Yes, this is an anti-Adobe rant. I'm sick and tired of their awful customer service, which, IMO, has greatly deteriorated through the years. As far as I'm concerned, bad customer service starts at the top. Adobe's CEO should be fired.
Am I the only customer who finds the following product title almost impossible to decipher?
Adobe UPG CS5 ADOBE DESIGN PREMIUM 5 F/ 2/3 VER BACK MACINTOSH FR SUITES
I called Adobe and, after being transferred around the world, from one service rep to another, a total of five people, sales to tech help to customer service, nobody, and I mean nobody, including a supervisor in sales, could tell me what FR means in this product title. The supervisor told me "no such product exists...there should be no FR in the product title. Be sure to purchase your Adobe product from an authorized reseller." I told the supervisor that I was using the authorized reseller list as my guide when I made this mysterious discovery. The resellers I called could not tell me what the FR means because they simply copy and paste description info from the information Adobes sends them.
In the meantime, if you Google "Adobe FR Suites," there are pages of Adobe product descriptions with this FR in the title. None of these descriptions tell you what FR means or stands for. And, according to Adobe, such a product description does not exist.
I considered purchasing the CS5 Design Premium upgrade at the time of the launch but I was on my way out of town for a 3-week gig in Europe. I downloaded the 30-day trial version to get my feet wet and figured I'd love it and upgrade immediately upon my return. Now that I have returned, I discover the price has changed for the upgrade. Instead of $600 a month ago, I now have to pay $800 because, without notice, Adobe decided to punish all those photographers (and anyone else who purchases these bundles) who didn't upgrade to CS4.
Business is terrible. The economy sucks. And my electric bill is killing me. Now Adobe expects us to upgrade every 18 months and we small business owners have to pay, pay, pay to deal with all the expensive issues that come with an upgrade. Otherwise, skip one cycle and fork over an extra $200 to upgrade a year or two later because Adobe really needs your money. Sounds reasonable at the foundation but I hate the way Adobe displays its need for capital.
I resent the sneaky and confusing way they go about informing their customers of their new pricing policies. Yes, they tease consumers with the term "starting at $599." But until you dig deeper and make sure your pop-up blockers are turned off, it takes a few steps to discover that the $599 price only applies to those who bought CS4, which most professionals did not buy. Their 18-month upgrade cycle is driving most of us insane.
Are 15 variations of the same product really necessary? CS5 Design Premium has 15 variations. How many people are purchasing "CS5 Adobe Design Premium 5 - Version Upgrade" for $599, only to find when they go to install it, the license won't work because they did not upgrade to CS4? There are numerous online resellers, some very popular, who don't offer specific information regarding version upgrades. Some resellers only carry one version of an upgrade and they don't explain that their $599 version only allows you to upgrade from CS4. One authorized reseller I spoke with had no idea that a 2/3 Version Back existed.
IMO, all of this nonsense is confusing, disruptive, and time wasting. Maybe the confusion is making Adobe a ton of money. I don't know many consumers who shop by Manufacturer Part #'s, especially for software.
I'm furious with Adobe and I'm glad I gave them a piece of my mind. I've grown too cynical to think my opinion will change anything. In the meantime, I still have no idea what the FR means in the product title. And I'm furious that no one at Adobe could explain that to me.