Adobe has lost a customer for life....

Question

So, here is a run down of what lead to the situation I am letting the forums know about:
Several weeks ago, my mother was using one of the websites she uses that requries Flash and was told she needed to update Flash, which she had done countless times before. Doing what she normally did, she followed the normal steps to install the newest Flash. Somewhere during the upgrade process, the Flash Player Installer failed to complete the upgrade process.
Fast forward several weeks to when I actually have time to try and fix this problem. Before I explain what steps I took to try and resolve this issue, let me provide some quick background about my self. I have a degree in Computer Science, I program for Windows (including the registry) and Linux (both CLI and GUI apps). As such, I know what I'm doing when I try to fix this issue.
So, onward to what made Adobe lose a customer!
I called in to the support desk at 800-833-6687 on 06/30/2010. I don't have the name of who I spoke with, but it was an Indian man who actually spoke English well enough for me to not have to guess at what he was saying. I wish all Indians spoke that well, it might make the customer service experience easier. I explained to him what my situation was, and he proceeded to tell me that there woud be a $39 charge for any help because Flash Player is a free product. I told him to put his supervisor on because I wasn't going to pay for support when this is clearly not the customers fault. He said he would but that his supervisor would say the same thing. Bluntly, I told him I didn't give a **** and to put his supervisor on. (Ok, that may have been out of line, but I wasn't interested in talking with a peon who would argue with me. I'm the customer, and arguing with me is a good way to piss me off.)
I then spoke with a man who sounded southern British, or at least had a British accent. It was enough I couldn't fully understand his name. I explained to him, agian, what the problem was, and in more detail. I explained that the issue was with the registry, and that the only way it could have happened is if the installer or uninstaller had caused the issue. He gave me the same speech about there being a $39 charge, to which I flat out said it wasn't happening.
After getting pissed at both peons, I hung up the phone more annoyed and frustrated than before. So, much like the attempts before, I went back to trying to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it. I basically had two options. 1) Re-install Windows...not happening. 2) Code up some cowboy code and jack with the registry old school style to get rid of the offending entries. I'm crazy, but I'm not insane...jacking with the registry?!? Yikes!
So, after rebooting into safe mode and using all the standard tricks to get rid of the offending registry entries, even some not-so-common ones. I tried everything from regedit to CLI reg. All of them came up with "Access denied." After trying everything except option 1 and 2 above, I called the support desk number back and kept mashing zero until I got through to a person in the US.
I first spoke with a lady by the name of Nancy. She listened as I explained my problem and finally said "You are correct, there is normally a $39 charge for support requests related to Flash Player, but in this case, it's clear to me that this isn't a normal issue. Let me see if I can get my senior on the line to help you with this issue." Yay for Nancy! This is so far beyond anything a regular user would be capable of doing on their own, which is the entire reason I refuse to pay for support even on a free product. (More on this later.)
Nancy transferred me to her senior, a man by the name of Angel. I explained to him in great detail and at length what the issue is, what I had done to try and fix it, and why I wasn't going to pay for support. He tried having me install Revo Uninstaller, but that was a useless move. I had already ran the Flash Uninstaller, so technically speaking there wasn't anything for Revo to uninstall. And it apparently couldn't be used to force remove registry entries (which I doubt would have worked anyways seeing as how the Administrator account couldn't even remove them using the CLI tool.) He suggested using System Restore to fix the problem. Sadly, thanks to another useless feature from MS, the last system restore point appears to have been made after this bug appeared. Eventually even Angel gave me the over-reguritated excuse of "go online to the forums and hope for the best" followed by "you might have to reinstall your OS." Let me just say this about the second aformention item... The Flash Installer is directly responsibly for the state of its registry keys. Any corruption or improper settings on those registry keys ultimately lies first and foremost with the Flash Installer. In this case, those registry entries appeared to be corrupted to the point where even the Administrator account could not remove them. If it truely is the case that the Flash Installer has corrupted the registry and the only way to fix it is to either use option 2 that I listed above or reinstall the OS, that make Adobe liable for the time and expense of either case. It was the faulty installer that created the situation to begin with, which is published (albeit freely) by Adobe. EULA or not, you can't release buggy software and expect people to pay for your mistakes. I made sure that Angel understood the gravity of such a prospect. I think he did, but I also think he had the mentality of "good luck getting us to pay for it." Oh well if he did.
I expressed my dis-satisfaction with his reponses, and made it plainly clear that Adobe's position is utter garbage. Seriously, Adobe makes millions off of Flash and its related products. The only reason Flash Player is free is so that consumers will want the eye candy on their websites and so that Adobe can keep selling their (overpriced) Flash based "solutions" to rake in the money. Is Adobe so big and bad that they can casually release beta software that impacts a customers computer adversely that they don't have to care? I don't even have to answer that do I?
I understand that Flash Player is free software, but lets face it, open source software is free, and it more often than not has excellent support. What makes Adobe think they are so great that they can offer a free product and then make extra cash off it when it seriously breaks a customers computer? I'm not some customer calling in who has no clue what a computer is let alone how to run it who can't figure out how to even install Flash Player. I'm a power user who does systems level programming on multiple OSes. Do you really think I'm so stupid I need to pay you to tell me "try this, then this, then that, oh hell, there's a major problem here"?
So, ranting aside, I figured out what the issue was after hanging up with Angel. It was the one final thing that hadn't occured to me to check. Let's face it, there is a process to go through when troubleshooting, and I had come to the end of it. I must say, it surprises me that the Adobe techs had not mentioned this fix, but then again, not so much.
Rather than be a kind person, I'm going to screw all of Adobe and it's customers like Adobe tried to screw me out of $39. Yes, that's how much my tech tip is really worth. A lousy $39. It's a simple fix to a serious problem, but Adobe obviously views me as little $ symbols rather than a customer worth taking care of. So here you go Adobe, take your screwing that you will never care about.
- Vadtec
P.S. I plan to read the responses to this post just for the sheer laughs it will generate. Call me what you will, poke fun at me, agree with me, I really don't care. I've stated my case, and that's all I came to do.

Answer 1

Funny that this thread would be revived after so long...
I'm bored, so what the heck.
eidnolb wrote: I don't question your degree. However, since you weren't able to "figure out how to even install Flash Player" then that I must disagree with. I was able to figure it out without calling Adobe support or asking for help on the Flash Player Forum. I didn't even know either one existed back in July of 2009. And no, I don't have a degree as you do.
I didn't call to seek support becase I didn't know how to fix it. I called because their product was crap and wanted *them* to fix it, as a decent company should.
You sir, slammed Microsoft, your own Employer which I find shameful. I am just a Volunteer here on the Flash Player Forum, but I have great respect for Adobe and all of their products as I do Microsoft and the other Tech Companies.
You seem to think I work for Microshaft when I said "I program for Windows." Rather than taking it literally, you could have taken it as I write programs that run *on* Winblows.
In case anyone is interested, Adobe finally fixed the issue with their updater/installer, which would have rendered this thread useless anyways. Aside from that, if Adobe was the great company they want people to think they are, they wouldn't charge for support that would most likely have not resulted in the problem being fixed anyways.
The lesson? Do what I did and think for your self. The fix was simple, but I still refuse to give details on it. Oh, and yes, I use Adobe products only when I must. I've replaced as many of them as possible with open source alternatives.
Enjoy.
- Vadtec