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Smith Micro Software Inc

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Reviews Smith Micro Software Inc

Smith Micro Software Inc Reviews (5)

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
The response of the company is incorrect on several levels, particularly concerning the transparency of the information concerning the activation, the limited licences, and the timing of the 'call home' function embedded in the software. Also ironically illustrated by the response is -to me- a very scary instance of invading my privacy without my knowing it. I admit to the common mistake of not reading the EULA when I installed the software -and the only notification (other than the hidden info in the EULA) concerning said 'activation' process involved a Serial Number that was associated with the purchase. The information however (unless recently changed after this complaint) that is for example included on the web page that advertises the product, had at the time of my purchase and some days ago when I began to investigate the problem after I was back online again, no such mention of these 'requirements.' There is a forum of users of this program that has been discussing this very issue. Even if their testimony is to be considered anecdotal, the point is well driven that; #1. Smith Micro was not up front about the need to be online to continue the activation of the program. -that information is available only in the EULA. #2. Information about the number of licenses that can be used to reactivate a machine, and the number of devices installed was also not clear, and again only available in the EULA.#3. Forcing the user to have to have a constant internet connection to operate software and keep it working, is unethical, irregardless of the implied binding of the EULA, I submit that the software does not warrant such a 'feature' as it is not a highly-internet based program. Previous versions of said software -including its base predecessor "Poser Pro 2014" have not required this feature.And furthermore;#4. I have been checking my emails every day, and have not received any response or notification concerning their claims, or if as they claim -everything was activated. WIthout knowing why they stopped -or started again -(notably many days after reconnecting to the internet) and the only response I got from the company -before I filed the complaint- was "It's in the EULA. If you want to reactivate you will have to buy a new license."While it is true that I installed it on two instances on my mac machine, and 1 on a laptop -which constitutes 2 actual physical machines, both the laptop and the bootcamp versions were installed as attempts to solve another problem that SM would not help me with other than to tell me to create another user on my machine -which caused me to install another instance, thereby using up licenses I didn't know I was using. If I'd known that installing it on my laptop and bootcamp (as I said done for troubleshooting purposes) was going to  result in deactivation of the main 1 machine that I would use it on, I certainly would not have done it.In fact, as has been stated before, if I'd known and been aware of the online connection requirements, the periodic 'phoning home' check of my 'legal license' status, and the potential invasion of my privacy as illustrated by Smith Micro's use of the names of my 'machines' -virtual and real, I would have been much more circumspect, and not let my zeal for the advertised features overlook such unpleasant and unethical 'requirements' as these. I might not have bought the software. Because I frequently go offline.There are two factors here; customer satisfaction, and principle.As a customer/consumer I have right to certain conditions of said product, independant and outstanding from the implied forced agreement of the EULA. That satisfaction was stated as "Fixed program -including some form of 'certificate' that would guarantee the continued 'activation' and function of the product even after I disconnect from the internet for an indefinite time. And this process cannot be so onerous, tedious, and personally time consuming, as quite frankly I did not create the problem.The principle here is illustrated by the 'underhanded' (I quote several users of that forum I mentioned) way that the company has dealt with me from the first attempt to make their software work (as mentioned above) up to the point I felt abused enough to make the complaint. As a related note; Smith Micro used as part of their excuse that it 'wasn't business hours' when I initially tried to contact them. For 3 days it 'wasn't business hours.' Yet some script embedded unbeknownst to me can't call their servers (at some arbitrary time, known to only Smith Micro) because I am offline, threatens me with 'deactivation' and then lo-and-behold EVEN THOUGH I AM BACK ONLINE it deactivates! Smith Micro claims that all '3' machines are functional and active. On the date their servers recorded the latest activity, I did attempt to launch each of them. However Smith Micro did not inform me of anything, so I cannot depend on that. Smith Micro did not include a calendar of call-back times and dates when the computer must be online to continue normal function - which is an ethical question that will be debated eventually in a court of law. The online activation requirement remains unresolved, unexplained in a legal sense. The entire thing is about preventing piracy, yet they are basically telling the consumer that they are 'guilty until proven innocent' and that they must also pay for that privilege.To resolve this issue, if in fact the software is now activated as they claim, Smith Micro must provide an offline alternative to online activation that does not put the onus, labor, and time on me.
Regards,
[redacted]

Hello,This is in regards to ID [redacted]. Thank you for alerting us to this customer report about us.Most, if not all, of the customer's concerns have already been resolved. The customer did initially send in their support requests on 9/5 and 9/6, but those dates were on...

