Brausch Artemis Pro Customer Service - Part 2

In a previous post, I mentioned a reader's complaint about Brausch's customer service. It turns out, I think, that there are two problems. One is Brausch's customer service. The second is that there was customer "cockpit problems" (not being attentive to detail).

Since Brausch customer service is so poor, I tend to give the benefit of doubt to a complaining customer. In this case it appears to me that in the instance mentioned, there were several Artemis article version formatting problems uncorrected by the reader. This led to the failure of the Artemis program to accept and submit the article.

This does not excuse, however, the Brausch machine poor customer service. One problem is that can be impossible to get hold of customer service. A second problem is that Brausch instructs his customer service people to "fire" people as customers if they exceed some sort of arbitrary help quota. A third problem is that there are no on-line TEXT instructions and/or FAQs for various products. Brausch has stated that his videos are sufficient and that people don't read FAQs. I disagree that videos are sufficient. As to FAQs, I think people do try them, but they usually are written and organized so poorly that the customer gives up and resorts to trying to e-mail or call.

But, as Brausch would say, so what if I disagree, I am one of the 98% "losers". Brausch prides himself that his videos take much less time to prepare than written documentation. Good for him, bad for his users. The videos are not downloadable as far as I can tell. And even if they were, users still have to plow through talk, talk, talk for a much longer time than perusing a written document to find the possible nugget searched for.

So, I am doing Brausch's job. But that does provide content for this blog and my site.
For text tips on formatting Artemis posts:
Brausch Artemis Pro Customer Service (part 1)
e-Commerce Biz (Internet Business) Web Site
Having Problems with Artemis Pro.

Brausch Artemis Pro Customer Service

A visitor to my site e-Commerce Biz (Internet Business) wrote to me about a problem he had with Artemis Pro that he got as part of a package from Brausch.

Both my laptop and my desk top tell me “File A not found” when I try and submit an article. Then another window pops up and reads “Please fix the problems associated with the article(s).”

I don’t now what this is talking about. When I purchased his products I got them in an all-in-one package. Did not get any kind a receipt. So customer support will not let me in.

I too have had problems with Brausch customer support. Further, the only documentation for products are videos, which leave a great deal to be desired in many instances as to clarity and completeness. There are no online FAQ pages, much less FAQ pages updated in response to customer inquiries.

FWIW, I sent the following response to my reader, just to make sure he was doing things right. We shall see if it works for him. If I hear back, look for a comment to this post.

Hello .....
My commiserations to you:

The only thing I can suggest is to make sure you have the three versions of the article and the resource file in the same directory as artemis.exe,

articlenamewhatever-1a.txt
articlenamewhatever-1b.txt
articlenamewhatever-1c.txt
articlenamewhatever-resource.txt

The file naming convention is STRICT:
An article name followed by a dash then a number (the SAME number for the three versions), then the letter a, b, c for each version, then ".txt". The resource file has to be named the same basic article name followed by a "-resource.txt".

I have no help to offer regarding submitting to your external publication list, as I have't been able to get that to work, myself.

FWIW, other files as part of Artemis are, and in the same directory are:
fce32.dll
see32.dll
mi.hef
si.hef
common.txt
log.txt (probably optional)
page.txt
postit.txt (probably optional)
...
Regards...

Brausch Closes Comments on His Blog

James D. Brausch has closed comments (disabled comments) on his blog.

Too much "spam" he says. Cutting into his bottom line to handle comments. He could have implemented the squiggly letters 'challenge and response' that many sites use (including this one). That prevents automated posts or comments and provides a small but surmountable barrier for real people to deal with to see if they really themselves think their post or comment is that important.

But this is just a symptom of Brausch's attitude. He has some good stuff, I think. At least it sounds good. But while I have implemented much, no change in my bottom line. At least so far, after several months. But he is not interested in anyone's opinions or suggestions or questions, (at least those that are challenging) so cutting off comments is a logical step for him.

His attitude towards comments is an extension of his attitude towards customer service. Which is that since there is never a problem with his products or documentation, if you have a question, you are obviously an idiot; so go away.