• Nuance Serial Number Gone

Purchased a Dragon Naturally Speaking Home package December 2013 through Newegg who included a link for to a rebate form. The rebate was for a $30 Visa Prepaid card. All the correct information was submitted. An email was sent to me acknowledging a valid rebate submission in January and asked to allow 30 days to receive my rebate. So here we are after another two and a half months and three phone calls to customer service, no rebate. My last call to customer service notified me that they don't know why the rebate hasn't been processed or when 'if ever' it will be.

I ordered, or thought I ordered, a discounted dictation for Mac. Instead found that the link in the email put me on the path to ordering the PC version.

After receiving this, contacted support to switch for Mac version, but never received any reply from them. Later this month (Mar 2014), ordered (correctly) the Mac version of their dictation product via an email link. After processing the payment and the payment going through and returning me to Nuance page, there was no confirmation email and no download information.

After long exchange with sales officer, he pushed me off to their digital ordering handler digital river, where my order number does not exist according to their system despite being charged for it. Their failure to take responsibility for the ordering process and look into the matter for me is sign of weak company. Their product is the only one of its kind for Mac, so I'm stuck with them, but they are the most poor customer service and order handling I have ever seen for Mac software handler. My son rec'd software from Nuance as a Christmas present. I called to request a return and assumed that they had a Christmas return policy, but the rep kept telling me it was shipped on 11/21 and had past the 30-day return policy.

I asked how they handled Christmas returns and she said they had only had a 30-day return policy. I asked to speak to a manager and she said basically repeated their return policy AGAIN.

I told her that my son did not receive the present until 12/26, so he should have until 1/26 to return it. She repeated the policy again and then asked if there was anything additional she could assist me with. The call was VERY FRUSTRATING and a waste of time! Purchased Nuance's Paperport in July and installed it on my desktop. It works just like their old program. I had to REPURCHASE the program because when they update, the older version dies.

Nuance Serial Number Gone

They FORCE you to buy another new program. Back to the subject at hand, I installed PP on my desktop in July of 2013. It works perfectly and still does. In October of 2013, I installed it on my laptop with the help of Nuance's technical staff. I went to use the program today and it had a fatal error. I called Nuance's tech support line (VERY IRRITATING TO GET ANYONE EXCEPT THEM) and they want to charge me to fix their program that failed.

I will pay their price because I like this specific program BUT. I will never again purchase anything relating to the Nuance company. There are competitors that I will now search out and when found Nuance will be gone. Buyer be aware! Nuance products are a nightmare when it comes to activation issues. It is also very difficult to locate a method of contacting them other than by telephone which is not an option with many hours time differences and cost. It is quite clear that there is a deliberate attempt to make contacting them as difficult as possible as no other website makes it as difficult to locate an easy way to make contact.

It is a constant battle to activate their products as one is always advised that you have 'exceeded the number of installations'. By the standards of other American companies that generally have exceptional customer service and which are easily contacted Nuance are pathetic and definitely at the bottom rung.

Think VERY CAREFULLY before you purchase their products. I am a long time customer but try and purchase competitor products whenever possible solely because of the activation issues and the extreme difficulty in making contact with this company. I've been trying to contact Nuance Software Company regarding a purchase 9 plus months ago but the hours of operations are during the working hours of my company and the Technical Support number is long distance. I'm on the telephone as we speak with some man, who doesn't speak good English, telling me that I can't be helped because am not with the computer that software is loaded now.

I've been trying to tell individual there isn't a Serial Number located on the envelope sleeve or box but he isn't listening and actually told me it doesn't matter. Why can't I get a replacement software disk so I'm able to use my Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11.0 software? Why has it taken me 9 plus months but now the darn man has put me on hold but didn't tell me in first place?

Why was customer service representative so rude? I contacted 1-800-654-1187 at least 14 times in the course of this time and left messages at 407-241-1822 but no returned calls. The company does contact my office and ask me every three weeks if I want to upgrade my present Dragon software. Why would I upgrade if I haven't been able to use the one I purchased 9 months ago? I'm tired of constantly having to beg companies to listen but they do not for no reason.

I'm using my Dragon software at work to dictate this complaint because of my disabilities. I scanned the material in 50 page lots, and then tried to merge them by dragging. More often than not, in the resulting stack, the later pages were placed on top instead of in sequence. When this happened I had to 'undo' the function and try again until it eventually worked. When I tried to save the document to my documents, I found that some pages were blank and some others were just a mass of gray. There were also pages that were completely out of numerical order and just randomly scattered throughout the document.

I should mention also that it took many minutes to complete this bungled save. Since I had no confidence in trying again to save the material as a complete document, I clicked the unstack command, thinking that maybe if I tried to save one page at a time, it might not destroy the document.

