Smith Micro has about the worse Customer Service I have ever encountered. I ordered Poser 8 from them 1 week ago and paid for over night shipping. I have yet to see my package! They gave me a tracking number for UPS that UPS cannot even verify exists. They keep telling me they are researching the problem. Well they aren't trying to crack the human genome, all they have to do is ship me another package.

I've been a loyal Poser user since version 2 and have never had any trouble from the company before this. Problems were always solved without treating me like a bother. Now they did give me store credit for my shipping charges, big deal, if I don't spend the money with them by Sept 30 it's gone.

They told me my original purchase didn't ship because I didn't give them a valid shipping address. That is BS, it was filled in my Paypal plugin and it was complete, I didn't push this I just wanted my upgrade.

I asked them today to just send me the package, if it had been shipped it would be here by now, they responded by giving me a tracking number that UPS can't even verify exists. I really am beginning to feel like I'm getting the runaround.

I chose the physical disc over the download for the simple reason I know everyone was having trouble with the downloads.

Does anyone else think I'm being unreasonable? Anyone else having trouble with Smith Micro?

Robert Bullock
KYHighlander59

This thread makes me feel better about my life.

LOL

Yes, you're being unreasonable. Unless you are willing to believe they made up the tracking number, obviously the problem is with UPS.

UPS says it is an invalid number and that I should recheck it.

I would contact PayPal as well as your bank and reverse the charge.  Then I would stick to the version of Poser that I already have.  I don't understand the need to upgrade to a new version of a program that still does what I need it to do, despite there being a few additional changes that I may or may not like.

Quote - UPS says it is an invalid number and that I should recheck it.

And so you should check it. But "invalid" doesn't mean "made up" - it means not a known number in the system. There's an obvious cause for this - the number COMES from UPS, involving UPS employees. It doesn't come from SM.

This is a rare occurence for any individual, but it happens several hundred times a day at UPS.

In my business, we do a lot of shipping of things, and roughly out of every 100, 1 is "invalid" from the moment it is issued to us.

the proper way for them to handle this would be to recall the original package that is probably lost and resend the order overnight, which I paid for in the first place.

Acadia, I am a merchant and I need to be able to truthfully say my products are poser 8 compatable.

Quote - Yes, you're being unreasonable. Unless you are willing to believe they made up the tracking number, obviously the problem is with UPS.

UPS isn't going to shit a copy of Poser 8 out of nowhere, seems to me the ball is solidly in Smith Micro's court in this case.  If UPS doesn't recognize the tracking number, obviously the buyer is never going to get what he bought.  Regardless of who is at fault, it certainly isn't the buyer - why punish him?

Frankly if you paid, and Smith Micro cannot verify 100% that the package has been shipped, they should either issue a refund or ship you a box, without any further delay (you've already waited a week).

It's not at all obvious that the item will not be delivered, just because the tracking number isn't valid. Many of our "invalid" shipments are delivered anyway. Sometimes they are delivered to the wrong address, which is usually why the tracking system rejects the number anyway. In fact, the OP started with that premise - an incorrect shipping address causes it to be kicked out.

Now, from what the OP said, SM refunded the shipping fees as a store credit, which is not unreasonable. Further, they issued a (new?) tracking number which is invalid. Apparently, the address is still whatever it was, and OP's insistence that the address isn't wrong is holding up the remedy.

Seems pretty straightforward to me. What do you want SM to do about the bad address?

Quote - Frankly if you paid, and Smith Micro cannot verify 100% that the package has been shipped, they should either issue a refund or ship you a box, without any further delay (you've already waited a week).

They did ship it - where is it going? Nobody can say - the OP rejects the premise.Shipping it 15 times to the same invalid address will result in 15 invalid tracking numbers.

 Why don't you call SM and speak to someone in Sales? Have THEM call UPS and track down the shipment while you wait on the phone.

