For some time, I’ve had a problem with losing unsaved blog posts when my browser crashed or when I closed my browser without realizing that I hadn’t saved the post I was writing. At one support forum, someone suggested I use Blazing Tools’ Perfect Keylogger in order to log my keystrokes. That way, if I lost a post I could reconstruct it using the Keylogger log. I’ve done that successfully many times and found the product quite useful.
A few months ago I made the mistake of installing Norton Anti-Virus 2006, which disabled the two software programs I used that involved keylogging. When I re-enabled both programs within Norton neither worked properly and I had to reinstall each program. After trying and failing for a time to reinstall Keylogger I wrote to their Customer Support e mail address. When I received no answer I wrote a second time and received no answer to that message.
I found that I could not successfully reinstall Keylogger, but then I tried one of the .exe files in the Keylogger folder and it enabled the program to work. Then this week, after losing a post I tried to open the Keylogger log and received an error message saying it was not accessible and probably was “corrupted.”
I again tried to reinstall the program but when I attempted to use the original key I’d been provided by Blazing Tools when I first bought the program, the company’s server did not accept the key. So I decided to write one last time to Customer Service asking whether they could provide a working key for me or otherwise tell me how to successfully reinstall the program. Given my failure to elicit a response to two previous e mails, I added a comment that if they didn’t see fit to reply to me that I’d feel warranted writing a blog post about my experience.
This time, Jack Norton did respond to me, not just once but twice! The first reply suggested that the only way I should continue using Keylogger was by upgrading from Keylogger Basic to the full Keylogger program (at a higher price of course). But Norton did not tell me how to reactivate Keylogger Basic. I wrote him a reply saying I was disappointed that the only way I could continue to use Keylogger was upgrading when the Basic version worked just fine for me.
Norton’s second reply is a classic in the world of Customer Support communication. Since I didn’t plan to upgrade, Norton saw fit to treat me with utter contempt. And while I’ve experienced terrible customer service in my life I’ve never seen a customer support representative write these kinds of insults to a customer. I should also add that I told Mr. Norton that one reason I didn’t plan to upgrade was that my family was faced with financial hardship related to losing a job:
The tips section I sent you earlier covers how to uninstall and reinstall in step by step instructions.
I would suggest that if you are having monetary problems that you stop paying $45/month for broadband and wasting time ranting away in blogs.
I am quite annoyed that even with step by step instructions that not one other person has had a problem with, that you obviously didn’t even bother to read them.
Get that, ask for help and the service representative tells you you’re annoying him! With customer service like this why bother even producing and selling a product? Who’d want to buy it? Unless you enjoy being called an idiot by someone who isn’t far from warranting that insulting term himself. This experience called to mind the Monty Python routine in which people paid to sit in a room and have an officious twit insult them. Thankfully, I never wasted too much money on this Blazing Tools product. Now, that Jack Norton has truly revealed the kind of company he represents, perhaps I can let others know about it so they can judge for themselves whether they wish to associate themselves with it.
Finally, I’ve discovered what I believe will be a terrific replacement for Keylogger. It’s Twilight Autosave, a plugin that will save any unsaved post if a user closes the browser tab/window or if it crashes. This is a much more useful tool for my purposes than Keylogger anyway.
