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Linspire Inc. (Rant) [Explicit Language]

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allen:
Linspire, Inc. Is the worst company I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.  From my first moments with them several years until . . . Probably forever. . . They torment me. I think they do it on purpose. That or they aspire linspire to a level of incompetency that can be rivaled only by monkeys post brain-transplant-with-toad surgery. Boing.

I was going through a multi-boot kick.  I had a few flavors of Linux as well as trusty windows installed.  There was a special one week only offer to get Linspire (Then Lindows IIRC) free.  I am not one to turn away free stuff usually, and it was more fodder for my OS playing.  So I downloaded and installed it.  If I knew then what I know now . . .

Their primary source of income isn't the OS itself but their software distribution system.  They have a package installer, like any other linux distribution (and no easier to use than, say, Ubuntus) -- but unlike others, you have to pay a monthly fee to use it. Paying gives you access to some stuff, other stuff you have to pay even more out of pocket for.  It's very capitalistic.  It's not very good, at all, and its only real claim to fame is larger, shinier buttons than other Linux distros -- as if to say "Look at me, I am not Linux and I am not windows. I have giant buttons like a child toy and will hold your hand all the way to the bank."

So you can get Linspire.  You can forfeit access to all windows software while at the same time not gain the robust flexibility of Linux.  And if that's not cool enough for you, it was horrendously unstable.  The only thing you get is the ability to brag to your idiotic windows using friends (I think that's what all Linspire users think of windows users) that you use linux.  Of course, if you're at all perceptive you'll realize you shouldn't mention which distro you're using to anyone but fellow Linspire users. Because real Linux users will know you're an idiot; and windows users will know you're a fraud.  Yes: I passionately hate them. I uber hate them. I passionately uber hate them!

At this point in my story, however, I didn't passionately uber hate them. I was just disappointed and not fond of them.  So I canceled my click and run subscription, wiped the Linspire partitions to put something useful on there and believed that was it. Click and RUN!!!

Alas. The next billing cycle came around and I was charged despite my having canceled it. I was unimpressed but still reasonable.  It took a lengthy correspondence with support, but eventually I got my money back and was assured that I wasn't scheduled for rebilling. My relationship with them was seemingly concluded. Click and RUN!!!

Alas. The next billing cycle came around and I was charged despite my having canceled and having been reassured I wouldn't be rebilled.  This time, I was unable to negotiate a refund. As far as they were concerned, I was using CNR, demanding refunds and thereby getting a free ride.  My insistence that they check records to see I wasn't logging in, wasn't downloading were to no avail. They didn't care that the operating system no longer existed on my computer or that I was no longer using it or that it was disabled in my account and should not, under any circumstances, be rebilled. They didn't care. I was forced to cancel that card to prevent future billing. I believed, finally, it would be the end of my relationship with them. Click and RUN LIKE THE WIND!!!

Alas. Every couple weeks I would receive their newsletter--much like Click and Run, I disabled it in my account. And still it kept coming to the same e-mail address.  I tried going through support to get them stopped, and despite the support personnel assuring me my e-mail address wasn't subscribed, I continued to receive their e-mails.  This battle between them and me continued on--continues to this day!  I realize I could manually create a filter to reject these e-mails, but I shouldn't have to! When I say stop, they should stop! They must stop! They will not stop!  The headers all indicate the messages are being sent to the e-mail address I am attempting to removing, but the message body always says <> in place of my e-mail address. (This message has been sent to <>) -- They can't even get THAT right.  Each time I receive their e-mail, I try to log in to my account to double check that I shouldn't receive their e-mails. But EVERY time I do, I get the same message:

Yowza! Looks like we're quite popular right now, and our servers are experience a very high volume so we can't process your request presently. We apologize for the inconvenience, but please try again a little later. .
--- End quote ---

So self-important! Oh, so popular! It's probably other desperate schmucks like me trying to turn off their compulsory e-mail messages!! Everything about them is self-important, idiotic and broken. (I should mention, they even fail on the ellipses: it should be three dots, not two!) Oh how I hate them, how I passionately uber hate them.

