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A radio software company has reportedly bricked its software for one of its users, after he left a negative review of the product online.
According to the review, the ham radio software application suite Ham Radio Deluxe suffers from compatibility issues with Windows 10. Describing his issues with getting the software to launch on his desktop, the reviewer wrote on eHam: “If [Ham Radio Deluxe has] known problems, like compatibility issues with Microsoft products, you need to release a hotfix. It would take a day to create a script to do all of the things your page says to do, and it would be idiot proof.” He concluded: “Know what you’re getting before you drop the money on software that, in my opinion, is not mature.”
But while his frustrations were understandable, the company reportedly decided to punish him for his complaints after he opened a support ticket. After responding with a link to download an update, the user then reported experiencing more issues, and was unable to access the product altogether. This is when the company revealed that they had decided to ban him from using Ham Radio Deluxe, and would only allow him to use the product he had purchased again if he removed the negative review.
A screenshot of Ham Radio Deluxe in action.
The company wrote: “I’m sorry, but your support has expired and we are unable to provide you with any further support … We would also like to request that you NOT RENEW your support nor use our software due to the review you placed on eHam back in September. Remember that?”
After the now firmly astonished user fought back against HRD removing his right to access the purchased software as a result of his negative comments, the company replied: “If you remove the eHam review, which was blatantly false, we will remove the blacklist from you call. You are not buying software, you are buying your callsign’s access to the software. the so called bug you reported is not one in HRD, but one in the CAT commands of the FT3000 radio, which have been verified with yaesu. Again refer to section 8 of the TOS, which was written by our Attorney.”
After this incredible exchange was made public on the QRZ.com forums, the co-owner of the company stepped in a couple of days later in order to release an apology on behalf of HRD. He wrote: “We regret that we have been unable to maintain our high standards of quality in our service to one of our customers. I have reached out to this customer to correct this regrettable situation. I am looking forward to speaking with him.
“We apologize for what has happened here. I have stepped in and personally taken corrective actions to ensure that this mistake does not get made again.
It is not the policy or practice of HRD Software, LLC to retaliate, in any way, when negative reviews are made about our company, its products, or our employees. If this has happened in the past, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. We will strive to avoid, even the suspicion of, such things in the future.”
We’ve heard of companies overreacting after receiving a negative review before, but never have we heard of one intentionally bricking of their products as a result. While HRD may have apologized, this still serves as a perfect example of how NOT to deal with criticism.
[h/t TechDirt]
