Been waiting on my refund from Adobe since Dec 12

Matthew, thank you very much for your reply. Coincidentally, Adobe credited my account about 3 hours ago. It took over 2 and half months! It seems like a ridiculously long time. Especially since it took them about 2 minutes to TAKE my money. Good news is I can now apply that money toward upgrading CS3 to CS4 (even though I can't help but be somewhat bitter).

Norris,
I'm glad to hear your taken care of now. If there's a way to indicate here on getsatisfaction.com that this problem is now resolved, would you mind clicking it on your end. If you have issues in the future, don't forget we also have our own adobe forums:
http://www.adobe.com/forums

Matthew
I just found this site - was directed here from another site where people were ranting about Adobe customer service...and I was finally glad to hear it wasn't just me, and now glad to see maybe someone can help me directly here?!

Jan 8 my wife bought Dreamweaver (like 10pm at night online). The next am I told her I already owned it, so I'll call and get refund on credit card...It hadn't even shipped so this should be easy right? Well, there isn't enough room here to begin to tell you what a nightmare I've been through. I'll try to make it short... That next morning Jan9, the service person said I must go ahead and get the shipment and then send a Letter of Destruction. They couldn't just stop the shipment? Anyway - Jan 13 I fax the L.O.D. They got it. Then said case was pending approval.

So, now it is Mar 4.... in the meanwhile I've had the absolute worst run-around by people on the phone...I'll spare you the details. Suffice to say, I've been told 4 times that the money is released and the refund will come in 10 days. I still have no credit-refund on the credit card! The phone service was horrible - bad communication, fairly rude many times, lots of HOLDING, don't seem to know what they are doing, etc...and the "cases" online don't work that well either. They mix stuff up and now they don't respond to comments I've posted.

From Jan 13 until now, Mar 4, I've been waiting for a refund on credit card.

I've never had a customer experience like this ever!! Is there anyone I can speak to that can cut to the chase and make an executive decision and simply credit a credit card, Any other company we've bought from online is so much more organized! HELP!

Thanks, Norris. Yes, in the last day I've found many websites with many hundreds of "stories" of the incredible run-around people have gotten with Adobe's customer service...(I'm still reading them) so I suddenly didn't feel like it was just me. Still, it is by far the #1 worst consumer experience I've had. And, these other people's stories are incredible - but I can totally empathize now having gone through the same things! The most ridiculous thing was the start: On a Thur night at 10pm eastern the order is placed. Then, the NEXT morning around 11am, I tell them to please cancel the Dreamweaver!? They can not do it??? It had not shipped. And, it did finally ship on Jan 12....two days later....

Any other company I've ever dealt with would have easily credited my account by now and would have stopped it before it even was shipped. Even if they did ship it, all other companies we've dealt with would have gladly refunded us -- (of course, Adobe firmly told me I was NOT to send it back, just send them Letter of Destruction, which I did right away, Jan 13). We shop online all the time and every company we've dealt with has had excellent and easy return service - which keeps a customer coming back. I will never, ever again buy Adobe (and I own a few of their products).

Will, I need a case number or some contact information to get your issue escalated to someone in our Customer Care team.

HI Matthew - Thank you.

One problem is that on various times I called, they were SO unorganized, they kept mis-reading back to me the various #s...and would also start NEW "cases" -- and not only that, they "called" the actual product DIFFERENT things, so the next person trying to help me would likely get a little confused (one person on the last of my roughly 10+ phone calls said that he saw that I was returning three different products!).....it has been SO exasperating.

I told him - NO, it is just Dreamweaver. Here is latest:

Case #0201647004

Updated
Thursday, March 5, 2009 5:44:20 AM PST

Opened
Friday, January 9, 2009 2:08:37 PM PST

Status
Open - Pending Adobe Response

Product
Dreamweaver 11.0

Issue Type
Return/Exchange/Refund

Subject
direct return lod

-------------------------

And here is one where a rep started NEW case, and closed it at the same time:
Case #0201647384

Updated
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 11:07:25 AM PST

Opened
Friday, January 9, 2009 4:32:00 PM PST

Status
Closed

Product
Design Premium CS4

Issue Type

Order Status
Subject

LOD
--------------------------
[note the different name for the product!!!]
--------------------------
....and check this one out -- this is the day AFTER I ordered it and the rep got really mad at me and said almost yelling at me that she would expedite it, she is labelling it as "cancelled" and I would get the refund in 10 days --- that was JAN 9!!

Case #0201647571

Updated
Friday, January 9, 2009 5:15:44 PM PST

Opened
Friday, January 9, 2009 5:15:44 PM PST

Status
Closed

Product
Dreamweaver

Issue Type
Return/Exchange/Refund

Subject
cancell order
---------------------------

These are ALL suppose to be about the same one product:
ONE Dreamweaver CS4 (for Mac)....It is under my wife's name : Tabatha Bragg.
---------------------------
This is under RETURN HISTORY...