Saturday and Sunday, which meant that our office was closed at that time. Our office is open during normal business hours (Monday - Friday,8AM - 5PM), except on holidays. Now, that following Monday (9/7) was a national holiday (Labor Day), and as such our office was closed on Monday as well. We replied back to the customer at 8:04AM on Tuesday (9/8), which was the first thing we did when the office opened that morning since the customer sent in their support requests. However, it looks like the customer never gave us the chance to reply back before contacting you first, as I see the customer contacted you on Monday (9/7). So by the time this issue was resolved, the customer had already contacted you, but I will go over the issue in detail with you as well.QUOTEI bought an upgrade for Poser Pro 2014 - the "Game Dev" They did not provide information that I needed to be online constantly for the thing to remain activated.END QUOTEThis is inaccurate, as there is no need for the program to be online constantly for it to remain activated. In fact, we have many customers who use this program on offline systems that have never connected to the internet at all.Now, the program does need to be activated, and this is explicitly stated in the software's system requirements:http://store.smithmicro.com/productDetails.aspx?id=25208"Internet connection required for periodic product activation service and Content Paradise"Normally, most customers would have their computer online when activating the program to unlock it for use. After unlocking the program from us, they can take the system offline until they need to activate again (more information on why they might need to activate again is provided later in this email).For those customers who do not wish to have that particular system connected to the internet at all, we do offer an alternative where they can activate the program via a secondary system that is connected to the internet, thereby allowing their main system to remain completely offline. And while it is true that you still need at least a second computer that has internet access in this case, again, this requirement was provided up front in the system requirements.Not only this, but the End User License Agreement (EULA) also talks about this activation requirement. The customer is required to agree to this EULA before they are allowed to install and use the program. Since the customer installed the program, this indicates that they have read and agreed to this activation requirement.If the customer did not agree to the EULA, then there was an option for them to disagree and cancel out of the installation. We offer a 30-day return period on software purchased through our store, which any customers who disagree with the EULA can make use of to get their money back. This customer placed this order at the beginning of May of this year, and never contacted us saying that they disagreed with the activation requirements mentioned in the EULA until now (in September).QUOTEI went offline for 10 days. The software stopped working, and when I finally went back online they want me to buy it again to reactivate it!END QUOTEThis is inaccurate as well. The program periodically checks in with the servers to make sure that the license is still valid (thus why the system requirements states "Internet connection required for periodic product activation service"). An example of why a license would not be valid anymore is if that license was returned for a refund. As long as the license is still valid (as is the case for this customer), all they have to do is let the program activate itself again. For those customers whose computers are online, this program would automatically renew its activation without ever bothering the customer - it all happens behind-the-scenes. It's only if the system is offline will the customer be notified that they have to manually reactivate the program when it comes time for the license to be renewed (because the program won't be able to automatically do the renewal if the computer is offline). All the customer has to do is activate the program again (just like they did when they first bought the program) and the program will unlock once again for them to use. There was never any mention of the customer being forced to buy the program again, so I am not sure where the customer got that idea from.As for the resolution, our activation server shows that the customer did indeed activate this program again on Tuesday (9/8). In fact, our activation server shows that the customer now has three concurrent activations of this program on three separate computers.Your letter to us said not to include any textual information identifying the customer, so I have included a screenshot image to prove this point (as I believe only the text would be posted publicly, and not images - but if you do allow images, then please remove this image to protect the customer's identity). The image below (1.png) shows the three systems that the customer has activated this program on as well as when their last activation occurred.You can see from the top entry that the computer named "blabla2" was activated on September 8th (after they have already contacted you on 9/7). The second entry shows the customer installing and activating this program on another system (an iMac) on Wednesday, September 9th. Notice that the device name for this iMac matches the customer's name as well, so this is proof that it is the customer who installed and activated this. The third entry shows their original activation on their first computer (named "mobile"). You can see here that this original system's copy of the program renewed itself on August 7thand the next time it needs to renew itself isn't until October. So the program is activated on all three of these systems and will remain active for a while still, with the "mobile" device being the first of the three to need a renewal in October.Per the instructions for the software, the customer can always deactivate one of these activations via the program's HELP > DEACTIVATE LICENSE menu option if they want to move that license to a new computer in the future, so the customer isn't forced to only use this license on the original computers they first installed the program on. And if the customer should have trouble using the HELP > DEACTIVATE LICENSE menu option to deactivate their old copies of the program, they can always contact our tech support team and we can assist them with deactivating their old copies of the program. So there is no need for a typical user to need to buy another copy of the program as this customer insinuated, as long as the program can renew its activation every once in a while.

Smith Micro is the business which has partnered with Sprint (via Samsung) to provide the visual voicemail service for Android mobile phones; specifically the Galaxy S5.

