I just noticed that DxO has started offering “Premium Support” for pro photographers who need prompt access to support services:
Introducing DxO Premium Customer Support - DxO
I didn’t see an announcement from DxO about this. But then, I’m not a pro and maybe DxO knew that.
Have you been notified in some way? What do you think of this offering?
News to me, I haven’t seen any literature about it before now.
OTOH it’s not free - you do have to pay for the support - so it’s not preferential treatment based on perceived customer value.
OTO hopefully they’re providing additional resources for paid support teams, rather than taking away from existing customer support (meaning our unpaid support takes longer) to fund paid support programmes.
Given the mess that is PL9 shouldn’t they be paying us for testing and reporting our findings!?
Don’t get me fired up again 
(I will say… I do find it increasingly concerning that there hasn’t been any word on ongoing issues, any attempt to reassure customers of progress or anything. We’ve been very much left to sit on our hands, kick our feet and try and remain hopeful here).
@Fineus I’ve got to amuse myself somehow 
@Fineus Leaving us to “spin our wheels”, while we live with the consequences of their development while they set up another “money spinner” would make “my blood boil” if I expected anything less, sorry anything more, of DxO.
They may be “working their socks off” trying to fix the problems but offering no discussion of what has gone wrong, what users could do to mitigate the issues, or help investigate, i.e. formalise this new Beta Test phase we all find ourselves in is … DxO all over and I would suggest a lamentable example to anyone considering taking up the new premium service.
It makes sense to offer such a service to ensure that professionals feel confident to undertake “mission critical” assignments/projects with PhotoLab but how about “rewarding” all their customers who are enduring the current problems with a bit more (any) communication @DxO_Support-Team.
PS:- Sadly all the posts to the forum are available to anyone doing a DxO or PhotoLab etc. search. So my disgruntled comments will be visible to prospective PhotoLab users, which is sad because I actually like the product what I don’t like is being left to our own devices without any sort communication from DxO.
To be honest I am not sure I have learned anything from DxO themselves, whatever I know about the inner workings of the product has come from my own and other users investigations and reports in the Forum.
Perhaps they believe that we don’t need to know and therefore shouldn’t dig!?
That’s honestly what I’d hope for here at least.
Much as it’s nice to dream of a (partial) refund on a broken product, or a discount for future purchases, I’m trying to be realistic and expect the bare minimum of communication.
Like you I like the product, at least on the face of it. I grumble through bits of it not working, or when it crashes while I do something as simple as crop a photo.
But to offset that the customer-facing business side needs desperate improvement. Like you, all I’ve learned of the problems with v.9 and any hope of mitigating or triaging it have been from fellow customers here on this forum. We’re having to fault-find, test, diagnose and try and work temporary fixes DxO’s software for them!
It absolutely feels like “we don’t need to know” or at the very least, we’re not worth acknowledging and telling. Feels bad.
I must say I have never had PL crash on me (on my Mac) but, like you, I find it by far the best tool for the job.
I just exhibited a collection of my B&W photos, all processed in PL and scaled and print sharpened in Topaz Photo. The results are simply stunning and I had a lot of very positive feedback. I promote PL to other photographers but ì just wish there weren’t so many annoyances that I have to work around.
My peeve about this “offer” is, why should I have to pay for support when it is I who am spending time finding the bugs and filling out detailed bug reports?
I get a sneaky feeling this might be a ruse to see how many take up the idea of regular payments, with the likelihood of moving PL itself to a subscription model.
@Joanna I agree but if my livelihood depended on “instant” accessibility to support then allocating part of a fee to additional support, an additional insurance if you like, makes sense.
But at what cost to the rest of the users, a potentially reduced service!?
@Joanna You are even more suspicious than I am!
@Fineus It is and it does (feel bad).
While I understand the notion that support and development staff have a job to do and wading through forum posts is time consuming, because there are a lot more of us than there are of them, the complete withdrawal of any communication, with the exception of the release of support for new cameras and lenses, which has continued, is lamentable.
@Egregius I was concerned that we were wandering off topic but you did say
I was notified by your post and I have expressed some of my views above so I don’t think we are off topic, … yet!
PS:- change “so I don’t think we are off topic” to “so I don’t think we are too off topic”
Absolutely. If any DxO products are not functioning on customer machines then it should be their obligation and their good-will to support those customers to the best of their abilities. We’ve already paid for the product(s) and they’re not cheap.
DxO moving to a subscription model would be a very risky move as it positions their offerings even more as a direct alternative to some industry heavyweights that - in some cases - work better.