But this action only created a fantastic jumble on the screen. The pages were overlaid on one another such that it looked like someone had scattered all the pages on the floor. I escaped from this horrible mess by clicking 'List', and I got a list all right.

Each page was now a separate PDF file as I intended, but the numerical order of the pages was absolutely scrambled. When I write scrambled, I mean that there was no discernible pattern to the order that I could fathom. Pages numbered with single and double digits were thoroughly sprinkled throughout the triple digits, which themselves were in no coherent order.

When I began the dreary process of hunting for page numbers so as to sequence them and then saving each page separately, I found to my horror that in some cases, the wrong page was in the wrong file. For example, when I opened a file that was labelled as page 38, a different page was in the file in place of the proper page. And further, some of these different pages were duplicates of pages that were in other correctly labeled files. I now face hours of miserable work to somehow patch this document back together.

From this experience, the effects of this software were as if it were malware. How can Nuance get away with marketing a product that has generated so many complaints? Is this not consumer fraud?

I own much of what Nuance has to offer. I have Dragon, DPF Creator pro, OmniPage Platinum, PaperPort Pro. I installed the software, registered it online with Nuance and activated it online. I don't use any of the Nuance software on a daily basis. I noticed a disturbing trend with all my Nuance software. Each package would launch and work well the day (and week) of installation.

The next time I launched the software, I would receive a message that I need to activate the software. I presumed the activation did not complete for some reason and I did as instructed.

One day, several months later, I attempted to launch OmniPage and I received an error message stating my software had been activated on too many computers. At the time we had one PC (a then recent home built i5 with a Gigabyte P55A-UD7 motherboard) that was current and had enough processing power to handle the software) and the software had been installed on that computer only. I did some research online and found the answer from one frustrated user. He learned that Nuance takes a snapshot of your PC at the time of install.

This snapshot is stored on their servers and each time you start their program, it sends your current system footprint to the server to see if they match. So far so good. Now it gets interesting. If you update your BIOS, add ram, add a HD, plug in any USB thumb drive or any USB device for that matter, download patches for Windows, Office, or any Nuance product, or you add new software to your system. You have changed your digital footprint and the system prompts you to activate the software.

My copy of Dragon or OmniPage (not certain) prompted me that a new free update was available. I downloaded version 11.5 to patch version 11.x. I had to restart the system following the update.

I launched the program after Windows 7 pro 64 bit was active. I received an immediate message to activate my software. I sent an e-mail to Nuance and asked to explain how their activation system works. I asked if any and all updates, installation and/or removal of software/hardware would be detected as a 'new or different' system. Their answer was YES. I followed up with a message asking why they simply do not pull the serial number off the processor, motherboard and operating system. I explained one of these items should be enough to determine I am using the same system.

I further explained that some people update their processors and the motherboard serial number and OS serial number should be enough. Their solution to me was as follows: I should delete all Nuance software from my system if I know in advance that I will be updating the BIOS, updating Windows by the weekly Microsoft Update, if I plan to add/remove hardware and if I plan to add/remove software from my system. I almost forgot one big item. Antivirus definition updates that are installed to your AV software also constitute a change in your system's footprint. I was also told that I should remove and re-install the Nuance packages in a very specific sequence since I have more than one of their products.

It was further explained that if I failed to follow the sequence I might leave fragments of the software on the HD and this would make it difficult (possibly impossible) to re-install the Nuance Software after I finished all my system housekeeping. Someone in customer support must have no knowledge of Personal Computers and/or Software installation. Do they expect their customers to remove and re-install their software prior to making changes to their PC? This is nuts. I have not updated one piece of software after learning of this activation nightmare. I totally understand the idea of anti-piracy and I support the concept.

The sad part of the entire issue is Nuance was given a free suggestion and a very simply workaround to their issue. Owners could keep their systems properly updated and the uninstall - re-install headaches would be unnecessary.

I have written email messages detailing the issues and I have spoken with their so-called tech support (this was difficult for me because English was not their primary language. I believe I was speaking with someone in India, Pakistan or some other third world country). Nuance simply blows the customer off and then they have the gall to suggest I purchase an upgrade to my non-functioning software. I generally tell them I will be happy to upgrade once my current software is up and running. They rudely explain my software is too old to offer 'free' support and that I should have called sooner. I explained that my software was working well until their updates bricked all Nuance Software on my system. I will never upgrade any of the Nuance software until 1) they change their activation software, 2) they start treating their customers with decent respect and courtesy, 3) they bring their support back the USA or Canada and 4) they write better code that allows all Nuance products to coexist on the same system without the need of a specific installation/removal sequence.

Thank you for your time. I finally bought a new computer with Win 8 and obviously re-loaded my software that I typically use including Dragon and Paperport. I have used Paperport for well over a decade and find the software useful to file paperwork. I had issue with registration of the Paperport and called tech support. They told me that my version was not compatible with Win 8 and that is why I was having issues.

