Well this is new to me. With the news of Mozilla taking development resources away from Thunderbird (Announced sometime last year), we are looking for a new Email client that can support the amount of email some of the staff at work accrue. In once case, over 14GB of email (the person has not deleted an email in about 4 years). In the past (and maybe they fixed it) Microsoft Outlook only allowed a max size of 4GB for its database files. Thunderbird allowed an unlimited amount as it’s method of archiving was different.
I use eM Client which 1. Has a structure that allows a theoretical unlimited size for its files and 2. Had pre-sales support staff which allowed me to find out the info I needed. Sadly though attempts to migrate with database over from Thunderbird keeps crashing the program.
So I started looking for an alternative. I came across “PostBox” which looked like it was very rich in features and it supports Gmail, etc. However when I wanted to ask my pre-sales question, to find out if their email client could handle our needs, I could not find a pre-sales support section. All I could find was their Knowledge Base, FAQ section, and User manual, none of which could give me an answer.
The only email address I could find was for the online Store, and a note beside the email stated “no product or technical support questions please“… So I wrote them asking if they had a contact where I could ask a product question, I mean why buy something if its not going to meet my needs.
This is what I sent them:
Hello,
Your site seems to lack the proper contact information. I have a specific
question to ask which is a make or break the sale question, however your
support section is simply an FAQ Knowledge base which does not hold the
answer (at least not readily) that I require. Is there a Pre-sales/Tech
email that I can ask my question to since this email address specifically
forbids it.Regards,
Matthew
In response I received the following:
Hi Matthew,
Hello, and thanks for contacting the Postbox Store! We are happy to answer questions about purchasing Postbox, licensing, promotions, trials, and our 100% satisfaction guarantee.
If you have product or technical questions, please refer to the following support resources:
FAQ
http://goo.gl/jmTgXPUser Guide
http://goo.gl/c8oUGTrouble-Shooting Articles
http://goo.gl/9KtWrVSystem Requirements
http://goo.gl/0unXzQThanks, and have a great day!
—
Postbox Support
http://goo.gl/qII2Jh
Sadly this left me where I was before I asked the question. I had already checked the FAQ, and could not find an answer. I check the other link, sadly, same result, no answer to my question. So I wrote back:
Sadly, as mentioned, none of those articles answer my technical question. Which is why, as stated, I wish to contact a technical support person to ask my question to. As this purchase would be for a company, with specific needs, I need to know your product can handle the needs of the staff. If this is not possible, I thank you for your time, and will recommend we go with another company that was able to answer my question about their product.
Regards,
Matthew.
Their response was less than adequate:
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for using Postbox and for checking in.
Please note that Postbox does not provide 1 on 1 support. Postbox is really oriented towards users who are comfortable with self-help support solutions. We hope you understand.
If you purchased Postbox and feel that it’s more than you bargained for, we would be happy to issue a refund. Simply visit this page and we’ll issue one right away, no questions asked:
http://goo.gl/qII2Jh/refund_request—
Postbox Support
http://goo.gl/qII2Jh
Seriously? How do you expect to make sales on a “Buy first, ask questions later” mentality. Why would I purchase a product, waste time with it to possibly find out it does do what I need, and then have to go through the hassle of trying to get a refund.
Needless to say, they lost the possibility of at least 7 licenses, not much when you think of it as one instance, but it adds up.