Cerious Software

Pathetic still and probably always.
It’s a terrible program if you need to have any kind of portability in a photo database. There is no easy way to move a database or part of the database from one computer to another. The customer service is unbelievably insulting and bad. Sometimes they do reply, but better they don’t. They do not deserve your patronage.
The following email passes for product support. The entire thread isn’t available, but 5 days prior my friend had followed directions to try a third party fix. The reply email is wrong, that the fix had been tried and that it did not work had been communicated to Cerious.
Their initial response? All questions had been answered and they were closing the ticket; somehow the problem had to have been caused by a party other than Cerious.
That pathetic response was addressed below in the original message. That was the extent of insult to the person providing support, Laura Shook. That it was pathetic. Their reply bemoaned some fantasy of non cooperation:
— – Reply Message — –
This is Phillip, developer of ThumbsPlus.
First Adam and then Laura provided correct and polite answers every time in this case, and you replied each time by denying what was clearly said and being obnoxious and rude.
I have no idea why you refused to do what you were told would correct the problem that Laura correctly identified as being with MICROSOFT’S Windows Installer database or MSI cache on your system.
Laura was also perfectly correct about having nothing to do with version 8. Version 9 uses a completely different Windows Installer product code, and installs and runs completely independently from version 8.
In the screen shot which YOU provided, and which I have attached again here, it’s crystal clear that there is a problem locating the .MSI file from version 9 (NINE) SP1. I even enlarged and colorized the relevant information from the error message for you.
So please follow the initial instructions, quoted below for your convenience. After you remove ThumbsPlus 9 using this tool, you should be able to install the latest build. If it doesn’t work, let us know and we will investigate further.
— An easier way has been reported to me from other users. I now have a link to a newer M$ uninstall/​install fix executable. I have not announced this yet on the pages yet but if we continue to get great results we will put a link on our pages to it. This file was created to fix this issue caused by an error in the Windows installer folder on your system.

After this, the new installer should operate correctly. —
If you continue to refuse and continue to be a condescending jackass, it will not be possible for anyone here to help you with this problem further.
Phillip Crews — Cerious Software, Inc.–
Cerious Support -
— – Original Message — –
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2015 17:24:34 –0400
To:
Subject: Re: (Case 1 319 331) Current version will not install
No, you haven’t answered all of my questions. If it’s development that I need to speak with, then I should be directed to them, him/​her. What a pathetic response. And the implication that your one instruction was not followed only shows that you don’t care what I’ve written. This is consistent with my first encounter with you, pathetic still and probably always.

After having used ThumbsPlus since 2002 I have finally moved on. I can only agree with Rod K.‘s take on their support. There is never any answer. One gets an automated email response back with a case number and that is the extent of it.
The last entry in the forum on their website dates from mid 2013 and many pages on that site have information that refers to outdated versions or built releases.
ThumbsPlus used to work great, support was responsive, I loved the program but around 2009 everything changed (I believe I still have ‘open’ case numbers from that year — they were simply never answered by Cerious). I got ACDSee Pro now and am in the process of migrating my huge database.
What a shame, because when it was still a stable program with regular working updates and existing support, ThumbsPlus was unbeatable as an image management solution.

I’ve been using ThumbsPlus for a decade. I’m not very computer literate, and there’s not all that much I need to do to my photographs, so ThumbsPlus has been fine. I’ve needed to speak to their technical support a few times over the years, and never even once did they reply to me.
So a few weeks ago my computer crashed and my IT company built a new home computer for me. They weren’t able to salvage my ThumbsPlus software, so I ended up buying a new software. Try as I might, I could not get my computer to download the software. After multiple attempts to contact the company, finally someone emailed me and started off by saying, «I don’t mean to offend you…»
Of course that meant that offending me is EXACTLY what was on her mind. She said that if I’m capable of using their software, I’d have to be an idiot not to be able to download it. Well, no, she didn’t exactly CALL me an idiot, but it was obvious what she meant.
Finally I was able to download it after trying a number of things. But once I did, the software seemed to take over my computer. I lecture a lot, and I have about a hundred different Powerpoint presentation — each of which have 150 — 800 slides — meant for 1 — 8 hour lectures.
When I downloaded the software, all of a sudden all my Powerpoint presentations had ThumbsPlus icons on them and could not be opened. I went into panic mode. Freaked me out! We are talking about thousands of hours of work here.
So I emailed the Cerious Software technical support with URGENT in the subject line and explained everything. I gave them my email address, my cell phone number and my work number. At the same time I purchased new ThumbsPlus software for my work computer, and the same thing happened.
I NEVER received even a reply from those people!!! I mentioned the problem to my marketing manager, and he was able to figure out the solution and fixed both of my computers. But still… in the meantime… not a word from Cerious Software.
SHAME ON YOU CERIOUS SOFTWARE. You have the most horrible customer support in the world — actually, you have NO customer support. In my company I employ TEAMS of people who’s ONLY job is to take care of our customers. So this REALLY rubs me the wrong way.
If you don’t specifically want any of their software, STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE!!!