Tech Support. Who needs it?

[Unregistered]

My company has been using Peachtree for years. When I was hired 1 year ago they were still on the original version of Peachtree Complete Accounting Plus. They never needed tech support for over 5 years. We get new computers to get them moving a little faster. (Mind you they were still on 5 year old computers) The Peachtree upgrade alone made the differance in speed and worked great. however, now they are trying to sell me Tech Support for more then what I paid for the program. What the hell is that about? From my knowledge over the phone Tech Support usually puts you in touch with someone who knows very little about your system and trys to blame the error on the system you use. Who wants to be ripped off for that. As I mentioned earlier, they have never had a single problem in over 5 years on their "outdated" software. Now that I upgraded i have had to call the "30 days free" Tech Support twice for errors that should be corrected from the original creation of the software. I am not sure where this corporation is headed, but if they want to keep this company through another upgrade, somethings gotta give.

[westphal]

I have been using Peachtree for about 13 years, first the DOS version and now 8.02 for Windows. Since Sage bought out Peachtree a few years ago there has been a marked decline in the level of support from them. Their sales personnel are obviously not trained well and have little working knowledge of actually how to run a business from their software. I always call a local Peachtree support center rather than Peachtree themselves; they are better trained and have more experience from working with local customers who may have run into the same problem. I think now upgrades are thrown on the market quickly without getting out all the bugs first.

[precisionminds]

IS ANYONE HAVING TROUBLE WITH REPORTS PRINTING SLOWER IN THIS VERSION? VERSION 7 WAS FINE, BUT SINCE WE HAVE UPRGRADED TO 8.02 SOME REPORTS TAKE TOO LONG TO COME UP ON A FAST PC.

[Jewel50]

We've used the program for five years and never needed tech support. When we upgraded to 8.02, there were numerous problems with the software. Some got handled because we got under the 30 day wire. Some we just learned to live with. Payroll reports and cash disbursement reports take forever now. This makes me leery of 2002. Thank God for forums like this to get more information. I still haven't signed up for tech support--too stubborn, I guess.

[dennis]

I too am disappointed in support. I subscribed last year to support, but used all my time up on one porblem, which turned out couldn't be solved without a backup & rebuild. They admited that they are not there to help with restoring data or rebuilding data. A week ago, it cost me $60 to find out from them tha a bug in version 8.00 was causing the error code 7 (not documented anywhere I could find.). A patch was available to bring the software to 8.02 which fixed that problem. I was disappointed that this infomation was not posted to their so-called KNOWLEDGE BASE on their web site. Apparently there is a part of Peachtree that will try t reconstruct a damaged journal file if you know the right place. In my case our file and all daily backups going back 1 year contained a error preventing a year-end closing. Either that or there is another bug in Ver 8.0x.

[ghost-writer]

As far as the origional post concerning "charging for Support" goes, have you ever called Microsoft Support?Microsoft gives 1 free support call and then charges you a min of $95 after that.
Peachtree's support is a little different because not only do users call with Computer and Peachtree related problems, but approx 55% of their calls(stat is CPA Journal) are functionality calls and calls from Wanna Be accoutants. Most callers feel that they can call tech support about any of their accounting guestions.
That equates for abot 1100 calls per day and apporx 85 support technicians.
Those companies that you may be aware of that does not charge for tech support(which are few and far between) dont charge because you are either paying for the support in the initial price of the package(like 1 otehr accounting program that i can think of that is $1500) or you are on a subscription plan and pay a monthly fee with hidden support costs(like most ASP's).

You also mentioned that your company used the product for over 5 years and never had to call.
That sounds like a pretty good product to me.

I admit that the knowledge level of their support techs is not where it needs to be, but if yourgonna complain, complain about the service , not the money.

[westphal]

It's still been my experience that you're better off calling an authorized Peachtree support center rather than Peachtree themselves (and no I'm not an authorized support center!). The price isn't that much different. At least I get an answer I can trust, and the person I deal with may indeed be running their business off of Peachtree too! I've also found it to be helpful to wait at least 6 months after an upgrade comes out before purchasing so that all the "bugs" have been worked out...

I see many questions posted that really have to do with initial setups and defaults. It takes a long time to figure it all out; I made many notes about what I needed after going through the manuals, and had my local Peachtree person come on site to help me set up. It costs initially but you're up and running with all your general ledger accounts set up properly and financial statements formatted. It's hard to change things sometimes if you've already started entering data.

[Unregistered]

Generally, find that tech support for all software products is usually only good for set up and getting started. Once you are past the first month you need a VAR to get any good answers.

Bill Couture