Frequently Asked Questions

We offer various products and each has its own FAQ. Please see the specific product web site for details on that product.

Help us to serve you better. By providing complete information and observing some common sense guidelines, you can help us provide you a faster and more thorough answer to your support needs.

General Questions and Answers

Download Problems

We offer various products and some are available as immediate downloads. If you purchased a downloadable product then the download link was shown at the end of the checkout process so you could click to download immediately. If you did not click this link, it was also sent by email. All of our downloads use security measures to protect them from unauthorized downloading. You have 24 hours to download your initial purchase. This is more than adequate time to download any product we sell as a download. If you click on a download link within 24 hours of purchase and see a message saying the link has expired, it means your computer is not correctly configured and is blocking cookies. Make sure your browser is not set to block all cookies and that your anti-virus is not set to block all cookies. Cookies are part of many websites and are necessary to access our secure download pages. If you have disabled cookies and need to download, use the replacement request link on the error page to request a new secure download link. If you have received a replacement link and still see the error message, click the refresh button to make sure your browser is not showing the cached error page and loads the real page. If you still see the error page, make sure you have cookies enabled or try downloading with a different browser like Firefox or Chrome.

Online Courses

We offer various online courses which are available immediately after purchase. When your purchase is completed, you are given a link to click which will take you to the online course. If you do not click this link, you will still receive the access link and your login information by email. If you forget your password, simply click the 'forgot password' link on the login page for the course you purchased.

Receiving Support

In order to receive a useful response, Please state what the problem is and provide any relevant information or explain how we can reproduce the problem, or how you were able to produce the problem along with any error messages, and especially which product you are using. General statements like "I cant download" or "It don't work" with no other details are not helpful because we have no way to determine what the problem is without knowing what you have tried or what error messages you are seeing. Sending general messages like "I cant get the CD to install, what do I do?" will result in generic responses because we have no idea what error messages are appearing or what about the install process is not working. Is your computer not reading the CD? Does an error message appear when you try to install? Are you running the installer or just inserting the CD and waiting? We have no way of knowing what the end user is seeing unless the user tells us. It is like taking your car to a mechanic and telling him "my car is not working right, how do I fix it." Without knowing what problems the customer is seeing, or what to do to demonstrate the problem, there is no possible way he could offer any advice. If the customer had told the mechanic "My car makes a knocking noise going up hills." then the mechanic can start to offer advice. If we do not know anything other than "there is a problem" then we cannot offer any specific advice. Please provide adequate information in your support request so we know what problem you are having and how to reproduce it..

Sending repeated messages saying "I cant download", "I just emailed where are you", "I still cant download", with no additional information, no reference to any past trouble tickets, and no useful information will likely result in receiving the same generic answer each time. You will need to let us know what product you have, what you have tried, and what error messages you are still seeing. We have had customers send a one line message like this, we respond with download instructions, then a week later the customer sends the same message again with no other information.

You should always include relevant information in any response. Our ticket system allows you to add to any ticket, even if it was closed. Opening a new ticket that says "tried that, what next" with no additional information will likely be ignored as spam because it contains no useful information at all. If someone called you on the phone, you got up from the dinner table to answer, and when you answered they said "tried that what next" would you know what they were taliking about? Neither do we. We need to know what was tried and what previously was discussed. If you respond to an email message, quote the existing email. Sending a response which does not quote the previous conversation or description will appear as a new support request to our support personnel and may result in you receiving the same generic response since you appear to be asking the original question for the first time without quoting any past responses.

Generic statements like "I have your program and it don't work" will not result in any resolution because we sell hundreds of products and have no way of knowing what "your program" means, when you purchased it, or what about it does not work. Please include the name of the product you purchased and a description of what is not working. Nonsense and single sentence support requests will be ignored such as "You there?" or "How do I get it" or "I paid what next" or "how do I order". These are not legitimate support requests therefore there is no need to respond. All information on obtaining products is shown at the end of the purchase cycle or emailed to the customer. Order buttons are on all of our product pages with full instructions.

