Biblesoft review: Software Issues 11

I also had an awful experience with Biblesoft. I purchased their most recent software when I purchased a new computer with Windows 10 because my old Biblesoft Software would not work with Windows 10. Now I had no expectation that the old software would work with Windows 10, but I did have an expectation that the newest version available just a year ago would be supported as Windows 10 makes updates. So after less than a year, my software was worthless, as was the NIV Add-on that I had purchased along with it, unless I purchase their new software. They refused to either refund my money or update me to the new version for free. I found them unbelievably calloused, unreasonable, and difficult to deal with. The lead person of the company blamed it on Microsoft updates, as if it were beyond the pale that Biblesoft should stay current with Mircosoft Windows, the industry standard operating system that all software companies must learn to deal with. I would strongly encourage would-be buyers to stay away from Biblesoft. it is not hard to sink hundreds of dollars into Add-on versions and study software only to be forced to purchase their new version because none of it will work unless you do. I think that I, like most people who purchase Bible software, are a bit reluctant to hold a company to account for a bad product or services that sells Bible software, of all things. But perhaps Christians should hold their fellow Christians to a higher standard, not lower, especially when it comes to business and things that enter the public arena. It's really a shame to feel the need to speak out like this, but I still am finding it difficult to believe the way this company treats its customers. And I was dealing with the very top person of the company.

This comment is in response to Biblesoft's reply to my comment:
First, Here again is Biblesoft's reply:
"This guy spent less than $30 on his software and was offered the opportunity to apply that purchase price to an upgrade that would also work with his add-on. He is a bully and will not be rewarded with a FREE program at the expense of our tens-of-thousands of happy customers who have willingly continued to purchase every updated program offered because Biblesoft continues to make easy-to-use comprehensive Bible Study products. The Attorney General's Office and the Consumer Complaint companies he has contacted have ALL recognized him for what he is . . . a bully. God himself never rewarded bullies. It is very disconcerting that someone who is purchasing software to study more about the Bible would go to such lengths to try to discredit Biblesoft. They say, "the more you do God's work, the more the devil attacks you." Biblesoft is about Our Father's business, and we will pray for Mr. Heesen (who chose not to even put his name on his comments) that he will gain great knowledge and understanding of the Christian way."

How does one respond to a reply like this?
• First, Biblesoft claims, and I quote: “The Attorney General's Office and the Consumer Complaint companies he has contacted have ALL recognized him for what he is . . . a bully.” Does anyone believe that the Attorneys General of Pennsylvania (my state) and of Biblesoft’s state (Washington) would get into informally agreeing with one party in an active, formal, and ongoing complaint, that the person filing the complaint is a “bully”? How about the Better Business Bureau? Would it ever act in such an unprofessional manner? I have the full record of correspondence from these three organizations of all parties involved (Me, Biblesoft, and the respective organizations.) because it is the policy of all three to give all parties all correspondence. Each of these has given a flat, formal, assessment that states only that no resolve has been accomplished, followed by stating they were sorry they could not resolve our issue and in some instances pointing toward other possible remedies if I felt the need to go farther. That’s it! All three issued boilerplate responses, and as professional organizations would not get into private conversations calling a complainant a bully without his awareness, presence, or a mediator or judge involved. Can anyone imagine the Attorney General’s office getting into making such informal judgments behind the scenes? They would expose themselves to lawsuits if they did, and call into question their credibility as objective mediators and judges. It would be the antithesis of what Attorneys General do, which is to deal only in facts and laws. I can only conclude here that Biblesoft’s claim is patently false, which, in my mind, calls their entire position into question.
• Next, notice Biblesoft’s response, and ask yourself whether productive communication is possible given the following:
o Their name-calling. Ad hominem attacks like “Bully” are communication killers right out of the gate, attempting to keep any opposing opinion or calling in of legitimate outside organizations into the dispute at bay by denouncing it as somehow unfair – as the big guy picking on the little guy. (And I would argue that in this picture, I’m the little guy, the customer, and the big guy (a state-licensed corporation) has my money and refuses to return it.)
o Biblesoft’s positioning itself with its claim: “Biblesoft is about Our Father's business and will pray for Mr. Heesen…”. End of conversation right there, right? Because Biblesoft is about “Our Father’s business”, then who has a right to challenge it? I would argue that Biblesoft is first and foremost a state-ordained, for-profit business, and our issue is about money – a refund, not about any religious matter. I am trying to call Biblesoft to the business standards of the software industry.
o Biblesoft doesn’t just stop there. It goes on to say “the more you do God's work, the more the devil attacks you.” So now any attempt to resolve a business customer service issue transforms into a battle allegedly between “Our Father” (represented by Biblesoft) and me (represented by Satan).
Somewhere along the line here, Biblesoft has lost sight of the fact that I purchased Biblesoft’s newest product at the time, and after just 11 months Biblesoft would not support it with Windows 10 as it made updates. (And I had purchased the product to replace my much older version that would not work with Windows 10, which I was fine with doing since I had no expectation that my original program would be supported for more than a decade.) How is this now about “bullies” and the powers of light and the powers of darkness?

And finally, no matter how many times I remind Biblesoft, this is not only about $30. It is also about the extra add-on I had purchased that no longer works with the program, making it $70.84, and even if they give me the $30 as a credit toward the new program, the new program is much more expensive than the original that had become worthless after 11 months, and who knows if the add-on will work with it or whether I will have to re-purchase that as well? Not only does the Bible program become worthless, but so does every add-on product involved, which for many people is the bulk of the cost. Biblesoft also wrote me that I should have had no expectation that an 8 year old program would still be supported. (But it was brand new less than a year before it stopped working, and was their latest version at the time.) If anything, I feel offended that Biblesoft would sell me an 8-year old product, which is an eternity in software years. (And even when it did work, it’s age showed. It was slow and clunky on a blazingly fast system X-99 system with a six-core, i7-5820k processor, 16 Gbs ram, the latest version of Windows, and an SSD drive. But beyond this, I’ve seen posts where people had in one case “paid quite a bit” for the software (located on this same message board) and on the Better Business Bureau site it named the amount: “I paid quite a bit ($503.44 on March 31, 2016)” Does Biblesoft consider that in its trivializing of the small amount of money involved, that it is itself also scrapping over that same trivial amount? It would cost me more to buy the new product than it would for Biblesoft to issue me the upgrade. So it seems that when we are talking about my money it’s trivial, but when talking about theirs it apparently is not. And why would I want to pay again for their new product with such a bad experience with their old product and in dealing with their company?