| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Hopefully misunderstanding memoQ Thread poster: ahartje
|
|---|
ahartje
Portugal
Local time: 09:44
Member (2006)
German to Portuguese
+ ...
First: I am a longtime fan of memoQ, my favorite CAT-tool.
I do have licenses for quite a time now, but for some reason (I really can´t explain) I forgot to renew my support and maintenance agreement in December 2016. My fault!
2 days ago I received a 10% discount code for the actual SMA Renewal Campaign. Great, now I can fix my error, I thought. But then I continued my reading and find this note:
"Please note that the SMA is a continuous agreement, every update ... See more First: I am a longtime fan of memoQ, my favorite CAT-tool.
I do have licenses for quite a time now, but for some reason (I really can´t explain) I forgot to renew my support and maintenance agreement in December 2016. My fault!
2 days ago I received a 10% discount code for the actual SMA Renewal Campaign. Great, now I can fix my error, I thought. But then I continued my reading and find this note:
"Please note that the SMA is a continuous agreement, every update starts with the expiry date of the previous period. Therefore, I would like to ask you to adjust the number of the years according to the webshop’s recommendation."
Do I understand this in the right manner? I have to pay for an already passed period of support, in my case 18 month, to be allowed to use 6 month of technical support by buying a 2-years-support?
I asked Kilgray ecaxtly this question and got the following answer:
"Dear memoQ user,
Thank you for contacting the Kilgray support.
We would like to inform you that according to our records the Support and Maintenance Agreement for your memoQ serial numbers listed below will expire soon / have expired. Please contact your account manager or visit our webshop to renew it. If you were unsure about the direct contact, please send your email to [email protected].
Serial number...."
Either Kilgray did not read my question or they avoid a direct answer to my question (for a good reason), meaning I did understand the proposal written in English.
Please tell me, I misunderstood the whole thing. Or are these business matters normal actions and I am the dummy after 27 years working in the translation business?
BR, Anke ▲ Collapse
| | | | | | ahartje
Portugal
Local time: 09:44
Member (2006)
German to Portuguese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Viviane for the info.
I have not been aware of the indicated thread.
So, it´s true and normal business? Unbelievable!!
| | | | | That's how it works | May 31, 2018 |
Last month (early May) I paid 372 EUR for 3 years extension of my SMA. Now it is valid until 22 June 2018. This means that I can use memoQ 8 (which sadly is flawed, slow and not in any significant way improved over memoQ 2015) for as long as I want, but only send support requests till 22 June. If I want support after that or if I want to upgrade to memoQ 9, I will need to pay again.
But I will not need either, I'm afraid. Support engineers are in denial and memoQ has become a meltin... See more Last month (early May) I paid 372 EUR for 3 years extension of my SMA. Now it is valid until 22 June 2018. This means that I can use memoQ 8 (which sadly is flawed, slow and not in any significant way improved over memoQ 2015) for as long as I want, but only send support requests till 22 June. If I want support after that or if I want to upgrade to memoQ 9, I will need to pay again.
But I will not need either, I'm afraid. Support engineers are in denial and memoQ has become a melting pot of disparate bits and pieces, with a terribly outdated and counterproductive GUI. The 'new Kilgray', the one without István Lengyel, is not the same, dedicated and passionate, company any more. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
ahartje
Portugal
Local time: 09:44
Member (2006)
German to Portuguese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
...maybe it´s time to look for alternatives...
At least Kilgray´s support is loosing its former qualities. It´s a pity!
| | | | LEXpert 
United States
Local time: 03:44
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
+ ...
| Not so strange... | May 31, 2018 |
ahartje wrote:
Thank you Viviane for the info.
I have not been aware of the indicated thread.
So, it´s true and normal business? Unbelievable!!
At first I was surprised by this, but after I thought about it, it's not much different from any other extended warranty-type agreement. If you could buy it for the lowest price any time, nobody would ever purchase it until something went wrong. Sure, at the 3 year point or so, it makes more sense to simply buy a new license with the year's support thrown in, but that's a calculation you need make. It's not like they are going to charge you for 10 years of support if you suddenly decided you need it after 10 years - at most it will come to maybe three years or so (or whenever the cost of a new license is greater). I can troubleshoot most (rare) problems myself, and look at my support agreement as insurance for when I can't. Like most insurance, it doesn't make sense for an insurer to let you buy it only *after* you have a need, which is what would happen otherwise.