Include your name and email address(used to place the original order). We frequently receive support requests from "Mark" or "Jenny" or even "J" claiming they never received their order, yet we have no way of knowing who these people are with no information other than a first name. If you want assistance or need to know the status of an order, we will need to know what you ordered, when, and your name and email address.

We respond to legitimate trouble tickets in 24 to 48 hours during the business week. If your ticket has not been responded to in this time(not over weekends or holidays) file a follow up ticket by adding to your existing ticket. It may have simply been overlooked. We will not respond to meaningless tickets which say nothing more than one line like "What is this?" or "I dont know" because these are not legitimate support requests. A legitimate request has useful information and actually asks a real question in it. There is no possible response we could send for "What is this?" other than "it is what it is" because we have no way of knowing what "IT" is or what the actual question is. Yes, people do send these kinds of messages through our support system and we still have no idea why or what kind of a response they expect.

If you do not receive an email confirmation after submitting a ticket, it means either the email address you listed is incorrect or is not functioning and you will not receive the email copy when your ticket is responded to. You can still view the ticket response but you will need to use the access code you are shown after the ticket is posted to access it and all responses later or you can bookmark the link which is shown on the final trouble ticket page to access it directly without the code. Make sure to save this access code or bookmark the trouble ticket link for your specific ticket if you do not receive the ticket information email.

Phone Support

We do not offer phone support. Telephone support is inefficient and expensive to maintain. Our trouble ticket system is much more efficient. If the problem cannot be described succinctly and accurately in a trouble ticket, then there is no way the message could be explained by phone any more clearly. Some of our products offer order lines which are ONLY order lines. Any support requests to these lines will be ignored. The people operating these order lines are not trained in support, cannot track orders, cannot process refunds, and have no idea how to offer help. They are order takers only. Repeated calls to order lines demanding support instead of using the online trouble ticket system will result in additional charges to the customer credit card of $5 per minute for the time they used up harassing our order takers. Many of the products we sell are inexpensive. If we have to provide live telephone support, then even one support call means we loose money on that sale in excess of the value of the sale. It makes no business sense for us to provide telephone support for inexpensive products especially when any question can be handled through our ticket system more efficiently anyway. If you have a question, just use the online ticket system and we will be happy to respond.

Downloads

If you purchased a download and failed to click the download link shown at the end of your purchase, you will also receive the link by email. If your email is not working and you did not receive this email, you can contact us for a replacement which will be posted in the trouble ticket system. We do not send downloads as email attachments.

Some products are offered as downloadable software. The software download pages are verified as working, they do work, and you can download any downloadable purchase by following the instructions for that product. Many download product pages require cookies to be enabled on your computer. If you have disabled cookies by setting your browser security incorrectly or if your anti virus incorrectly blocks all cookies, you will not be able to download. Some over zealous IT departments block all cookies because they do not understand how webpages actually work. The end user's inability to download due to cookie-blocking is not our responsibility because cookies are a standard part of web pages and represent no security risk so there is no reason to block them. No refunds will be issued for customers who are unable to download or who refuse to download a downloadable product. Our download service does work and the files are available. If the end user's computer is incorrectly configured, if the end user is on a network that does not allow downloads(library or work or government) that is not our responsibility. User can download from a home computer instead.

Downloadable software is made available to the purchaser for a limited time. It is not our responsibility to force, or hand-hold, the end user through the process of downloading. Downloading is a simple process and anyone with elementary computer skills should be able to click a download button or link. All downloads are available for immediate download and the download link is shown on the receipt page. The download link is also in the confirmation email. Most download links expire after 24 hours so the user is responsible for downloading their purchase in a timely fashion. Downloading is a simple process: click the download link shown on the download page or in your email. If anything more complicated is required, it is due to the end user's computer, hardware, or skills and is not our responsibility. We make the download available, it is the end user's responsibility to click the download link using a computer that is correctly configured and working correctly. Users should not purchase software if their computer is not functioning correctly, if they know or should have known they are unable to download software, or if they know or should have known they have limited computer skills which could prevent them from using the software. Don't buy a car if you don't have a driver's license; don't buy downloadable software if you do not know how to download and install software.

