Customer Reviews

Act! By Sage 2007 [Version 9]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(61)

 

 

Dear Lord! I've been an ACT! user for over 11 years, coming up through Windows 3.X and even administering a 7-user (13,000+ contact)ACT! network. Those of us who are old hands at ACT! know that the program can be a wonderful slave and a terrible master. Such is the case with lots of crucial technology.
My last upgrade was to 2005. That one went off without a hitch. Since I decided to register that time, I've been getting 'Upgrade to 2007' emails from Sage for about 9 months. I normally will ignore these solicitations, but the 'integration with Outlook' feature caught my eye. I went ahead and downloaded the program (giant 250+mb file)last Monday.
After backing up my ACT! data to 3 separate locations, I proceeded with my install. Virus software 'off', closed all non-essential programs, etc. This thing was a mess from the get-go. After failing to start the install process several times, I called support, and after about 55 minutes of hold time, was handed off to a nice woman named Muralidharan who spent the next THREE HOURS on the line with me deleting individual items from the registry, downloading patches from Microsoft, etc. At the end of that ordeal, we had a successful install, meaning the program would run.
Next up was converting my database. That actually went smoothly, just humming along and proclaimimg success at the end. When I opened said database, I was pleased to see my contacts intact and even displayed in the template I had customized. Excited, I went to check my calendar, since that's the main screen I use. No calendar items. Check to see if the filters are out of whack-nope. Items show on the task list, and future to-dos, calls, and meetings show under each individual contact's 'activities' tab, but there was no way in Hades I could get it to show up on the Calendar. Regarding the Outlook functionality-it's not there if you use Word as your Outlook email editor. If you don't use Word, it's still a clunky, lame interface that requires a special ACT! address book in Outlook, etc.
Back to tech support. a 45 minute wait connected me to a very nice person who listened to my woes and promptly disconnected me. The next person I spoke with, after a nearly 1 hour hold (nice New-Age hold muzak, btw), was equally as friendly but apparently suffered fronm the same phone problems as the prior tech, since he disconnected while putting me on hold.
Fast forward to today. I fired up the evil box for a day in the office, hit the ACT! launch button, and watched it load significantly faster than I had remembered. Heartened, I waited for the activities to roll over. I can tell you now-I think I'd still be waiting for that rollover if I hadn't killed the process. I watched an hourglass for about ten minutes before doing a cold boot and retrying. Same result. Last straw.
I called ACT! and requested a refund. After a (surprise!)30 minute wait, I was connected with a gentleman who credited me back for my full purchase price. For the record, everyone I've dealt with at Sage has been helpful and friendly. One person I spoke with (likely NOT on a recorded line!) even lamented that the product may have been brought to market 'prematurely'.
Bottom line: There's no compelling reason to 'upgrade', and many, many reasons not to.

Wow -- I am a new ACT user, having bought ACT 2007 just a couple weeks ago. I'd never used any earlier version of ACT. I did a lot of research on line, for a LONG time, looking for the contact/client management software that would fit my needs. I never really found it.

Anyway, my biggest complaint here, as others have said, is that the performance with ACT 2007 is just apalling. You click on "Weekly Calendar" or "Opportunities List", and it can take 30 to 40 seconds before the screen finally refreshes. And none of the other programs on my computer perform this poorly -- and I use older versions of SQL Server on the same computer, which is the same database ACT uses.

In terms of features, I just don't understand how a program that costs so much really offers so little, ultimately. I run a real estate referral business, so I need to link contacts to one another. That is, a client to an agent. More specifically, multiple clients to a single agent. I have yet to find software that lets me do this in any efficient way. Even with ACT, all I can do is create a "company" which is basically the agent him/herself (which doesn't really work, because they also work for companies) and then assign the clients to them. The interface is busy and complicated, and I spend way too much time trying to figure out how to use this software.

I don't usually like to write such negative reviews unless I have something better to suggest, but in this case: UGH. Keep looking, that's all I can offer.

I've used ACT! since it was a DOS product. For some of you youngsters, DOS was Windows' predecessor and didn't have any icons or mice. I know it sounds like a hardship, but we were pretty proficient at typing our commands.

Anyway, I've watched ACT! as it was sold, repurchased, sold again and again and each time the quality decreased and the arrogance increased. This is a typical, yet unfortunate trend for large software developers. Their stockholders become more important than their customers. This is the case with ACT! 2007.

It was promoted and hyped with the best traditional talent left on Madison Ave, yet the software is faulty and produces unintelligible error messages like, "ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object." I'm sure that message was crafted by the department of redundancy department.

I run my small business on ACT!, we'd be lost without it. I spent nearly $1,300 USD for a 10-user ACT! 2007 license and called yesterday to ask for my money back. I try every new version that ACT releases and keep returning to ACT! 6.0 which is the last version that worked as advertised and ironically is no longer supported.

