Core Hell Draw - The $aga

A saga is a story that tends to sag 3/4 of the time.

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I purchased a piece of software for our budding printing business. It was CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6.

The veRy neXt day I try to purchase a drawing pad from Wacom, their model Cintiq 13HD. It is a $999 item and the smallest one of 3 in a family of products. A thousand dollars is more than what I can reaLLy justify in my brain, but I impulsively want it anyway, its a business write-off. BUT ... when the item is OutOfStock at Wacom you can't purchase it and have them eventuaLLy send it to you.

BUT ... I look around and the wonderful folks at Corel have the same eXact item, Wacom's Cintiq 13HD for sale and it too is currently out of stock, BUT ... Corel wiLL let you purchase it and they teLL you there is a 4 to 8 week wait. So I purchase it the day after the software purchase.

THEN ... on the Monday at about the same time that my CorelDRAW software is being delivered by FedEx I get an e-mail from Corel thanking me for my purchase AND ... the fun part ... at the bottom of the e-mail is a coupon for 15 percent off my NEXT purchase at www.corel.com !!! And I am thinking, man, if I just would have waited a few days I could have saved $150.

So I try to contact Corel to see if they will apply the 15 percent off coupon that is clearly tied to the purchase order number of the finished software transaction. The veRy first try dealing with the online help chat room ends with a "Sorry, I can't help you with that online, but here is a toll free number then hit extension 5"

So I try this and the person I get teLLs me that I can't use the discount on the second order because it has already taken place. And then I ask him about cancelling the order which has clearly not been processed, and he says that if I do that it will invalidate the coupon, which I think is strange because the coupon is tied to the first order with absolutely no mention of the second pending order. He says he wiLL have someone caLL me back within one hour to try to help me further in this situation.

So I wait one hour and one minute. --- No call back

I call the same number with extension 5 and the person puts me on hold to try to see what can be done.

A few minutes later I hear a strange noise and I see my phone call has been dropped.

I think "pirate noise, make an ARRRGGH pirate noise ...."

I moan sadly and non-pirate disgustingly, and I start to calculate the value of my time per hour versus the $150 potential savings, and then I get my second wind and I am in this now strictly for the enter-strain-ment value if all else fails.

I caLL back Corel with extension 5 and eXplain the entire story in great detail to someone new and this person says to hold on while he chats with some people. Several minutes later he comes back and says that he has talked to THREE people (boss sounding titles) and they have told him that the coupon is only good for SOFTWARE from Corel, not an outside item like the Wacom tablet that they are reselling. I tell him that is NOT what the e-mail coupon says, nothing about software only, it clearly states it is for purchases made at www.corel.com website, period, no restrictions, which I had done. AND ... I pointed out the falsehood of their website saying that they had knocked $200 off the regular price yielding a $999 price, when over at the manufacturer's website the item is $999 - regular price. I then told him that I was also irritated that I now have lost a thousand dollars of purchasing power on my credit card for 4 to 8 weeks while I am waiting for the Cintiq 13HD to be eventuaLLy delivered.

So he apologizes and I hang up irritated.

That was Monday

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Today is Thursday

I go to my credit card to pay the small single charge for a monthly item on bill pay for the business. BUT I notice that there isn't a thousand dollar purchase pending at Corel ... strange. There is nothing on the credit card website that eXplains what happened to my order.

So I log onto my account at Corel - sure enough the second order has been canceLLed! 

Hmmm, Um, My My, ... I don't remember teLLing them to cancel my order for my new toy.

I check my e-mail to see if there is any notification of this activity - nothing.

I look a little farther to find an email from Corel about a different product, the twice as expensive model Cintiq 22HD - a two thousand dollar beast - $2000 - ONLY .... wait for it 

- drum roLL please -

In this e-mail they are telling me that I have not finished purchasing the Cintiq 22HD and if I complete the order TODAY they will knock $200 off the price! 

Moment of Clarity: It was hard enough justifying $1000 for the 13 inch screen wonder, but nearly twice as much money, $1800 for the larger 22 inch beast, no way, I am not poor, but I reaLLy can't justify this eXpense at all. PLUS I don't remember ever putting the 22HD on the shopping cart at the Corel website (?)

But ... just for grins I decide to see if their new "coupon" works, and I click on the link that takes me to their website. It seems to work fine. I do not complete the order process.

So, this company is NOT willing to give me $150 off my purchase of the $999 unit, the thing I reaLLy want that they have somehow canceLLed, BUT they are willing to knock "more" money off the more eXpensive item that I don't want.

So I try again purchasing my Cintiq 13HD - and encounter something positively freaky. For some reason they have mysteriously knocked another 10% - $100 - off the price!

So altogether I think I have spent an eXtra 4 hours dealing with this order mess, and at $100 savings, that would mean $25 per hour. Not bad. 

Lets hope this order doesn't get mysteriously canceLLed.

For now (4-8 weeks) I can watch other people play with their Cintiq 13HD's on YouTube. 

I love YouTube. 

Update: ARR^RG_GGh!!! It is now Friday evening and I found out that my most recent purchase at Corel was CANCELLED!!!! I have caLLed  their customer support and I have been on hold for 39 minutes and 13 seconds (So Far) and the music is absolutely horrendous. I couldn't hold it to my ear and put it on speaker phone. I wiLL let you know how things turn out .... if I ever get to talk to anyone.

I also checked my e-mail and there was no notification from Corel that my order had been cancelled. And I already know that they can communicate by e-mail on that particular account from previous order activity.

Update: About a minute later I got a recorded message teLLing me there were no people there to help me, and to leave a message for them to get in touch with me later.

Update: On Monday a rep from Corel caLLed and attempted to fix the order in their system. So hopefully the order goes through, although he messed up the Bill To address. Hopefully it works this time. The rep also gave me FREE shipping by the fastest means FedEx which I thought was reaLLy nice.