FWIW, I've used the Kilgray support and a few times and it has always been swift and effective (solved whatever the problem was). SDL support OTOH - meh... used my SDL PSMA once, quick enough but got generalized advice that didn't solve my issue at all. (No disrespect to Paul F., who is always great on these forums and always ready to help).
As I said, at first I was taken aback, but later couldn't quite figure out why.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 10:44
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| This is their upgrade model | May 31, 2018 |
ahartje wrote:
Please tell me, I misunderstood the whole thing.
Each company can choose to arrange payment for upgrades in a different way. MemoQ chose a method that is simple to calculate. Their upgrade price depends on how many years it has been since your previous upgrade.
An upgrade is basically an exchange transaction: you exchange your old model for the latest model. The older your old model is, the less its exchange value.
Trados uses an alternative model which makes it unpredictable what the actual upgrade fee is going to be, but it comes down to the same principle:
Trados 2017 new = €650 (non-discount price)
* If you have Trados 2011 and you want to upgrade, you pay €650.
* If you have Trados 2014 and you want to upgrade, you pay €325.
* If you have Trados 2015 and you want to upgrade, you pay €225.
For exchange purposes, then, a particular Trados license "loses" about €100 of value per year.
| | | | ahartje
Portugal
Local time: 09:44
Member (2006)
German to Portuguese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Maybe common, | May 31, 2018 |
but still strange to me. Not the fact of paying for updates, etc., but certainly I will not pay for an already gone period of never used support.
I believe they should ask for payment of upgrades, no doubt about, but use statistics of unnecessary support for marketing purposes instead of forcing payments of already gone periods.
Even Kilgray seems to see the contrariness/abuse or why don´t they answer my simple question?
| | |
|
|
|
| You don't pay for unused support | May 31, 2018 |
They don't ask you to pay for the support you never used, but for all the development that has taken place since the last time you paid. In the case of memoQ 8, this effort seems to have been wasted on features that sabotage the translator's work (like the new Shift+F3 behaviour) or do not improve the freelancer's work. The focus seems to have been on the LSP side. As for code quality, it seems to be abysmally low. And the fact that their Support always ask for a project backup (with all sorts o... See more They don't ask you to pay for the support you never used, but for all the development that has taken place since the last time you paid. In the case of memoQ 8, this effort seems to have been wasted on features that sabotage the translator's work (like the new Shift+F3 behaviour) or do not improve the freelancer's work. The focus seems to have been on the LSP side. As for code quality, it seems to be abysmally low. And the fact that their Support always ask for a project backup (with all sorts of confidential info in it) for even the smallest problem is not a good sign: if they need to check for errors interactively, this must be a sign that they do not perform rigorous automated testing, as they should in 2018, with the plethora of testing tools that is available for .NET apps.
[Edited at 2018-05-31 12:28 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | ahartje
Portugal
Local time: 09:44
Member (2006)
German to Portuguese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
okay, but it is called Support and Maintenance Agreement, isn´t it?
Therefore I assume the payment has to be done (or not) for each and every support and maintenance effort, hasn´t it? The developing costs are included in all payments for new versions with their additional benefits (or not).
| | | | | Don't assume... | May 31, 2018 |
ahartje wrote:
okay, but it is called Support and Maintenance Agreement, isn´t it?
Therefore I assume the payment has to be done (or not) for each and every support and maintenance effort, hasn´t it? The developing costs are included in all payments for new versions with their additional benefits (or not).
I was acutely aware of Kilgray's policy on upgrading from my first renewal, several years ago, and I can't say I liked that very much, as that's basically a subscription model, if you want to stay current, and regardless of support (which I NEVER used, by the way).
