summary: OT? FrameMaker 6.0 questionnaire

["Brierley, Sean" <Sean -at- Quodata -dot- Com>]

Hallo:

I asked some questions about the speed with which you received FrameMaker 6
because of my experience: I pre-ordered two seats with a maintenance
contract that have since arrived but took about 6 weeks after release of the
software. Three days after FM 6 was released, I ordered a personal copy from
Adobe directly and received it within four days. Thus, I was frustrated that
my two-seat maintenance pre-order was delayed. My unscientific poll really
returned no hard and fast trends. However, I perceive it shows my personal
experience as typical.

Consider, going into these purchases, the maintenance-contract pre-order was
attractive for three reasons. First, I perceived that a maintenance contract
would get me slightly preferential treatment. Second, I thought that by
pre-ordering, I'd receive an early shipment of the upgrade. Third, by
getting a maintenance contract, I'd automatically receive big fixes and the
like without having to pay Adobe for shipping.

Consider, my first two assumptions were wrong. A maintenance contract gets
you worse treatment from Adobe. Per Adobe and a few of their VARs,
maintenance contracts are fulfilled in the order they were written. Thus,
even though I pre-ordered in February, a contract written the previous
August had precedence. Thus, I was low on the priority list for shipments.
Moreover, even ahead of the VARs themselves, Adobe fullfills orders for
retailers, including e-commerce ones, and direct sales. Thus, if you
purchased from a VAR, your order ranked lower than direct orders and orders
from resellers, even if those orders came in after your VAR-based order.
Thus, in my case, getting a maintenance contract was one strike against
prompt delivery and ordering through a VAR was the second.

A further complication seems to be Adobe's tracking of customers. In my
case, there was an issue with one of my existing FM 5.5.6 installations not
being registered. I cannot say whether Adobe lost that or whether we never
sent it in. However, in the past, I have experienced Adobe losing such
information. In this, I am not alone.

Finally, I really could not cut through the "he said she said" finger
pointing by the VAR and Adobe both. My inclination is to blame Adobe, so
consider that bias, but I cannot say for certain that it was entirely their
fault.

Now, the numbers. I received 28 responses that I could use, including my own
experience. 28 represents the number of respondents, not the number of
seats, which was slightly higher. These numbers, the responses, and my
questions, all came about in a way that makes my conclusions and data highly
suspect. So, consider this to be a very informal piece of information, that
I probably tainted, and so use this for entertainment purposes only. I did
not count VAR responses in this, I did receive information from some VARs
directly, but they all value their livelihoods too much to contribute to my
wildly entertaining poll.

Of 28 respondents:

12 ordered directly from Adobe.
10 ordered from a VAR.
6 ordered from another reseller (I include Adobe Europe and e-tailers, like
www.cdw.com).

I could not really get a handle on who ordered maintenance contracts and who
ordered just upgrades.

Of those who ordered from Adobe, 11 were reported as on-time and happy
(note, this is largely MY interpretation), 1 was late and not happy. This
customer got a runaround with Adobe not being able to identify information
or an order.

Of those who ordered from a VAR,  6 were reported as on-time and happy
(note, this is largely MY interpretation), 4 were late and not happy. 3
customers got a runaround with Adobe not being able to identify information
or an order and 1 got a runaround from the VAR.

Of the 6 who ordered from another reseller, 4 were reported on-time and
happy, 2 not (note, this is largely MY interpretation). No runarounds were
reported.

The approximate average reported time for delivery for an Adobe order was 10
days. On the whole, less than a week was normal.

The approximate average reported time for delivery for an VAR order was 28
days. This number might be low. Those who pre-ordered and who had not
received their order at the time of my poll, I gave the delivery time of 6
weeks, or 42 days.

The approximate average reported time for delivery from another reseller was
16 days.

I conclude that if I want a reasonably quick delivery of my software, I
probably should not order from a VAR. Note, I do not conclude this is the
VAR's fault. I suspect the fault lies in the priority Adobe gives to its
VARS and their orders.

I hope this helps,

Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com

		----- Original Message -----
		From: Brierley, Sean <Sean -at- Quodata -dot- Com>
		To: <framers -at- FrameUsers -dot- com>
		Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2000 4:53 PM
		Subject: OT? FrameMaker 6.0 questionnaire


		> Greetings from digest-land.
		>
		> Sorry to intrude in an OT kind of way. I purchased my
FrameMaker 6
		upgrades
		> by pre-order and through a reseller. I am unhappy with how
my order
		was
		> fulfilled (it still isn't). An Adobe person gave me,
perhaps
		> unintentionally, the idea of finding out how happy the
FrameMaker
		population
		> is with their upgrade or new purchase of FrameMaker 6.
		>
		> So, would you please E-mail me (mailto:sean -at- quodata -dot- com)
your
		response to
		> the following questions. I will post my unscientific
results here,
		if enough
		> people ask:
		>
		> * Did you order a FrameMaker 6.0 upgrade or a full seat?
If both,
		> please include information about the upgrade.
		>
		> * Did you pre-order your FrameMaker 6.0 Upgrade/new seat?
		>
		> * Did you order from Adobe directly or through a reseller?
		>
		> * Which reseller did you use?
		>
		> * Have you received your order or are you still waiting
for it to
		> arrive?
		>
		> * How long after you placed your order (days, weeks,
months) did you
		> receive your order? If you have not received the order,
how long
		have you
		> been waiting?
		>
		> * Did you telephone the reseller to complain about any
delay on
		> receiving your order?
		>
		> * If you contacted the reseller, were you happy with the
results?
		Did
		> the contact speed up the order? What excuse was offered?
		>
		> * If you contacted Adobe, did you contact a reseller
first? What did
		> the reseller tell you?
		>
		> * If you contacted Adobe, did you get the runaround or an
efficient
		> response? Please explain.
		>
		> * If you contacted Adobe, what was the excuse offered for
the delay?
		>
		> * If you contacted Adobe, to your knowledge, did Adobe
have
		up-to-date
		> information about your seat of the software? If not, can
you
		summarise what
		> they failed to have?
		>
		> * May I use the info and answers you provide in a summary
to Adobe?
		>
		> * May I include your E-mail address in the contact I have
with
		Adobe?
		>
		> * May I use the info and answers you provide in a summary
to the
		list?
		>
		>
		> Thank you and sorry for the intrusion,
		>
		> Sean
		> sean -at- quodata -dot- com