I recently ordered Komplete 8 crossgrade for $399, about two days before the sale where I could have gotten it for $199 (or K8U for $399), and opted not to go through a return/reorder process but simply ask NI (via both email and telephone) for some consideration.
After installing and activating, NI sent me links for the Retro Machine MK2, the somewhat EZD-like '60s Drummer' groovebox for the Abbey Road Drums, and a $30 cash voucher that I used along with $59 more of my own money for the Scarbee Pre...
... Not quite what I was hoping for, but it's still a great deal, and I decided to just be happy with it.
THEN today I got a letter from them saying they are refunding the $200 difference between the crossgrade price and the sale price back to me. Awesome! I'm not a software company rah-rah guy or anything, but since NI gets so much press along the lines of "great software, lousy service", I thought I would mention that they've been absolutely stellar dealing with me, and have created a loyal customer for life.
BTW, Kontakt 5 is my first new Kontakt since K2, and this is not your father's Oldsmobile... This stuff has gotten seriously good!
I recently ordered Komplete 8 crossgrade for $399, about two days before the sale where I could have gotten it for $199 (or K8U for $399), and opted not to go through a return/reorder process but simply ask NI (via both email and telephone) for some consideration.
After installing and activating, NI sent me links for the Retro Machine MK2, the somewhat EZD-like '60s Drummer' groovebox for the Abbey Road Drums, and a $30 cash voucher that I used along with $59 more of my own money for the Scarbee Pre...
... Not quite what I was hoping for, but it's still a great deal, and I decided to just be happy with it.
THEN today I got a letter from them saying they are refunding the $200 difference between the crossgrade price and the sale price back to me. Awesome! I'm not a software company rah-rah guy or anything, but since NI gets so much press along the lines of "great software, lousy service", I thought I would mention that they've been absolutely stellar dealing with me, and have created a loyal customer for life.
BTW, Kontakt 5 is my first new Kontakt since K2, and this is not your father's Oldsmobile... This stuff has gotten seriously good!
Peace out.
that is great news. I have a similar story. I ordered Alicia's keys during their 4th of july sale and they ran out of copies and after asking about it a week later they told me they were out and got some in later that day and rather than having me wait 10 business days to get it they overnighted it to me for free
Agreed NI support via phone in my experience is really as good as any company I've dealt with. ;-)
Helpful,knowledgable and they always straighten out the problem ASAP!
The only other companies I feel the same way about with 1st class tech support would be UA and Spectrasonics.
I wish more companies were as cool but these companies always seem to make sure problems are solved.
__________________ 2.8 Quad Intel(2008)MacPro24 gig ram,OSX10.83, DP8.01, RME FF 800,Great River ME-1NV preamp,Rode NTK and AT4033 microphones,NI Komplete 5,6,7&8U,,Arturia,Spectrasonics, IK etc & many more VI's and plugs... Vdrums (TD20 expanded) Superior 2 etc..., Focal Twin 6 monitors, Shunyata PowerSnakes and Conditioners,too many hard drives... ESATA
.. they told me they were out and got some in later that day and rather than having me wait 10 business days to get it they overnighted it to me for free
Cool. This is exactly the kind of thing they didn't have to do. If they hadn't overnighted it to you it's not likely you'd be publicly complaining about it, but they went above and beyond and did it anyway. Extremely righteous and classy.
I wonder if they get undeserved bad press sometimes because they're big, somewhat bureaucratized, and tend to be opaque, especially when compared to the smaller software companies that have available, friendly reps chatting it up on audio forums such as this. It's not hard to imagine that people do fall through the cracks of their customer support safety net once in a while. But I would advise anyone who ever has an issue with them to just be perseverant about getting someone's attention in Berlin or Los Angeles, because they've amply demonstrated that they strive to be both responsive and generous regarding the wishes of their customers.
I used the $200 I saved to get Melodyne Editor. Amazon had Essential (boxed) for $49, and then Melodyne had a $149 online upgrade deal, so I feel like I got an excellent price on that, too.
