Letter to Tom Adams, CEO of Rosetta Stone
Below I’ve posted an e-mail I sent to Tom Adams (the CEO of Rosetta Stone) a few weeks ago regarding my very disappointing experiences with his product, namely the entire deactivation process they have implemented. He never responded, so I thought I’d post it here and see what others thought.
If you too want to let Mr. Adams know what you think, send him an e-mail at tadams@rosettastone.com. I’m sure he would be very happy to hear from you (don’t hold your breath)!
Mr. Adams, I am e-mailing you to let you know how very disappointed in Rosetta Stone and its interactions with customers. I should begin by saying the software itself – once it is installed and running – is fantastic. It is effective and very fun to use, and for this reason I have recommended it to many of my friends and family. I would have continued to do so had I not encountered so many problems.
The first issue came when I installed it on my laptop. Both the box and the Rosetta Stone website state that the software works on Vista, but when I tried to run it after installation the program would freeze every time. At first I tried searching through the online support pages, but I found nothing that solved my problem. Next I tried to get assistance via the online support system, and after filling out all of the requested information I was informed that there were no support personnel available to assist me. Why wasn’t this mentioned before I wasted my time entering all of my information on the form? Over the next day or two I researched the problem online and found that many, many people were having the same issue as I, and every one of them complained about the complete lack of support available from Rosetta Stone. I was surprised that with an issue so widespread on a “supported” platform, your company would be so utterly unhelpful. After several days I was finally able to resolve the problem on my own.
Tonight I ran into yet another problem, and once again I found customer support to be not just useless, but completely nonexistent. Recently I purchased another laptop, a MacBook Pro, and wanted to install the software as it has replaced my other machine. After everything was installed I tried activating the language levels that I purchased and found that I had apparently activated as many as I could with that key. I should say that I also installed Rosetta Stone on my desktop and thus had two authorized computers. While this is annoying it seems to be the trend now, so I went about deactivating the languages on my laptop since I won’t be using it any longer only to find that I had to call customer support to finalize the deactivation process. With my experience last time I knew that this was going to be a hassle that I didn’t want to deal with, so i tried to cancel the process, but of course that wasn’t possible. Once the deactivation process is started, there is no turning back and since your customer support isn’t available by phone or e-mail there is also no moving forward. So I’m stuck – in essence I have 3 discs that I have spent hundreds of dollars for that I can’t use because of broken, ineffectual, piracy roadblocks that you and your company have decided to implement.
I understand bugs that crop up in software, it’s simply impossible to test every target platform as there are so many. I am a fairly advanced user – a software developer – so I can usually resolve any problems I come across quickly. That being so, my first issue, while annoying, was almost understandable. Bugs are going to exist, but the level of support you provide to assist your customers when they do experience problems up is completely inexcusable. Unfortunately, it isn’t just me that holds this opinion either. While I was attempting to find a resolution to my first issue, almost every resource I checked echoed that very same thought. Reading reviews of your software – everywhere besides your website that is – also mentioned that the level of support did not come anywhere close to living up to the price tag. Rosetta Stone is very expensive Mr. Adams, and frankly I have found better help for software that was completely free.
My last issue is with the activation system you have implemented. Like I mentioned before, I am a software developer. I know how upsetting it is to have the product you’ve spent so much time and effort on be stolen with little or no recourse. You have to consider what effect this is actually having though. It isn’t stopping piracy, it isn’t event reducing it. The newest version of every language you offer is already available online, with patches that completely disable the activation system. Anyone can acquire your software and have every language available to them within a few minutes despite the activation system you’ve put in place. On the other hand there are consumers like myself who have spent many hundreds of dollars to legally own and support a great product, even though we could get it for free almost instantly. Unlike our counterparts, we do have to deal with activating our products and all of the side effects of doing so. Ironically, we are the ones treated like pirates and criminals while the true thieves bypass your anti-piracy measures without a second thought. This system, coupled with such a poor support framework are costing you money – in fact they did tonight. I do not wish support a company who offers so little support in return. I will turn to other software for my needs and I will likely tell others to do the same. I do not appreciate having to jump through hoops just to uninstall your software, especially when the sole purpose for doing so is so obviously and completely ineffective. Mr. Adams, I should be able to install and reinstall the software I buy as often as I see fit. Requiring me to notify you every time I decide to remove it from my machine is such an utterly ridiculous notion that I cannot believe it was actually implemented.