Well.I believed them and bought a new version. Went to take the old version out and it deleted my document file. I called support and they said that I should not have deleted these files.duh. I explained three times that I did not delete these files and it was deleted by my Paperport uninstall. The tech finally told me just to set up a new user account and then I would be good to go. I finally did some research and obviously the tech didn't know how to take care of issues and I found the answer on my own.

I loved Paperport and Dragon.sorry.but your customer service stinks.no one apologized.no one offered a remedy.no one offered an answer. Sorry.done with Nuance. I am sooooooo disappointed. I purchased Dragon Speaking 12 over the web and since then my computer screen has been filled with ads from Nuance: Still want to buy.? I called and had my email address removed (only to get a return email asking me to rate my experience with Nuance tech support!), but that's not where the web ads are coming from. Don't buy over the web unless you're ready to be inundated with Nuance marketing stuff. And don't give them any information about yourself other than what's absolutely essential.

They'll only use it against you. PDF Professional 7 - It's a great product with fatal flaw: any change to my computer configuration, including plugging in a USB device like a thumb drive or camera, sets off the activation program and after a certain number of activations, the program tells me that I have installed the software on too many computers. It is installed on one computer, and I'm not talking about changing motherboards here; any USB device triggers this.

There isn't any. I've actually bought this program twice and just had my second one run out of activations. Class action?

God I hope so. Anyone else that's had this problem could contact me. Problems with Dragon Professional 12.5 - I contacted Customer Support and explained the problem three times and got cut off each time, wasting more than 30 minutes and not getting my problem solved. It's sad that I have used Dragon for nearly 10 years and it has been these last two years that Nuance, as a company, does not meet any standards of customer service that is reasonable to the American customer base. This means their service technicians do not speak English well. They avoid problems by disconnecting customers, and when you ask to speak to a supervisor, they also disconnect you.

I long for a new company to replace these money-focused only people. I've been a satisfied Dragon user since version 4 or 5 many years ago. The trouble started when I moved to Dragon 12. The latency of the software in MS Word 2003 was so great I called tech support and tried several suggestions of which none worked. I was told not to update to SP1 which wouldn't work well with the older version of Word and Excel. I gave up on Tech Support and noticed that the software comes enabled with many options from formatting emails and currency to dictating into HTML, controlling the mouse, etc. After disabling, many latency issues were resolved.

The current problem involves reloading the software onto a laptop after having a catastrophic hard drive failure. I loaded the software after which it searched for an update, Service Pack One, so I installed that.

After the installation was complete, I opened the software whereupon it asked for an activation code. I entered the one I had received previously. I received an error message stating that the provided serial number was incorrect.

After a couple of attempts, I called Tech Support. The technician told me I should not have installed Service Pack One even though the software requested so.

Next, the technician made several suggestions none of which failed to activate the software. He also promised he would send an email with the activation code that would work. As of this date, I have not received it.

After a couple of days, I called customer service and spoke with a gentleman who assured me that he would get the issue resolved by the next day and have an activation serial number emailed to me promptly. I did not receive such an email the following day so on day number two, I again called Nuance. The same gentleman in Customer Service assures me he will have that activation code sent soon.

It is unfortunate that a company of this size does not have the human resources to properly provide customer support. It's certainly better than manually typing, but a significant amount of time still has to be committed to complete the job. The REAL COMPLAINT. They insist that you divulge your phone number when registering their products, and then they are phoning you repeatedly with high-pressure sales tactics (I actually had to hang up on the last guy that called as he refused to take a few polite 'No Thanks' and continued to speak). I subscribed to their emails - for another few minutes, but I have had to resort to blocking their calls because of the relentless, time consuming phone calls. Don't look to Nuance for support. These are essentially good software products written by people who have moved on long ago.

The only person you will ever contact is a salesperson. That's because they have a single mission: sell product.

I do not believe Nuance itself has ever written a single line of computer code. They are marketers, not software developers. Just keep that in mind when a Nuance product does not do what its Help documentation says it will do. Better luck raising the dead - a very apt comparison. When I switched to a 64-bit machine, I had repeated problems with conflicts. I'm addicted to text-to-speech software but I can't recommend this company and they are the shining case study example of how not to handle customer service.

They do not even know what the term means. You do not have to take my word, just google Nuance and you'll find posting after posting of people who can't get anything done with the customer service. These people are obviously coaxed to stonewall even if you can get to them.

I have no respect for a company that issues flaky software and generates income charging you to get your questions on how to get it to work answered. I have several Nuance products (OmniPage Professional, Dragon Professional, PDF Creator Professional and PaperPort Professional). I activated each product as instructed. I was unaware that Nuance takes a snapshot of your system when you register the product. One would presume the snapshot would include the serial number of the Motherboard and/or Processor to identify the system where the software is installed.