Quick ? - Is the new tracking number possibly from a shipment for today that may have not left the warehouse yet?  Sometimes until UPS actually picks up the shipment, you will get an invalid error.  I've experienced this in the past with various tracking companies.

Quote - It's not at all obvious that the item will not be delivered, just because the tracking number isn't valid. Many of our "invalid" shipments are delivered anyway. Sometimes they are delivered to the wrong address, which is usually why the tracking system rejects the number anyway. In fact, the OP started with that premise - an incorrect shipping address causes it to be kicked out.

Now, from what the OP said, SM refunded the shipping fees as a store credit, which is not unreasonable. Further, they issued a (new?) tracking number which is invalid. Apparently, the address is still whatever it was, and OP's insistence that the address isn't wrong is holding up the remedy.

Seems pretty straightforward to me. What do you want SM to do about the bad address?

I am not insisting that the address was correct, before they shipped I emailed them the correct address and they verified it. I just said that paypal plugin filled out the properly. I did send the correct address before shipment and it was verified. I'm not a dolt. LOL

Quote - Quick ? - Is the new tracking number possibly from a shipment for today that may have not left the warehouse yet?  Sometimes until UPS actually picks up the shipment, you will get an invalid error.  I've experienced this in the past with various tracking companies.

they claim it was shipped thursday overnight.

EC, according to the OP, he already did that, and they already said they are investigating. What that means is they call UPS and then UPS says we'll get back to you. I understand that in an ideal universe, shipments with invalid tracking numbers are magically found instantly. That isn't realistic.

The OP said they issued a NEW tracking number, presumably after shipping it a second time. This, too, is invalid. They can repeat the process with the same bad address an infinite number of times, and research it over and over, and they will still have invalid shipping numbers, over and over.

The OP needs to contact PAYPAL and find out what address is being sent from his account. SM isn't allowed to do that, and I'm pretty sure they have no clairvoyant's on staff.

There are four parties involved here, and numerous automated systems talking to each other. It is not reasonable to presume SM is guilty of being the cause of the problem. It is possible that SM made two mistakes in a row, and/or is employing an extraordinary number of people who are incompetent or enjoy annoying customers. But it is by no means reasonable to presume that, especially with what the OP has told us.

I ordered P8 upgrade last week to ship 2 day UPS. I placed a ticket yeaterday with SM and today received a UPS "Invalid" tracking number. I had asked SM when my product was going to ship with no answer so I don't know if it shipped and is lost or if it was just today issued a tracking number and hasn't shipped. On my order it says my order staus is Captured, anyone know what that means?

Quote - > Quote - It's not at all obvious that the item will not be delivered, just because the tracking number isn't valid. Many of our "invalid" shipments are delivered anyway. Sometimes they are delivered to the wrong address, which is usually why the tracking system rejects the number anyway. In fact, the OP started with that premise - an incorrect shipping address causes it to be kicked out.

Now, from what the OP said, SM refunded the shipping fees as a store credit, which is not unreasonable. Further, they issued a (new?) tracking number which is invalid. Apparently, the address is still whatever it was, and OP's insistence that the address isn't wrong is holding up the remedy.

Seems pretty straightforward to me. What do you want SM to do about the bad address?

I am not insisting that the address was correct, before they shipped I emailed them the correct address and they verified it. I just said that paypal plugin filled out the properly. I did send the correct address before shipment and it was verified. I'm not a dolt. LOL

OK. I never thought you were a dolt. Really I would not have even responded, except you asked if the presumption of guilt on the part of SM was reasonable.

Here's another reasonable possibility - they used the right address, but UPS doesn't have it in their database. For example, I have a GPS unit in my car that doesn't know about a particular highway, Interstate 395 in CT. I can go just about anywhere using its guidance, but not southern CT.Is it reasonable for me to blame BMW, or the GPS manufacturer?

Invalid tracking numbers come from UPS.