Actually, not being supported is a blessing, since support is out-sourced to India. I've called them 3 times in past 24 hours and waited on hold for more than 45 minutes before each call as connected. The quality of VoIP connections plus thick Indian accents made for frustrating call experiences, but the crowning event came when the support technician, after putting our call on hold 3 times to "further research this matter," finally called me back to explain that I would have to upgrade to the Premium version in order to synchronize my two remote databases with the our network server.

Now, I've been synchronizing remote ACT! databases for years (not perfectly, but I learned to work around the shortcomings) and I consider this to be core functionality. Sage, evidently does not. According to Sage's Indian technician, I can synchronize my remote databases as long as they are attached to our network and behind a firewall, but I cannot synchronize using the Internet outside a firewall.

This is unbelievable, because if I was attached to my local area network (LAN) and safe and secure behind our firewall, I would be in my office and wouldn't need to synchronize. Duh! The synchronization functionality serves remote offices and people like me who travel well beyond the LAN.

To deliver cryptic error messages is common among most software developers, but to remove core functionality from a $1,300 product does not make for a wise Sage.

I've been an ACT user for 11 years, have over 10,000 contacts in my database, with extensive notes and information. Because of my own frustration since upgrading, I've read most of the 65 reviews for the 2006, and like myself, most of the writers where extremely frustrated with the product, so I started researching options. My biggest complaint with ACT since my 2006 upgrade was the low quality Tech Supoort, talking to someone in India who I could barely understand, and who understood the product less than I did. It was like their goal was to end the call as quickly as possible, I guess they are bonused on calls per hour, not problem resolution. HOWEVER, Act has 4 tech support call centers in North America, which I learned in my latest call to them. This call also fixed the majority of my issues, the girl spoke my language, knew the product, and was able to get right to the solution that worked. This was awesome, since after all my research, I realized that my best solution was ACT, if I could get it to work. My advice to all the aggravated users, when you get that Indian call center, just ask for the North American Tech Support Call Center. You'll have to hold, maybe for a long time. But it's much better (and faster in the long run) than trying to work with these offshore people who don't take the time to understand the problems. Regarding Act slowing down the computer, I jumped my RAM up from .75 to 1.25 gigs, and it works pretty good. I'm about to upgrade computer to the Sony Viao w/ 2 gigs Ram, 7200 something or other (I don't know what it means, other than it's really, really fast). I have learned that having my PDA hooked up, even if it's not syncying, slows the entire computer down SIGNIFICANTLY. This has something to do Microsoft Activesync. So, I charge it separately, and try to sync at night when I'm not using the computer. Seems to be working pretty good so far. There just isn't another product that has the functionality and ease of use/learning that ACT has. I've tested Goldmine and many others, and just not liked any of them. Prophet promises to replace ACT, but doesn't even come close to functionality, Goldmine is hard to learn and hard to use, and from what I've read, has no tech support at all. So, upgrade your computer, and only talk to the north americans for tech suport, and hopefully you'll avoid all the aggravation expressed in the many other reviews.

Like the other reviewers, I used Act! for years with success. I found it good at almost instantaneously giving me the information I needed to know about my clients and prospects, such as all of my previous contacts with them and whether they were by phone, email or letter, along with copies of the content. I could also do all kinds of searches by various filters to identify groups, send individual merge-mail emails to the group members based on a template, and use many other beneficial features. It far outperformed Outlook.

I made the mistake, however, of upgrading to 7.0 (Act! 2005), which is on a new software platform, it turns out. I got the same sluggish response others had reported, plus I couldn't get it to synchronize properly with my Treo 600. I was annoyed that when Sage Software fixed the sluggishness (mostly), I had to buy an upgrade to get the fix. There weren't sufficiently attractive new features to warrant purchasing an upgrade otherwise. So I purchased 2 upgrades in less than a year. At least version 8.0 (Act! 2006)loaded the calendar and contacts faster, but I still couldn't get it to synchronize properly with my Treo. I broke my Treo, so this time I bought a Pocket PC. Despite hours and hours of effort and hiring an authorized consultant to work on the problems, I never got Act! 2006 to synchronize properly with my PDA. I also got error messages and sometimes it would just hang up unexpectedly.

In short, Sage Software promises a lot of solutions on the box, but delivers a lot of headaches. Act! is a better product than Outlook, but don't go there until you hear that they have worked out the bugs! As for me, I stopped saying "I wish I could quit you" and just quit Act! At least Outlook will sync with my PDA. I'm not going to get suckered into buying yet another upgrade for what should be a patch or a fix.

I have been an ACT user since 1988 version 1.0 DOS. Yes I said DOS. I upgraded to version 2006 last year and shelved the product due to the speed issues and stability problems.

Recently I had to retrieve one contact from act. I had the back-up database but the program had been removed so I downloaded the new version 2007.

