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Last post Author Topic: GemX - missing in action  (Read 266841 times)

Darwin

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GemX - missing in action
« on: September 03, 2007, 05:47 PM »
GemX prides itself on its customer support - claiming that it's "probably the support service in the industry". Since I bought my first GemX product, TexNotes Pro a year or so ago, I've generally found that they live up to the claim. Lately, however, they seemed to have dropped the ball. E-mails and D.S.M. (Direct Support Messaging) requests go unanswered and their users forum - which have been excellent for a variety of reasons (user particiaption, developer's participation, tips, etc.) - has now been down for over two weeks.

Development of their products seems to have ceased as well. For about 8 weeks prior to the forum going off-line, there was a note at the head of it advising visitors that the development team was VERY hard at work on bug fixes and updates to Do-Organizer. These have never materialized and the bugs remain. TexNotes Pro is slated for update as well but hasn't been updated since October of last year. Finally, their blog is still linked to from the GemX home page and yet it hasn't been updated in almost a year as well (last post September 17, 2006).

Worrying. Out of curiosity, how many GemX users are here?

Josh

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2007, 05:56 PM »
I too have had horrible experiences when it comes to GemX and customer support. Initially, when I was evaluating Do-Org, I tried to register for their forums. It took me 2 weeks to get this done and several of you remember the fiasco I went through. I resorted to having some folks from the netherlands CALL THEM and still got no answer. I registered a total of 8 times, each time my account was deleted after 24 hours. They have admin approval setup on their forum for new user accounts. This is all well and good, IF THEY MONITORED IT. OK, that aside, I finally was able to register.

Now, I evaluated and purchased the program and various modules for it. Well, it took me 4 days to get my product key for the base program and that didnt allow me to use any of the modules I purchased. I sent several emails (which was also done when attempting to register an account to ask for support issues), all of which went unanswered. But again, after 4 days, I finally received a reply.

Now, I reported a bug about 3 months ago which was reported by several other users regarding their reminders system popping up reminders even after the alarm was dismissed and past the event's actual end time. They claimed this was being worked on. Well, I asked to be added to their beta team so that I could test the fixes. It took them 1 month to add me, and I think that was only done to shut me up on their forums since I was loudly voicing my distaste for their support. Well, after being granted access, I noticed that ONLY ONE beta version had been posted on their beta forum, and that during the course of the next two months no info was posted on what they were working on and what needed to be tested.

Now, as darwin pointed out, the forums have gone AWOL along with the support staff. Their pride and joy, DSM, support system which allows users to communicate directly with the authors without the need for email has proven to be useless. I too, sent a message to them about their forums and have yet to receive a reply. They claim on their DSM page that the response time is 4 hours, this has not been the case at all. Often times, when I do receive a "response", no contact is actually made and the problem is mysteriously either handled, or made to disappear.

This is a user who is about to demand a refund since I cannot obtain support for the constant bugs I am now starting to find with no way to report them. This is really pissing me off.

KenR

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2007, 05:57 PM »
Well, I don't use it and thanks to your message, won't anytime soon.
Kenneth P. Reeder, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Jacksonville, North Carolina  28546

Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #3 on: September 03, 2007, 06:02 PM »
Thanks for posting your story, Josh. Just to add to it (or really to add neglected details from my own post) I first e-mailed them about their forums being down around the 17th of August. I followed this up, after a week without a response, with a D.S.M. To them on 24th August. Both these messages remain unanswered. They have a really vibrant, and loyal, user base who are very active on the forums. I wish I knew of a way to communicate with them. Hopefully there are more active DC'ers who are also members of the GemX forum and will see this thread.

Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #4 on: September 04, 2007, 06:40 PM »
Over the last couple of days, the gemx website has dropped off the face of the, er, internet. This is either a good thing, meaning that they're busy tweaking things or it is a bad thing, indicating that they are closing up shop. Personally, I'd be very surprised if the latter were the case, so fingers crossed for the former!

Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2007, 12:33 PM »
As far as I can tell, both the forum and the website remain down  :o

edbro

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2007, 12:41 PM »
The website just worked for me. The forums page said
The Forum is currently down due to moving servers to a new location. Please bear with us while we make this transition. Thank you.

Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2007, 12:57 PM »
Strange - still can't get their website to load. Forums have been down for getting on for a month now!

