[Macworld]

Post your comments for MacSpeech unveils Dictate here

[millionblade]

I'm delighted to see this massive update and hope it works as well as my father's version of Dragon on his PC so I can finally swap him over on to the mac platform and provide better technical support to him.
I look forward to placing an order in the very near future.

[montgomery_burns]

I guess MacSpeech decided to pull the same publicity stunt as Apple's online store. As of 10:45 AM Pacific time, the MacSpeech home page has been replaced with a purple curtain and navigation within their site is impossible.

[stormy]

millionblade,

You need to seriously reconsider. I purchased ilisten with ProUSB Headset/Microphone with the video training DVD, for a total of $223.95. The program does not come with a manuel. It must be purchased separately.

I purchased this program for my daughter for Christmas. She is beginning college in the fall. She was going to install it on her laptop and desktop.

I purchased the product on 12-9-06 directly from macspeech.com. The program does not come packaged as shown. It comes in a small fedex box, with two cd's and a microphone tossed in.

I first attempted to contact macspeech with our installation problem on 12-26-07. I finally got a person on the telephone on 12-31-07. The problem was not corrected. I have attempted contact on many occasions to no avail.

I got one guy on the phone 1-7-08. He was supposed to call me back within 30 minutes. It is now 10 days later. I've not heard a word from him.

I even contacted Chuck Rogers "Macspeech Chief Evangelist." I left a message on his phone 1-10-08. He has not returned my call.

I tried to contact them again today and a message is playing stating they are closed until the 21st so they can help their customers at MacWorld.

When you do finally get someone on the phone their fees for tech support, according to their site, is $14.95 per hour. To return a product it cost a 15% restocking fee.

Tech support is non-existent.

As for the product itself I have no clue if it works as we have not been able to get it installed on either computer and we are supposed to be able to install it on more than one computer- if you own those computers and use it on only one computer at a time.

When the discs were inserted into my daughters laptop we had installation problems. I was able to finally track down that the problem appears to be that it is incompatible with "filevault." Even after filevault was turned off, the program would not install on her computer.

When she tried to install it on her mac mini the disks read as blank recordable disks.

I am only one person in a big world. I am certain not everyone has had the same experience as me. I am also certain I am not the only one that has experienced significant problems with Macspeech's lack of support.

So, I am leaving this board and my next call is to my credit card company, who I hope can help me return this product for a full refund - with no restocking fee.

This saddens me greatly, as I believed this product would greatly benefit my daughter and her education.

[millionblade]

I'm sorry to hear you have had problems. When I spoke with the guy from MacSpeech at the Mac show in the UK and asked how iListen compared to Dragon he admitted it wasn't anywhere near. The great thing is that this new product is based on the Dragon solution and it has just won one of the show awards from MacWorld.
Hopefully when they get back from the show they will do you a favour and let you have a copy of this new solution for free as a gesture of good will.

[extra88]

I went through their website to purchase the "crossgrade" for my registered copy of iListen and found the price as only $79. I don't know if that's the correct crossgrade price (vs. $99 reported in the article), a discount for preordering the crossgrade, or a discount due to my copy iListen being a relatively recent purchase (purchased in October, registered today).

I didn't actually buy it because the site was going to charge sales tax and this is for a non-profit. I've emailed Sales and expect it will get sorted out.

[zoda]

I was tempted to rush in and buy this, but I'm not in a megarush, and the guy on the Mac Podcast was quite frank - it's a great product which is why they are rushing it out now, but there are further improvements to be added - eg the "learning" that takes place in Dragon Naturallyspeaking still needs to be added in - so presumably at the moment however many times you correct a particular mistake, MacSpeech Dictate keeps making the same mistake - they rely on not making too many mistakes in the first place, so that correcting those mistakes won't be too onerous.

[VitaMan]

Stormy,

I had the same experience

I had the same experience with MacSpeech several years ago when I first bought IListen and tried to return it.

They would not answer the phone.

They would not answer emails.

They would not issue a refund.

People don't change

Unfortunately, I don't think people change. For some reason, this is how they deal with problems -- they don't. They ignore it and hope you will go away.

Hopefully Dictate will be a wonderful product, but I'll wait and see.

Return the item via UPS and contact your credit card company

I would suggest that you return the item via UPS so that you have proof of delivery.

Then contact your credit card company, tell them you return the product and ask the credit card company to issue a credit to your card.

Also tell the credit card company that you tried contacting the company, but they did not answer their phone or their emails.

The credit card company will issue you a refund, and it is much easier to get them to issue you a refund than to try to get a company to do it.

