30 days of support?? Seriously?
WHen I bought this product, I did not realise there was only a 30-day period for free support. I bought the product on 1/9/2016, now getting errors, and I have to pay for help??!? What a crock. Looking for an alternative product. Any suggestions?
Yep. They tried the same thing with me today when I went to ask for a refund. I have had issues getting non-stop backups working correctly on 2 different PCs and on different operating systems. Their product does not work as advertised, and as such I am in my right to demand that they either fix the fault, and if not then I am entitled to a compensaton/discount/refund depending on the circumstances. That's what the law says anyway.
However they are trying to deny any responsibility and keep pointing me to their 30-day money back policy. But what every buyer should be aware of is that the 30-day thing is just an optional guarantee that they have chosen to offer IN ADDITION to the implied rights you have under the law when paying for any product or service. Many shops offer that as an extra service where you can return a product within 30 days for any reason like acronis does. This is not something a shop is obligated to offer, but many do as an extra service. However that does NOT mean that they are not responsible for faulty products, in fact you have an implied 2-year warranty on any product you buy assuming you haven't abused the product, and assuming you notify the seller within a reasonable time frame from when the fault is discovered (no less than 2 months in any case).
Here are some snippets of the response I got from their support:
Aravind (25.2.2016, 17.18.05): As I understand, you are requesting for refund since non stop back up is not working. Am I correct?
Me (25.2.2016, 17.18.13): yes
Aravind (25.2.2016, 17.21.03): I see that product is purchased on XXXX-XX-XX. We will be able to refund the product only within 30 days of purchase.
Aravind (25.2.2016, 17.21.23): Please refer following article for more information:
https://kb.acronis.com/content/21242
Me (25.2.2016, 17.22.04): I am aware of that, however as the product does not function as advertised I am still in my right to claim a refund
"Aravind (25.2.2016, 17.28.17): If product does not work as per advertised then we will help in troubleshooting the issue.
Since it crossed 30 days you have to purchase pay per incident to proceed troubleshooting. "
"Aravind (25.2.2016, 17.28.45): Please follow below link and purchase pay per incident:
https://kb.acronis.com/content/2703 "
Me (25.2.2016, 17.30.24): no thanks, as per EU law I have a 2 month timeframe to report any issues I have with any product I purchase and it is the seller's responsibility to either fix the faulty product, or offer a refund.
Aravind (25.2.2016, 17.35.01): I am Sorry, but as per Acronis policy you are not eligible for refund or support after 30 days of purchase.
I got hold of another guy afterwards, he was still on about 30-day policy/support, but at least after arguing with him for some time, I was able to make him escalate a case which they will review and they'd get back to me on email.
Overall this is just silly. They sell a faulty product, and want you to pay them MORE to have them look at it, when in fact you are entitled to a discount unless they can fix it. The very least they can do is to try to offer some free help. I am very sure that even if I pay them to look at the issue, they won't be able to fix it, because it is not a problem with the configuration, it is a problem with the software itself. Other forum threads on here suggest that I am not the only one with these issues.
I can live with the fact that I am not eligible for general support after 30 days, with things like if I don't understand how to set it up or need recommendations and such, but that's not the case. I am only asking them to take responsibility for their faulty product.
John,
I have been funelling recommendations about modifying support through the MVP program. I agree that we shouldn't have to pay for support cases for specific application errors like backups suddenly not working anymore (especially issues that keep popping up in the forums over and over). This is just a forum and we're all volunteers and users like the rest of you, but we do what we can to help out too.
Acronis does seem to be taking the recommendations seriously and I am hopeful that we will see increased customer service and better application support in future releases, but for now, we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, keep submitting feedback through the application and it never hurts to try and get the support case going - sometimes it's worth it to try another support agent as you found (I have to do this with other businesses from time to time as well, but I'm stubborn and don't take no for answer very easily unless I know I'm absolutely in the wrong). Glad they finally agreed to look into your issue!!
Bobbo: Overall I think your post is constructive, however there is one important point that you're missing out on, which is the rights given by the LAW, vs the rights given by the COMPANY itself.
For example when you walk into a physical store and buy a coffee machine, then the shop is actually not obligated to offer a refund for the product if the products works as advertised and the customer turns up and wants to return it. They are not even required to offer any advice on how to use it other than the instructions included with the product. Now, let's say that you want a refund because you didn't quite like the colour of the machine, or you regret buying it because you think you paid too much and found a better deal elsewhere, then in fact you don't have any rights to return the item. The item DOES work as advertised and has the same colour it did in the shop, and therefore the shop has delivered their part of the deal.