Several sources (outside this site) indicate the snapshot include Bios version, version of Windows and all service packs, etc. If you update your Bios, install weekly Microsoft software patches, add or remove hardware from your system, etc., the new image Nuance receives no longer matches the image on file when you first registered your software. You are prompted to register your software again.

I suppose that my initial registration was somehow lost and I clicked on the Register Now button. This happened several times until I finally received an error message stating I had installed the software on too many systems. I had it installed on one (1) and only one computer. Nuance anti-piracy software looked at Bios updates, Microsoft Patches or Service packs for Windows or Office, hardware changes (I unplugged an external hard drive, e-SATA connection from my PC) as a different system. It seems that the software engineers, in whatever third world country Nuance is finding their programmers, have designed software that is way too intrusive and looks at too many parameters to determine one's system.

The serial number on the motherboard should be more than sufficient to determine one's system. It is possible the end user may update the processor and its serial number would change. One should be able to contact Nuance if their motherboard is defective and requires replacement. The problem with Nuance is they have many good programs and they are great when and if they work. They need to invest in decent customer support, software support and programmers in the United States and Canada if they truly want those of us in North America to purchase their products.

I am looking for open source replacements for all Nuance products. I hope I can find them for the Window OS. I may need to move to some flavor of Linux and I am willing to make the move if there are open source products out there that work.

I called back a week later. I was given a major runaround and was told they could only refund and I would have to re-order.

I was not happy and insisted upon delivery of the product. But while waiting on a 25-minute call, I reviewed the complaints on the product. I should have read them first. If ordering customer service is that bad, I cannot imagine how poor the tech support is. I changed my request to refund on the undelivered half and only hope the one I received works.

I have already changed our gifts so I will now keep this one. Pit hartling card fictions pdf. If it works, great; otherwise, I will probably not call for support as I do not have the time or patience to deal with them again. I hope I receive my refund and I will never order another product from Nuance. I have carpal tunnel and am writing a family history. So, after seeing numerous TV ads for Dragon software, I ordered it and an instructional CD, to help me use Dragon.

I was supposed to also get a headset and Family Tree software. Dragon and the instructional CD came a week ago, with no notation about the rest of the shipment on the invoice. I have made 3 calls, leaving messages for someone to call me back about this. Finally, I spoke nonsense to the voice recognition system which transferred me to an operator and waited over 10 minutes for the operator to answer.

She then transferred me to the Customer Service manager, Sandra. Of course Ms. didn't answer her phone. I had to leave another message. After hearing about Nuance Dragon dictation software for Mac and reading what the company was saying (99% accuracy), I bought this software assuming that it would do what the company says it does. I used it for about a month,and it was useless.

What it typed was not what I dictated at times, and it would erase and add what I did not dictate, making it difficult to go back and correct. I was spending more time correcting and working out what is not right and eventually gave up using. I then contacted the company several times and every time a response came a few days later asking me to connect to a site through a link. There was absolutely unacceptable post sales customer support. Paperport used to be a fairly terrific product when Scansoft owned it. It was dependable, nearly crash-proof and worth the money.

Around 4-5 years ago, coincidence with Nuance's taking it over, it got buggy and it's buggier than ever. It crashes often, items on the task bar are grayed out while editing individual items with no explanation and it gets, well, confused a lot. It may be the single worst piece of software I have ever used, and it comes with the worst tech support imaginable.

Of course, Nuance makes up for all this by bombarding you with emails advertising Dragon Naturally (another bust) or upgrades to Omipage and Paperport. Wish there were an alternative! One more thing. Nuance figures prominently in a recent NYT piece on patent lawsuits, specifically in how Vlingo, a small voice recognition outfit, was eviscerated by serial lawsuits and forced to sell out to Nuance. I bought the Dragon Naturally Speaking Home Edition for my daughter who struggles to type high school reports. We were excited to get this software.

It appeared to install just fine but every time I go to use it, I get an error message. After 2 and 1/2 hours, 3 tech support people (who barely spoke English), it still doesn't work and I keep getting emails that ask if I want to close the work ticket. I am furious as this was a lot of money for us and I cannot use it at all. I am getting sick and tired of bad service from software companies.

I will never again buy anything from this company. Your use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Advertisements on this site are placed and controlled by outside advertising networks. ConsumerAffairs.com does not evaluate or endorse the products and services advertised. See the for more information. The information on this Web site is general in nature and is not intended as a substitute for competent legal advice. ConsumerAffairs.com makes no representation as to the accuracy of the information herein provided and assumes no liability for any damages or loss arising from the use thereof. Copyright © 2018 Consumers Unified LLC.

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