Software Appliance Company (softappco.com) Sells Deffective Software and Does Not Stand Behind It Anacortes Washington...
Software Appliance Company (softappco.com) makes and sells internet filtering and tracking software. They sell it not only on their website, but also through online stores including Amazon.com, tucows.com, etc. They make several titles, each designed to address a specific task, but this report deals with their Netkeys product.
As the network administrator for our church, I was asked by the pastor to implement an internet and e-mail filtering solution. The goal was to prevent, even by accident, any surfing to inappropriate web sites. After contacting some vendors that I found by doing some extensive searching, I decided to make the purchase from Software Appliance Company. My decision was based on the response that I received from Scott Krig (their "Sales" department - more on Mr. Krig later). I purchased 30 copies of Netkeys and ITKeys, their console product, and Mr. Krig added 10 extra copies of Netkeys at no charge. The total price paid was $956.00.
The product was delivered by download, with no media or instructions being provided. At this time I would like to add the following, some advice that I did not follow, but never plan to miss in the future: The product was available as a 30 day trial. I did not take advantage of the trial, which if I had, I would not be writing this report.
The installation began on a Thursday. The very first PC that I installed the product on crashed after installation. Since it was a Windows 95 PC, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and moved on to a more "modern" PC. Upon installation on a Windows XP Pro PC, it seemed to work OK. I did have some issues with the install and attempted to contact tech support. I soon found out that tech support consisted of e-mail being sent back and forth. Their support section on their website clearly states:
No customer service is available by phone, no exceptions. All Customer Service inquiries must be sent by email or FAX.
This includes tech support. But, I was persistent and called the 800 sales number. Perhaps they could put me in touch with tech support. Unfortunatly the number was out of service. I fired off an angry e-mail and I did get a response back within fifteen minutes telling me that tech support was not available via phone.
Several more PCs had the software installed. Several more PCs stopped functioning after the installation of the software. All PCs functioned properly again once Netkeys was removed. The problem, it seems, is that Netkeys does not like to play nice on a network, especially with programs that are designed to run on the network, such as out church accounting program (ACS). With dozens of e-mails going back and forth between the church and softappco.com, Mr. Krig and his associate Mr. Johnson, decided that there was no problem with their software, that the problem was with our software. I requested a refund. Mr. Krig said that he would take my request to the board. The next day Mr. Krig said that the board had decided that a refund was not in order. He suggested that I contact the maker of ACS to figure out why their product was making his product crash the PCs. Mr. Johnson, in one of his e-mails advised me that he would offer his consulting services for $175.00 per hour.
I have been in the networking business for over four years and have purchased tens of thousands of dollars worth of software. I am certified by Microsoft and a number of other companies. I feel reasonably comfortable in saying that I can deal well with computers. I have never, ever dealt with a company that treats their customers as shabbily as Software Appliance Company has treated our church. A church of all places! That is who you want to rip off?
We have accepted the fact that we are out almost $1,000. We have also learned that one should stick with the major companies in purchasing software. This is why they are big - because they offer a better product and take care of the customer.
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