I had to succumb to their extortion tactic. Now I’m stuck using the new version and it is horrible- obviously written by punks that have never been on a home inspection. They seem surprised that I would object to not being able to toggle the flash on my phone to take a picture. It takes a full half hour longer to do an inspection now. It is slow, cumbersome, poorly thought out and a total work in progress. Be prepared to help them perfect the thing. Thank goodness I’m retiring in a year.
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Palm Tech Used to be very good. We have used it for over 10 years successfully & have spent countless hours customizing it & producing reports for various type inspections that fit our professional needs. I am refusing to succumb to their new system. I am against subscription services & we paid for a stand alone system with the option to upgrade. That is right, just the option, not a requirement that we upgrade. We have always been happy, for the most part with the system we purchased. We should be able to use the system, regardless of whether or not their alleged cloud system that is allegedly no longer ethical, now that Porch has taken them over. Unfortunately, we now get a Run Time Error & have been unable to do any reports, even extensions to existing reports for further services, that require we use Palm Tech. The more I think about this, the more wrong it gets & the madder I get. I am shocked that more folks have not had the same issue.
It’s pretty much inevitable with all software now. At least with software that requires support, upgrades, enhancements, etc.
It is only inevitable, like anything else, if we or the masses accept it. If we do not accept it, then they will either have to do better or get things back to the way they were, when it worked & was not broken. If not, they will not survive. It is nonsense that subscription services should be the only answer when good, stand alone software has existed for a long, long time, very successfully. You really don’t want to get me started today, but I do understand & respect your viewpoint, it is OK. The real issue is that folks paid for a stand alone system that would be their system to tweak as required & on their computer, for life. They made that choice & paid for it dearly. They had to option to upgrade to new versions, if they wanted or really needed it. They made that choice. The choice was not a subscription service. They could have made that choice too, but many did not, for various reasons, all their own. Now to be told that they have no option but to upgrade, was not part of the deal…
Yes, but how many people have they done this to?
I’m sure it is only Mr. Padilla and you. LOL!
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That doesn’t mean it can forever though. SaaS has been around a long time now and is the model all modern software developers are taking. I do understand your frustration, but consider that you have been able to use a critical tool you paid for one time for 10 years now. Not many “tools” last that long when used professionally.
Consider this; have you given Microsoft or any computer manufacturers more of your money in order to upgrade to newer tech?
No, not really. However, if I did, I made that choice. Look, I understand where you are going with this & respect it, but do not necessarily agree with all of it. There are, pardon my fierceness, but I just do not believe all the hype & sales talk that we have heard about making something better. Let’s face it, all the upgrades out there have not necessarily been for the better, other than for the betterment of the back pocket of the folks selling it. I don’t mind change & have certainly done more than my fair share of it & probably too much at that for others, but it needs to truly be better, more efficient, more durable, higher quality, simpler, etc. & what may seem better for one person, is not necessarily better for another, for various reasons. We were extremely happy with the old version of Palm Tech, for instance, & had recommended it to many. However, we did not need the scheduling (that is someone else’s job & I try not to take jobs from people), we did not need the payment system (we have one that works & it is enough), & the old system worked fine & we had customized to our needs as most will have to do anyways. With the new system, they could not even guarantee me that they would be able to transfer all that over. We are not even touching on the subscription issue yet, but that is part of it all. I just do not buy into something that you have to pay for, for life, if you want to keep it. Other than utilities (Electric, water, telephone, etc.) if you want to live in the modern world & are in the unfortunate situation to have to need them. I believe you should be able to shop for a good anything, evaluate it as thoroughly as you can, work for a decent price, maintain it well, & be done with it, not pay for life & never be able to get beyond that. It just will not fit in my mindset. There are others out there like me, I am sure, just as there are others out there just the opposite, for their own fair enough reasons. However, I am sticking with mine as long as I can. If I find something that works very well, I try to do all I can for my part to not break it…By the way, I have a whole lot of tools that I have used professionally for over 40 years, some more than 50. They were tools that I purchased that were simple & of high quality & could be maintained & repaired. That is where the problem comes in. There are some that I have had for over 35 years that work perfectly well & look perfectly good, but some little simple $10 part finally wears out & fails, even with good care, some with lifetime warrantees, but now the part cannot be purchased or found & they want to sell me a brand new tool for hundreds if not thousands of dollars, when I can least afford it nor want to. That is why I take so much care to try & maintain things well, so it really irritates me, a lot!
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I love that one!
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Nothing is simple about software nowadays though. Consider all of the different platforms and users out there. Consider that people want to use old software on new computers and other devices that are changing almost daily. It is not possible for a software developer to ensure an old version will work with all of the new technology without investing serious time into developing, testing, and rolling out updates.
For many years, the competition probably wasn’t as fierce. The legacy software providers could probably offset the cost of supporting prior customers because they were bringing on new users at a good clip. Now, everyone and their uncle is offering inspection software. If Palm wants to stay in business, they are realizing that they need more revenue to catch up and make the upgrades that newer inspectors have come to expect. This all costs lots of money.
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Subscription service is a successful trend that most consumers resent. The next new selling point for software providers will eventually be “No subscription required, you buy and you own it”
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That will be just before a “new and improved” product comes out which will again be subscription based.
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When I started the business, we tried different software packages and by far Palm-Tech was on top of the list. I have been using Palm-Tech for a couple of years now and it works well for us. I tried the new version of Palm-Tech Complete and for me, I like Version 9 much better. You have more flexibility with the older Version 9.
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That I understand. 40 plus years ago when few knew much about computers, I could tell you a pretty fair amount about them & repair them. So, you would think that at 45 years later I would be right on top of them. Nope, now everyone seems to know all about them & I know nothing. I still try to treat them a good tool though, & not something that runs my life. That is what seems hard to work with these days.
What I do not understand though is that if you give your word on something, then you stand by it, regardless of what someone else has to say about it. If you sell something to someone, you deliver what you sale & stick to it. Say what you are going to do & do what you say you are going to do. If you sell someone a product that is stand-alone & good for life or as long as they are satisfied with it, then deliver. Don’t just figure most folks will move on in say 10 years, because there will always be someone that will not…
I am in a lot of different Facebook inspection groups. I have seen a lot of complaints about Palmtech recently. So I guess I can understand your unwillingness to get on board with their latest updates. I don’t know anything about Palmtech so unfortunately can’t help you out. Hopefully you find a way forward!
Yes, I am glad we did not jump for it now for certain, thinking we had no way around it due to all the hours we have invested into customizing it, etc. especially since they could not guarantee us they could move everything over to the new stuff & now seeing the number of complaints from folks who did.
We will carry on, one way or the other. You know, we have no choice…
PS: But, I do not do Facebook either. Good information you have gleaned though.
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