Poor customer service

Craig Ostrander
Craig Ostrander Member Posts: 49
edited November 21 in English Forum

Had an issue trying to make a purchase with a visa prepaid gift card. logos kept declining the card even though there was enough on the card to cover the purchase. I had called the credit card company and all was good with them. They told me it was Logos declining the card. Called Logos support and the rep tried running the card and it failed. He then said “I don’t know what the problem is, thanks for reaching out. Goodbye.”

he should have told me “I don’t know what the problem is but I will find out and call you back when I have an answer.”

I’ll get my books on Kindle from now on. I know Amazon will take my money and customer service is good to boot. 

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Comments

  • Joe McCune (Faithlife)
    Joe McCune (Faithlife) Member, Logos Employee Posts: 1,134

    Craig,

    I am sorry to hear that this was your experience.

    We would like to make this right.

    I am sending you an email.

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,489

    Did he really hang up on you? 

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS | Logs |  Install

  • Had an issue trying to make a purchase with a visa prepaid gift card. logos kept declining the card even though there was enough on the card to cover the purchase. I had called the credit card company and all was good with them. They told me it was Logos declining the card. Called Logos support and the rep tried running the card and it failed. He then said “I don’t know what the problem is, thanks for reaching out. Goodbye.”

    he should have told me “I don’t know what the problem is but I will find out and call you back when I have an answer.”

    I’ll get my books on Kindle from now on. I know Amazon will take my money and customer service is good to boot. 

    I have experienced similar situations with Logos customer service with my concerned being overlooked and wanting to get off the phone and go onto the next customer. In recent times, they are very quick to "send you an article" from the Logos Blog on your problem, instead of helping you work through the problem. Now, to be fair, it is not all of them, some of them are very good and will dial into your computer and try and work through the problem. But there are a couple that will just want to send you an article. Now, Logos Bible Software is NOT CHEAP!!! As far as Bible Study Software goes, it is one of, if not THE MOST expensive. But for good reason....Its resources and capabilities, when they all work right, are unsurpassed. That being said, the customer service at Logos needs to be as "award winning" as their software is most of the time. 

  • Armin
    Armin Member Posts: 1,501 ✭✭✭

    Many years ago, getting a reply from CS took several days. It meant that there was virtually no customer service.

    This has since changed for the better. CS replies now very quickly. Especially when it comes to refunds, they have become very responsive.

    However, when it comes to technical support, things are still hit-and-miss. In my currently still ongoing interaction with CS, I noticed the following:

    - I get cut&paste answers that are not really related to my issue. For instance, I send a link to a log file in the forum, and then I get an article from them how to create a log file. The person obviously didn't read through my e-mail.

    - The helpfulness of the reply heavily depends on the person who happens to respond. There needs to be more consistent training of CS staff.

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 3,087

    I guess I'm reluctant for stone-throwing. Anyone could predict, with a major worldwide labor shutdown, it'd be rough-going. And I'd assume Bellingham would be even worse, with Seattle likely pulling people. I wouldn't be surprised if FL's Mac in Phoenix is struggling, with so much systems talent demand. Logos is a sophisticated animal ... trained employees not easy.

  • Veli Voipio
    Veli Voipio MVP Posts: 2,015

    Logos has also a persistent problem when paying pre-pubs, the problem started a year ago and is related to the European legislation. 

    FL should get an expert in those payment issues or a consultant to fix those problems.

    Gold package, and original language material and ancient text material, SIL and UBS books, discourse Hebrew OT and Greek NT. PC with Windows 11

  • Armin
    Armin Member Posts: 1,501 ✭✭✭

    I understand that there need to be policies. And one of FL's policies is that beta versions are not supported by tech support. But if FL's ultimate goal is to improve Logos, then my current experience does not support this goal.

    When I recorded the logs, I was on beta version 9.10.0.0018. The last stable release was 9.10.0.0017. The release note of the beta version did not contain any changes that affect syncing. 

    So my issue is independent of the question of beta or stable. In addition, the issue has been occurring for several months (probably over a year). So it is not a new issue and not related to the beta version 9.10.0.0018.

    I received from CS numerous e-mails with links to documents on how to create logs, even though my first e-mail to them already contained links to logs. 

    I also was asked twice to switch to the stable release. However, no instructions were provided on how to do this. As switching back to the stable release is more complex and usually requires me to wait until the next stable release comes out after the current beta that I have, this could potentially take a few weeks.

    For me, my sync issues are not a big enough problem to go through the hassle and then maybe still not get a solution. I have a workaround that works 90% of the time and I can live with that.

    But as a result the bug will remain in Logos.

  • Roy
    Roy Member Posts: 965

    I also was asked twice to switch to the stable release. However, no instructions were provided on how to do this. As switching back to the stable release is more complex and usually requires me to wait until the next stable release comes out after the current beta that I have, this could potentially take a few weeks.

    I am not sure about this but I thought I read somewhere that you could download the current installer, run it and get back on the regular release that way.

    from the Logos Wiki...

    • Can I withdraw from the beta program ? Beta bugginess is not for everyone (fixing some bugs spans several Beta releases). However, downgrading in middle of a beta development cycle is difficult; see previous question for potential corruption risk. If want to downgrade from Beta to Stable version, need to completely uninstall Beta before installing Stable. Optionally can use scan command to identify, copy, and index resources from a Beta installation.

    And you can download the installer for the current version from the Logos.com home page top right menu.

    But then you likely already know most of this as you had already stated that it was more complicated to downgrade.

