For 14 years, computer users who bought software by Dantz, a manufacturer of backup programs, received unlimited free technical support by phone or by e-mail. No longer.
Earlier this year, Dantz began restricting its free assistance to just 30 days after purchase. Customers who buy an upgrade of a Dantz program get no free help at all. Depending on the product, both types of customers will have to pay either US$39.95 or US$69.95 per incident to talk to someone who can help solve their problem.
Consumers had better get used to it. As more and more features are tacked onto software programs, other fundamentals are falling by the wayside. Printed manuals? They are now a rarity. Free phone and e-mail support? Maybe, but don't hold your breath -- and keep a credit card handy, because paid-help plans are spreading like a virus.
Intuit, a maker of such popular financial software as Quicken, shifted to tech-support fees in 1999 and now charges US$1.95 a minute for live tech support by phone. A support call to Symantec, the company that makes the popular Norton diagnostic and anti-virus software, will be billed at US$29.95 if you dial the 800 number, or US$2.95 to US$4.95 a minute if you wish to jump to the head of the line by calling the priority-treatment 900 number.
To be fair, Symantec says, it still provides free, unlimited e-mail support to those who can afford to wait a couple of days for an answer. But other companies, like Dantz, now charge for e-mail help, too, just as they do for phone support.
Microsoft seems to be bucking the trend by promising unlimited free support for most of its PC games and two free "support incidents" for many of its biggest software packages, including Office XP and Windows XP. But the company says customers who buy individual Office components like Word or Excel must pay US$35 for any tech-support phone calls that go beyond simply installing the program.
Julie Heck, a spokeswoman for Dantz, conceded that some longtime customers were unhappy with the policy change. Still, she said, the move was inevitable. "If we want to stay in the game, we have to pay attention to our competitors," she said. "They now charge for tech support -- often more than we do."
Heck pointed out that Dantz, like many companies seeking to steer users from phone calls to Web-site searches, had recently improved its online tech support. Frugal or proudly self-sufficient customers can search for troubleshooting tips in a special knowledge base on the Web, and it won't cost them a penny. The site also has forums where users can ask questions to which other customers or Dantz staff members reply. That is a free service, but Tony Barbagallo, vice president for marketing, said his staff may not get around to posting an answer for three or four days.
Considering the free tech-support alternatives, Heck contends that the industry's shift to self-service assistance is not unreasonable. "As we all become more familiar with the Internet, consumers are going to be more comfortable checking out online resources before picking up the phone," she said.
If an article in the September issue of Consumer Reports is any guide, however, technology companies have little margin for error.
The magazine's Web site polled 4,600 subscribers about support experiences with hardware manufacturers such as Dell Computer, Gateway and Hewlett-Packard and discovered that overall satisfaction was declining.
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