They must have changed things for the better recently, because I went through hell trying to get my brand new, broken Maschine fixed. It say in their service department for months, and I was told on the phone that they only had one guy back there and he was swamped. I basically had to escalate to get an answer, and I finally by my Maschine back, but it took forever. Pretty much completely turned me off from every purchasing something from them in the future. Terrible experience.
Cant you do all and everything N.I does with a new Kurzweil or new modern synth?
Plus sound better plus no boot up time? plus way better sounding patches?
I actually had no idea they had support, are they in India or central America?
Tell them My KORE hardware works when you ask about their Machine Bull crap.
Im actually buying a TS-707 over Machine, that plus my MPC and my ASR iv got it all covered. My analog Synth covers most the rest and sounds so much more inspiring then N.I products.
KThanks any way.
__________________
Canned Fart spray will never smell like real farts.
Just want to piggy back off of this thread and offer my opinions on NI customer support. Like you guys, I've had a really good experience as well. I bought a Maschine Mikro and used it a total of one time before it was shelved. I was surprised that I wasn't able to really integrate the unit and software into my extremely minimal set-up. I had different ideas for it when I purchased it. ANYWAYS, a friend of mine has a PadKontrol that he isn't using and I am in the market for a controller with pads. I offered up a trade, the maschine mikro for the padkontrol. Obviously I realize that there's a difference in price but I don't really care because it's a friend of mine. I called up NI and had about a 5 minute holding time on the phone and the fellow that answered the phone was extremely helpful and told me exactly what I needed to do in order to free up the serial so the product could be registered by someone else. Nothing major but the guy was friendly and helpful, which is a lot to ask for in this day and age. "Bravo Zulu," Native Instruments.
I recently ordered Komplete 8 crossgrade for $399, about two days before the sale where I could have gotten it for $199 (or K8U for $399), and opted not to go through a return/reorder process but simply ask NI (via both email and telephone) for some consideration.
After installing and activating, NI sent me links for the Retro Machine MK2, the somewhat EZD-like '60s Drummer' groovebox for the Abbey Road Drums, and a $30 cash voucher that I used along with $59 more of my own money for the Scarbee Pre...
... Not quite what I was hoping for, but it's still a great deal, and I decided to just be happy with it.
THEN today I got a letter from them saying they are refunding the $200 difference between the crossgrade price and the sale price back to me. Awesome! I'm not a software company rah-rah guy or anything, but since NI gets so much press along the lines of "great software, lousy service", I thought I would mention that they've been absolutely stellar dealing with me, and have created a loyal customer for life.
BTW, Kontakt 5 is my first new Kontakt since K2, and this is not your father's Oldsmobile... This stuff has gotten seriously good!
Peace out.
Me too! It's a great feeling to get something that you thought was worth X for X/2! Congrats, and thank you NI!
Cant you do all and everything N.I does with a new Kurzweil or new modern synth?
Plus sound better plus no boot up time? plus way better sounding patches?
I actually had no idea they had support, are they in India or central America?
Tell them My KORE hardware works when you ask about their Machine Bull crap.
Im actually buying a TS-707 over Machine, that plus my MPC and my ASR iv got it all covered. My analog Synth covers most the rest and sounds so much more inspiring then N.I products.
KThanks any way.
Well it's nice to have choices,I certainly can understand preferring an actual analog synth but for me if your saying a modern keyboard or workstation I for 1 prefer being itb,no latency etc.....VI's that are way more capable than any built into a typical keyboard and tons of choices that 1 kb never has.
NI phone support is actually answered by very knowledgable,helpful users in LA when you call in the USA & I'm pretty sure when you call Berlin you will also talk to someone in Berlin or thereabouts ;-)
Obviously you don't use NI products and from the sound of your misinformed post you never have ;-)
NI makes some of the deepest and most capable soft -based synths and VI's in the market & with Kontakt offer a platform that gives you a door to all sorts of choices and possibilities that a Kurzweil or a Korg KB will not offer.