Around late winter / early spring 2015, I noticed that my phone is constantly requesting to update my voicemail. This is very annoying and something I have rejected due to my voicemails being wiped from the previous upgrade (which was done against my will - leaving me unable to revert to the previous version). Now, with very important voicemails saved, and a fear of the issue repeating itself, I have attempted contacting the company with little success.

After three failed attempts to satisfy my complaint, I thought it was necessary to post this review.

I contacted the company on 03/26/2015:

"I receive voicemail update prompts almost every 5 minutes on my device. I have version T.6.0.1.9 and reluctantly upgraded to this version (T.6.0.1.9). Is there a way to eliminate the frequent voicemail upgrade prompts?"

While I did receive a response from the company, urging me to just blindly click "auto-update" - to eliminate the prompts on my phone, I was disappointed in the understanding of the issue (from the customer / consumer standpoint) and accountability with solving the problem.

I have attempted contacting them two (2) additional times and received no response as of the time of this message.

Review: I bought an upgrade for Poser Pro 2014 - the "Game Dev" They did not provide information that I needed to be online constantly for the thing to remain activated. I went offline for 10 days. The software stopped working, and when I finally went back online they want me to buy it again to reactivate it!Desired Settlement: I want a functioning program, and some 'certificate' that will allow me to use it offline INDEFINITELY. Or my money back.

Business

Response:

Hello,This is in regards to ID [redacted]. Thank you for alerting us to this customer report about us.Most, if not all, of the customer's concerns have already been resolved. The customer did initially send in their support requests on 9/5 and 9/6, but those dates were on Saturday and Sunday, which meant that our office was closed at that time. Our office is open during normal business hours (Monday - Friday,8AM - 5PM), except on holidays. Now, that following Monday (9/7) was a national holiday (Labor Day), and as such our office was closed on Monday as well. We replied back to the customer at 8:04AM on Tuesday (9/8), which was the first thing we did when the office opened that morning since the customer sent in their support requests. However, it looks like the customer never gave us the chance to reply back before contacting you first, as I see the customer contacted you on Monday (9/7). So by the time this issue was resolved, the customer had already contacted you, but I will go over the issue in detail with you as well.QUOTEI bought an upgrade for Poser Pro 2014 - the "Game Dev" They did not provide information that I needed to be online constantly for the thing to remain activated.END QUOTEThis is inaccurate, as there is no need for the program to be online constantly for it to remain activated. In fact, we have many customers who use this program on offline systems that have never connected to the internet at all.Now, the program does need to be activated, and this is explicitly stated in the software's system requirements:http://store.smithmicro.com/productDetails.aspx?id=25208"Internet connection required for periodic product activation service and Content Paradise"Normally, most customers would have their computer online when activating the program to unlock it for use. After unlocking the program from us, they can take the system offline until they need to activate again (more information on why they might need to activate again is provided later in this email).For those customers who do not wish to have that particular system connected to the internet at all, we do offer an alternative where they can activate the program via a secondary system that is connected to the internet, thereby allowing their main system to remain completely offline. And while it is true that you still need at least a second computer that has internet access in this case, again, this requirement was provided up front in the system requirements.Not only this, but the End User License Agreement (EULA) also talks about this activation requirement. The customer is required to agree to this EULA before they are allowed to install and use the program. Since the customer installed the program, this indicates that they have read and agreed to this activation requirement.If the customer did not agree to the EULA, then there was an option for them to disagree and cancel out of the installation. We offer a 30-day return period on software purchased through our store, which any customers who disagree with the EULA can make use of to get their money back. This customer placed this order at the beginning of May of this year, and never contacted us saying that they disagreed with the activation requirements mentioned in the EULA until now (in September).QUOTEI went offline for 10 days. The software stopped working, and when I finally went back online they want me to buy it again to reactivate it!END QUOTEThis is inaccurate as well. The program periodically checks in with the servers to make sure that the license is still valid (thus why the system requirements states "Internet connection required for periodic product activation service"). An example of why a license would not be valid anymore is if that license was returned for a refund. As long as the license is still valid (as is the case for this customer), all they have to do is let the program activate itself again. For those customers whose computers are online, this program would automatically renew its activation without ever bothering the customer - it all happens behind-the-scenes. It's only if the system is offline will the customer be notified that they have to manually reactivate the program when it comes time for the license to be renewed (because the program won't be able to automatically do the renewal if the computer is offline). All the customer has to do is activate the program again (just like they did when they first bought the program) and the program will unlock once again for them to use. There was never any mention of the customer being forced to buy the program again, so I am not sure where the customer got that idea from.As for the resolution, our activation server shows that the customer did indeed activate this program again on Tuesday (9/8). In fact, our activation server shows that the customer now has three concurrent activations of this program on three separate computers.Your letter to us said not to include any textual information identifying the customer, so I have included a screenshot image to prove this point (as I believe only the text would be posted publicly, and not images - but if you do allow images, then please remove this image to protect the customer's identity). The image below (1.png) shows the three systems that the customer has activated this program on as well as when their last activation occurred.You can see from the top entry that the computer named "blabla2" was activated on September 8th (after they have already contacted you on 9/7). The second entry shows the customer installing and activating this program on another system (an iMac) on Wednesday, September 9th. Notice that the device name for this iMac matches the customer's name as well, so this is proof that it is the customer who installed and activated this. The third entry shows their original activation on their first computer (named "mobile"). You can see here that this original system's copy of the program renewed itself on August 7thand the next time it needs to renew itself isn't until October. So the program is activated on all three of these systems and will remain active for a while still, with the "mobile" device being the first of the three to need a renewal in October.Per the instructions for the software, the customer can always deactivate one of these activations via the program's HELP > DEACTIVATE LICENSE menu option if they want to move that license to a new computer in the future, so the customer isn't forced to only use this license on the original computers they first installed the program on. And if the customer should have trouble using the HELP > DEACTIVATE LICENSE menu option to deactivate their old copies of the program, they can always contact our tech support team and we can assist them with deactivating their old copies of the program. So there is no need for a typical user to need to buy another copy of the program as this customer insinuated, as long as the program can renew its activation every once in a while.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

