Steinberg Support

[Doublehelix]

Don't you just love Steinberg???

Lately, Steinberg's policies have left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths with some their current policies and actions (early release of a buggy Cubase 4, dropping of DX support without previous notification, cancellation of the promised SX3 update, dropping of Midex hardware support, dropping of Houston support, etc.).

I for one have been exploring my options for moving on from Cubase to other platforms (Samplitude, Reaper).

I am a heavy Cubase SX 3.11 user, and purchased Cubase 4 right after it was announced, but never opened the box. It remains shrink-wrapped on the shelf in my studio.

So I called Steinberg USA today to see about returning the update, and was told in no uncertain terms that there were no returns on software, and that it was clearly spelled out on the website. I replied that I did not use the website to order the update, but rather called into their toll-free line and placed my order with a real person.

Silence.

Then I was told that there are *still* no returns on software.

I proceeded to tell him why I wanted to return the software (he asked me), and then he got indignant and told me that they were *only* the distributor, and not really Steinberg. This ticked me off, big-time. I calmly told him that as the official Steinberg distributor in the US that they WERE the face of Steinberg to the customer, and that they should act as such.

Nothing.

He did tell me that I could sell my update to an existing SX3 owner.

What a load of crap! I am pretty ticked off!

If all the other stuff that they have pulled lately wasn't the last straw, this action certainly was. It was the last nail in the coffin for me.

Anybody want to buy a copy of Cubase 4 (upgrade from SX3)?

I am going to post this all over the internet. This type of treatment has got to stop.

[GooberNumber9]

That's interesting. Usually software has a licensing agreement that says "If you do not accept the terms of this agreement, return this item immediately to the store where it was purchased for a full refund."

It is weird that they wouldn't take it back, but that's obviously their choice on the matter. You could sell it on ebay: "Cubase Upgrade never opened never registered!!!"

Todd Wilcox

[apropos of nothing]

Steinberg has never been known for good support. If they put half as much time into support as they do into damage control, they'd be in a much better position. I've got Nuendo v.1 and it works great for me, but I expect never to have to talk to them.

[river]

Don't get me started........I bought Wavelab when I was first setting up my studio. After 5 fatal crashes and drive reformats, I asked the logical question on their forum: WTF? The moderator, who wrote the code for Wavelab, was so arrogant. "Our software would never cause this problem". Someone in the company saw the thread, had a soul, and sent me a discrete email with a link to their archives. Upshot, I was going to have to essentially rewrite the registry so that I could use their precious product. Don't think so, Steiny. Off to ebay I went to get back at least some of the money back. No, it wasn't registered....I never got that far with it.

[Doublehelix]

I just bought Samplitude using the limited-time Cubase-toSamplitude upgrade price of US$399. Normally, the upgrade is $599, and the full version is $999.

Great deal, and I couldn't pass it up. Should be here within the week.