It’s pretty obvious that a lot of people are unhappy with Final Cut Pro X, and while we don’t agree with most of the crying, there are some pretty legitimate reasons why someone might not be so happy with the software package.
It turns out that Apple may be starting to do something about all of those unhappy customers — Apple is offering refunds to those who have filled out complaints using the Mac App Store Customer Service form.
Reports are surfacing online that some customers have been about to get a full refund, despite Apple’s sales policy that “All sales are final.”
Here’s a reply from an Apple support staff worker to a customer:
“Moving forward, I understand that you are not satisfied with the app “Final Cut Pro”. I can certainly appreciate you would like a refund, and I would be more than happy to help you out with this today. In five to seven business days, a credit of £179.99 should be posted to the credit card that appears on the receipt for that purchase.
Please note that this is a one time exception because the iTunes Terms and Conditions state that all sales are final.”
But it’s not all roses either. Some people are complaining that they haven’t been able to get a refund yet, and instead have taken to the support forms to get answers.
A thought
First, no refunds on a product purchased online should be illegal in every and any state. The more we move to a digital distribution method for software, the more this will become a problem, especially when you consider there’s no longer any way to get trials for software if you’re relying on the Mac App Store.
This “final sale” policy is going to become a much larger problem once the masses start dropping a couple hundred dollars on applications that don’t live up to their standards.
Before the Mac App Store, Apple would let you download trials of applications like Aperture and iWork, now, well not so much.
Apple needs to figure this one out. Most people can handle a crappy app for a dollar, but with an application now at $299.99, this is a major problem.
An annoyance
We have a very hard time understanding how someone can hate a piece of software so deeply after not even a week of use. We get it. Professionals may like or dislike the new package, and they’re probably the only people on the planet who have a right to comment to this point, but here’s a question: How many professionals have you seen complain about Final Cut Pro X in public?
Some have aired some annoyances, but most, from my viewpoint, have refused to comment until they can spend more time with the application. A week doesn’t cut it for them. They need to know the ins and outs.
Right now, not many people actually know the ins and outs. The only things they’ve done is gone looking for what’s missing. We’re going to give it some time before we weigh in on the success of Final Cut Pro X. Heck, spending five seconds on the Mac App Store, looking at the ratings, reveals a very polarized opinion with this application. The ratings are pretty much split between good and bad reviews.
Here’s my favorite quote from one of the reviews by Adam Grand:
Take the negative reviews with a grain of salt: They are coming from crusty old editors stuck in the past and afraid to open their mind. This FCP is ridiculously good.
See why it’s hard to make a judgement call? People either absolutely love it, or absolutely hate it, and right now the haters are clearly the more vocal of the bunch.
Anyway, I digress.
Via: The Next Web
Source: EOSHD
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My belief, as a professional editor is that the working editors are too busy working on current projects to fully open up and "PLAY" with the application and give a accurate judgement. What we do as professionals is assess the application before buying. Does it meet the current standards of the edit bay we have built? Does it perform to the quality that we demand? How does it figure into our work pipeline? I know at first glance, in its current state, it does not. We don't bash it in public, we just wait and if in a year it doesn't change and we need to upgrade our bay, we adjust. You don't hear David Fincher complaining, he has work to complete, he just finds the tools.
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Like"and while we don’t agree with most of the crying, there are some pretty
legitimate reasons why someone might not be so happy with the software
package."
Anyone who doesn't agree simply doesn't understand what people are facing. If you buy a program like FCX to tinker around with at home or even to produce wedding videos (unless the client wants a DVD) then great, have a ball. But to the thousands of people who work 10 hour days in a production and post production pipeline that is built on deadlines, requires results, and is not a vacuum of creative license, this is a disaster. It is very difficult to assimilate unknown quantities into an existing infrastructure and it took years to convince those in charge that this was not a cute little toy used to waste time with and slowly work it into that infrastructure. Now that the machines are wired in, the latest software doesn't work there anymore. Eventually Apple has to realize that they can sell anything to the consumer but the actually working creative industry can not be told how to work. Even if they wanted to, it's impossible. Meanwhile Adobe has quietly taken their editing software and brought it along as a true rival to Avid and Grass Valley and is now being adopted by companies like Turner and BBC. Apple now has a wait-and-see product that appeals to video enthusiasts and apparently people who write about technology.
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LikePshhh. Apple doesn't give refunds. Even when a refund is requested for apps that do not work one bit and somehow passed apples hammer. I bet this is a hoax.
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