Backyard EOS

[mindburner]

I had been using this useful software last year for some experiments with my Canon 1100d. Recently after having seen some great wide field images, I decided to try it again. I have version 2.02 installed and realised that I could not delete images directly from the software. I have a look on their website and found that there was a free upgrade to V3. It required the user to input their existing key an a V3 key is sent through via email. I did this and realised that I must have done this last year as it said the key email had already been sent.

I sent a courteous email to BYE with my old key asking if they can resend my V3 key.

I got a very short email in return referring me to their terms on replacement keys., introduced April 2014

http://forum.otelescope.com/post/policy-on-lost-software-keys-6844423

This policy seems a bit draconian as they will not resend but require the user to buy a new full licence.

BYE is a commercial piece of software, understandably run by a small team but surely in this business they must expect to deal with issues such as lost keys rather than saying that it takes up too much of their time. I mean we could all use this excuse at work right? 'Driving a bus would be great if it wasn't for the passengers' line.

Customer service is allegedly all the rage at the moment 

Emails regularly get deleted and end up in all sorts of places, usually spam. While I totally understand it is the receivers responsibility to keep important emails, they can go astray. Folk can change email addresses.

Surely if this is such a drag for BYE they could just devise some sort of automated upgrade service with a resend .

Anyway if I had known this was their policy last year, I would have taken more care with this email.

For such a nice piece of software, it's a shame they are being so hard nosed about this.

This is very probably my own fault for not recording this info when it supposedly arrived but c'mon BYE 

[adder001]

Hi Folks,

I thought I would let you know about my experience with support on Backyard EOS.

I have only recently looked into using software since learning about pixel ratios and 5x recording from a dslr a while ago.

I have evaluated Backyard EOS, APT and movie record.

After a while I had a problem with Backyard EOS on my computer where it would not load so I emailed them and I must say the service and response was very good indeed.

In a series of emails to Guylainn Rochon the problem was resolved. He emailed me back very quickly every time and soon had the problem resolved.

Considering I only had the trial version and I hadn't actually  paid for anything yet I think the support is first class.

Anyway even though I had problems the support has persuaded me that backyard eos is the way to go and in all honesty I preferred the layout of backyard eos anyway, it just seems less cluttered and intuitive compared to APT.