I’ve zero love for Adobe or their business practices but their subscription model comes with a mobile phone app, cloud storage, and additional resources that DxO don’t boast. There’s way more creative tutorials for working with e.g. Lightroom and Photoshop than PL.
I’m OK with that, so long as DxO PhotoLab and DLC remains a strong competitive product.
because there are a lot more of us than there are of them,
Oh for sure! And I’ve no illusions of grandeur that DxO support needs to directly engage and work with me to solve anything like the widespread problems AI masking is having.
But they could, and should, communicate with us. It doesn’t need to be interactive - just updates and reassurances that they’re still working on anything more than… …a new copy of FilmPack or paid premium support for “professionals”.
@Fineus Most of the “promotion” that they are doing winds up as an annoying flash screens in PhotoLab and/or the forum and the website. I don’t need DxO reminding me about how wonderful their software is and how the professionals use it etc…
That is essential to drive up sales, and sales are essential to fund the ongoing support and development of the product, but when you, me and others are complaining about the reality that is sadly frequently a negative, countering the positive they are attempting to promote and being told how wonderful the product is doesn’t help one iota.
Engage with the userbase, not to “big up” the product, we bought it already, but to actually help “sooth” the “wounds” and show the caring side of DxO.
Less “false” polish and more caring and help for the “injured” users.
This release may force users to invest in new hardware or not use certain facilities or question whether PhotoLab is worth all the effort at all. I believe that it is but a bit of TLC wouldn’t go amiss.
I know I probably sound like a broken record but it’s highly frustrating that competing products which feature AI masking simply… work. They work effectively and efficiently on my current hardware.
I appreciate it might take DxO a little time to polish what they’ve got, but they shouldn’t be the one and only suite that I must upgrade to be able to use.
I agree with rest entirely. Some TLC would be nice. I have good will towards companies that make an effort to treat their customers well, and I’ll forgive them issues, delays and so on.
DxO is somehow hitting the polar opposite of this; no TLC for existing customers, but instead flashing adverts at them and reminders of how supposedly great their products are, despite (us) customers sitting here lamenting the issues we’re having.
It’s great talking to you all, but I don’t really want to be here… I want to be happily editing photos and enjoying all the creative possibilities of PhotoLab.
I’m not concerned. 
Support is a broad topic (sometime painful, too).
Personally, I’m hoping for some evidence that this premium offering isn’t a sign that regular support is further degrading into an outsourced know-nothing experience. More and more of my experiences of tech support from any software developer are complete nonsense - asking for photos or videos of error messages when there are no error messages, asking me to try things that are not possible given the problem I’m reporting, asking for info I’ve already provided, ignoring my questions… I’ve seen some of that from DxO, particularly if the product needing support isn’t PhotoLab. My interpretation of DxO’s new offering is that premium support bypasses the frontline tier entirely and gives direct access to the development team, like beta testing sometimes does. I doubt there’s more than a very small intermediary that screens and routes the support requests as they come in. Regular support, on the other hand, is front-tier only - we only interact with the intermediary, who is just an information gatherer and might not know anything about the product being supported. (It seems so common now for companies to outsource customer support to third-party call centers or networks of at-home laborers.)
When support becomes a one-way sharing of information, it becomes company support, not customer support.
I don’t see any risk with a premium support payment offer.
Those relying on the tool in a professional environment do have different needs than those who don’t.
This can be found in different areas within photography as well - Professional Services for Nikon and Canon et al. Although those are mainly hardware related but it’s the same cost due to downtime.
And if the issue is caused by a bug? Are DxO inferring that they could fix those issues within a day, just because you have paid a monthly fee?
That’s the elephant in the room for me.
A bug for someone who has deep pockets for premium support is a bug that could/does still impact us all.
Issues with performance that impact a premium support user… could/do still impact us all.
After all, we’re not talking about an e.g. Canon hardware service that fast-supports, replaces, fixes, or provides loan equipment for a professional having issues with a body or lens. I don’t see DxO providing alternative hardware guaranteed to work better with PhotoLab, or an alternative version of PL that “just works”.
Many years ago with Canon one big pirk with pro support was geting camera/lenses calabrated. May be DXO will be offering to set up paying customers computers so they are fully compatible with there programs?
One thing this really shows if they know how poor support is and rather than improve it create a new revenue stream providing support that works (well may be)
Maybe we should do a quick whip-round, all put in £/$5, and buy a shared premium support account to raise all our concerns through
Maybe this will go the way of the vanishing DXO waterproof clothing
Maybe DxO targets some “defectors”?
Btw, anyone tried it?