I understand you probably don’t receive mail such as this very often, but I decided to contacted you directly for several reasons. Primarily, I am so disgusted with this whole ordeal that I wanted to let someone know. As I’ve reiterated several times, your support personnel are so difficult to reach that I decided to take the time to look you up instead. I also wanted to discuss my issues with you directly because I feel, from reading so many negative reviews online, that any complaints I made to customer support would simply fall on deaf ears. I had hoped that being head of the company and presumably concerned with the experiences of your customers, you would be more interested and of more assistance. In spite of my personal experiences, I would like to give Rosetta Stone another chance and continue to support you and your company. That however, lies completely in your hands. I look forward to your response. Thank you for your time.
Check out livemocha.com. I’ve been using it to supplement my Japanese studies. It’s free and web-based (Flash, though). It’s only downfall is the lack of a mobile setup (I’d love to be able to go through lessons on the bus!). They even have a peer review system for writing and speaking exercises where native speakers review your work and comment.
You mention something about a patch to disable the activation process. How do I get hold of the patch you speak of?
well…pretty sure I won’t ever be buying rosetta stone…software without decent customer support is just more trouble than its worth…thanks for the heads up…
@question
.
If you’re asking as a user who’s purchased R.S. and been an unfortunate casualty of its DRM, I sympathize with you. However I can’t justify the cracking of software any more than I can the DRM they use. As with most things, I would urge you to contact the company first to find a resolution to your problem. Failing that try to “stir the pot” a little, and hope someone takes notice
Also take a look at the site Matt posted above, http://www.livemocha.com. I haven’t had a chance to check it out thoroughly yet, but I am certainly impressed with what I’ve seen thus far.
http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Rosetta-Stone-2007-Ultimate-26-languages/ Edited by Dallas: Thank you for reinforcing my point reb
. I don’t really want links to pirated software on here though!
lol
Am I the only one that noticed that this letter started out on a broken sentence and continued on into much more broken English?
If you’re not trolling, then proof-read before embarrassing yourself.
“Mr. Adams, I am e-mailing you to let you know how very disappointed in Rosetta Stone and its interactions with customers.” …
Glad I’m not the only one getting sick of the ineffective protection strategies these companies, and game developers, are taking. I understand the concept, but these strategies literally do *NOTHING* to prevent piracy – absolutely nothing.
I’ve seen an unauthorized version of Rosetta Stone installed – it takes about 7 minutes, no activation, no questions, just click, click, click – done, all languages available.
Such a shame paying customers have to jump through all of these hoops to use a product they paid an outrageous amount of money for.
@PathagenX
. I think it was 2am or so when I was writing it – not to say that justifies not proofreading. Oops.
Yeah it wasn’t the most well written piece I’ve ever produced
@Michael Wales
I’m right there with you. I don’t understand why the activation process is automated, but I’m forced to call (and sit on hold…) in order to deactivate the software. If the whole process were automated I probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
Thanks for the heads up. I recently tried out the beginning Mandarin version of Rosetta and was impressed. I’m glad to get a realistic picture of what I’d have been getting into.
Dude, your first “sentence” is a sentence fragment. Fail.
I’m not sure why anyone would even buy software anymore. Anytime you do it works out worse than if you were to download it.
After several terrible run-ins with DRM from many differnt suppliers they’ve turned me into a full fledged pirate who will take everything I want.
How did you resolve your issue with the program freezing up?
Thanks!
@Brandon
Hey Brandon! I guess I should explain the specific issue I was having just to make sure it matches your own. When I tried to run the program it would display a gray screen and then freeze at the point it would normally check for initial updates. Eventually an error message would appear telling me that “WrapperP has stopped responding” and then RS would close.
To fix this try doing the following:
1. Disable Hardware DEP for RosettastoneVersion3.exe. Instructions on how to do this are here.
2. Set the program to open in Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode. To find this, right click the Rosetta Stone shortcut and go to “Properties.” Click the “Compatibility” tab, then select the checkbox labeled “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and make sure “Windows XP (Service Pack 2)” is selected.
3. Finally download and install this patch and restart the application. This was the key for me, everything fell into place after this.
Good luck! Let me know how it works out.
Hey Dallas.
First, I want to tell you that I’m an employee of RS, though since I’m just a Sales Associate and not an official rep, everything I’m telling you is my opinion/understanding of how things go from the perspective of a kiosk employee.
The first thing is, I heard about this letter from another RS employee, and I want to honestly apologize for the trouble you’ve been having getting hold of our customer service. We as SA’s are aware of the troubles our customers have and it sucks, because it makes our jobs that much harder and we *do* want those who buy the program to be satisfied with all aspects.
It’s also a problem we’re aware of but have no power on our own to fix, sadly. I would suggest calling at an off time, like in the evening to try to get CS.
