Hi all and happy New Year.
Just wanted to share with you my experience with trying to upgrade to version 21..... its not good.
I'm not here to knock the software, its new features etc... that's been covered by others. I'm not a fan boy of other software here to bash C1.
I loved the improvements for version 20 and upgraded quite quickly.
So... I tried to upgrade to v.21 because a client wanted me to use the same new profiles that are found in V.21 but not in v.20 so I thought 'ok... its been a few weeks, the update should work smoothly...' how wrong I was.
I logged on to C1, hit upgrade the perpetual license for £159.00 did that and decided to go via Paypal as usual.
A box came up signalling I had made my purchase, however it was made via a company called 'Fastspring' apparently they act for a lot of companies as the 'middleman' to administer the sale of software.
I never received the email with my receipt OR my new serial key.
I downloaded v.21 typed in my v.20 serial and it was revoked, obviously this only works with v.20
I was not allowed to run v.21 as a free trial until new serial arrived.
Here is the REAL problem, you complain to Fastspring via an online form, no phone numbers or email, they say they 'cannot issue a refund' and you have to speak to C1....
C1 has no phones at all...ever... just a user forum and as we all know, they are not manned very much, if at all by admin, they are sporadically manned by C1 tech people on their coffee break.
So here I am, I cannot work with my client, have no serial number and have had no response from Fastspring... to resend the serial to TWO emails.
I log on to C1, my profile has no record of my new purchase at all...
To request my serial, or a refund, I have to raise a support case.
I think we as users who rely on software should be aware of the way forward, the way this is all going and how we, as customers are not really considered at all.
Any company of the size of Phase One or Adobe for that matter, who doesn't provide a proper support system with direct emails and phone numbers doesn't care about its customer base. Its not a criticism, its a fact. Phase has now shown us that yes, they will keep the perpetual license option open to all, but the suits have made it more expensive than the subscription model, that will be a given going forward, You buy it, then pay £199 a year on top of that for what were free upgrades.
There was a time when Capture One was super reliable, rock steady tethering and stable interface. I just had a peek around the forum and wow... so many people (Mac & PC) have so many issues.
I just think as photographers we need to protect our businesses and have one eye on not upgrading, not buying into stuff we never needed before. Personally I have two versions of C1 (12 and 20) running plus the last stand alone LR (version 6.01 I think).
This experience for me is an eye opener, as a rule I never upgrade software, firmware or buy new cameras until they have been in the market a while, normally with little to no hitches... but the fact that after paying my £159 I cannot work within the same colour space as my client (who is tenacious hence this silly request) is a big let down from Capture One..
Feel free to add any hiccups you've had when giving them your money...
Steve