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I take a lot of home videos (oddly enough, having a baby and being obsessed with cameras in general). Carbonite doesn't back them up by default. You're supposed to be able to set it to do so if you want to, but that doesn't work for me. However, I can set each video to be backed up...manually. I can do all the videos in a folder at once by selecting everything, then doing the action, but if I edit and save and forget to mark for backup - no dice.
Basically, when I right-click, take properties, and go to the Carbonite tab, the option to "Back up files of this type (within folders selected for backup)" is unchecked and grayed out. I read the help files that said to use it and noted that it is hard to use a grayed-out item! So I reported it via their email support. I stated I had read the help file but it didn't work because it was grayed out.
They told me to do exactly what the help file said. I replied and re-explained that no, that doesn't work. They had me try it on a file not already manually marked for backup. Same result. They told me to go to a "live chat" support session.
So tonight I did that, and had the same STUPID conversation. She seemed convinced that if it was grayed out, that meant the files were being backed up, despite my stating that new files with that extension DO NOT GET BACKED UP. Finally she asked if she could connect to my computer to show me how I was wrong. I gave her access, because I figured it would at least get my issue escalated.
Which it has, but only after a HALF HOUR of her fussing around on my computer, poking at things, and the like. It installs a separate program that she chatted with me on and she used her control of my computer to CLOSE the browser window in which I had PREVIOUSLY been chatting with her so no record of that conversation remains...and the tool she used to connect CLOSES when she disconnects so no record of that conversation but my memory either.
Their support tools suck, and closing my browser window was rude. If I had it set to close even if there are multiple tabs (I don't), she could have cost me pages I wanted to look at - it was minimized when she did that (SHE minimized it earlier in the session). Maybe she remembered it was the only tab, maybe not, but what business did she have closing my browser while she was diagnosing a problem related to file backup settings?
Carbonite backs files up, but their people and customer support SUCK. Anyone know an alternative with as good software, better support, and not too much worse a price? (So far as I can tell, they're far enough ahead of the competition technically and price-wise to make the answer 'no', but we sure do pay for it in the crappiest customer service.)
I should note that after half an hour, she said approximately that gee, it's not giving that option. NO SHIT I STARTED THE CONVERSATION WITH THAT FACT. AND THE EMAIL CONVERSATION BEFORE IT, when they decided to escalate me to the chat support.
Apparently, we are not into reading what our customers write, or else not into believing them. I didn't really have that HOUR (20 minutes of it waiting in queue, the rest of it talking with her and watching her fiddle around my disk slowly and close browser windows) to spare, I should've been in bed before I even started talking to her (but I sort of couldn't do it until Drew was asleep, obviously, since taking care of a baby would have made it hard to monitor what she was doing - and I was a little worried what settings she might change on my files while proving to herself that, in fact, I really did have the problem I had SAID I had - plus I needed to be paying attention to answer her questions and redirect her when she was in the wrong spots hunting for things that didn't exist there - like movie files in one folder when they were really in another).
I hope they escalate it to someone who can read. And maybe fix it, but I'd settle for not having to explain the whole mess again to someone who doesn't listen. I've already dealt with at least two (maybe 3-4, depending on how many people handled my emails) and it's gotten WAY old. I wish I could bill them at my hourly rate for my wasted time, it would make it sting a bit less.
If you're in the market for a backup, investigate the alternatives and consider Carbonite the solution if and only if you need what they offer so bad that having this kind of customer service is worth it. If you don't need them that badly, you're better off finding out if they have competition that actually has customer service instead of customer aggravation.
Basically, when I right-click, take properties, and go to the Carbonite tab, the option to "Back up files of this type (within folders selected for backup)" is unchecked and grayed out. I read the help files that said to use it and noted that it is hard to use a grayed-out item! So I reported it via their email support. I stated I had read the help file but it didn't work because it was grayed out.
They told me to do exactly what the help file said. I replied and re-explained that no, that doesn't work. They had me try it on a file not already manually marked for backup. Same result. They told me to go to a "live chat" support session.
So tonight I did that, and had the same STUPID conversation. She seemed convinced that if it was grayed out, that meant the files were being backed up, despite my stating that new files with that extension DO NOT GET BACKED UP. Finally she asked if she could connect to my computer to show me how I was wrong. I gave her access, because I figured it would at least get my issue escalated.
Which it has, but only after a HALF HOUR of her fussing around on my computer, poking at things, and the like. It installs a separate program that she chatted with me on and she used her control of my computer to CLOSE the browser window in which I had PREVIOUSLY been chatting with her so no record of that conversation remains...and the tool she used to connect CLOSES when she disconnects so no record of that conversation but my memory either.
Their support tools suck, and closing my browser window was rude. If I had it set to close even if there are multiple tabs (I don't), she could have cost me pages I wanted to look at - it was minimized when she did that (SHE minimized it earlier in the session). Maybe she remembered it was the only tab, maybe not, but what business did she have closing my browser while she was diagnosing a problem related to file backup settings?
Carbonite backs files up, but their people and customer support SUCK. Anyone know an alternative with as good software, better support, and not too much worse a price? (So far as I can tell, they're far enough ahead of the competition technically and price-wise to make the answer 'no', but we sure do pay for it in the crappiest customer service.)
I should note that after half an hour, she said approximately that gee, it's not giving that option. NO SHIT I STARTED THE CONVERSATION WITH THAT FACT. AND THE EMAIL CONVERSATION BEFORE IT, when they decided to escalate me to the chat support.
Apparently, we are not into reading what our customers write, or else not into believing them. I didn't really have that HOUR (20 minutes of it waiting in queue, the rest of it talking with her and watching her fiddle around my disk slowly and close browser windows) to spare, I should've been in bed before I even started talking to her (but I sort of couldn't do it until Drew was asleep, obviously, since taking care of a baby would have made it hard to monitor what she was doing - and I was a little worried what settings she might change on my files while proving to herself that, in fact, I really did have the problem I had SAID I had - plus I needed to be paying attention to answer her questions and redirect her when she was in the wrong spots hunting for things that didn't exist there - like movie files in one folder when they were really in another).
I hope they escalate it to someone who can read. And maybe fix it, but I'd settle for not having to explain the whole mess again to someone who doesn't listen. I've already dealt with at least two (maybe 3-4, depending on how many people handled my emails) and it's gotten WAY old. I wish I could bill them at my hourly rate for my wasted time, it would make it sting a bit less.
If you're in the market for a backup, investigate the alternatives and consider Carbonite the solution if and only if you need what they offer so bad that having this kind of customer service is worth it. If you don't need them that badly, you're better off finding out if they have competition that actually has customer service instead of customer aggravation.
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