I just wanted to let you know that not *everyone* who works for RS doesn’t care, some of us do very much and are as frustrated with the limitations and shortcomings of our company as you are.
~Ocelot101
Hello Dallas,
The problem that I have doesn’t match what you had. Out of desperation I tried what you suggested anyways and the program doesn’t open as long as step 2 is followed. I can go back in a un-select the XP compatible mode and it opens again. I installed the patch that you suggested so hopefully that alone will help some.
FYI, my problem varies between several things those being:
1)Occasionally it will go non responsive for a few minutes and than the program will shut down.
2)Sometimes a fatal error message pops up and than the program shuts down immediately.
3)The program either will not save the work or the work that is saved will disappear, it has even went as far as deleting all the users.
I contacted RS about this and went through everything that they suggested. We’ve done an uninstall and reinstall and they also sent me another disc that they thought would help but it did not.
Looks like we’ll have to move it to our desktop computer that has XP SP2 on it and hope that it will work there.
Thanks for the help though and God bless!!
@Ocelot101
” goes a long way towards gaining the good will of an angry customer. If I had spoken to you earlier, even if nothing you said resolved any of my issues, I never would have written any of this. It doesn’t take much, just acknowledgment.
I really appreciate your comment and input. Simply saying “Sorry, we screwed up
Again, I appreciate you posting here very much. I’ll also try calling in an off hour next time as you suggested
.
@Brandon
. Good luck getting everything fixed, RS is a ton of fun when you get it up and running.
Sorry I couldn’t help more
Let me know if there’s anything further I can do.
I’ve heard that RS will run in a limited fashion without activation. If this is true, does anyone know what those limitations are?
Thanks.
Gammafacto, the program will run in so much as you have access only to the first lesson and that is it.
Each level is divided into units, each unit divided into 4 core lessons and sublessons with individual focus. Without activation, you only have access to Level 1 Unit 1 core lesson 1.
Hardly enough to come away with even a rudimentary idea of how the language works, let alone any conversational skills or ability to speak the language.
@Ocelot101
Great, thanks for the info. Sounds like it IS enough, however, to give you a taste of the way the program works and how effective it is.
definitely Gammafacto. Of course, if you really want that, you can always swing by a kiosk or go to http://www.rosettastone.com to order a demo disk. Again, if you stop by the kiosk the employee will be happy to give you a demonstration right there. (Or they should if they’re worth the money the company pumps into them.)
So you were able to have it activated on 2 computers at the same time though? I am worrying about this since my win xp (the only computer I had with RS activated on it) crashed and I can not even turn it on to deactivate the program. I just got a new win 7 computer and hope I can activate it on there without a problem.
@Vic
Yup! It should activate just fine on two machines.
Bic,
Yes. If you need that copy deactivated call the 800 number (It should be on your receipt or on the website) and tell them you want your copy deactivated and they can do it for you.
But yes, you can have it activated on two computers at once. I would still suggest calling and deactivating your other product so that should this happen in the future, you’re not out of activations.
Whoops, that should be to Vic. Sorry!
Rosetta Stone is a HUGE joke. First off. I WISH some lawyer would get involved for their name alone. Second, they spend so many millions trying to thwart piracy, yet SCREWING their clients. The program isn’t impressive either!
Rosetta Stone feels that $600+ a language, is something everyone can afford. I say SCREW THEM. If companies like this are allowed to charge up the ass like that, they deserve all the piracy they get. NOW on the other hand, a fairly priced package, with lowered piracy costs, would cause more people to buy it legally.
Companies like this are going to be the ones to start invading privacy, by demanding names from your ISP, and “alleging” copyright ifringement. This is the next witch hunt just like the mccarthy era.
GOOD LUCK SUCKERS!!!!!!!
GET HACKED CABLE MODEMS, DOWNLOAD TORRENTS, AND CRIPPLE THESE COMPANIES
Uhm, Bootlegger, a few things:
We fully recognize that not everyone can afford it. (at least, the Sales Associates I speak to do, and I certainly keep that in mind when trying to sell). $500-$700 is a lot to drop at once, especially on a program to learn a language.
I wonder, how much of the program have you actually used? Are you saying it’s not impressive because it didn’t work for you, or because you’ve seen a quick demo and decided from that?
Want to know a secret? Before I worked for the company *I* had pirated the software. And I loved it so much I wanted to go out and buy it when I could. (I got the job with them before I could buy it, so I get access to it for free now obviously).
Whenever I talk with a potential customer about buying the program, I usually am told that it’s a lot of money. And I do everything in my power I can to help them get it if it’s something they need. I also don’t encourage them to get levels they don’t need.