The response of the company is incorrect on several levels, particularly concerning the transparency of the information concerning the activation, the limited licences, and the timing of the 'call home' function embedded in the software. Also ironically illustrated by the response is -to me- a very scary instance of invading my privacy without my knowing it.

Review: I bought merchandise from their website. The serial numbers that they provided me with didn't work. I contacted via email the company numerous times. All I am told via email is the same thing. They are playing games and I demand my merchandise or refund of my money.Desired Settlement: I want the serial numbers for both software applications I purchased from the company or a refund of all of my money.

Business

Response:

Hello,The customer first contacted us on February 12th. We replied back to him with how to properly enter in the serial number (basically, it needs to be entered in exactly as it was originally provided; if the customer changes even one little thing, then it is no longer the same serial number and thus would be rejected). We also mentioned multiple times that the dashes in the serial number need to be included (again, he would need to type it in exactly as originally provided). I see in one of the customer's responses back to us that he specifically stated that he left the dashes out of the serial number. The customer even provided us with a screenshot proving that he left the dashes out of the serial number. Again, by leaving out the dashes, the customer changed the serial number, thus making it invalid, and that is why the serial number was rejected. So the problem is not because we gave invalid serial numbers, but rather the customer did not type in the right serial number.To use an analogy, if your email's password was "123-abc", then you must enter in "123-abc" to log into your email. If you decided to leave out the dash and type in "123abc" instead, then that is no longer the correct password, and you won't be able to log into your email. It is not the email's fault for rejecting your password, you just simply need to type in the correct password. This is exactly the same for the serial numbers.The customer writes "All I am told via email is the same thing"; that is because the customer was not following instructions in every response, and therefore we had to reiterate those same instructions over and over until the customer follows them.Our last reply was on February 14th, and the last sentence in that reply was: "Please provide a Screen Shot of the completed Verification Window with the License Key entered showing what you are entering and another showing the error message if you still have issues." The reason we asked for this is to confirm whether or not the customer is continuing to enter a wrong serial number (which would be the primary explanation for why the serial number wouldn't work). The customer never replied back to us with the requested screenshots. So as far as we can tell, the customer is continuing to type in the wrong serial number (such as by leaving out the dashes or otherwise typo'ing something else).Now, I just checked the Poser serial number on our activation servers, and it shows that the customer successfully activated twice using that serial number, once on February 19th and once on February 20th. So it looks like the customer followed our instructions several days later (after he had already contacted you at the Revdex.com) and was able to get Poser working using the unmodified serial number that we originally provided to him.The Shade program is not made by us, but rather by another company, and as such we cannot check to see if that serial number has been activated or not, since we do not have access to that other company's systems. But if I were to guess, I would guess that if the customer followed the directions to properly enter in the Poser serial number on the 19th, then he probably did the same for Shade on the 19th as well and he probably has both programs working already. [redacted] | Technical Support LeadSmith Micro Software, Inc. | Forward Thinking, Delivered Today | [redacted]

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Description: Radiotelephone Communication - Equipment & Systems, Microwave Communications

Address: 51 Columbia #200, Aliso Viejo, California, United States, 92656

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