Refunds/Returns

Refunds are subject to the specific terms on the product web site. We have different refund options and different guarantees for different products. Generally, product guarantees are listed on the web site for that product and vary by product.

Refund claims are subject to our TERMS. We only offer satisfaction guarantees(on those product that offer such a guarantee) on our own products therefore satisfaction guarantees do not apply to the end user's inability to use any product due to their lack of computer experience, inability to follow download instructions, or due to problems related to Windows or computer settings on the user's computer. These are all factors outside of our control therefore no satisfaction guarantee covers problems in these areas. Any refund request due to a user's inability to use the product because of their own computer software or hardware limitations/failures, their limited computer experience, their inability or unwillingness to download software which was made available for download, will be ignored because our satisfaction does not cover products by other manufacturers or limitations of the user's ability, only our own products.

Multimedia and audio, such as DVD movies, audio books, are not subject to any guarantees unless they are specified on the web site for that product. We do not provide any refunds for educational movies or documentaries, entertainment movies or documentaries, or audio/CD/DVD programs that are primarily entertainment or educational courses unless such guarantees are clearly listed on the web site for that product

Free Upgrades or Replacements

We do not offer free upgrades. Customers often purchase online courses or downloadable software then when they realize their computer is set incorrectly, instead of correcting those settings so they can download, they demand a free upgrade to a CD-ROM version. We do not provide free upgrades. CD ROM versions are more expensive than downloads, therefore we will not send a CD just because someone has trouble clicking the download link after purchasing a less expensive version. Our download system is fully functional and any failure to download is a problem with the user's computer or with the user's ability to use their computer, neither of which are under our control.

We do not offer free replacement CD's or downloads. Customers sometimes contact us to say "I bought your CD a year ago and cant find it, can you send a new one?" or "I downloaded your software three months ago and my hard drive crashed, how can I download again?". We do not provide free lifetime replacements for any product. We do not provide reduced price replacements. Many of our products go through updates and enhancements so the product purchased 1 year ago may be very different from the current product.

Downloads are available for a limited time. If you have not purchased extended download insurance, then you will need to repurchase the product if you lose your copy. Any download should be backed up. The end user's failure to make proper back-up copies of software downloads and/or activation codes, or to properly store purchased CD or DVD media is obviously not our responsibility. A download purchase includes one initial download, and we may allow additional replacements for up to 30 days or a more limited time depending on the product. It is the end user's responsibility to make proper back-ups. After 30 days we do not provide any replacement for any reason(unless the buyer has purchased replacement insurance or extended download insurance).

Requests for a replacement download by falsely claiming it was recently purchased when it was in fact purchased more than 30 days ago will be ignored.

Lost in Mail

If you ordered a physical product and have not received it in the mail, you must notify us in a reasonable time. We have had customers complain 3 months and 6 months after a purchase to say they never received their purchase. After this long of a time we can no longer track packages and they are assumed to be delivered if the customer has not notified us in a reasonable time. Most products should be received within 2 weeks after purchase anywhere in the world. If your product has not arrived in 2-3 weeks, then contact us and we will be happy to check the status of your order and try to determine if it was lost in the mail. You should also check with other household members or co-workers who may have brought in the mail. 90% of the time we have found that someone brought in the package and placed it on a book shelf or desk without telling the addressee their package arrived. It simply makes no sense to purchase a product, select Priority Mail shipping which is 2-3 days, then wait 60 days before contacting us when the customer knew the product should arrive within a week or less. Contact us in a reasonable time and we will gladly track your package or if it was lost in the mail arrange for a replacement.