Complain about a product or service

Dilloware

G.H. of Marietta GA writes (1/15/03): I have been using this company's software for over ten years and although the software generally works well there are times when it just won't work right. I have always had to pay for their technical support and every time I call for support the price keeps getting higher and higher. Instead of just charging for the one or two calls that may be required in a given year they make you pay for an entire year of tech support just to answer one simple little question.

Now their latest software will STOP WORKING on the one-year anniversary date if I don't pay them an additional $350.00 for another year of tech support whether I need it or not. This is not disclosed on their website nor on any of their sales literature. Only after you purchase the product and install it do you find this out. The previous versions did not have this LOCKOUT feature and it is barely mentioned in the license agreeement. To me this seems like unfair business practice. I purchased an upgrade to a software product, assuming that the terms were the same as previous purchases of the same product and then find out about this one year use only and then it is no good anymore.

As a result of this I will be looking for a new software provider for my business. However I will probably have to spend hundreds of manhours transferring all the customer data and billing history over to the new software. The cost will be overwhelming to a small company.

Oakley of Cleveland, TN writes (5/6/02):
In October, 2000 I puchased "the billing clerk" software from Dilloware for use in my mini warehouse business. The license is good for 4 years on one computer on one hard drive. The software came with free support for the first year.

After being in the computer business since 1986, I did not feel a need to puchase support from dilloware. On may 1, 2002 I loaded the program for the second time that day and it responded "error handling windows has caused error number 20865 to occur. The microsoft windows discription for this error is: unrecognized or corrupt win32 record locking sequence. This error occurred in: billing."

At this point I could not do "end of month" maint. Or "recurring billing" to my customers accounts. After re-installing "Windows 98" and re-installing "the billing clerk" the problem persisted. I then callled a friend of mine who has been writing programs since 1980 and explained to him what had happened and what action I had taken. He suggested that the program had a "time bomb" written into the code for the purpose of forcing me to buy support from Dilloware.

He said to prove the point all I had to do was delete all of the program files, change the system date on the computer, and reinstall "the billing clerk" program. After doing this the program worked correctly. Of course I could not operate my business with billing & receipts having the wrong date. After much searching I found the file "dillo.ini" that the program writes to on exiting. The line in the file causing the problem was "recordlockingseq=125cd." At exiting the program this line would be trashed after the = sign. I could edit this line in the file and the program would work correctly as long as I did not exit the program but every time I exited the file would be trashed.

At this point I called Michael Kelley, president of Dilloware, and explained the problem and he said that he would help me only after I paid the $329.00 support payment. I asked him if he had a "time bomb" in the program and he would not admit or deny the possibility.

"V" of Portsmouth VA writes (4/4/02):
I purchased the "billing clerk version 4" software for my parents Dental Laboratory business. I was pleased with what it offered, its features and its user-friendly capabilities. A sale price of $149.00 was also appealing for a mom and pop small business. It worked great ... for 3 months and then somehow threw a glitch into my system not allowing me to open the program.

On more than one occasion when I called to ask the company a question I was told that before being able to speak with a tech I would need to purchase the tech support plan for $329.00 for a year, "unlimited", but limited to "60 minutes" in the year time frame. I paid $65.00 for a computer "geek" to check my system, and he actually led me to this website. He advised me against reinstalling it, because he couldn't guarantee that it would work at all or that it wouldn't crash in another 3 months!

I have just been SO frustrated the past 2 days not being able to utilze the program for my parent's lab... I had finally had them on track and now all of their accounts and invoicing for the new month is on hold until I can come up with another reasonable and user friendly program.

Craig of Spencer, IN (4/2/02):
I was searching the web and calling around to find a software program for our new trash service, and found the Dilloware company online. I called them and ask about the program after I previewed their website to get further information about their Billing Clerk program. I asked specific questions which we needed for our business, and the lady told me yes to all my questions. After receiving the program and setting it up I soon discovered that the program did not do what I was told it would do.