Grorgy

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2007, 04:10 PM »
I can but its woefully slow, and only the main page, perhaps a note in their to do list to fix it lol

Armando

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2007, 06:54 PM »
Everything loads -- slowly -- but fine.
Darwin, I think their firewall is just blocking your IP address.
Never criticize GemX or they'll do-organize (or even worse --> Wizquote) you.

Carol Haynes

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #10 on: September 06, 2007, 08:26 PM »
I haven't used their software but their website loads fine for me (really quite brisk) - forum is still on the move though apparently.

If it is still sluggish try clearing your browser cache.

Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #11 on: September 06, 2007, 11:36 PM »
I haven't used their software but their website loads fine for me (really quite brisk) - forum is still on the move though apparently.

If it is still sluggish try clearing your browser cache.

Strange... I've been trying that (cleaning out my browser cache) and it's not worked yet. Armando may be onto something with the firewall suggestion. I recall that this problem plagued the Collectorz.com site a few months ago. I've just checked the website again and I get alternating "Navigation to the site was cancelled" and "This program cannot display the webpage" errors (ie refreshing one such error report results in the other being displayed...). Ah well...

jgpaiva

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #12 on: September 07, 2007, 06:33 AM »
I'm just informing that i can access the GemX site (i've never been there before), but the forums are on maintenance mode, as mentioned above.

tide

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #13 on: September 08, 2007, 01:49 AM »
GemX moved their servers which is always an exhilirating experience.   :D

Beth UK

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #14 on: September 09, 2007, 08:41 AM »
Hello Darwin,

You are not alone here. I have been using GemX software for quite a few years and was for a while very active on their user forum. I personally have found the recent trend very disturbing - including letting the GemX forum drift into history (which appears to be happening). This is a shame because their were many devoted GemX forum members as you know who were very active in reporting bugs and offering constructive feedback. I stopped posting there a while back because I sensed a change in attitude both from users and developers. There was a sense that users were beginning, perhaps, to get very frustrated at slipping deadlines and 'broken' promises. A scheduled update to Texnotes (March 2007) simply vanished from the horizon despite assurances that Texnotes was to continue (which it may still - but I can't live with such uncertainty when this product was central to my notekeeping etc).

More and more posts were starting to challenge the developers on various unfixed bugs and lack of support and I wonder if this is why the forum is now 'changing servers'. It actually only takes a day or so to change a server (having done many myself) and this has now been going on for weeks. The brevity of the message about changing servers seems disregarding of users concerns.

I regret to say I have had to stop using GemX applications (a while ago)because I am not sure right now I can trust the longevity of this software. And the kind of data involved needs a degree of future proof security. I have always been a loyal supporter but now find myself greatly saddened by the way that their communication has broken down, and I imagine that a good many of the old forum users will be disappointed at the lack of respect shown by recent events. Perhaps they are just 'focused' on development but an email to explain the decreasing support and 'vanished' forum would have shown appreciation for the support shown by users.

The concept of DO-Organizer (the GemX flagship product) is fantastic - integrated organization etc. But 'concept' is just one side of software development and marketing. Support is also important, alongside transparency of operation. Frustratingly GemX claim the 'probably the best support in the industry' yet this is proving far less than true.

Who knows - all Gemx users are a little in the dark now so I imagine only time will tell  :-\




Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #15 on: September 09, 2007, 09:27 AM »
Hi BethUK!

Fantastic - I remember you from the GemX forums and had no idea that you are a member here. Welcome to DonationcCoder (almost a year late  :-[)!

I'm on the same page about GemX at the moment - quite shocked about how things are playing out, actually. I really hope that I'm just being paranoid but i am disappointed, having only just purchased the upgrade to Do-Organizer from TexNotes Pro. I'm not using either, either (!), at them moment. For a host of reasons incuding those you've detailed above. For now, I'm just watching and waiting. It will be interesting to see what happens; hopefully at the very least some sort of an explanation will be forthcoming.

Beth UK

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #16 on: September 09, 2007, 11:51 AM »
Fantastic - I remember you from the GemX forums and had no idea that you are a member here. Welcome to DonationcCoder (almost a year late  )!

Good memories I hope!  :-[

I agree with you on all points and don't want to get into knocking GemX too much but am curious to know what the other (more active) forum members from GemX may be thinking.


Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #17 on: September 09, 2007, 12:35 PM »
Ah yes, good memories! I really appreciated your comments on TexNotes in particular (remember the debate about whether or not it should be shelved in deference to Do-Organizer's Scribe?) - always very insightful and balanced.

