[mmoe]

Hey guys I am back from vacation and need a moment to understand what is being said in this thread. I think the main topic is about the SOD invoice for support renewal and it being sent a second time with a "past due" on it. As far as I understand the support services are offer for 12 months, after the 12 months are over and invoice is sent to renew your support plan. Which if goes unpaid, then your support doesn't renew.

I think what has happened is marketing sent a past due or "second chance " renewal invoice / letter that has upset some users. Being taken as fishing or some other non creditable method of renewing support services.

I know as a policy BobCAD likes all of it's customers to be on our current version and current with their support plans. This allows us to deliver a higher standard of support and training to our clients. I also know that when your support plan is up for renewal or in other words your support "term" is over an invoice is either emailed or mailed to our clients to let them know their support service is about to end and what the cost is to renew their support plan and what's included.

I think this is fine for most of our users, but what has a few upset is the "past due" or second chance / reminder letter / invoice that was mailed out. This topic is being review by management currently and I am sure a resolution will be provided shortly. If there are any additional concerns about this topis that need to be addressed immediately please call me at 866-408-3226 X147

Glad to be back!

I think that the real issue people are having is that the way the information is provided does not look like it's giving the customer an option, but rather stating that they owe that amount. If the letter simply stated that the support period was going to run out at such-and-such date, and here are the options for renewal, then no one would complain about it at all since it's just informing the customer. By making it an invoice, the implication is that there was an agreement already made to pay that amount while the same information in a letter format would be understood as informational only. The further step of a "Past Due" invoice does not really make it clear that the service has run out, but more gives the impression that the recipient is late in making an agreed payment when really there was never an agreement to begin with. At best, this would be considered a bad sales tactic and shrugged off, but at worst I could see how it would be considered by some to be fraudulent.

The reason it could be seen as fraudulent by some is that there are some situations where it is interpreted as a bill and paid by someone at a company that may not have any idea what they are paying for, nor the authority to be the decision maker. When I had a larger cabinet shop, my wife did all the books and would not be able to tell you what Bobcad is, but likely would have recognized that she'd heard the name before and knew that it's a component of our business. She would almost certainly interpret those invoices as unpaid bills and just send a check off to pay for it even though I would not have wanted her to. In that way, it becomes somewhat fraudulent in that it appears to have the intent of bypassing the decision making process that would normally occur at a business by making it appear that the decision was already made to the people that don't make those decisions. I know that I never opened any of the mail for my business back then and would never have caught it, and I also know that my wife would have mailed the check because we just don't have unpaid or late balances. Also, the $300 or so that the support package runs is an amount that would not attract any significant attention at most businesses as it would be a pretty typical smaller expense, which again makes it feel a bit deceptive in that it is easy to slip by the decision makers because those that do the books would not see it as such a large amount that it catches their attention. If it were a $1000 invoice, it would almost certainly be questioned at most businesses. I personally had lots of little $300 invoices here and there for things like cutting tools or resharpening services, and often smaller material orders. I rarely had invoices for balances that exceeded that $300 range since in most cases they would have been paid up front, so a balance significantly greater than that would always stand out as unusual. There were probably 30 or more $100-$500 invoices (paid or balances) per month when I had my larger shop, which would make that sum fit right into normal business expenses preventing it from being questioned, especially if it's only once per year.

I have not received anything like what has been reported here, but I do feel somewhat sad that the inroads made by Bobcad the last few years seem to have just taken quite a hit with some customers in this thread that do really like the product. My hope is that these "Invoices" would be reformatted as letters in the future so that they don't feel like attempts to collect money that was not agreed to. Some sort of website system where you enter a code provided in the letter to renew the order for another year might be a convenient and effective way to allow customers to continue their support if they would like to, with polite reminders via letters or email a couple weeks before the service would lapse.

[jrmach]

Exactly,nothing I disagree with there mmoe.

[SBC Cycle]

I keep trying to reply to this thread but my dying laptop is continually crashing and dropping my post. mmoe has hit the proverbial head on the nail.

Al, with your description of what you believe to be the problem, I believe you have yet to understand what has me and other users here upset (which is putting it mildly).

It will have to wait until my replacement laptop shows up tomorrow as I'm not inclined to punch this out on my tablet but my immediate response would be that so far the only resolution I've seen is that management has removed their name from the offending invoices after I pointed out to them personally that their name was on it. This was about a month ago (well before this thread was resurrected) but it's been going on for years.

I believe in this particular case, management IS the problem.

[aldepoalo]

That may be true... From my prospective I would think all BobCAD customers would want to keep current with both software and support. Sending an invoice for support renewal I personally do not see it being an issue.

Having the invoice sent to the primary name on the account, again I personally do not see being an issue.

Sending a second chance email or letter, personally I do not see it being an issue.

But what I do see is that sending a past due invoice for a support renewal as being an issue. I know management is reviewing this topic and there will be an "official" response about this topic and a change of policy based on this thread.

I for one look at the things BobCAD does as a company for our customers and prospects as good things with the best intention. For some they always seem to think we are a snake in the grass.

Many things are changing here at BobCAD and all for the better of our customers. You've seen major growth in the software and there is major changes in management happening as well.

Public threads like this are a great way to air things out and make the room for change, change for the better. Personally I know our goal is to provide the best support, best products at the best prices. We want everyone to "win" with BobCAD!

Thank you for sharing your views and know they are being heard.

[jrmach]

SBC,the zone has been screwing up on my computer since yesterday.Cannot even get to BoB on Mozilla,only main page???????Other problems as well.

[JEST]

Will need a new bookmark.
Forum link has cam-software added to link...

[SBC Cycle]

Yep, I noticed that as well. My issues are definitely on my end.

"Having the invoice sent to the primary name on the account, again I personally do not see being an issue."

Not to beat the issue to death Al but to clarify - MY invoice had the BobCAD Sales manager's name on it. When I contacted this person (my post saying who "this person" was has been removed so I'm being careful not to cross the moderators) I expressed my belief that this was not simply a billing mistake by a lower level sales associate. You can see here with LeakyRivit's post she has since removed her name from the "invoice": http://www.cnczone.com/forums/bobcad...ml#post1437934

Attachment 223778

[Machineit]

Yep, every forum link went from "_" to "-" as separators. Had to redo 4 links on two computers each. Now why would they do that!? (wedge)

Mike

[jrmach]

The Zone is waay screwed up.

[The Engine Guy]

The Zone is waay screwed up.

James

Working fine here on all computers using IE browser, totally screwed up on Firefox

Rob

[jrmach]

I fixed it.??????????CC Cleaner to the rescue,,,did the trick,now working in Firefox too.

Or a coincidence ?????

[Elwood_Blues]

Thanks for the I/M, Al. I typed out a long response again but your account is configured not to receive I/Ms. I'll phone tomorrow during business hours.

[jrmach]

Message him at "BobCAD After Dark" on Facebook as a last resort.

[Milton]

It's not ok for your account to be handled in any way other than with the highest level of respect! If you receive a call from a salesman that is less that appropriate I want to know.

Al I tried to PM you but it is blocked

I have version 25 and had a computer crash and had to get a new one but can not register the software on the new machine. I called Bob Cad this morning and they sais someone would get back to me but have not.

I did get a email for some support tickets but can not read them. When I try to log on it say's User account disabled. ????

Customer ID 467895

Milton

[aldepoalo]

Ok i ll help you tomorrow...

[Milton]

Thanks

Milton

[Milton]

Problem solved

Thanks Al