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TIP: The best ways to get answers to your questions

Jan 17, 2013

At Collectorz.com, we’re offering a range of cataloging solutions. First, there’s of course the different products for music, movies, books, comics and videogames.

But on top of that, our solutions are also available in multiple editions, for different platforms, like Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and online (Connect).

Today I’d like to give you some tips on how to get help for each of those editions. That is, how to get the answers to your questions (and the solutions for possible problems) in the fastest way possible.

If you follow these simple tips, not only will you have your answers sooner, but you’ll also help us more efficiently.
So that we can spend more time creating great software 🙂

Here we go:

Questions about the desktop editions (for Windows and Mac OS X)?

For questions about the Windows and Mac OS X editions, the Support Pages on this website (the main Collectorz.com site) are the place to be:

The lists with Frequently Asked Questions on these pages contain a wealth of information. Answers to common questions and the solutions to many problems, it’s all there.
( 80% of the questions we receive *could* have been answered by searching the FAQ ! )
So before contacting us, please use the Search Box and search our FAQ list and user manual.

TIP1 : use short search terms, not entire sentences.
For example, search for “upgrade to pro” instead of “how can I upgrade my standard edition of movie collector to pro”. Or, instead of “where is my license key? I tried looking everywhere but I can’t find it! I am certainly not going to pay again!!!!”, just type “license key”. Okay, final example: just search for “sorting”, as opposed to “my book list is not in alphabetical order, why not!!!????”

TIP 2 : avoid typos
Our search engine is smart, but not as smart as Google. If you search for “priniting” instead of “printing”, that won’t work. Type “failed”, not “fialed”. “trail” will give no results -> try “trial”.

Can’t find your answer in the FAQ or the manual?

Then please use the Support Form to contact our support guys and gal directly. A link to the Support Form can be found at the botton of every Search Results page (that is, after searching!).

Finally, when contacting us, please be as clear and detailed as possible. Only then can we immediately provide an answer or solution. If your message is not clear, we will have to ask for more details, delaying the real solution or answer.

Mobile apps (for iOS and Android)

Let’s start with the most important tip here:

Do not use App Store or Play Store reviews
to post your questions or problems.

We actually do read all these reviews, don’t worry. But the problem is: we simply cannot contact you with our answer or a solution to your problem (or to ask for more details about a complex problems).

In many cases, answering questions and solving problems requires having a conversation with you. Which is simply not possible inside the iOS App Store or Android Play Store.

So for questions and problems related to our mobile apps, please CONTACT US.
We have made it very easy to do so. Just use the little help (“?”) button inside the app (top right). Alternatively, use our the Support Forms at our special website about the mobile apps.

Direct links to the Support Forms for the CLZ mobile apps:

Connect editions (online web-apps)

Our Connect web applications have their own Support Pages, which can be easily reached from the Help menu at the top of your collection page (when logged in).

Alternatively, using these direct links:

NOTE: please do not use the Connect support forms for questions about the desktop editions. Your message will end up in the wrong “queue” in our support ticketing system, which will only cause confusion and will delay our answer.

What about Facebook and Twitter?

We love getting feedback on Facebook and on Twitter. Both are great places to let us know what you think of our programs and their updates.
And we’ll also answer to simple questions like “When is the update for … coming?”, “Will you do a discount sale for CLZ Barry”, or suggestions, e.g. “It would be great if you could create a program for my recipe collection”.

HOWEVER:
Our Facebook page and our Twitter accounts are not the greatest channels for asking support questions, for many reasons:

  • Short Facebook and Twitter messages do not work well for complex support questions.
  • Conversations easily get lost in your (and our) Facebook and Twitter feeds. Which means that you may never see our answer, or worse: if you comment on an old post, we may never even see your question.
  • In Facebook or Twitter messages, people often forget to include import information, like which program and which edition their question is about. So we see questions like “how much does it cost?” (without any further context), or “I have problems exporting my data, why?”.
    Our Support Forms have special fields for all information we need to help you as efficiently as possible (like which program, which edition, which version, etc…). So please use these forms and you’ll get your answer way quicker.