Play with Reaktor ,drums of West Africa or some of the hundreds of available libraries for Kontakt for a few weeks and you might change your mind about the state of NI's product line.
It always amazes me someone posts a nice positive post about a good experience with a company here at GS and some one who obviously has no knowledge or actual experience with the topic at hand just has to try to piss on the thread to get their rocks off,pretty lame....
;-)
I have plenty of N.I software and hardware and their endless cycle of upgrade and in the case of Komplete 8, Re-boxing with partial intergeneration of Machine.
Cool. This is exactly the kind of thing they didn't have to do. If they hadn't overnighted it to you it's not likely you'd be publicly complaining about it, but they went above and beyond and did it anyway. Extremely righteous and classy.
I wonder if they get undeserved bad press sometimes because they're big, somewhat bureaucratized, and tend to be opaque, especially when compared to the smaller software companies that have available, friendly reps chatting it up on audio forums such as this. It's not hard to imagine that people do fall through the cracks of their customer support safety net once in a while. But I would advise anyone who ever has an issue with them to just be perseverant about getting someone's attention in Berlin or Los Angeles, because they've amply demonstrated that they strive to be both responsive and generous regarding the wishes of their customers.
I used the $200 I saved to get Melodyne Editor. Amazon had Essential (boxed) for $49, and then Melodyne had a $149 online upgrade deal, so I feel like I got an excellent price on that, too.
There is a guy who posts here from time to time who works there but he is not there as a rep for NI but as himself and happens to work there.
so... oddly enough, the ticket I started before I called them is what's solving my issue
basically, I wanted to upgrade from Komplete 8 to Ultimate with their recent 50% off all upgrades summer sale, but was being stopped by the fact that I'd end up with two copies of Razor
so I started a ticket online for the return, then decided to call since I figured I'd get a quicker response about the issue
they flat out told me that they didn't accept returns on software
but then yesterday, around two or three after I started that ticket, I get this email saying
Quote:
If you end up purchasing Komplete 8 Ultimate, please reply back on this ticket
with that order number and the order number for Razor and we can request the
refund for it from management since you would be holding copies of it.
why couldn't they tell me that over the phone when I called?!
I just hope they do give me that refund since I have already purchased my upgrade
That would be great if they do that,either way K8U is a great bundle!
It has totally exceeded my expectations.
With K8U you get such a great mix of incredible content and the install process is amazingly,quick and painless.
I've has Komplete 5,6,7 and now 8U and it by far the best yet.
Enjoy ;-)
Long time lurker first time poster. Couldn't let the opportunity slide to mention my contrasting NI experience. I've spent a lot of money on their products over the last 8 years. I reported a problem last year about Rex files not working in Kontakt 4 (which they confirmed). Not a small bug by any means and one that made K4 pretty useless for me as I use Rex files heavily. Over the next 6 months I contacted them several times and was assured that they were working on it but couldn't say when it'd be fixed. During that time K5 was released. I tried the demo, discovered it had the same bug and reported it to NI. A while later a K5 update was released which i tried and discovered the bug had been fixed. I phoned NI and was told (as I suspected) that it would not be fixed in K4. I complained. At no time was I abusive. In fact I apologized that the guy on the phone had to listen to me complain. I got an email later on stating they were very pleased to offer me K5 at 30% off. Wow!? They sold me software that NEVER properly worked and now they wanted to further profit from the fact. I complained and asked for a "Not For Resale" license for K5 (I didn't even want the new content, just a serial number so I could register the demo) which would cost them NOTHING. It would've allowed me to use K5 until I upgraded my version of Komplete. They flat out refused. To add further insult several days later NI announced a 30% off upgrades sale. So it was apparent their initial "generous" offer was not so "generous". I complained to the Better Business Bureau. After 2 months my complaint was closed because NI Kompletely ignored the BBB's attempts to contact them.
I've emailed NI a lot in the past. Often I've waited over 3 weeks for a reply.