However many stores VOLUNTARILY offer a 30-day money back guarantee where you can return your product if you are not happy, without justifying the reason. They do that as an extra service in ADDITION to the rights provided by the law, perhaps to build a bond of trust with their consumers. They do that to convince people who can't make up their mind that if they aren't happy they can just come back, and they've calculated that the costs of these refunds are smaller than the income from convinced customers who decide to go for the deal at the last minute. They may even optionally offer a hotline where you can call in and ask questions about how to use a product to make your store more attractive than your competition if they don't have this service. Such services do not offer limit the rights given by the law, and this is where Acronis lands at.
However the case is totally different in a scenario where the coffee machine DOES NOT WORK as advertised. Let's say it spills water all over your kitchen, it only makes cold coffee, or it simply stops working after a while. In that scenario you are in any case covered by a 2 year warranty by the law no matter what your company's policy/your contract says. Under this warranty you may not be entitled to a refund directly, but you are entitled to demand that they come up with a solution to the problem. The store (in this case acronis) are in their right to choose what this compensation will be depending on the circumstances. In the case with NSB not working, their options are pretty much these:
1: Offer an updated/fixed version of the software which does not have the fault free of charge (replacement product - but this hasn't been developed yet)
2: Offer free assistance that will help solve the fault. But as the issue is a fault with the software itself, talking with their support team won't lead to a solution)
3: Offer a reasonable discount if the fault is insignificant and doesn't interfere with the product's intended use. "Insignificant" may be a subjective term here, but NSB failing to work as advertised cannot be considered as an insignificant fault as it is one of the main features of the product, and therefore this point is not valid. However if the customer doesn't depend on that particular feature, they may agree on a discount if both parties agree.
4: If the points above don't lead to the issue being resolved after a particular number of tries of acronis to fix the issue, then you're entitled to claim a full refund. Acronis may also choose to simply give you this refund instead of bothering with the other things.
The important point is that there is no way around this without breaking the law. This law will not apply ONLY in some rare cases where both parties are able to mutually work out the conditions of a contract, case by case, which is not the case when buying from acronis where the consumer hasn't worked out their part of the deal. Typically this will be between 2 companies who agree on some sort of trade.
Based on this, I think it is outright SILLY that acronis are trying to charge their customers even MORE to fix a known fault in their product, when in fact the customer can demand a compensation for this. If they had only at least TRIED to cooperate by admitting that this is a known fault, and assured their customers that they are in good hands and that they're trying to find a solution for them, then I wouldn't have been as mad about this case as I am now. But with the treatment I and others have gotten I'll go as far as to say that this is a outright scam where they hope their customers aren't aware of their rights.
I agree that trying to pursue a case like this through legal means would be hard and not worth the effort, however I wasn't expecting a reasonable company like acronis to go the route of undermining consumer rights. However if someone was to pursue it, I would assume you'd have to pursue it through the same methods that you'd use to claim money from an unpaid bill.
Also some may ask how they supposedly have to offer support beyond those 30 days like I am saying. The answer is, for support topics like helping novice users setting up the software for the first time, or for topics like asking for advice on which backup scheme to choose, they are not obligated to offer any support, and they can choose to sell this as a service to you. However acronis as a company cannot simply just refuse to negotiate with you when you have an issue with the product not working. They don't have to help you in the form of a free support ticket, but some sort of staff needs to respond to your claims, if not then you're automatically legally eligible for a refund. However I find their support staff to be the most reasonable communications channel for this.
I got another mail from them today. Nothing new, just an update that they still have the case going. It's going to be interesting to see if they finally give in and do what is right, or if they choose to still just point me at their policy statement, which is invalid in this case. Then we can tell if Acronis really is an honest company of not.
If they're still on about the same thing, then I am going to make sure to nag and pester them enough about this until I have wasted at least enough of their resources that it would have paid off to just offer a refund in the first place. Honestly it's not so much about the money, it is about principles and honesty. I believe that honesty is always right in every case, no matter what a policy or law may say. Unfortunately there are companies who try to base their business model on dishonesty where they hope their customers don't know about their rights, or that they won't bother fighting for their rights once they are unfairly treated. Let's hope Acronis is not one of them.
I'll post some snippets so anyone is free to review how they handle cases. This is the most constructive one I've seen from them yet:
This is a follow-up email post the chat conversation we had earlier. You had contacted us as you are facing difficulty while running the nonstop backup. During our chat session, I informed you that We will have to investigate this issue. However, as per the records I see your support program for Acronis True Image 2016 by Acronis has expired on XXXXXXXXX. Hence, we are discussing this with our management team if we can process refund. I will get back to you with an update. Feel free to get back to us should you have any further questions. The case number for your reference is XXXXXXX.