I have had to call their tech support number several times(at my expense). I explained to the owner that I was told that the program would do what I asked for and he said, that it will not do that stuff and when I asked for a refund he said that I would not get my money back. The program cost me $676.83 and I have only had it for 1 day and it is not what I was told it would be.

Shirley of Austin TX (3/14/02):
I purchased Dilloware for my small indepentedly owed company. We are a small business. Recently our computer crashed. As to the cause I am unsure. I call the Dilloware people and informed them of this and asked for a new registration number so I could continue to use their sotware. The said we needed to purchase a new registration for the new computer. I explained it was not a new computer, Our company only had one and this was one to replace that one. They said they did not care we still need to purchase a new number.

I explained it was not our fault the computer broke and thee said it was no theirs either. I said I understood that but since this was going on the only computer we nad and not on a "second" machine why they must charge us. She asked if I wanted a form to order the new number. I asked, if we could discuss this and she said there was nothing to discuss. I really think it is nasty of them to treat a customer that way. Sometimes things happen and we wanted a little help.

I must say I will be sure to advise anyone I know of how we were treated. My company had enough trouble getting the money together to purchase the software to begin with. I take offense that they automatically think we are trying to cheat them in some way. We arte an honest company and would not even think of giving this software to any one else. But if they had helped us we would have passed on their name to others we know. As it is I will only tell my competitors about Dilloware. So they can get screwed.

Evelyn of Burlingame, CA, writes:
My company has been using Dilloware for about 9 years. In all these years I can not say one good thing about this company.

I have had numerous incidents where I have spoken to the owner of the company and he has been extremely rude and has tried to make me feel like an idiot. I will ask for help and during the process he will raise his voice and persist on telling me I am doing something wrong when I am not. There is no excuse for the way he treats his customers.

At first I thought he had something against me because of the way he was treating me, but come to find out each person from my office that spoken to him was treated the same way. I can't begin to tell you all of the incidents we have had with this company. I don't understand how this company can still be in business.

I have had to spend a lot of money and time on upgrades. And have had two incidents where the program has ruined my computer and has had to be replaced. Today was the last straw. The owner is unbearable and I have finally decided to buy a new program so that I no longer have to deal with this company, its employees, or its owner. It is better for me to buy something new then to be coninuously treated in this fashion.

Nathan of Carbondale, IL, writes:
My self-storage company has been using Dilloware software to track customers and sales for many years. When we discovered that the DOS version was not Y2K compliant we immediately purchased the Windows version. I installed the program and ran it for approximately 3 months with only a few minor concerns. Then the program completely crashed. Followed by a few days later my entire computer.

Needless to say I was in a bad position having my entire business go up in an electronic cloud of smoke. I then formatted my hard drive, reinstalled my operating system, and installed the Dilloware software. I paid $149.95 for the additional computer license. I was not happy, but things like this happen. This time the program gave me the same error as before immediately after I entered the new registration number. I asked if I could speak to a support technition and was told I would have to again pay $149.95 to speak with a technition for up to 60 minutes in the next year. Now I was really unhappy.

I called again and asked to talk to a manager. I was talking to the owner. I described my problem and was basically told by him that what I was telling him was impossible, and that he was not willing to help me unless I paid $149.95. Now I understand that a bussiness has to make a profit, but this is just extremely poor customer service. On the phone Mr. Kelly was rude, and closed to any opinion except that which was fixed in his mind. Now I wish I had found this website before I continued doing business with a company which is, in my opinion, the worst software company I have ever had the misfortune of working with.

Linda of Olean, NY, writes:
I bought the update to be y2k ready and now it won't work right. I called the company and was told very rudely that they didn't care and if I wanted to talk to a tech I would have to pay the money for a support plan. As the problem is a bug in the program I feel they should cheerfully fix it rather than inform that I should call the tech, pay $99 for support if and when I get them because I probably would be on hold for up to 30 minutes. Considering that this would be a toll call I can't afford to do that.

