Here's the latest info on my search for rational thought at Gavel & Gown Software, Inc., the publishers of Amicus Attorney software, and the company's policies and practices regarding maintenance and upgrades. As you will recall, on Monday of last week I was charged more than $500 to renew my annual maintenance contract. Then on Wednesday I learned that there is a 2009 update to the software. I contacted Gavel & Gown software, and was told it would cost me $901.20 to upgrade my 4 seat licenses. And by the way, that upgrade does not come with support! From past experience I can assure everyone out there that when you buy an upgrade from Gavel & Gown it just does not install problem free, and there are always several calls to technical support.
So, the bottom line is that what amounts to nothing more than an annual upgrade would cost me more than $1400. Basically ransom money -- buying the 2009 version to fix the bugs in the 2008 version and get some modest new features as a throw in. I'm not gonna do it. I'll live with the old bugs I have in the old version of Amicus Attorney, rather than pay thousands of dollars for the new problems.
Incidentally, regarding that $500 maintenance contract. It sucks! The last three times I have called technical support I have had to leave a message. Only one of the calls was returned. Somewhere around the beginning of last year G&G had launched a PR campaign proclaiming that they had resolved the long hold times, dropped calls, and failure to return call problems that were plaguing the technical support department. I believe the company even hired a new technical support manager. For a couple of months there was actual improvement. Now, unfortunately, I must report that the bad old days have returned, and G&G's technical support once again gets critical marks.
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11 comments:
Ransom money is right! After spending thousands to attempt to get my Palm to synch with Amicus I just wanted my data....for which AA wanted $900.
While I loved the features, the upgrades & hiring computer geeks made it ridiculously expensive to use.
I'll stick with my version V++ --- no thanks to any further upgrades with bug-laden code and lackluster support.
I bought Amicus Attorney SFE 2008. It constantly has glitches and their technical support sucks. It has cost me untold hours of lost time spent on hold and (finally) speaking with their tech support people. Buy something else and save yourself the hassle.
Agree 100%
The software does not run well.
Confirming everything already noted. Amicus Accounting is a very poor performer and badly designed. Would appear to be very badly written code and in my opinion, a very last-century user interface.
Installation was inordinately difficult.
Tech support, when I got a person, was either astonishingly incapable or really helpful, but they can't make up for faulty programming.
Consider every other legal software package before you look at Amicus. It's not road-ready.
Confirming everything already noted. Amicus Accounting is a poor performer and badly designed. Would appear to be badly written code and a last-century user interface.
Installation was a nightmare - and I am a programmer.
Tech support was either astonishingly incapable or really helpful, but they can't make up for faulty programming.
Consider every other legal software package before you look at Amicus. It's not road-ready.
I've had plenty of love/hate relationships in my life. Amicus I describe as a LOATHE/hate relationship. Unfortunately, I only want to swap case management systems once. So, I keep holding out looking for something perfect. OTOH, I was smart enough to stop upgrading several versions back.
No person could dream up a more poorly written program. It always has problems, bugs, and glitches. Almost all known issues are never resolved, and when they are, it is by deleting the function.
Dont buy this program..... just hire more people to do the work. it will be cheaper then the weekly support call billing.
Amicus Small Firm 2008 with 9 users. After switching from Time Matters, we are regrettably seeking out new alternatives. Amicus has done nothing to boost our confidence in their product, unless you measure confidence by number of licenses and yearly support packages! Apparently for $1,000.00 per year I can call someone in Canada who will tell me to "regenerate my local database" and call back tomorrow.
I did hear that Amicus 2010 comes with all kinds of new features, including new bugs and glitches!
I just installed 2010. I have spent 25 hours with problems since late January. I have no money, but I am going to eat the cost of buying something else.
Just look at the Amicus website under Support -> Known Issues. The list is extensive and these are only the problems that they are willing to admit, it does not include the myriad of issues that I have had.
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