How, exactly, are we screwing our clients? We offer a 6 month money back guarantee on the software, so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason you can return it without penalty with a full refund within 6 months. Even opened. (No other company allows that, do they?) You have a license to install it on two computers, and lifetime tech help….the problems that Dallas has been running into regarding contacting our Customer Service is unfortunate (and I hope it’s worked by now, if not let me know Dallas and I’ll help!) so……how are we evil?
Also, I’d like you to compare the cost of the program which we guarantee will get you conversational with the cost of getting conversational via, say, college classes or a private tutor (who will not offer you a refund if it doesn’t work) or even a plane ticket to your destination and the cost of living to immerse yourself there long enough to understand the language, or the other more moderately priced programs that do not work nearly as well as Rosetta Stone.
Rosetta Stone has done no such demanding, nor do I think they are going to, to be honest. I think you’re letting the mistakes of other companies and a touch of paranoia get the better of you.
Feel free to respond. :3
@BootLegger
@BootLegger
).
Admittedly I do feel a little screwed as far as the piracy-thwarting goes. However, I agree with everything Ocelot101 said (I’m right as rain now, thanks for asking
Rosetta Stone is “allowed to” sell software at whatever price point they wish, and that is exactly how it should be. Just because you don’t agree or can’t afford the software doesn’t entitle you to take what you want. Try applying that logic to other interactions in life; it simply doesn’t make any sense.
Now as far as your argument “a fairly priced package, with lowered piracy costs, would cause more people to buy it legally” – you’re probably right. However, they aren’t in business to sell to as many people as possible, they’re in business to make as much money as possible (and that’s ok). There is no universal equation that states lower price = higher profits. Business simply does not work that way.
I completely disagree with this militant pirate attitude I see you and so many others espouse. It comes off as nothing more than a pathetic justification for some outrageous sense of entitlement. I’ve had quite enough of this chronic victim mentality I see in throughout our society. Rosetta Stone doesn’t owe you anything – get over yourself.
“Rosetta Stone feels that $600+ a language, is something everyone can afford. I say SCREW THEM. If companies like this are allowed to charge up the ass like that, they deserve all the piracy they get. NOW on the other hand, a fairly priced package, with lowered piracy costs, would cause more people to buy it legally.”
What a ridiculous thing to say. If it’s not worth that much to you, then don’t buy it. I don’t feel that a new car, which after just a few years costs more to maintain that it’s worth, is worth 15K either, but you don’t see me going out and stealing cars. This attitude that people are entitled to something and that if they can’t afford it, then someone’s in the wrong, that’s the kind of attitude that’s contributing to this country’s current problems. As consumers grown accustomed to a certain standard of living, our response to discovering we can’t afford this big screen TV or that item leads us to blame corporate America. Well guess what? The latest, greatest TV models that you are pining over they ARE costly to produce (why do you think so many TV manufacturers are getting out of the business now?). Innovative, advanced programs like Photoshop are never going to cost $30, either. Now if you can find a competitor’s software which does everything a Photoshop does, for less, more power to you the consumer. If you can’t…that doesn’t give you the right to steal it.
@Ocelot101
To Ocelot101,
I purchased this program for my family to use, and in the long run I must say I feel somewhat screwed by the process. It has nothing to do with the program itself as it is a wonderful way to learn. What it does have to do with is the fact that after shelling out the money you have have me so restricted by your aforementioned useless anti-piracy protocols that I may as well be in a classroom somewhere, because the freedom of access is the same. If I buy a CD from a musical artist I am free to put it onto my computer and then copy it to my mp3 player so I may enjoy their music wherever I like. With your program I am chained to 2 computers (in this day and age that is utterly laughable), and if anything happens to the language disk I am screwed yet again because you have made it impossible for me to backup my $400 CD. This also makes it impossible for me to use the program, which I purchased, on both of those computers at the same time. This is so painfully shortsighted. What if I want to use my rare time of quiet at work to work on my Mandarin while my kids are at home learning as well? Oh, right, I’m an honest customer so I should bend over so that you can give me what rightfully belongs to those who are ripping you off. I guess I should be happy to allow you to vent your useless frustration on me, but I am not. Please don’t use your sales speech on people who have already bought the product.
Oh yeah, @Andrew, after you buy that car do they tell you it is for domestic use only, and that the engine will shutdown if you cross an international border? Do they tell you that your flatscreen is only licensed for two homes, after which it will self destruct? Some of us simply want to backup a valuable asset or actually use it fully within the confines of our own home network.
PS Don’t even get me started on the greed of corporate America or your shameful shirking of responsibility to the consuming public. Unless you didn’t notice corporate America is the consuming public and the consuming public is corporate America.