Quote - EC, according to the OP, he already did that, and they already said they are investigating. What that means is they call UPS and then UPS says we'll get back to you. I understand that in an ideal universe, shipments with invalid tracking numbers are magically found instantly. That isn't realistic.

The OP said they issued a NEW tracking number, presumably after shipping it a second time. This, too, is invalid. They can repeat the process with the same bad address an infinite number of times, and research it over and over, and they will still have invalid shipping numbers, over and over.

The OP needs to contact PAYPAL and find out what address is being sent from his account. SM isn't allowed to do that, and I'm pretty sure they have no clairvoyant's on staff.

There are four parties involved here, and numerous automated systems talking to each other. It is not reasonable to presume SM is guilty of being the cause of the problem. It is possible that SM made two mistakes in a row, and/or is employing an extraordinary number of people who are incompetent or enjoy annoying customers. But it is by no means reasonable to presume that, especially with what the OP has told us.

No they said it shipped thursday, I asked them to reship and recall the original but instead they sent me the old tracking number. You must have read someone else's post.

I decided to just add some numbers at the begining and then at the end of my invalid tracking number and my order popped up. My 2 day UPS delivery was shipped on 8/6 (2 days after my order) with an ontime delivery date of 8/12 SHIPPED UPS GROUND!!!! So even though I paid for 2 day shipping it is taking 4 businees day to ship to me. UPS states the shipment shipped GROUND.  I would say that SM does indeed have lousy CS since they gave me a wrong UPS tracking number and didn't ship my order 2 day delivery.

>> " they used the right address, but UPS doesn't have it in their database"

Sorry, but that's reaching a bit. If UPS has a problem with the address, they contact the recepient. Failing that, the sender. They dont just leave it around to collect dust.

But the OP is right: he paid for overnight. He should receive overnight. Let's stop treating him like the bad guy here. He's not. Frankly, whether it's UPS or SM is immaterial -- an unhappy customer is an unhappy customer. And you do what you need to to make them happy again, even if it means putting out a second shipment and requesting that they return (at SM's cost) the previous one when/if it arrives.

Quote - No they said it shipped thursday, I asked them to reship and recall the original but instead they sent me the old tracking number. You must have read someone else's post.

Oh. Well I did put new in parentheses because your OP was not clear. You said:

Quote - I ordered Poser 8 from them 1 week ago and paid for over night shipping. ... They gave me a tracking number for UPS that UPS cannot even verify exists.

and

Quote - They told me my original purchase didn't ship

then later in the same post you said:

Quote - I asked them today to just send me the package, ..., they responded by giving me a tracking number that UPS can't even verify exists.

I didn't realize you were describing the same conversation. Putting them together it sounded like you got a tracking number, it didn't work, the product didn't show up, you called, they said it didn't ship, and then they gave you a new tracking number.

I'll just stop now, since I clearly don't understand the circumstances, and so I'm not going to be much help answering your question of what is reasonable. ;-)

Quote - >> " they used the right address, but UPS doesn't have it in their database"

Sorry, but that's reaching a bit. If UPS has a problem with the address, they contact the recepient. Failing that, the sender. They dont just leave it around to collect dust.

But the OP is right: he paid for overnight. He should receive overnight. Let's stop treating him like the bad guy here. He's not. Frankly, whether it's UPS or SM is immaterial -- an unhappy customer is an unhappy customer. And you do what you need to to make them happy again, even if it means putting out a second shipment and requesting that they return (at SM's cost) the previous one when/if it arrives.

OK it's reaching, but it is also reaching to immediately conclude it couldn't possibly be a mistake by any other party than SM. All we have to go on is what the OP is telling us.

I am not treating him like a bad guy. He's a good guy.

He ASKED our opinions about whether he is being unreasonable.

If he had simply ranted, and left the last part out, I never would have said anything. I like a good rant as much as anybody. ;-)

Remember, if a question is asked, I can answer. I didn't know I wasn't allowed to answer. I answered the question: no I don't think it's reasonable. There are other theories that could mitigate the guilt. There's no "bad guy" stuff in there.

