ACT! by Sage - CRM software

[AlbertLionheart]

I have been a user of ACT! since the first version and because users are stitched up with their data format users have to stick with the thing through all the upgrades. Each upgrade just makes it worse and now these are linked up to the latest version of Windows - this means that a copy that worked with Vista will not work with Windows 7 or vice versa.
The software has a number of fundamental flaws; the first and most irritating is that it will not run reliably at a screen resolution greater than 1024 x 768. It also has hysterics if you run more than one monitor. It requests re-registration at irregular intervals which will eventually exceed the number of permitted registrations so users have to plead with them to reset the counter.
I have had so much trouble with this that Sage Support now refuse to answer requests for help.
I am stuck with this because I have data in the program which I cannot get at any other way, and it cannot be exported in any format that another similar product can import and work with.
I have wasted so much money and time on this piece of rubbish I feel I should make sure as many as possible know about it.

 

[bobcat]

Thanks for the warning AlbertLionheart, if a user of your caliber had problems, few others wouldn’t.

It might be an idea to establish a new section devoted to dodgy, bogus and harmful products, including bogus antivirus and freeware infected with spyware, as well ineffective ones, such as memory optimizers etc.

 

[DelJo63]

Might also solicit for export techniques, albeit even if incomplete or multiple steps are required.

Can ACT export anything, regardless of formatting?

Sometimes with some Perl coding, it is possible to create data transformation/reformatting code; eg
something like this

cust name: xxxxxx account num: xxxxx
cust address: 123456 cust street: aaaaaa
cust city: cccccc cust postal: 12345-1234 cust state: ZZ
- - - - -
loan amt: $$$$$$$ deficientcy: $$$$$$$ date: mm-dd-yyyy
=====

cust name: xxxxxx account num: xxxxx
cust address: 123456 cust street: aaaaaa
cust city: cccccc cust postal: 12345-1234 cust state: ZZ
- - - - -
loan amt: $$$$$$$ deficientcy: $$$$$$$ date: mm-dd-yyyy
=====
​

can be reformatted into an Excel CSV form of one line per cust address.
I wrote a ton of these transforms for an agency.

 

[AlbertLionheart]

This seems to have finally come home to roost for Sage and they are getting rid of it. Sold apparently to SwiftPage - I just hope these poor people know what a hog's breakfast they have bought! What bothers me is that SwiftPage do not apparently have a UK presence so who is going to look after the clientele over here in UKkers?