technical support

[janeann]

I am a very long term user of Serif - WebPlus/PhotoPlus/DrawPlus - and have recently purchased Affinity Photo. Where can I go for real technical support? I don't mean searching endlessly through Forums, I mean getting through to a techie who can tell me why EVERY time I use this software it crashes. There is no conistency in the events leading up to the crash. I am at my wits end and all my loyalty to the Serif stable has gone. I search on 'crash' in the Affinity forums and cannot unravel a thread that tells me anything useful.

 

Sorry Serif but you seem to have sold your soul - the brilliance of your products was the excellent suppoort and apparently now there is none except through the forums. Not good enough.

[R C-R]

This forum is where you can get "real" technical support, up to & sometimes including from the people actually writing the code -- if that is not "techie" enough for you then I have no idea what would be.

[Bri-Toon]

As long as the problem is heard, Serif is really good in addressing it. The support team is very informative and helpful. If you do report this problem in the Bugs section, make sure you explain which platform Photo crashes in.

[Dooblaque]

This forum is where you can get "real" technical support, up to & sometimes including from the people actually writing the code -- if that is not "techie" enough for you then I have no idea what would be.

And yet my problem has remained unanswered, no "techie" wants to know me. Either there is no answer and they think the problem will go away if it is ignored or else I have fallen out of favor for some reason. I don't know which.

(I have read back all my posts and I can't see where I have bee obnoxious)

[R C-R]

And yet my problem has remained unanswered, no "techie" wants to know me. Either there is no answer and they think the problem will go away if it is ignored or else I have fallen out of favor for some reason. I don't know which.

(I have read back all my posts and I can't see where I have bee obnoxious)

I think they have given you all the support you can expect without providing them much more detail about your system & how it might be set up that could cause such different results from what they get. It is not easy to know what might be the cause -- it could be some piece of software running in the background that doesn't play well with Affinity that is installed on your system but not on theirs, a difference in an obscure system setting, or just about anything else.

 

Contrary to what one might think, that other software runs fine does not completely rule out a problem not directly related to the Affinity software itself. Different apps rely on different system level API's; some add-ons patch undocumented code into existing API's that can cause them to behave in unexpected ways; faults in file systems can affect only certain files at either the system or user level; & so on.

 

Problems like these can be extremely hard to identify & eliminate even for an expert sitting at the computer with a full suite of diagnostic tools; trying to do it remotely with just sketchy info to work with is just about impossible.

[Dooblaque]

I think they have given you all the support you can expect without providing them much more detail about your system & ...

Thanks for replying.

 

You mean to say the response I received:

 

"Seems to be opening just fine for me, this could be an issue with your PC spec considering it takes a long time to open for you and a matter of seconds for me."

 

is all the support I can expect ? with respect, the ball is in your court ! I would assume your techies would give it at least some attention before it becomes too difficult and give up, but we have not yet reached that state yet.

 

"it could be some piece of software running in the background that doesn't play well with Affinity"

 

While I am not an expert, I have been working with computers long enough to understand this, that is why (and I told you so) I have run APh on three different machines two of which are Win 10 and one of those is a new installation, a pristine computer. Also by now I assume it would be  known to you which programs are most likely not to play well with APh for Windows. I have not even received any suggestions what to possible look out for. If your techies, who are "intimately" know the ins and outs of APh don't have a hunch where can I start to look. I need a bit of guidance in this respect.

 

If you tell me I am expecting too much, just tell me. Then at least I know where I stand and I keep APh in abeyance and see if things change over time before I ditch it.

[R C-R]

Dooblaque, just to make sure you understand this, I am just another user like yourself. I do not work for Affinity/Serif. I do not have any techies & speak only for myself, based on what I know about the Affinity apps & computers in general.

 

I am only suggesting that if you provide detailed specs about your systems & what is installed on them, this may help.

[PaulAffinity]

Dooblaque.

So given your specific problem what COULD the 'techies' do further?

Just think.

EVERY PC configuration is unique.

The only way they could assist is to recreate your exact machine.....Hardware, software, OS, settings, peripherals, etc...

I appreciate users frustration (I have spent nearly 40 years in IT) and I have been frustrated too.

The issue in general is that some people expect loading software is like plugging a toaster in.

If it were me I would spend some time disabling temporarily various Win 10 software until I got an alternate result.

FYI I use AP on a slow and old underpowered Toshiba laptop and it is acceptable when compared to PS.

 

Good luck.

 

Cheers Paul

[Bri-Toon]

Dooblaque,

In Addition to what R C-R and PaulAffinity have said, the team is constantly replying to topics and addressing problems. Bunches are made per day and per section. If some are overlooked, it is not because anyone has fallen out of favor or have been obnoxious. I have been here long enough to see that is not how this forum works. There was a delay in one of my questions too, but a staff member still came through. As R C-R said, it would also help if you provide more details.

 

Something I will offer is to install the latest version (free update). Go into the "Affinity Beta Support" section and then the right sub section (depending on your operating system). The most upper topic will be the latest version meant to correct previous bugs. If you still face crashes in that latest version, then mention them in that topic. Whether or not the moderator replies, your post will be heard, and the crash should be addressed in a future version. Please be aware that not every post can be replied to.