If I lived closer to their headquarters--or if ever I am passing through--I would handle this like the descendent of an ape that I am, I would show my disdain and make my territorial claim. Each time I received their self-important newsletter (sometimes as often as weekly, usually two to three weeks) I would walk into their offices and piss on their rugs.  Obviously they do not respond to a civilized approach.

I'm starting to feel like Milton from office space. "I'll set the building on fire... "

Tonight, having exhausted every civilized avenue, I decided to e-fling poo.  I'll continue to e-fling poo until they leave me alone.

SpoilerYou idiotic spamming sons of bitches, yet ANOTHER newsletter has dripped from your incompetent cunts into my inbox.  I explicitly unsubscribed through my account interface and I have been "assured" countless times by support that my address has been removed, and yet I continue to receive your self-important, meaningless ass residue excuse for a newsletter in my inbox. MAKE THEM STOP! Is it really necessary to excrete your shit all over my inbox every fucking week despite my pleas for reprieve? STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!

I do not want to receive your newsletter. Do not send it to crepe [at] jarday.com
I do not want to receive your newsletter. Do not send it to crepe [at] jarday.com
(This line was repeated 101 times.)

tsaint:
Egads Allen!
 I think you should stop pussy footing around and tell them what you REALLY think of them.
I was struck by the irony-symmetry in that I read your post while waiting for a "registering is easy. Just enter your serial and press the activate key" episode to finally actually work after a zillion attempts.
You want to terminate a relationship, I want to commence one, both of us out of luck. Visidesk is my painfully shy prospective partner.
Good luck.

Carol Haynes:
You could set up a filter that reacts to their emails by automatically sending 101 separate support request every time it arrives. Point out that they will be unsubscribed from your replies when they cut out their emails.

Re. taking money after cancelling the account that is fraud and illegal. I hope you reported it to your bank/credit card as they should refund that and take appropriate action - if it is a common trend they will lose their right to credit card payments which would stop them in their tracks.

Stoic Joker:
You could set up a filter that reacts to their emails by automatically sending 101 separate support request every time it arrives. Point out that they will be unsubscribed from your replies when they cut out their emails.-Carol Haynes (April 04, 2008, 05:30 AM)
--- End quote ---
Now that sounds joyfully evil... :)

He should make sure it's a reply so their current news letter is "attached" as proof of receipt and CC the whole shebang to any and all Email address that can be culled from their website.  That should provoke a response of some kind.

I once used a caller ID program with a block list to allow my modem to answer any "marketing" calls I got tired of. While the company still wanted me called, their staff got tired of the carrier signal through a headset earpiece game (it held the line open for 30sec) and removed me for them... ;)

iphigenie:
My method to deal with companies that do something extremely incompetent is always the same

1. find name of ceo / cfo / coo . The commercial people.
2. send very polite but firm email. Say that you were tempted to just blast their company's reputation but since you assume they really care about their company and are probably not aware that a problem of momentous incompetence is costing them possibly hundreds of customers and bad reputation, you are taking the time, even though you are annoyed beyond belief, to report it to them. Outline what happened factually, the process problems with card billing and the newsletter unsubscribe. Say that you are now so angry you will become a customer-from-hell and wish that it needn't be so. Post a link to this thread too.

Bothering the top executives always works, if you can write it so their PA will read it.

I learned that when I first was a director - taking an earful from a customer would always make my co-director flip the switch and go out to the dev team and almost call them names, make them halt everything and deal with this. Customers knew this and took advantage of it. Now I spent a lot of time trying to teach him not to do that - to no avail.
It shouldnt work. But somehow people who become CEOs often are the people who are good with customers and investors but somehow not with people management - so getting in their mailbox will rattle things fast.

Worked for me more times than i can think :)

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