Hi All,
I would like to know, if anyone has experienced the same problems as I have after trying to reduce the numbers of licenses.
First a bit of background information, I am a single use of Bentley software and history with Bentley is:In 1993 I bought Microstation and at some point in the 90’ties I bought PlantSpace P&ID
In 2003 I bought Bentley Architecture and Bentley Structural
When Bentley in 2012 introduced ABD I suddenly had to many ABD licenses and I therefore converted the extra licenses to OpenPlant Modeler and OpenPlant Iso (my PlantSpace P&ID license had already been converted to OpenPlant P&ID), I had no problems what so ever in this change, as long as I paid the little extra which was necessary.
I must admit that I during 2014 gave up in trying using OpenPlant, for single user there were just too much work with have to administrate the XML-Schemas, I therefore asked in November 2014 if I could convert all my OpenPlant licenses to Prosteel.
I was told that this could only be made within the translation period, I think it is 1 month before the yearly renewal date and it was not possible to convert the licenses to Prosteel, but I could translate the licenses to PowerProStruture instead, which I the did.
During 2015 I discovered that it was difficult to get the 3D-Steel models converted to SAT Files, which is the format I have to supply many of my models, I then decided to stop my subscription of PowerProstrutures, but to keep Microstation, ABD and a Passport for Bentley Navigator.
This time I waited until I got the yearly letter from Bentley telling me that if I did nothing, I would receive an invoice with same products as last year and this is where the “fun” begins.
28. Of December 2015 I got the letter and I then contacted Bentley to make the change.
6. Of Januar I got a copy of a mail from my account manager Mr. Mathis Hasle, to Mr. Jonas Persson (the person who made the switch to PowerProStructure last year), asking Mr. Persson to update the Select agreement accordingly.
29. Of January I mailed Mr. Persson asking if there were any progress, nothing happened
3. Of February I mailed my account manager Mr. Hasle, again no answer.
5. Of February I got a mail from Mr. Sean Mckenny at Bentley, with the text, “Dear Bentley user, Thanks for renewing your Bentley Subscription” (As always very polite). After receiving this mail, I mailed Mr. Hasle (same day) asking if somebody forgot that I did not wanted to renew PowerProStructure, Yes you guessed it, nothing happened.
12. Of February I mailed to Mr. Hasle, asking for progress (I knew that a wrong Invoice would come shortly after the mail from Mr. Mckenny), and I was right.
1. Of March I again asked Mr. Hasle (my account manager) for progress, no response
11. Of March (Friday) I asked Mr. Hasle again for progress, this time Mr. Persson sent me a mail, taking responsibility for the delay and telling me that he would correct the issue on the following Monday (14. Of March).
14. Of March I asked Mr. Persson for a confirmation that he had solved the problem, this did of course not happen.
30. Of March I the asked Mr. Hasle and Mr. Person again if the change had been made, I sure you already guessed the answer, yes you are correct, no answer.
1. Of April I mailed Mrs. Pamela Murray who is EMEA Renewals Manager and quickly got the answer that the problem would be solved shortly and the Invoice would be stopped.
20. Of April I mailed Mrs. Murray for progress, and yes you already know the response (no answer).
13. Of June I got a mail from Mr. Berruguete, but signed by Didier Ramhit telling me that the Invoice is more than 3 months in arrears and that Bentley may (not will) terminate my Select agreement, I responded to this mail the same day asking them to contact Mrs. Murray.
16 of June I got a mail from Info.Bentley telling everybody how well and flexible the Select system is. :-)
19. Of June I mailed Mr. Berruguete again
20. Of June I made a Service Request, this caused Henrik from Bentley to call me, telling me that he would sort everything out.
21. Of July I sent a mail to BAC at Bentley asking for progress in my SR, again nothing happened, but I discovered that all my rights at Bentley.com has been removed, meaning I cannot see if anything is happening with my SR,
7. Of September I made a new SR asking to get my rights at Bentley.com back, to make it possible to see any progress in my SR’s, as usual no response, not that I expected a response.This behavior from Bentley has not created problems for me, I made a switch to Autodesk Revit (which I already owned), meaning Microstation and ABD is not a need to have, but a nice to have.
Just to repeat my question, has anyone else experienced the same type of behavior from Bentley?I think I will wait until 1. Of November before I sent a new SR cancelling my Select Agreement, just to make sure.
And to those who consider switching from Autodesk to Bentley, please note that this will not solve your problems when it comes to managing your software licenses no matter what Bentley PR says.
I am pretty sure that both my account manager and his manager is aware of what I would like to change.
This the mail from 6. Januar from my account manager,
Hi Jonas,
I just talked to the client, and they want to remove Prostructures from their renewal, and keep the rest of the products.
Can you please issue a new updates RAS or confirm the change is ok?
Regards,
Mathis
And this is the mail from Pamela Murray who is EMEA Renewals Manager
Thank you for taking my call this morning. I have reviewed your account and as you requested the surrender prior to the 30 days’ notice period you are entitled to do so. We will need to review the paperwork and will require a License confirmation to show your new portfolio and revised portfolio balancing to maintain you with the products:
1. Microstation
1. Bentley Clash
1. Passport
1. Aecosim
As you are on SELECT 2004 version, we also require a SELECT 2014 signed when making contract adjustments.
Apologies for the delay in responding to your request. The invoice will be held until we can resolve the rebill request.
Thank you for your patience,
Kind Regards,
Pamela
As you can see, everyone involved in this "soup" is aware of what should be changed.
I have sent yet another SR, the third, hoping someone at Bentley look into this problem.