refund with no response. I don't know how anyone could conceivably regard this as acceptable customer service.

And yes Richard, I did indeed mail the person you recommended above with a request to help secure my refund.

[Richard Rabins]

please email brett@alphasoftware.com and cc me at richard@alphasoftware.com with the details and this will be taken care of!

[catfish_pete]

Thank you, Richard, will do. Your timely response is a welcome contrast to Avanquest's total indifference.

[RevMK]

Hi all,

I had an email at the end of last year from Alpha US offering to 'buy back' my previous version. Any idea if this process is still open to UK users?

I did respond to the email but Alpha's servers are still rejecting messages...'Technical details of permanent failure: The account <my@email> is disabled.'

:(

[Richard Rabins]

please email brett@alphasoftware.com and he will assist
thanks

[Esio Trot]

Well, here we are 8 months later, and just last week I got another mail shot from Alpha. This time for a 2 licence developer edition at an upgrade price of $199, plus a runtime licence for another $99. A5 v10.5 does all I want, but I so like the product that I don't mind upgrading - but not at any price.

The $298 price should be about £190 sterling - quite affordable, so I clicked the link to find that as I am in the UK I am forbidden to purchase from the main Alpha site, having instead to go to www.alphasoftware.co.uk. However, this is a dead site, yet is still registered to a Jill McSweeney, trading as CMITS.net of 10 Briery Meadows Barnsley S73 0QW.

Aventquest's site have no mention of A5 on their front menus, so a search has to be made. However, looking at the v11 Developer on their site, I see no mention of two licences, plus the price for this without the runtime is £261. (over $400!). To buy the runtime alone is £375 (over $575!). For Developer and Runtime as a bundle, the price is £598.80 (over $900 - three times the mailshot upgrade price!!!)

Seems to me that users this side of the pond are expected to provided someone some handsome profit (probably mostly for Aventquest). It's not going to be from me though, as at this price I'll still stick with v10.5.

David.

[Richard Rabins]

just email sales@alphasoftware.com and they will take care of you

are you not able to go directly to the link in the mail shot?
please reply to me at richard@alphasoftware.com

thanks

[Esio Trot]

Thank you for the quick reply - I thought I was one of the few working on a Saturday!

As you may have gathered, Avanquest is not held in high regard by a number of people in the UK. Although they probably do excel sometimes, the word on the street is that their customer service often leaves a lot to be desired. Their USA operation may be more slick, but for the UK they don't even list a telephone number should a problem arise that can't be solved by e-mail - just a fax number in France. Any company that deals with customers must in my mind provide good means of contact - life is not perfect and things do go wrong, and sometimes this gets compounded with more than one error, and when this happens customers sometimes need to speak with a human being, and not be restricted to filling in a web-form.

I've never had to phone Alpha, but I know you have a number should something go wrong and I need to speak to someone - that is comforting.

For software that is downloaded, and thus by it's very nature international, I fail to see why Alpha would wish to associate themselves with a third party and require users of certain countries to only go through them. I can honestly say that this association does nothing to enhance the reputation of Alpha Software. In consequence, I would urge Alpha to review the strategy and reasons for continuing this association.

I've e-mailed you direct about the link, and I'll e-mail sales as you suggest, thank you.

David.

[Richard Rabins]

We in fact have ended our relationship with Avanquest and all customers worldwide can interact directly with us. If you are being blocked from going to alphasoftware.com please contact sales@alphasoftware.com and they will assist.

Thanks

[Kevin Collins]

It will be good to deal direct again, it was a nightmare trying to buy here.
We even looked at other database software to migrate to.
Probably missed the good offer bundles that have come out, have to wait and see what comes along.