I think this support representative understands the issue and that this is not about support beyond 30 days, but more about a refund according to the law for a product that does not work. But you never know what their management will say, they make the ultimate decision, and it's not them who have to deliver the response and take the following heated discussion if the response is not in the customer's favour.
Dear all,
for me its an Impudence, that only 30 Days Support is included.
Its easy to say: " Read the Terms...."
From Acronis i ´had a better Suppport in the Past.
Now i have the Failure, that i cannot login, because the Program doesnt accept my Credentials and now i dont have Support?
Shame on you and that was the last Time i bought Acronis and i think in 2 or 3 Years Acronis is dead like other Tools, that were Leading and were managed to Death.
Dear all,
for me its an Impudence, that only 30 Days Support is included.
Its easy to say: " Read the Terms...."
From Acronis i ´had a better Suppport in the Past.
Now i have the Failure, that i cannot login, because the Program doesnt accept my Credentials and now i dont have Support?
Shame on you and that was the last Time i bought Acronis and i think in 2 or 3 Years Acronis is dead like other Tools, that were Leading and were managed to Death.
Guido, have you actually contacted Acronis to open a support case or are you assuming that the 30 days is the limation? If you did try to open a support case and were told by the reprsentative it would require PPI, I would try contacting another represenative for a second opinion and reference the information below from their own technician post in the forums. Licensing/login issues should always be covered.
Also, just for my own curiosity, are you not able to: 1) connect to your main account through a browser to access your downloads and licenes; 2) connect to your Acronis Cloud web portal through a browser to manage and review your cloud backups online; and/or 3) connect to your Acronis Cloud account through the ATIH Windows Application?
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I got a final response from them today, and I am happy to inform that they have fairly decided to offer a full refund.
Snippets from messages:
Them:
This is a follow up email for the case number XXXX.I would like to inform you that we have processed refund for the order ID XXXX (Acronis True Image 2016 - 5 computers).
Regarding the refund, you are going to receive a credit notification from the on-line store that managed this purchase, Cleverbridge, in 1 business day. The payment is going to be transferred back to your account within approximately 5-7 business days depending on the internal operations and policies of your credit organization. Please check the receipt of the refund with your bank in one week and let us know if you have received it. If you don't mind, we'll also get back to you in a week to follow up on the status and make sure your request gets completely resolved.
Please let me know if this resolves the issue. Feel free to get back to us should you have any further questions.
Me:
Thanks a lot, Vicky. It's nice to see that someone has finally taken my inquiry seriously and helped me out on the matter.I checked my paypal account, and it looks like I have received the refund already.
I think it's sad for all of us that the non-stop feature didn't work out in my case, but I hold no grudges. Overall I still think Acronis true image is a fine piece of software with a wide range of uses and tools. I think we'll just have to allow the developers some time to tweak and tune it up. For now, I will have to look at alternative products, but rest assured that I will keep an eye on Acronis' products an consider it again some time in the future.
So I guess that's it. I hope they get their issues resolved and I hope they can return more of the power user options that older versions used to have.
I'd been using Norton Ghost for almost 20 years. After I "upgraded" to Windows 10, I found out that Norton 12 wasn't working correctly and Norton does not have a Win10 product - unbelievable! After scouting out several products, this one seemed to be the least of all the evils offered. So I bought this about 2 months ago and set it up for "version chain" which seemed closest to what I had before. After letting it run for a month, I found my external HD almost completely full and Acronis not deleting anything. Further reading showed that it wants to do this for 6 months. I had a question about how to set this up "correctly" so I tried the website only to find out that my support period had lapsed. Calling got me nowhere as well. Their KB is a confusing jumble of features that don't exist in my product. After reading the comments here, I have to agree with the other commenters. this is a mediocre product from a company that doesn't seem to care for anything after the sale is made. I had 24-hour support from Norton which was always there for the few times I needed it.
I can only assume that if/when any of these issues get sorted out, we have to pay for the upgrades. So my search for a good backup product continues...
Similar problem for me.
Nonstop Backup just DOES NOT WORK more than a few days in TrueImage 2016. As I found it out I realised the the 30 days were over.
Now I have to revert to incremental backup in the hope that - in contrary to TrueImage 2013 - it is able to consolidate the backups in reality and not only on the advertisement.
I should have known better that buy this product again...
Patrick