Amy launched an EECB to Adobe, after her $2600 worth of software failed to ship on time. Or at all. No one at Adobe customer service can tell her why it didn’t ship, or if it ever will, but one CSR suggested it was her fault for ordering through the online store rather than through a sales rep. He says no one tracks the orders on the online store, which makes absolutely no sense. What’s the point in having an online store if no one fills the orders? Why the tease, Adobe? Check out her EECB inside.

Dear Adobe,

I am writing to you today because the normal customer service channels have failed me, and I believe that this issue is a systemic problem in your ordering system, and perhaps may be the reason why recent reports state that 60% of Adobe products are pirated…because Adobe cannot ship products to paying customers!

On April 14, 2008, I ordered 3 copies of Adobe CS3, (2 copies of Design Premium Upgrade and 1 copy of Production Premium, Full Installation, as well as 2 manuals), using the Adobe Online store. At the time I placed the order, I was advised that the order should arrive around April 21, 2008. April 21 came and went with still no software, so I submitted a question to the online Customer Service Portal. Unfortunately the folks there were of no help as the only thing they could tell me was that I had not received my order because it had not yet been shipped (duh!). They were unable to tell me why my order had not shipped, or when it might ship, only that it had not shipped.

I next tried your customer service phone number, and while each of the representatives was able to see my order, they were unable to determine why the order had not been shipped. Several suggested that I cancel the current order and try again in the hopes that it would fix the problem, although no one could identify what the problem actually was, so in theory resubmitting an order would land me in the same spot, waiting for two more weeks with no software.

Last night I spoke with a customer service representative named Jason who said that I was responsible for the problem because I ordered from the Adobe Online store, and that those orders are not tracked by a sales person. I don’t need the order to be tracked, I just want the software that I ordered to be sent to me. If your online system doesn’t work, why do you have it? He said that he would call me back this morning after he did some more digging into the problem, but it is now after 4 pm, and I have not yet received a return phone call. (Incidentally I just called again to give your folks one more chance, but still, they could give me no assurances that I was any closer to getting my software than I was 2 weeks ago.)

The reason for writing this letter is simple, I would like you to ship my order to me immediately and as there have been issues on Adobe’s end that have delayed receipt of the software for almost a week and a half. In addition, I would kindly request that you send the order to me overnight at no additional charge. In exchange, feel free to charge my credit card the $2679.95 that you are due. Should you have any questions, or need any further information, please feel free to contact me via E-mail or at the number below.

Amy

So now we know, the CSR version of “did you turn it off and on again?” is “did you cancel the order and place it again?” Then again, power-cycling occasionally works, whereas there’s no reason an order damned to limbo once won’t be sent there again. And anyway, who wants to wait two weeks to find out? Since Amy’s card hasn’t been charged, it might be time to cancel the order and start looking somewhere else or from someone else. It shouldn’t be this hard to not steal a product.

(photo:Jenna Belle)

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