I have a business and a credit card merchant account, and I can tell you that this is the easiest way.

I have done this many times in order to force a company to issue a refund.

It's the best way to do it.

Just to be safe, I will often return a product and let the company know that I have let the credit card company know that I have returned the item and that a refund is forthcoming.

I then fax a letter to the credit card company saying just that -- I bought the item on this date, I contacted the company on this date, I returned the item on this date and that they should issue a credit for a particular amount.

That way I am on record with the credit card company that I have returned the item and that I expect a refund.

That way, if I forget, and realize several months from now that a credit has not been issued, I can simply contact the credit card company and remind them of the letter that I sent them.

[thechuck]

Thanks for your thoughtful and considered comment in response to our announcement.

I did receive your phone message, but since I am no longer in charge of support, my instructions were to pass such messages along to our support team, which I did.

MacSpeech is going through a growth process right now, and many things perhaps aren't happening as fast as they should. I can only apologize for that on behalf of the company and tell you that we are addressing customer issues as fast as we possibly can. We are bringing on more support resources, so these issues should not be a problem with MacSpeech Dictate, but bringing them up to speed is causing delays right now.

What I can tell you is that iListen works and works extremely well, although we have always been up front with our customers that it takes longer to train in order to achieve accuracy comparable to Dragon NaturallySpeaking on the PC. With the new product, we should be able to get almost everyone up and running very quickly.

Chuck Rogers, Chief Evangelist
MacSpeech, Inc.

[thechuck]

Thank for your comments in response to our announcement.

With all due respect, your experience from several years ago does not reflect how we have handled support in the past couple of years. Almost everyone received an answer within hours to any request. Currently, we are experiencing overwhelming requests due to the announcement of MacSpeech Dictate. It will take our support staff some time to recover from that, but they will. I can assure you that every request that comes in is indeed handled by someone on our staff.

Chuck Rogers, Chief Evangelist
MacSpeech, Inc.

[jim1348]

This statement about responses by MacSpeech's evangelist is inaccurate. I have had problems with them now (within the last month) and the reply that was posted was just nonsense about how overwhelmed they are. They had time to shove in about a thousand words that were meaningless when a simple one liner could have solved my problem.

I have been an iListen user, a Viavoice user and even a Dragon Nat Speak (way back in the early days of Nat Speak on a PC. It was probably in the mid-nineties) Of the three, iListen was the worst. On the Mac, Viavoice is far superior. I am probably not going to go with Macspeech dictate (after this post, I'll probably be black balled by the company). I just wish it was some company more reliable that was bringing Dragon to the Mac. If Chuck sees this, maybe he can evangelize Macspeech into looking after it's service and after-sales side of the house. People can make or break an organization, but Macspeech appears uninterested in us once we have bought their stuff. Well, I am going to need some kind of assurance before I venture into any deal with them. I would be looking at an upgrade, but at the moment they cannot even show me my account as it should be, and they would not let me enter my registration; around and around it goes. So Chuck, if you read this, do the customer a favour, put some pressure on the after-sales bunch.

[VitaMan]

I agree completely.

A leopard does not change his spots.

His response to my comments was not truthful.

He said, "I did receive your phone message... [and] pass[ed] [ it ] along to our support team, which I did."

My experience was a couple years ago.

How could he remember my phone call?

He couldn't.

Another BS answer.

People don't change.

People who BS will always BS.

Buyer beware.

[thechuck]

Anyone who knows me knows I don't BS. Ever.

My response regarding a phone message was because I thought something more recent was being referred to. I got a phone message the day I posted that response that sounded like the very same problem.

If you are having a problem getting through to MacSpeech in any way right now, it really is because of the overwhelming response we have had to MacSpeech Dictate. Anyone who has had trouble getting through can email me personally at chuck.rogers macspeech.com and I will see they get taken care of. If you email me, please include as many details as possible, including things like specifics on your problem, and any references to contacts you have attempted to make with the company (support ticket numbers, dates) etc. My only request is that when you see that I really do follow through, you post it here so everyone else knows.

You are right - people don't change, and I do not intend to change. If you email me, you WILL get a response!

Chuck Rogers, Chief Evangelist
MacSpeech, Inc.
chuck.rogers macspeech.com

[VitaMan]

All I can say is Buyer Beware.

If you decide to try it, buy from a company that offers a Money-Back Guarantee.

You might even want to call them and express your concern and verify that if you are not happy, that you can send it back for a complete refund.

I would also suggest that you verify exactly how long you have to send it back.

Test it immediately.

If you are not happy in any way, send it back for a refund immediately.

When in doubt, send it back and ask questions later.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Buyer Beware.