I don't think anyone is saying "shut up Bagginsbill, you're not allowed to post on this topic".  Taking things strictly at face value though, if I was in Ky's shoes I'd have a refund or a replacement shipped or I'd be really, really nasty about it (I wouldn't have waited a week).  It is not the customer's job to be patient and understanding, that's the vendor's job.  Customer's job is to supply money, which he's done.

Bagginsbill,

I hope that you in no way took anything I typed in offense, it wasn't intended as such. I get in a lot of trouble that way, I do this from work and in a hurry and sometimes it comes out wrong. My real job is cutting hair and dealing with folks while I do anything else.

I respect all the things you do, I really like some of the stuff you've done in the material room.

Also PJZ, I recognize you from the C4D forums and I believe you have bought some of my tongues, your avatar looks familiar anyway. LOL

Thanks to you all for your responses, I am not mad at SM or the CS dept. I basically wanted to know if I was over reacting and if anyone else was having trouble with them. JohnJDesigns responce indicates that I am not alone. They may want to do an overhaul on it to save business in these times.

Have a good day all of you, I hope no one else has any trouble as Poser 8 seems to be a Major upgrade.

KY

I wasn't offended. Everybody is chill. I was the only one in any way opposing your POV, and Sean said "Let's stop treating him like the bad guy here." Unless I've lost my mind, there wasn't anybody else remotely opposing your POV, so it had to be a comment directed at me.

I'm not offended, I just wanted to make sure you're not offended.

Now that I understand the sequence better (only shipped once) then I tend to agree. I'm going to go bust Steve Cooper's balls about this one, right now. How's that for helpful? LOL

From what others have reported it seems the SM shipping system went down last week and all orders went out Ground instead of overnight or 2 day. Itr's too bad SM doesn't have a forum and they could announce when they have a problem like that. Also while SM responce time is great during business hours (from my experience today)  it seems if you send in a ticket off hours it is never picked up the next day till you go in and update the ticket. My ticket from last night stayed in the cue all day today till i made an update.

If I order next day, the package either arrives next day or I call the credit card company (Paypal) and reverse the charges.

I spoke at length with customer service this afternoon about this issue. My apologies for not getting on this sooner - this is my first day back in the office after SIGGRAPH.
We did have trouble with overnight ship methods coming from both CP and the Corporate Store – in that all orders appeared to the warehouse as regular ship method, none of the expedited methods were being saved in the order header.

The engineers have since put an email notice in place that accompanies the order when any non-ground method has been chosen so the warehouse can see the shipping method. This went into place last week sometime during the day on Friday and will affect all future orders.

Since this issue was brought to our attention, (after the initial 2 days had passed) the customer service team has been working closely with the shipping department to assure that all orders submitted have been shipped and a tracking number provided.  There have been cases when the tracking information is not available on the UPS tracking site. This is due to the fact that although the package is ready to be shipped, UPS has not yet scanned the package. It will take approximately 24 hours for the UPS site to be updated with the tracking information once the package has been scanned.

In closing, I’m pleased to report back that the codes issued ARE CORRECT – but just were not active in the UPS system at the time they were provided. The problem with shipping methods has been fixed. We’ve instructed the warehouse to re-ship all express orders from before the fix and we’re issuing refunds for shipping for all customers did not receive the expedited shipping method they chose at the time of purchase.

Steve Cooper
Poser Product Manager
(and owner of the aforementioned busted b***s) :-)

Hi Steve. Thanks for stepping in and letting people know what was going on.

Very good. That is customer service :o).

Thanks Steve!

Laurie

Quote - If I order next day, the package either arrives next day or I call the credit card company (Paypal) and reverse the charges.

Yeah then you get it free, it's awesome.

 You know, I'm starting to believe this Steve Cooper fella really exists! 