However, as others pointed out, SDL's approach is not so different, all things considered. The main issue, is, IMHO, that this means developers basically must churn out "new" versions non-stop, even if there's nothing really "new" (and/or worthwhile) to add to their software, but as long as they're able to convince agencies and end-clients to "upgrade"(?), we freelancers are often forced to follow suit, even if there's really nothing wrong with the "older" versions...
As for MQ in particular, last time I checked 3 years of "forced" SMA equated to a new license (with the "discounts" you can find either here, from translator associations, etc.).
Basically, if you only work for direct clients, and those clients don't use CAT tools, then you could keep using your "old" MQ version for a LONG while...
But on the other hand, a tithe of €120 per year is not so awful per se, although it might become irritating if and when you notice you don't really get much (if anything) in return AND it's just one of many...
| | | | Niina Lahokoski
Finland
Local time: 11:44
Member (2008)
English to Finnish
+ ...
| Only worth it if you want to upgrade, and sometimes not even then | May 31, 2018 |
It's curious, I received the same offer but with a 30% discount. I haven't updated my agreement since upgrading to MemoQ2015. I don't think I'll take advantage of the offer though. Based on the reports of the newest versions, an upgrade might turn out to be a downgrade, at least in some ways. The majority of my clients still seem to use the 2015 version, too.
[Edited at 2018-05-31 16:27 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
ahartje
Portugal
Local time: 09:44
Member (2006)
German to Portuguese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Another error | May 31, 2018 |
At this stage my whole strategy to deal with providers of CAT tools is changing.
I read all your valuable inputs and learnt also, that there are different classes of clients... with different discounts.
There will be no more updates, upgrades, etc. on my side. I am not worried about most of my clients, just the ones, who work with the memoQ server, but that is another problem to solve in the next days.
Thank you for teaching me a lesson about CAT tools I th... See more At this stage my whole strategy to deal with providers of CAT tools is changing.
I read all your valuable inputs and learnt also, that there are different classes of clients... with different discounts.
There will be no more updates, upgrades, etc. on my side. I am not worried about most of my clients, just the ones, who work with the memoQ server, but that is another problem to solve in the next days.
Thank you for teaching me a lesson about CAT tools I thought to know well for years. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Staged discounts | May 31, 2018 |
Niina Lahokoski wrote:
It's curious, I received the same offer but with a 30% discount...
That's interesting. So the older your version, the more discount you get. Imagine the kind of discount to upgrade from 2013 R2.
Which is relevant: the more "backlog" years you have, the higher the bill. Without a discount, I would pay significantly more than the actual retail price! And with the discount, I get just below the price of a new license with TGB.
The trend today is all about "service": subscription-based instead of upfront investment. It may make sense in some industries (automotive, large IT systems "aaS"...), but perhaps not so much with smaller acquisitions (Office 365, MemoQ, smartphones...).
Some will find such models useful, others won't.
Philippe
| | | | Lian Pang
Netherlands
Local time: 10:44
Member (2018)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Kilgray's Customer Service | May 31, 2018 |
I've been fooling around with both memoQ and trados for the last month and I decided that I like memoQ more.
So about a week ago I decided to buy memoQ.
Since I am an AITI, I am eligible for 30% discount. I was required to contact kilgray's sales team to enjoy the discount. So I immediately submitted a ticket asking for the promotion code. I waited for a week with no response.
Yesterday I decided to call them directly. I called two of their establishments, but ... See more I've been fooling around with both memoQ and trados for the last month and I decided that I like memoQ more.
So about a week ago I decided to buy memoQ.
Since I am an AITI, I am eligible for 30% discount. I was required to contact kilgray's sales team to enjoy the discount. So I immediately submitted a ticket asking for the promotion code. I waited for a week with no response.
Yesterday I decided to call them directly. I called two of their establishments, but both my calls were cut off by their customer service officers before I could say hello. There was no problem with the connection because I could clearly hear the background noises. At that point I was already pretty angry and wrote them via messenger. I was also going to tweet them when I finally, finaaaally received the discount code.
Yeah. My very first encounter with Kilgray was horrible. If this is how they treat their customers I am moving to Trados after my support expires. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Hopefully misunderstanding memoQ | TM-Town | Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business
Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.
More info » |
| | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
