Hi all

I'm aware that the lifetime update offer for Sonar expires at the end of this month and I do have the money ready to upgrade from x3 Producer to Platinum but I find myself, somewhat worryingly, hesitating.

And the reason for my procrastination is the truly alarming things I'm reading about Cakewalk support. I've read countless reports of users getting absolutely nowhere when trying to contact support. It's all well and good having an excellent product but the true mettle of any company is how they respond when things go wrong. In any other walk of my life, with any other product I simply wouldn't entertain such diabolical levels of support. But I do really like Sonar.

The knowledgeable people on this forum are commendable but it just feels wrong that the entire support infrastructure for a product is effectively provided by its users on an Internet forum.

Anyway that's the reason for my hesitation guys. Can't help it. I just wish I knew that things would improve but I've seriously got my doubts.

Dave

I understand where your coming from.
I do believe its been mentioned they are hiring new Support people as we speak, however that doesn't do much for the folks who are on the fence about purchasing.
 
I know it is not much of a condolence but this forum has some of the best support any where.
that's not a replacement for real tech support. but you know what I mean.
this is a great company, we have no reason to believe this is being done intentionally.
the new lifetime upgrade just left them swamped with new calls, well that's what im guessing anyway.

"I know it is not much of a condolence but this forum has some of the best support any where."

Agreed. But that's actually part of the problem. If Sonar didn't have this forum it probably wouldn't have a business!

I really don't know which way I'm going to go here. If Sonar's support was only half as good as its products I'd be reaching for the credit card now!

Dave

To me its a non issue. I have used support twice in the many years I have been a CW user. I can tell you this. CW is doing the very best to get the support staff increased and trained. They are acutely aware there problems getting through to support and they are fixing the problem. Be patient and upgrade. This issue is bump in the road when you measure it against a lifetime. I do know that CW has always provided great support in the past and I expect the same in the future    

I too am bothered by this support issue, but if you look at the price to upgrade ($168.99) through Audiodeluxe.com. It's worth it just in AD2 Ad packs and additional plugins that you can access in X3e- if Platinum gives you any issues. I did it and don't regret it, but still, there's no excuse for what's going on with support.

Understandable point brought up by the OP ... Yet , isn't that only just a temporary customer support situation ?
 
Yes ? No ?
 
Cakewalk is currently in the process of hiring people and training them ....
 
In all honesty here where I'm sitting , I can only offer you one little incentive or idea based on my situation ...
 
After running X3 PE up until December of 2015 , I upgraded to SPlat at that time.
I have never been happier with SONAR in the 11 years I have been using SONAR  ...
My main Windows DAW has both X3 PE and Splat on it . I actually get mad when I accidentally open up X3 instead of SPlat ...
The difference in performance , optimization for Win 10 ,  added functionality , much better stability , new features and over all user satisfaction is astonishing . 
 
IMHO , X3 PE was just a Stepping Stone that lead to my greater Overall Happiness in SONAR SPlat
 
full disclosure ,
I would not hesitate for moment to upgrade to Lifetime if I didn't have to come up w almost 2 grand for other responsibility's I'm not able to defer ....
The Wolf is not at my door , but saying I'm sorry is not gonna feed my Bulldog   
 
Good luck O P  in what ever you decide too do ,
 
Kenny
 

I think the answer depends on a couple of things.

• Whether you think support will never return, or that this is a temporary (although admittedly serious) problem. My take is that support will never be as good as everyone wants it to be all the time, because no company attains that goal. But with new people coming on board, they'll work through the backlog and get back to normal.
• Whether you think you're really going to need a lot of support. Many people here have found all the support they needed about the program itself in the FAQs, the forum, and with internet searches. That doesn't help with authorization or installation problems, but those tend to be "fix once / done" issues.

Another consideration is that the money you save with lifetime updates means that if you encounter computer system issues and such that don't relate specifically to SONAR or to authorization issues, you'll have enough to do some sessions with obedia.com or some local PC guru.
 
 

John
To me its a non issue. I have used support twice in the many years I have been a CW user.

+1
ive called them once. and it was unnecessary. it was something I could have figured out on my own.
 

yellowcake64
Agreed. But that's actually part of the problem. If Sonar didn't have this forum it probably wouldn't have a business!
If Sonar's support was only half as good as its products I'd be reaching for the credit card now!

if sonar...but that..... I would be....
this is all a hypothetical game. similar to the "what if" game.
 
truth is... the lifetime updates deadline is the last day of August. you can debate all you want but if you don't take advantage of the deal by then, well you "Might" be blaming yourself for not getting it while it was there for the taking.
I've told you I agree with your concerns about support, but it Didn't stop me from purchasing the lifetime update.
 
I took full advantage of that deal. and im very pleased I did.
I would have purchased the lifetime update if they told me Support wasn't included.
 
 

yellowcake64
"I know it is not much of a condolence but this forum has some of the best support any where."

Agreed. But that's actually part of the problem. If Sonar didn't have this forum it probably wouldn't have a business!

However...if Cakewalk wasn't the kind of business it was, it probably wouldn't have this forum.
 
Few manufacturer forums are as open, allow criticism that is so ignorant it really doesn't deserve any attention, and have the CTO himself as well as many other people from the company participate. This forum didn't become great by accident. It has been a joint effort by the community and Cakewalk. 
 
As a result it has attracted some really stellar people who come here to help. I won't name them all because I know I'll forget some, but I can't help but wonder if a few of them have had SONAR's documentation implanted into their brains.

Support is only a concern to me if/when I'm dead in the water. Usually that's a registration issue and it's happened a couple times in 4 years and the result of a computer file issue.
 
Most of my tech answers come from right here. Once there's a completed purchase and a successful installation, it's mostly a learning curve. If you try and be clear and composed with a question, the forum is a huge knowledge base full of friendly people.
 
I love good customer service and have no doubt that Cakewalk will get it sorted in time. Challenges presented by growth are the best kind.  (please read the disclaimer in my sig)