  • Armin
    Armin Member Posts: 1,501 ✭✭✭

    Hi Roy,

    Thanks for sending the info from the Logos Wiki. Yes, I am aware of these instructions. I did it a few years ago and it took some time to get back to a stable release. At the moment, my workaround is less painful than a downgrade with a large library. What is the purpose of downgrading if the issue is not linked to Beta?

    I had hoped that I could help FL fix a bug. But since not many people have sync issues, it is probably not on their priority list, i.e., even if I downgrade, it probably won't make it on the list of things to fix.

  • Kathleen Marie
    Kathleen Marie Member Posts: 812

    Had an issue trying to make a purchase with a visa prepaid gift card. logos kept declining the card even though there was enough on the card to cover the purchase. I had called the credit card company and all was good with them. They told me it was Logos declining the card. Called Logos support and the rep tried running the card and it failed. He then said “I don’t know what the problem is, thanks for reaching out. Goodbye.”

    he should have told me “I don’t know what the problem is but I will find out and call you back when I have an answer.”

    I’ll get my books on Kindle from now on. I know Amazon will take my money and customer service is good to boot. 

    My experiences have been good with Logos, but with other companies, I just ask for someone else, or hang up and call back again. If I get hung up on, that is good. I just call back all innocent and say we must have gotten cut off.

    I have large libraries in both Amazon and Logos. I have not found Amazon perfect every time, but I can always call back and get it resolved later with someone else. My assumption is that I can trust Logos even more than Amazon. And even if I can't, Amazon cannot always help me do what I need to do.

    The learning curve for Logos is steep. I started out using it as an ebook reader for books that were cheaper or not available at Amazon. In those early days, Amazon competed with Logos for almost any book. Not now. Amazon books cannot replace Logos books even at half price.

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,202 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I understand that there need to be policies. And one of FL's policies is that beta versions are not supported by tech support. But if FL's ultimate goal is to improve Logos, then my current experience does not support this goal.

    I think FL should have their tech support people supporting beta releases too, just a small percentage of their time, but they should be dipping their toes in the new features before they go live with non-beta users.

    1) They will gain valuable experience which will make them better able to help users when the new features go live

    2) They will have the opportunity to report bugs they come across and thus improve the product before it gets released

    3) They will get to know the beta using MVPs on the forum and learn from them.

  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton MVP Posts: 35,682

    I think FL should have their tech support people supporting beta releases too, just a small percentage of their time,

    To be clear, do you mean that they should spend some time in the Beta forum?

    I don't see that all Supporters can be involved for a small percentage of their time, so how would they be allocated?

    1) They will gain valuable experience which will make them better able to help users when the new features go live

    2) They will have the opportunity to report bugs they come across and thus improve the product before it gets released

    There are not enough 'new' features to gain valuable experience.

    When should they be involved as this could turn them into QC Testers as well as Supporters? I doubt that Testing is in their role and that it could be classed as a small percentage of their time!

    3) They will get to know the beta using MVPs on the forum and learn from them.

    Positive learning means extra time in the forum, otherwise they will learn when an MVP politely hints that they responded incorrectly!

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

  • John
    John Member Posts: 1

    I would go further and say that it is not poor but appalling customer service. 

    A representative of Logos attended the Assemblies of God National Conference last month in the UK and offered those who purchased their Logos 9 suites a preferential discount as long as they purchased it by the 8th May. I had been considering buying Logos for some years only procrastinating because of the high cost of the software, but decided to go ahead, take advantage of the discount and the offer that they payments for the Platinum Edition could be spread over 24 months with just a =n admin fee to pay each month.

    During the purchase process I was advised that I could choose how I wished to pay for it at the end so was therefore astonished when I received a notification from PayPal to say that $1697.23  had been taken from my credit card and I was thanked for my purchase by Logos. 

    I then over the next month wrote to their customer support on the 8th, 14th and 24th May to query why this happened and to seek a solution.

    I did not get a reply to any of the communications other than a standard ‘out of office’ type e-mail stating that they would normally respond in 24-48 hours. 

    Finally on the 4th June I wrote once more by e-mail to their customer support and stated that unless I heard back from them, I would be returning the software under their 30 day return policy. I did get an offhand reply this time from one of their support staff but it was devoid of any form of apology other than that they were sorry for the system n out working and if I wished to try and change to a payment plan I should reach out to a different department. 

    I immediately wrote back protesting that it was up to them to follow up on this and not my responsibility because they had patently failed in their standard of customer service.  I heard nothing back and so I have since written to ask for a refund and I am yet to hear from them that this has been actioned.

    My next step will be to approach PayPal and my bank whose credit card I used to ask them to deal with it.

    Shocking treatment at the hands of a company that purports to serve the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

  • Don
    Don Member, Logos Employee Posts: 49

    John, 

    I am very sorry you did not receive a reply to your original requests. I will follow up with you personally to the email address listed on your account. 

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,489

    It is not acceptable, it is not your fault, but the only “good” way to get support from FL itself is through the phone. There are some Skype numbers for UK users. 

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS | Logs |  Install

  • xnman
    xnman Member Posts: 2,782 ✭✭✭

    I understand that there need to be policies. And one of FL's policies is that beta versions are not supported by tech support. But if FL's ultimate goal is to improve Logos, then my current experience does not support this goal.

    I think FL should have their tech support people supporting beta releases too, just a small percentage of their time, but they should be dipping their toes in the new features before they go live with non-beta users.

    1) They will gain valuable experience which will make them better able to help users when the new features go live

    2) They will have the opportunity to report bugs they come across and thus improve the product before it gets released

    3) They will get to know the beta using MVPs on the forum and learn from them.

    Good idea Rosie!

    xn = Christan  man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".

    Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!