Avid Technology Reviews 200

I will never use Avid products again.

Appalling customer support!

We have been a Digidesign and later Avid customer for nearly two decades. We own quite a few full licenses and also have a 'Support and Upgrades' plan for Pro Tools.

Their latest update 2021.3 caused a total file system damage whereby files will be stamped with the wrong IDs and neither Pro Tools' search engine / Mac's search engine would locate the files we need.

It is a mess! The issue is similar to an issue that happened to other users last year.

I submitted a case. Apparently we are all now on 'standard' support which means no phone calls. This has been done quietly of course, perhaps just a line in T&Qs, no major announcement. We did have access to phone support last year but not now.

So, I submit a case. I explain we are producing two major international radio programmes and our deadlines are severely affected. TWO days later I get an email from an agent asking me for a video to get more 'context' of the issue despite me giving him all the issue needs.

I submitted a video straight away, within the hour. FOUR days later - nothing! No acknowledgement, not even a 'we are sorry for the inconvenience'.

Absolutely nothing.

The arrogance, the utter arrogance is staggering!

Problems do occur. New versions do come with bugs. I am not arguing that. Problem is the arrogance, incompetence, lack of respect, total negligence shown by their 'customer service'.

I am now even considering switching systems. This will force us to leave behind 20 years of data 'locked' in Pro Tools. It is extremely sad what these people did to such an amazing system that WAS Pro Tools.

AVID Support Care is a contradiction in terms. Zero Support or Care. Their monthly subscription service does not allow you to make changes and they do not issue a reminder when the year is about to expire. Auto renewal went ahead without any warning. I have moved countries and the site will not allow me to change my address and card details accordingly saying I have to stick with original country. Well the original bank account is about to be closed. The new subscription is only 9 days old (within normal 14 day cooling off period that AVID have managed to avoid adhering to by saying you ticketed the T&Cs. I wonder would that hold up) and they won't allow me to close and open a new one. Their contact form is restrictive with drop down menus that never apply to the issue. Very very poor offering. AVID don't allow people to move across the globe and take their software with them. Hardly a good business plan. I see from other reviews I'm not alone in this experience of them.

I purchased pro tools through my university bookstore, jumped through many hoops to get to the download, only to be unable to access my purchased software through iLok without having a physical iLok USB (It would not allow me to activate the license). I spent another $50 on a physical iLok USB and activated my pro tools license, only to not be able to access it at all. I want my money back. Avid is the worst company ever as they have no live technical support to contact without paying $40 for a one time phone call. This is absolutely unacceptable. I needed this software for one of my university classes and I feel as if I have been completely ripped off. This a terrible company and I hope avid goes out of business via free market.

Daniel, AVID Global Customer Care helped me. He helped solve an ongoing license problem for over a month and it was not an easy one to solve! He should get a raise and I am happy to be a Avid customer because of him!

AVID is the worst company I ever dealt with. Without doubts, AVID is the leader of ignorance, bureaucracy, unprofessionalism. Not only they didn't accept my right to use the Educational version of Sibelius Unlimited, though I provided all verifying documents. They didn't even bother to explain the reasons for that! And now I can't even sell that version, because the registration number has been used for my account, even though I was unable to use Sibelius for one second! Receiving a reply from AVID within 2 weeks can be considered a miracle. Usually it doesn't solve your problem. This company is a total disgrace!

I'm about to miss a deadline because Avid Link decided to crash at 10pm after working fine for 4 hours, causing me to be unable to use ProTools to finish my project for work in time. And their website wont let me login either, even though I'm entering the right credentials, so I can't ask for support. This is not the first time this has happened, but last time it magically started working again. Even though I pay them $20 a month for Sibelius, they refused to provide support last time because I was using ProTools First, but the problem is with Avid Link not ProTools. These greedy companies want you to pay 700 a year and not even own the software, and then you are screwed if you depend on the software for work and there is a failure on their end.

I have been working with AVID, mostly Media Composer, for more than 20 years. I can fix or bypass most of the issues of AVID's software, so the only technical support I need is to activate the license. It used to be very simple - you call the number, explain the issue, and you get it resolved in 15 min top. Now, emailing back and forth takes up to two days. I understand that AVID is trying to save money on support, but if you are a company that can not activate the license for two days ....you move to another company.

Oh Avid, you really run the most terrible company I can think of... I continue to be shocked about your ways to waste our time and our money..... Why oh why can we not get serious support on Sibelius without spilling so much time and money on you guys. Come on, it just can't be that hard.............

Insanely greedy and backwards and not to metion outdated. Grow up and get Ableton. By far the worst support that any company has ever had. Not even close.

Worst company ever. Spent hundreds on their product and I'm having tech issues and there's no way to even contact them to resolve it. Absolutely shocking

Like so many, I cannot say anything good about Avid's customer service. High prices for bad service on what was a good product. And they do not honor customers who paid upfront for their products. - I'm done with Avid and moving on to other products!

A very good product with very poor customer service. Annual subscriptions are automatically renewed and your account is recharged the following year. If their customer service was even fair, I might have continued with another year. After many attempts to cancel, I have yet to here back from Avid (Sibelius).

Although Sibelius is a great music-writing app, Avid does not update or support it passably. The product's updater sends you into long, perpetual cycles of not updating. Customer support (via email) only gives you more time-consuming options which DO NOT WORK. Huge disappointment!

I'm a 15 year client and I can voucher that AVID has horrible customer service. No one answers, confusing contact on the site, only a certain number of characters for submitting a case. For the price of the software (not to mention hardware), it's just inexcusable. Shame. Shame. Shame.

Impossible to contact tech support/customer service so can’t find any way to register my Sibelius 6 onto my new computer. Terrible. Do not buy from Avid

Worst customer service I have ever experienced. Subscribed to Pro Tools several months ago but was unable to install the software on my laptop. Paid an extra $40 to get AVID help, which did not happen. Impossible to reach live people by phone and Chat Help service has been disconnected. Nothing on the website about how to cancel subscriptions. Five attempts to do so have been unsuccessful. As a result I have now paid nearly $140 and received nothing in return. I am not a lawyer but it feels like fraud. Doubly frustrating because Pro Tools is an excellent mixing program. Beware.

I bought a S1 + Dock which is over 3000 dollars in Europe. The software caused Logic Pro to crash, so I needed support to get it to work..

I never received the service number I needed to get trough to phone support, which should have been sent automatically. I finally generated the necessary number myself and spent 18 minutes with a guy, who just had to start the case. I never got a callback from support and received an email from support 1,5 month after I wrote to them.

I returned the brand new products and will never be dealing with Avid again.

Expensive products and terrible customer service is not something I can support..

I can't get in touch with the support, I bought Sibelius ultimate, it is registred as aktive in my products, but I am still at trial version. I have somehow to stop payment at once since im I 10 days not are allowed to use the program.
No online support, no emailadresses, no help on the telephone.
DO NOT BYE ANY PRODUCTS FROM AVID

What a disappointment, it is truly a shame, after so many years working professionally with avid products, and I have seen how they have declined technically and in market politics, I think I will soon go to logic pro