Suprisingly it performs much better but and it is a big But! The calendar will not display anything but 5 little ones and the year is 2017. SO much for planning ahead. There is no reference to this in the knowledge base and tech support will not take my calls.

I got so fed up with Sage that I sent them a demand notice and threat to sue them on 2006. They just sent me a release and are reimbursing me for the original purchase over a year ago....

How could their programmers missed a small feature like calendars?

First, let me say that this is no reflection on Amazon.com. They have been great to work with. My statement has to do with Sage Software and their "customer support" I purchased the ACT 2007 software mid decemeber with the idea of using it, and recommending it for use by our company. I needed some technical help in trying to get through an area of setup of the software. I called Customer tech support a total of 5 different times, being on hold an average of 35 minutes each time and never spoke to a live body. When I finally did speak to someone in tech support, it was off-shore tech support. When I explained the problem they started to do a "work around" and did not follow how the instructions with the software said how to do the process. When I questioned the "work around" she abruptly put me on hold, when she cam back and i asked the questions again as to why they work around, she would not answer. It was as though she was following a script. I don't have time for this type of "service" I even wrote my questions and expressed my concerns to Sage software, even filled out their customer satisfaction survey, to date i have never recieved a reply.

I worked with Amazon, explained the problem with the lack of customer support from Sage software and Amazon was very kind in allowing me to return the software.

I am now looking for a different CRM software other than ACT. I will not recommend it to anyone due to their lack of support.

I was perfectly happy with mt ACT 6.0 2004. I fell for the pitch announcing the 2007 release saying that version 6.0 would no longer be supported. I upgraded and have regreted it ever since. It is slow as H*ll. Glitchy and just doesn't work as well as 2004.

The ACT tech support people seem to be friendly but do not speak English. I just had to give up on them because I couldn't understand what they were saying and they couldn't understand me either.

My advice- DO NOT UPGRADE!!! 2004 is still the best version.

Okay, since I'm forced to give it 1 star, I suppose I have to. But, if you are a version 6 Act user, and own a small business, save yourself time, money, headaches and aggravation. In this case, abstincence is definitely the best policy. DONT DO IT. I purchased the upgrade because I received grave messages and emails telling me that my version of act will never be supported. So, I bought the new one. I also figured if it was that much better, it wasn't that big a deal. But, let me tell you-this product is an act impersonator. It's very sluggish, and doesn't do what it claims to. (i.e, no integration with outlook, the calendar, the mail merges not working, the list goes on). It's a huge downstep and unless you are a complete masochist, I strongly advise to do the following: Act 6 is awesome for small business. It's one thing for a company to not support an old version of their product. But here's the big secret: ACT 6 is a completely different software built on a completely different platform than Act 9. ACT 9 is built using SqO, and Act 6 was built using a "flat file" database. The sqo database is meant for large multi users with more security functions, making the program clunky, chunky, and of course built to only work with other software companies that line Sage's pockets. I use ACT 6 with Endicia, an amazing internet postage company, and the newer versions of ACT decoded the databases to only work with third party add ons that ACT chooses for you. Here's what Sage doesn't get: All the complaints posted here are from small business owners who are only weighed down by all their added functions that are completely unnecessary for small business. I, as well as others, would be more than happy to pay for a service plan that supports the platform built on ACT 6. In turn, Sage could make more money if they either supported ACt 6 for small business owners, redesigned a new version of act that's built like 6 that ACT 6 lovers would be happy to pay for, or sell it to another company. Once again, like every other company, Sage focuses on fast profits and large corporations as opposed to small businesses who supported ACT. I am suggesting that every user of 6 write to Sage and get them to follow one of the proposed suggestions. In the end, I sent back 9, reinstalled Act 6 and, all my issues with ACT 9 were resolved. Also, their customer service sucks. Let me refrain that. If you want to speak to someone in the U.S, you have to pay for their extended warranty service. I was told this from customer service after demanding to speak to someone in the US because I simply couldnt understand what India's customer service reps were saying. If you don't pay for the extended warranty, you're in India speaking to someone with a bad VOIP connection whose English is hard to discertain. You will spend more time trying to decode what they are saying, then being productive. In the end, Sage really needs to rethink what they are doing, or we just need to unfortunately go elsewhere. Still, I will use 6 until the bitter end.
PS Everyone agrees that 2004 version of 6 is the only way to go.

Read the many "one-star" reviews on this and Act! 2006 from experienced Act!users. They are all too true. Sage apparently is trying to commit corporate suicide by releasing entirely untested, pre-alpha versions of an incompetently re-designed application. A class-action suit should be in the works for the damages these products are causing.

Act! 2006 and 2007 will not only cause you hours of trouble with installation and data conversion, but will do plenty of damage to your Windows installation (registry entries, processes loaded on startup, etc.).

Sage deserves to go out of business on these.