9 Replies Latest reply: Apr 30, 2010 1:01 PM by Dan_Clements RSS

    Availability of "no charge" upgrade to CS5?

    Rootie112 Community Member

      Does anyone have any "official" word on upgrades from recently-purchased CS4?

       

      I am having difficulty with Adobe confirming to me a telephone commitment that I am entitled to a no-charge upgrade of Design Standard CS5 when it ships later this month.

      The background: Yesterday morning I called Adobe Store to place an order for Design Standard CS5. The sales representative told me that I could have Design Standard CS4 right now with a no-charge upgrade to Design Standard CS5 when it ships later this month. Based upon that commitment, I went ahead and purchased Design Standard CS4. The shipment is on its way.

      When I received a confirmation of the order, it made no mention of the no-charge upgrade, nor could I find a policy on Adobe's website. My endeavor is simple: I would like to have some commitment, somewhere, in some fashion, to the effect that I am entitled to a no-charge upgrade to Design Standard CS5 when it ships later this month. Otherwise, I would not be buying the Design Standard CS4 package immediately before the availability of a later version if I had to pay again for it. I've spoken twice with Customer Service and they have been strangely non-commital (actually, they say I'm entitled to an upgrade but won't commit to that in an email or other writing).

      Does anyone have any knowledge of Adobe's upgrade policy in commiting that under these circumstances a purchaser is entitled to a no-charge upgrade to Design Standard CS5 when it ships later this month? Do you think I'm being too cautious?

      Thank you for your views.

       

      Bob

        • 1. Re: Availability of "no charge" upgrade to CS5?
          Rootie112 Community Member

          I thought that I would report back on the hopeful resolution of my case. I waited until I received my CS4 package (which came last night), then I made note of my new serial number. I called Adobe Customer Care this morning and ordered Design Standard CS5, giving them my new CS4 serial number. Everything went fine and Adobe gave me a no-charge upgrade to CS5, which they claim will ship on April 30th. I haven't received an order confirmation yet but hopefully all will go well now.

          I still don't know what Adobe's upgrade policy is, so those of you in my situation need to just go ahead and place an order for a CS5 upgrade and see what happens.

          • 2. Re: Availability of "no charge" upgrade to CS5?
            MiffedCustomer Community Member

            I myself am being screwed by Adobe's upgrade policies as I purchased my CS4 upgrade on Feb 5th, 2010 (and have been a loyal upgrading customer since Photoshop 5.5)  Why would I, in any state of mind, upgrade had I known a new version was coming out so soon?  Think about it Adobe.  You know you are purposely screwing your loyal customers with this policy and will rapidly loose them based upon these actions.

             

            Please advertise to everyone you know about Adobe's deceptive ant-customer policies on upgrades.  Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, personal blogs, cnet, slashdot, Digg, etc.

             

            While you are at it, contact both your local Attorney General's office and the califronia AG office to file a formal complaint.

             

            California Attorney General's office is located at: http://www.ag.ca.gov/

             

            Enough is enough Adobe.  This hard-line stance of pay-up or go away does not work anymore.  At a minimum there should be a sliding upgrade scale or some sort of concession for customers who recently upgraded.

            • 3. Re: Availability of "no charge" upgrade to CS5?
              Dov Isaacs Employee Hosts

              Dear MiffedCustomer,

               

              First of all, no one is requiring you to upgrade to CS5. Your CS4 will continue to run for the forseeable future on your computer.

               

              Secondly, I fail to see where there is anything that Adobe did deceptively here either to you personally or the industry in general. New versions of the Creative Suite have been coming out in somewhat regular 18 to 24 month intervals. Even if Adobe didn't officially "preannounce" CS5 back on February 5, discussion of a new release of the Creative Suite in the second quarter of 2010 came up numerous times in many venues including the quarterly, public financial analyst meetings. There was plenty of industry scuttlebutt about the general timeframe of the release and it contents.

               

              Your situation is essentially no different than someone who buys a new automobile two months prior to the new model year. It's generally known when the new models come out. If you really need transportation before then, you buy the current model, otherwise you may (or may not) wish to wait. Do you expect the automobile manufacturer to give you a no-cost trade in for that two month old vehicle? Or what if you buy the latest high end digital camera and the camera manufacturer releases a new model a week later? Do you expect a free new model?

               

              If you purchased your upgrade a few days or a week before the CS5 "launch date" directly from Adobe, you probably would have gotten a sympathetic ear and a free upgrade to CS5, but realistically, where do you put the limit? If we had a grace period of one month and you were one month plus one day, you would still complain.

               

              While I certainly understand how you feel, I don't think any regulatory body would at all consider that any deception or fraud has been perpetrated here.

               

                         - Dov

              • 4. Re: Availability of "no charge" upgrade to CS5?
                BobLevine CommunityMVP

                MiffedCustomer wrote:

                 

                At a minimum there should be a sliding upgrade scale or some sort of concession for customers who recently upgraded.

                And the price would go up to pay for the bookkeeping effort. Complaints like your surface every time Adobe releases a new version.

                 

                As already pointed out, you don't have to upgrade. CS4 will continue to function exactly the same as it as in the past.

                 

                Bob

                • 5. Re: Availability of "no charge" upgrade to CS5?
                  Dan_Clements Community Member

                  Not exactly correct. I was on a photoshoot out of the country last year, and started having issues. I was informed support for CS3 ceased 90 days (I believe) after CS4 came to market. In checking, this appears to be true for all up grades.

                   

                  So the program still works, but no support. Come to think of it, given the current dismal level of Adobe support, perhaps this does not matter.

                  • 6. Re: Availability of "no charge" upgrade to CS5?
                    BobLevine CommunityMVP

                    What's not correct?

                     

                    Bob

                    • 7. Re: Availability of "no charge" upgrade to CS5?
                      Dan_Clements Community Member

                      Hi Bob:

                       

                      Suggest you read the post about program support stopping after a new version is launched. Adobe's QA/QC is wretched. I have pretty regular situations where a new patch causes a program or module to quit working, and I need to contact tech support. No tech support, no program, no photo processing.

                       

                      Most recent was a delightful eight hours wasted this week. New patch resulted in photodownloader not working. After struggling with bad info from tech support, looks like the issue deals with 64 bit Photoshop running in Windows 7. Compatability mode in Bridge needs to be set to XP, service pack 3 after a clean reinstall of InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Bridge. Had I not been able to finally get a technician who sort of pointed me in the right direction, I would still be having issues.

                       

                      Had this taken place three months in the future, no access to tech support and CS4 would not be working properly.

                       

                      Dan

                      • 8. Re: Availability of "no charge" upgrade to CS5?
                        BobLevine CommunityMVP

                        I won't argue the point about Adobe's customer support. Too many horror stories.

                         

                        But whatever system issues you're having are specific to your computer. I've had no issues with Bridge or any other CS3 or CS4 app in Win 7 64.

                         

                        Have you posted details in the Photoshop forum. You might get some help there.

                         

                        Bob

                        • 9. Re: Availability of "no charge" upgrade to CS5?
                          Dan_Clements Community Member

                          Hi Bob:

                           

                          Think I have it fixed with the above described fix. The problem was with the photodownloader.exe application. I switched from Photomechanic to Bridge for up-loading photos when CS3 came out. Worked great until the last two up-dates. Seems to be fine now, but I will see what happens after the next up-date. Have not had this issue with the 36 bit version I run on my laptop when in the field.

                           

                          Dan