Like you, I wonder what the other regular contributors to the GemX boards are thinking. I wish there were some way to reach them. That desire is, in part, what led me to start this thread - the hope that some of them would happen upon it and post.

sigh...

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #18 on: September 10, 2007, 08:53 AM »
Hi Darwin and BethUK!  i am sooooo glad to have found you and glad you started this, Darwin!  i hope others from the GemX forum end up here as well!

I am, or rather, "was" a GemX DO forum member.  my name is/was ido2!!! on the forum

and yes, i, too, am grossly appalled at what has happened. i bought DO in late 2004 and joined the forum in 2005 i think and cannot believe that we have been treated this way.  like you stated BethUK, it doesn't take WEEKS to move servers. 

i started to notice a change earlier this year and started to notice more and more complaints from people even trying to "get" the program and having a lot of problems. 

i never downloaded the new version that was released, i would always wait about a week -  to hear what people had to say about it.  so i did not download 3.0.8. I had to format my harddrive and found that i did not have the old exe for 3.0.7 saved anywhere.  i was and still am very shocked that i was able to get the previous version from Jon (GemX programmer) so quickly - and because i got it so quickly, amid all the problems and complaints, i still had hope that all would be well. 

well, one thing that stuck me funny is that when Jon sent the version mentioned above to me, he kinda made a statement that he was not surprised that i did not want the newest version.  i found that very oddly interesting.  seems maybe he, too, was a bit frustrated with things?...

well, i no longer think that all will be well  - not anymore.  i have been researching other PIMS - and unfortunately still compare them to the bevy of features that DO has/had and the virtual unending amount of customization that it also had.

but, life must go on.  i just really hate that i paid the price - 159 or 179 for the product back when and there's nothing i can do about it  - being that it is "unfinished" and buggy.

i really don't understand what happened with them....

sigh.....
What you allow, you encourage...

beldeamon

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #19 on: September 10, 2007, 10:19 AM »
Well .... my 2 cents as well ....

Hi Beth / Darwin and Sigh ;-)

Also in the same boat and been using Do on and off since about Aug 2006 (Only registered March 2007).

Same complaints and concerns here, basically since i registered the forum seemed to go down hill overnight.

well, one thing that stuck me funny is that when Jon sent the version mentioned above to me, he kinda made a statement that he was not surprised that i did not want the newest version.  i found that very oddly interesting.  seems maybe he, too, was a bit frustrated with things?..

This doesnt sound good !!

I am one of the brave few who have ventured into Do-Mail and converted all my mail over to it. The problem is the tool has many bugs and despite several Next-Actions in reply to my messages on their forum, nothing has changed as yet. I soldier on with it, but its a struggle at times.

Oh well, it appears I will also now have to start perusing the market in search of replacement tool .....

What a shame, this product had SO MUCH potential, and as others have mentioned was backed by a really great and enthusiastic user community.

Do User - Grumman









Beth UK

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #20 on: September 10, 2007, 10:45 AM »
Hi sigh and beldeamon...

Welcome to the thread for 'lost and confused' Gemx refugees! Ok, well maybe that's a bit premature but there seems to be a single train of thought along the ideas of everyone not knowing what's going on.

Sigh (ido2!!!)... you were always such an active Gemx forum member so it is a shame to see you feeling disillusioned.

I guess the fact that you both found the thread suggests Gemx customers are hunting around trying to find out what is going on.

I wonder if Zaine is reading this thread because if I remember rightly he did have Texnotes or Do-Organizer down on his Great Software List at one point - but it may have been removed later. Or I may just be going insane! (Which has always been a possibility)..!




doublewitt

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #21 on: September 10, 2007, 05:10 PM »
Well, hello everybody! You guys, you all know me - tiptop from the gemx forum. (or maybe no more).
Before anything, at least for me, the most important thing that's above everything else is... Client service. Service is what people want. If you put it ahead of everything else, then things will go well - it has to - that's simple common sense. When you put your "simple business sense" under the carpet, well, your business will fail. It's like the expression we hear sometimes, "put the horse in front of the cart". But some, when it comes to service, literally have the cart in front of the horse and expect things to move that way. It's a shame that some just don't seem to understand this. Gemx started out pretty good in service, at least for me, and it just drowned beneath the oceantide. That's what happens when you fail to promote "service". Service is worth more than gold. It will keep people hanging on. People will believe in you and will even stick up for you when things are rough. But don't ever compromise on the issue or the waves will just knock you right over. It's not easy to get back in line with things after that - it's a big challenge. It puts a big strain in your everyday business life. It's a hard lesson to be learned.