MR00DECACHAB 1/13/09 AD000362430EDU Pending Approval US $208.95

---so it is clear to see I've been waiting since Jan 13 --- when I faxed the Letter of Destruction.....and they acknowledged it by posting that as a return.

THANK YOU immensely if you could help me.

To me it was really amazing that not one of the many people I talked to could:
a) email me confirmation that indeed my account was credited, or
b) issue a credit right there and give me a confirmation #
And, that all of them said basically: Mr Bragg, I've taken care of this, and I am 'releasing the funds' - and 'you should get the refund in 10 days'....

Thanks,
william and tabatha bragg, drwbragg@comcast.net

Will,
I submitted a ticket in our Customer Care Response Tool. It's used, primarily by staff in the field, to get urgent help for customers. But we also use it when we see a support case going wrong, to try to get attention to it, and rectify it quickly. It's scanned by our senior, in-house, Customer Care representatives.

Please update us as to the result.
Sincerely,
Matt

Matt
Thank you very much!
I do hope this works. It would be a great relief.

Will, I see the case has been picked up and the agent pulled in a senior to help. Hopefully you'll receive an update from one of them soon.

HI MATT
Yes, thanks.
I had gotten some emails off here or another website - and emailed like 12 executives, I think they were...and one responded immediately! Which was amazing. After talking here with you, I was more optimistic that I may actually find someone I could communicate with - supposedly, she said that she is "on it" and will follow through until the refund goes through. Thank you very much for being so responsive -- you and her made it much more hopeful! Of course, considering the extent the run-around I had previously been through, I'm still leery it will actually happen - but things are looking up! THANKS

Thanks Will. Please know that folks at Adobe really do care. We just need to improve our toolset to handle things like this with more efficiency and reliability.

Thanks.
Yes, at the point of contact (between customer and reps on phone or on web) there needs to be much more efficiency...in fact, even now - it is not really understandable what is so hard about crediting a credit card? Every other company (we've dealt with), online, on phone, or in person - is extremely communicative, quick to help, and things like credits or help, etc come very quickly. Of course, I'm ecstatic that it seems like someone is really "on" this now - but it still feels like a snail's pace to get this simple credit.

THANK YOU for your notes. As I said, I already own a bunch of Adobe products and I'm looking forward to improved customer-care. I do believe what you say.

Will, I have word that someone left you a message. Has the issue been resolved?

HI just getting back online here.
Thanks for the note.
Yes, it appears that they did officially do it - I just have to wait for it on my c.c. statement. I appreciate all of your time!!
And, I heard the whole customer service set-up may be changing (improving,that is) (soon)?!

Will, I'm hoping no reply on here means you got your refund :-) let me know if now.

Today is June 28, 2009 and I've been waiting on a refund since May 28, 2009! I thought that I could purchase an upgrade based on my existing Dreamweaver license. I was incorrect. What I really need is the Design Premium package. I've gone through all of the steps and provided all of the needed documentation. Please credit my credit card so that I can order the correct product. Whenever I call Adobe, I'm toId that it has been escalated. However during my last conversation with Adobe, I was promised a refund within 48 hours but have not received it yet. Here it is in a nutshell:

Case #0202117002

Updated - Sunday, June 28, 2009 3:29:46 AM PDT
I sent yet another inquiry about the status

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 8:17:10 AM PDT
Sent Adobe my scanned Letter of Software Destruction

Opened - Thursday, May 28, 2009 11:51:49 PM PDT

Status - Open - Pending Adobe Response

Product - Design Standard CS4

Issue Type - Return/Exchange/Refund

Subject - Return of product

Please help!

RG Brown,
I checked your case notes and it indicates receipt of the LOD on 6/11. I think this document, which indicates that the refund process is expected to take 7-10 days from then, applies to your case:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/401/kb401370...
Note that it also indicates, "it could take up to four to six weeks for your issuing bank to apply the credit to your account."

But I couldn't be sure if the refund process was complete on our side (not counting the bank), so I've sent a request for someone to check it out.

Let me apologize for your inconvenience. Please note that feedback from customers like yourself has put efforts underway to streamline our return/refund process.

Sincerely,
Matthew

RG,
My doubts were well founded. It turned out that the appropriate team had not taken action and the refund process was *not* complete on our end. My eamil got the attention of the right people and they are pushing to resolve this ASAP.

Matthew

Matthew,
Whatever you did, it worked! I have received a full refund. I cannot thank you enough for your prompt attention to this matter.

Regards,
RG Brown

Great to hear! Now if we can get everyone taken care of, sigh....