Customer service 101 is Apparent for Barcode Producer

A short while ago (as in less than 12 months) I spent a couple of hundred Euros buying the barcode creation software BarcodeGenerator. At the time it was sold by a company called Blitz Tools*, which was seemingly acquired by the firm softmatic.

A recent upgrade to the software destroyed my license key, rendering the software useless, and after repeated requests to softmatic for a new license, all of which went unanswered, I needed to buy a new package for my publishing biz.

I chose Apparent’s Barcode Producer and let me tell you not only is it fantastic – light years ahead of softmatic’s product imo – but Apparent’s support leaves softmatic for dead.

Unlike softmatic, which upgrades software without warning, renders it unusable and then fails to respond to queries, I received the following from Apparent yesterday:

Barcode Producer 6.0’s release is imminent — a paid upgrade with major new features including InDesign integration, custom text above barcodes, Favorites, printable barcode reports, and more.

Due to your recent purchase, I’d like to provide you with a free upgrade to the new version (a US$59.00 value). You can download Barcode Producer 6.0 here …

Red Hill Publishing is a customer for life.

If you’re looking for an extremely versatile, commercial grade barcode creator check out Barcode Producer.

Fair warning though, stay away from softmatic because if your experience is anything like mine you’re going to get badly burnt.

• The previous owner of BarcodeGenerator may have been Wolf Software, but really it’s irrelevant.