I have approximately 3,000 names and charges on my program so I can't very easily change programs and interrupt the billing plus pay for all the manhours it would take to retype it all into another program. I really need some help.

My program won't work the way it should so we have redo each account so the customer can understand their charges and credits applied. This is causing unnecessary work for the front counter people that needs to be done in other areas.

Ken of Eau Clair, PA, writes:
Client of mine has used Dilloware for about 5 years, in response to mail ads and an attempt to get into Y2K compliance we ordered new software, which the ad said was Windows 3.1 compatible. It was not.

After repeated attempts to get it to work, (Dillo blamed the problems on Microsoft and they on DilloWare) we bought a new machine with Win 98 on it. Remember the Dilloware NEVER ran on the Win 3.1. Dillo informed us that we had to buy a new license since we were installing on a second machine.

We have over 3,000 customers and no way to bill them or will have to spend about 300 person hours retyping names, addresses and directions plus retrain operators.

M.P. of Albuquerque writes:
I called Dilloware to inquire into a Windows update for my existing program, I was informed the special update price was over and I would have to pay 30.00 more. No problem, I filled the order form per her request and faxed it in.

A few days later I got the DOS version in the mail. I called and asked why. Apparently they only look at the dollar figure and know what to send out. I was told it was my fault (because I added in the extra 30.00),it was my fault because I should have ordered 2 years earlier, it was my fault because I filled the form out wrong (which they checked and I had marked the Windows version).

There was no way they would mail the correct software requested until I returned the one I had. Basically, accusing me of somehow profiting off of the copy I had. Remember this is just an update, I already had the one they sent me, I ordered the Windows update. I fully intended to return the software, but they did their best to make me feel like a criminal.

Anyway the conversation ended with me telling her I didnt like the way they did business and I was sending the package back but I wanted a full refund and I would shop elsewhere.

She informed me they would never refund my money at which point I said I'd reverse the CC charge. She promptly hung up on me, thereby terminating a 10 yr relationship over a $99. piece of plastic. And I was a paying customer, I did pay for their technical help on several occasions which I had no qualms with, and I'm sure I would've paid more in the future. I wonder how companies like this can survive.

D.B. of Tulsa:
We've spent hundreds of dollars for upgrades, tech support, registration #'s (we had to buy a new registration # just because I reformatted my hard drive! I even have the original floppies and purchase receipts!)

A.W. writes:
I emailed a person that his company's program crashed and I was desperate for support. This is what he says -- Exact Copy of Response:

"What you are requesting is totally unreasonable. Your father bought a $99 program 6 years ago and you want us to do free support. I do not know of any software company that does that. To make a comment that you think he should get support even if he bought it 50 years ago just shows how absurd your request is.

"Do any TV, car, furniture, appliance, etc. manufactureres give help at all (let along free help) that many years later? And those products cost substantially more than $99. Does Microsoft still help with DOS 6 (and that is not even 6 years old), let alone for free?

"Your final comment that you consider yourself a paying customer was only accurate years ago. With no new revenue from you or your father in 6 years certainly does not qualify you as a paying customer.

"If you want technical support from us, you will need to get on the support plan which is $129 per year for up to 60 minutes of time. If you do not want to spend the money, do not expect us to provide support. If you need replacement disks, the only option is the update, which is $99 for the Windows version."

Michael S. Kelley
President
Dilloware, Inc.

Gee, business must really be great at Dilloware if Mr. Kelley can so eloquently tell customers to get lost.

Dilloware responds:
"Do you not attempt to verify the accuracy of any posting? Do you read the posting to even see if it is reasonable? In our case, a customer bought a computer program 6 years ago and is calling wanting free technical support assistance. We told them they would have to pay for support, etc. I am not aware of any software company giving free technical support after 6 years of use. The customers request is totally unreasonable and your posting of this without even attempting to contact us to validate the information is totally irresponsible and unethical."

Michael S. Kelley, President Dilloware, Inc.

Gee, business must really be great at Dilloware if Mr. Kelley can so eloquently tell customers and everybody else to get lost.

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