Comments on: Rosetta Stone #fail http://www.lolife.com/2010/02/rosetta-stone-fail/ blunt observations Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:20:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: tommygun212 http://www.lolife.com/2010/02/rosetta-stone-fail/comment-page-1/#comment-1481 tommygun212 Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:52:23 +0000 http://www.lolife.com/?p=1094#comment-1481 This is the letter I wrote to Rosetta Stone: Date: September 14, 2010 Mr. Jay Topper
Senior Vice President, Customer Success Rosetta Stone
135 W. Market Street
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
 Dear Mr. Topper: I have been a Rosetta Stone customer since 2008 and have enjoyed some success with your program, mostly in combination with other learning materials. But I will never purchase another Rosetta Stone product nor will I recommend it to friends or colleagues because of Rosetta Stone’s horrible customer service. Indeed, in a world where economics dictate a less comprehensive and personal approach to customer service, Rosetta Stone stands alone in the category for creating a frustrating and even antagonistic environment to its customers. My primary issue with Rosetta Stone is the paramount importance you place upon anti-piracy measures, much to the detriment of clean and functional computer engineering. I certainly agree that Rosetta Stone can and should take measures to ensure that its product is lawfully purchased and distributed. But your company’s obsession with keeping its product away from software pirates makes it nearly impossible for law-abiding customers to upgrade or migrate the application to new hardware without completing a series of onerous tasks — each of which can render your purchase inoperable if not completed correctly. And when hardware failure occurs, recovering Rosetta Stone software enters into a world of the absurd. At the very least, Rosetta Stone is not ready for the realities of life in the 21st Century. Perhaps more galling is your team of customer service reps, who have been indoctrinated to treat all calls as criminal and suspicious: each rep asked me to produce a receipt from almost 3 years ago, and questioned the veracity of my request when I complained that I do not, as a rule, keep receipts like that. (Most were not amused when I asked them to ship receipts to me of the T-shirts or skirts they purchased circa 2008). Rosetta Stone is not the only language-learning program (Tell Me More, Transparent, etc.) and is not worth enduring the skewed priorities of your company. You know how to defend against intruders, but you do not know how to create a livable world for a pleasant user experience; essentially, you are the former East Berlin of language learning. If your priorities ever change, drop me a note and I may return as Rosetta Stone customer. But until then, I’m off to the competition. Sincerely, Thomas J. Miller
 cc: Tom Adams, Chief Executive Officer, Rosetta Stone This is the letter I wrote to Rosetta Stone:

Date: September 14, 2010
Mr. Jay Topper
Senior Vice President, Customer Success
Rosetta Stone
135 W. Market Street
Harrisonburg, VA 22801


Dear Mr. Topper:

I have been a Rosetta Stone customer since 2008 and have enjoyed some success with your program, mostly in combination with other learning materials. But I will never purchase another Rosetta Stone product nor will I recommend it to friends or colleagues because of Rosetta Stone’s horrible customer service. Indeed, in a world where economics dictate a less comprehensive and personal approach to customer service, Rosetta Stone stands alone in the category for creating a frustrating and even antagonistic environment to its customers.

My primary issue with Rosetta Stone is the paramount importance you place upon anti-piracy measures, much to the detriment of clean and functional computer engineering. I certainly agree that Rosetta Stone can and should take measures to ensure that its product is lawfully purchased and distributed. But your company’s obsession with keeping its product away from software pirates makes it nearly impossible for law-abiding customers to upgrade or migrate the application to new hardware without completing a series of onerous tasks — each of which can render your purchase inoperable if not completed correctly. And when hardware failure occurs, recovering Rosetta Stone software enters into a world of the absurd. At the very least, Rosetta Stone is not ready for the realities of life in the 21st Century.

Perhaps more galling is your team of customer service reps, who have been indoctrinated to treat all calls as criminal and suspicious: each rep asked me to produce a receipt from almost 3 years ago, and questioned the veracity of my request when I complained that I do not, as a rule, keep receipts like that. (Most were not amused when I asked them to ship receipts to me of the T-shirts or skirts they purchased circa 2008).

Rosetta Stone is not the only language-learning program (Tell Me More, Transparent, etc.) and is not worth enduring the skewed priorities of your company. You know how to defend against intruders, but you do not know how to create a livable world for a pleasant user experience; essentially, you are the former East Berlin of language learning.

If your priorities ever change, drop me a note and I may return as Rosetta Stone customer. But until then, I’m off to the competition.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Miller


cc: Tom Adams, Chief Executive Officer, Rosetta Stone

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