Extremely poor introductory training

I'm a new customer, and so far, I'm thinking I've blown my money. Outside of a very few meager videos, there is absolutely no basic introductory training on the functionality or features of this software. I don't even know what to ask about with this software. It seems this is virtually not supported by the company. You just buy it and get thrown to the wolves trying to figure out how to use it. When I go to the site looking for help, I just get trapped in a useless loop of worthless webpages that tell me little or nothing on how to use this. Apparently there is a way to add your church's name to the system so that every slide that has a place for a church name has that info automatically populated, but like the other badly needed info, this can't be easily found.

Isn't there any interest in making the experience for new customers a good one?? Why the refusal to provide a basic users manual like legitimate software manufacturers? Buyer beware. Buyer beware.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Ben Vernon

This was meant for the Proclaim software board.

Kevin A. Purcell

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/462409#Comment_462409

You are right. They need to do a better job of training. Have you see what they do offer here:

http://proclaimonline.com/support/videos.aspx

It's a start and hopefully will get more comprehensive.

Joni lum

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/462550#Comment_462550

Yes, for me it was trial and error, and 3 weeks in, I'm having issues with Proclaim crashing right during the worship service. I spent hours reading through the forum to get basic question answered.

There's got to be a better way!

rksaw

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/462672#Comment_462672

We just purchased our licensing agreement and I am having difficulty inviting others to join us. I have sent out invitations through Faithlife twice but so far it has been to no avail.

I did realize that there was going to be a learning curve, so we did decide to continue using MediaShout before we transition over to Proclaim, but frankly, it would be better if there were more training available.

Even with Logos I am constantly find out more and more what the program could do, and even though I'm appreciative, it would have been nice to have some additional training or resources that I don't have to buy or attend just to figure out how best to use this software.

Come on Logos. You do a great job producing the software, now if only you could tell us how to fully use your product! The more we fall in love with your software, the more we will brag about it to others!!!

Ben Vernon

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/462550#Comment_462550

Hi Kevin

Thanks for the link & yes I've seen it. There is virtually nothing there on basic functionality. Since I don't have a Masters in Programming I don't know what the software should be able to do. This is my first church and my first venture into church software. I have Logos 5 Gold and have viewed lots of videos on the use of 5 & 4. I was expecting Logos to support this software also. How disappointing to see they don't support it like they do their bible software. There's not much on the web when I do a search either. Guess we're left to our own trying to figure this out.

Ben Vernon

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/462672#Comment_462672

Now that's a scary concern. Nothing more disruptive to worship than to have the presentation crash. Maybe I need to consider this $100 a loss and move to something else.

Kevin A. Purcell

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/462781#Comment_462781

Now that's a scary concern. Nothing more disruptive to worship than to have the presentation crash. Maybe I need to consider this $100 a loss and move to something else.

Don't cout it a loss. If you're truly unhappy, they will likely refund some or all of the amount if you call Customer Service.

We can help each other out here. I'm also fairly new to using it on a daily basis. I participated in the beta for a month when it first came out, but never actually used it for a service since in those days it was so rudimentary I couldn't image replacing MediaShout with Proclaim. It now offers much more functionality so when we switched from a PC to a Mac we didn't buy the MediaShout crossgrace licens for $239, we got the monthly subscription to Proclaim.

It is a little cumbersome but in a year improved drastically so I have good hope.

Do you have a specific issue that you're dealing with that we can helps solve?

Ben Vernon

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/462976#Comment_462976

Thanks for the offer. Basically I'm just having to stumble through this software and discover things. Like I said, I don't have experience with this kind of thing so I don't know what the functions are that I should be looking for. I need some sort of orientation, like how to edit slides, what slides can be edited and what slides can't. How to arrange slides, or to change the arrangement. You know, a beginners orientation. All I see is a very rapid video on how to create a presentation. They fly through it as fast as they possibly can, and it seems like they are skipping steps, but again I don't know because I don't know what to be looking for. Again, the courtesy of a basic functions and capabilities introductory manual would be nice for people like me, people who don't have super strong computer skills. The lack of customer support is just disappointing. Perhaps I should look into the software you are switching from?

Kevin A. Purcell

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/463114#Comment_463114

MediaShout does offer a basic intro presentation that teaches how to get started. But the software itself has a lot of troubles on the Mac side plus its more expensive out of the gate if you use it for a small congregation.

Ann Boyles

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/463202#Comment_463202

I agree that our documentation has been quite sparse up till now: however, we have just added additional documentation to the Proclaim website (http://proclaimonline.com/support/articles.aspx), which will hopefully answer many of your questions. As always, the forums continue to be available for any specific questions or issues you may have, but I expect that many of your questions can be cleared up with the information now available under the new "Documentation" section.

Hunter Clagett

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/463114#Comment_463114

We now have much more detailed information on our support pages! Check it out here: http://community.logos.com/forums/t/66427.aspx

Kacy Lufkin

People that work on this product with their blood, sweat, and tears read this. They try to produce a quality product with a very small department and therefore keep the costs to a minimum. I'm certain everyone is frustrated, and obviously some are a new users. However, there is no reason for hateful outburst.

Did everyone try looking on the forums for help or try calling the support line? Is the real issue with a general lack of experience with the product and the frustrations from that or has anyone presented a specific list of things that would be helpful?

Remember that behind the other side of your monitor is someone probably feeling really hurt by your words. Has anyone started a forum post saying one nice thing they like about the company, software, tech support, or training videos?

Joni lum

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/464826#Comment_464826

Ummm, I dont think any of us are trying to be hateful.

I cant speak for everyone, but for me, I was surprised at the lack of intro material...i've purchased other software products and there is almost always a manual or cheat sheet or something more than what was available here.

Is this really a small department with not much support? I thot since it was from Logos, this was a business?

It's really more important to me that the product I have can work, I'm not trying to "save" money as much as I am looking to find a good resource that works for my church--we were attracted to the cloud based ease of involving others. I dont have unlimited resources, but the downtime and inability to use Proclaim when it counts (during the worship program) makes we wonder if this is a good solution for us. Using this program has disrupted my worship service every week for the last 3 weeks [:(] I think most folks would be happy to pay more for a reliable solution to our presentation software needs.