It's really a shame that there is no communication from them - they just coldly black you out - even the moderator. I put in so many hours for them and there's nothing. And when you face these kinds of situations, you have "influences" pulling you in all directions. You kinda have to "pull back" and think things over. Nobody wants to drown on the titanic! It's funny as I said that (titanic), a thought came to mind. I used to teach nautical safety here in the Montreal region and there was an occasion where I rented a location for a course. And just before I gave the course, I found out that that "home" I rented - a very old home with a huge piece of land that used to belong to a "couple" who drowned on the titanic! I had to tell that to the students there - and they all laughed. Imagine - teaching nautical safety in the home of a wealthy couple who drowned in a nautical misadventure. The city uses it as a multi-purpose rental hall.

Anyways, if you service-stear in a forward direction, you won't go through such misadventures. In fact, things will be quite different. If you set sail with valued priorities, then that guideline will keep the boat afloat. You'll be able to survive the oncoming waves, even if they strike often. There's no promise things would be easy, but at least, you'll succeed.

They will really have to get their act together. There is just so much work to be done in DO, and yes, there are loads of bugs and instability to be resolved. But why promise so much to members over an entire year and make little show of it?!  Even so, many of the "bugs" that were fixed are starting to show again - in the current version. Why make a "public broadcast" about a server issue when we're all intelligent enough to know that's not the issue at hand.

Personally, I'll walk away from any software developer that puts service in the car trunk - even when the software is good. I would rather have SERVICE and a mediocre application in development than to have the best software available but with poor service. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, we can "fall back" on previous applications and look for interesting alternatives. It's kinda fun touring other apps although deceptions are "real" in the software world.

It would be nice to hear what apps you all have in mind or fall back on...

Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #22 on: September 10, 2007, 05:23 PM »
I wonder if Zaine is reading this thread because if I remember rightly he did have Texnotes or Do-Organizer down on his Great Software List at one point - but it may have been removed later. Or I may just be going insane! (Which has always been a possibility)..!

No, you're not insane! Zaine loved TexNotes Pro and highly recommended it until about this time last year, at which point he removed it from The Great Software List. He's pared the list down a lot and the notetaking section in particular is a lot thinner than it used to be. I suspect that this is because he really likes OneNote. He also had very good things to say about Do-Organizer here. Scroll down to find his post - he made a number of them, but the posting on September 12, 2006 was particularly glowing.

All of this is too bad, but I'm glad it's bringing people to this thread and hopefully someone will eventually be able to enlighten us all. ido2!!!'s rather suggests that there might have been/be some internal problems within the company - disagreements over the direction of development, perhaps, that have led to this situation.

beldeamon, I am SO glad that when I finally decided to buy Do-Organizer (about a month ago after dithering for over a year) I elected to use the mailer part as a backup to Outlook 2003 rather than to replace it. I have Outlook so "tweaked" that I didn't have the heart to start from scratch with Do-Organizer and decided to set it up to download my messages but to leave them on the server so that Outlook could do the same. I'm really glad that I did because I actually prefer Outlook (my arguments in the gemx forums remain the same - the do-organizer base should probably have been Scribe and the e-mail component should be a paid module...) for e-mail. C'est la vie.

I really hope that they get their act together and continue to develop their software... So don't we all.


Wow! TipTop is here - his post went in while I was typing the above. Welcome tiptop I'm posting this and will then read your post.

Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #23 on: September 10, 2007, 05:29 PM »
Bummed. TipTop I'm sorry that you weren't kept in the loop, either. You were (are, we hope) such a big part of what made the forums a great place to visit/get help. I'm stunned that you weren't given any more info than the rest of us. OK, let me rephrase that - you were given just as little information as the rest of us!

Anyway, to you, to ido2!!!, to beldeamon, and to BethUK (though as noted this is a year late) Welcome to donationcder!

Josh

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #24 on: September 10, 2007, 06:29 PM »
I would like to throw out a huge welcome to all the folks from the GemX Forums. Hopefully you can find some sort of solice (spelling?) in that many users here feel your pain. You've found a very good community and I think you will grow to like it. Welcome :) (Shamurai from the GemX Forums)