On top of this the Kore debacle was blatantly disrespectful to Kore owners (I'm referring to the way it was handled, not the fact that it was discontinued).
So after NI basically stole my money and told me to suck it I decided I would never give those Komplete f*cking pr*cks another cent and I suggest to everyone I know that they don't either. And Daniel or Matt, in the extremely rare chance you're reading this, if we ever meet be prepared for a tirade of abuse.
I glad to hear that someone has good experience with Native Instruments. In my case, they sucked it up. But that has been a long time back. The last thing that I bought from them was Final Scratch II. They dropped support for the product and screwed everyone involved. I now have a 500$ box that does nothing.
So, haven't bought anything from them since. Aren't they German ? I always like all of the other German companies. Not that one though. Honestly, I would like to throw that box at them in person.
Glad the OP had a good experience, those kinds of situations can really sour a relationship between customer and supplier if they are handled badly.
My only experience of NI customer support was asking them when they were going to ship my Komplete 8 crossgrade and getting a reply with my tracking number 2 days after I had received my delivery
__________________
I'm using the chicken to measure it.
Long time lurker first time poster. Couldn't let the opportunity slide to mention my contrasting NI experience. I've spent a lot of money on their products over the last 8 years. I reported a problem last year about Rex files not working in Kontakt 4 (which they confirmed). Not a small bug by any means and one that made K4 pretty useless for me as I use Rex files heavily. Over the next 6 months I contacted them several times and was assured that they were working on it but couldn't say when it'd be fixed. During that time K5 was released. I tried the demo, discovered it had the same bug and reported it to NI. A while later a K5 update was released which i tried and discovered the bug had been fixed. I phoned NI and was told (as I suspected) that it would not be fixed in K4. I complained. At no time was I abusive. In fact I apologized that the guy on the phone had to listen to me complain. I got an email later on stating they were very pleased to offer me K5 at 30% off. Wow!? They sold me software that NEVER properly worked and now they wanted to further profit from the fact. I complained and asked for a "Not For Resale" license for K5 (I didn't even want the new content, just a serial number so I could register the demo) which would cost them NOTHING. It would've allowed me to use K5 until I upgraded my version of Komplete. They flat out refused. To add further insult several days later NI announced a 30% off upgrades sale. So it was apparent their initial "generous" offer was not so "generous". I complained to the Better Business Bureau. After 2 months my complaint was closed because NI Kompletely ignored the BBB's attempts to contact them.
I've emailed NI a lot in the past. Often I've waited over 3 weeks for a reply.
On top of this the Kore debacle was blatantly disrespectful to Kore owners (I'm referring to the way it was handled, not the fact that it was discontinued).
So after NI basically stole my money and told me to suck it I decided I would never give those Komplete f*cking pr*cks another cent and I suggest to everyone I know that they don't either. And Daniel or Matt, in the extremely rare chance you're reading this, if we ever meet be prepared for a tirade of abuse.
It is exactly this kind of experience that tests a company's 'REAL' customer service...
If Native Instruments acknowledged their software had a significant bug with regard to REX files in K4 but DID NOT inform their customers or potential buyers - well then, their (Customer Service?) is disgusting.
How much would it cost for them to SERVICE this particular customer? to identify his LEGITIMATE concern and then apply their service to address that?
I would guess not much.
NI = Pathetic.
__________________ "There's no correlation between creativity and equipment ownership. None. Zilch. Nada."Hugh MacLeod
That would be great if they do that,either way K8U is a great bundle!
It has totally exceeded my expectations.
With K8U you get such a great mix of incredible content and the install process is amazingly,quick and painless.
I've has Komplete 5,6,7 and now 8U and it by far the best yet.
Enjoy ;-)
they gave me a refund for the $50 I spent but not for the $30 voucher I used for it, oh well, I guess its fair and still better than nothing!
I'm pretty excited for it to come in the mail, I don't even have enough space on my hard drive for it but whatever haha, I'll figure it out
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