Nahhhhhhh!  :blink:

Well the tracking number they gave me now shows the package shipped at 7:03 last night, UPS Ground. Those morons even after I went through a week of emails with them about my overnight delivery being a no show STILL shipped it UPS Ground with a one week delivery date. Never in my life have I had such an experience, LOL. I guess I should nominate them for the Darwin awards this year.

But I'm still smiling. LOL

Life is such a comedy, don't know why anyone needs television.

Quote - Well the tracking number they gave me now shows the package shipped at 7:03 last night, UPS Ground. Those morons even after I went through a week of emails with them about my overnight delivery being a no show STILL shipped it UPS Ground with a one week delivery date. Never in my life have I had such an experience, LOL. I guess I should nominate them for the Darwin awards this year.

But I'm still smiling. LOL

Well, on the bright side, the shipping is free. :biggrin:

Thinkcooper I really feel sorry for you. Smith Micro made the most dumb decision they could ever make, by closing the forums at CP. Now you (and others from SM/CP) have to 'run' around the web checking out various places and answering all kinds of questions and solving problems. Having one central place to refer people to makes live a lot easier. SM chould really have not closed the forums at CP.

Quote - Well the tracking number they gave me now shows the package shipped at 7:03 last night, UPS Ground. Those morons even after I went through a week of emails with them about my overnight delivery being a no show STILL shipped it UPS Ground with a one week delivery date. Never in my life have I had such an experience, LOL. I guess I should nominate them for the Darwin awards this year.

But I'm still smiling. LOL

OMG. Quick, give me your shipping address. I'll send you my hit-Steve's-nuts stick. What's the phone number for UPS?

I bet I ruined Steve's whole day when he gets up and reads this. LOL

I'm still working my 3 acres of garden, so I won't have time to check out poser 8 for a while anyway, but this is just too much fun. I think my wife is the one that is truly irritated and she don't even use poser. LOL

KY

Hate to rain on your parade, but have you seen this thread?

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2779098

 I can understand your frustration, but take my word for it UPS (and most other couriers for that matter) often mess up like this. I work for an online retailer, and the amount of times we get unruly customers complaining that the goods turned up late/didn't turn up is truly shocking. It's difficult to explain that the anger shouldn't be directed at the seller, rather at the courier. Of course it is the sellers responsibility to get the goods to the customer, it's often out of the sellers power, especially considering the amount of time you have to wait before the courier deems the parcel 'missing'. 

I'd say give SM a break, try to understand it from their side. It's frustrating, but these things happen. 

I place my order 8-17-08 (late at night) with UPS 2 day delivery.  I haven't received it as of yet.  And my order status says captured. 

I am hoping this doesn't mean a kidnapping has occurred and I will be asked for ransom :p

You only have to pay ransom if you live in the EU

I live in Canada so I never order physical products. They could be shipped UPS! Check for the other UPS thread for horror stories. Then download. I managed to get Poser 8 over a wireless modem, but until September 1 I'm not downloading much else. :)

I used to refer to Smith Micro as Sith Micro, I was so used to their spam about old crappy software I'd already bought. Plus new crappy software that I had no intention of buying. I considered Smith Micro as the software equivalent of the elephants graveyard. where old software goes to die. When I found out that they'd bought Poser I gave up on Poser. I was wrong! They are actively trying to fix the bugs in the .0 release. They even have a .0 release that has significant changes. And they are working with the community to address the problems, which is more than e-frontier or Curious Labs ever did.

As mentioned in the forums here and in other threads. Contact Sales Support at Smith Micro with issues on Deliveries. Often the people that make the decisions never realize there are issues with deliveries, since the customer does not contact support.

boobunny.. make sure also contact Support about the issue.

I have to say Smith Micro tech support (both official and unofficial!) has been stellar this week smiles at John and Bagginsbill we're going to get all my issues fixed up this weekend I just know it!

I'm starting the Refund process. i'll see how ogod Smith Micro's cs is when i send my letter of software destruction.

So far, the technical help people have been really nice through email.