15 replies to this topic

[JimWalton]

My 9th ggf has three alternate spellings for his given name. His primary name is Shadrach Walton, but on the iPad it is shown as Sidrach Walton. At first I had only his given name and it showed up as Sidrach _____. I changed it to have both his given and surname as alternates, but it made no difference.

On the surname list, Sidrach does not show up, but Shadrach does. when I open the details window, he is shown as Sidrach with Shadrach as one of his alternate names. His pedigree shows him as Sidrach with the proper parents. If I select his name from the surname list it shows properly. All the screens are correct, but if I make his father primary, he reverts back to Sidrach.

I tried another family that had an alternate name, and the child showed up properly on the father's individual list. However, the family list was totally blank, and selecting descendant crashed the program--every time.

This is a database I've worked on for several years and has over 3000 people. I moved it directly to my dropbox directory so it would always be in sync, I have synced it several times, but it just doesn't work.

Once these problems are fixed, there is one thing that is vital for this to be more than just a convenient toy. I need to be able to update my database from my iPad wherever I am. Since the database resides on the iPad, this should not be a problem. Then when I connect to the Internet, it would sync with Dropbox, updataing my main database. I realize it can't update real time like Ancestry, as that is an online database. But there is no reason for it not to be useable when I am researching at the library.

[TomH]

The blank family and app crashing are new bugs in the latest version 1.0.1

[JimWalton]

I wasn't searching for the blank family, just the use of the alternate name. That's why I missed that post. Thanks for the info. It may be that the two issues are related and that is why my issue with the names wasn't reported before.

[Renee Zamora]

The bugs Tom mentions are not happening to everyone. So open a support ticket and send a backup of your database. Then we can test to see the cause.  

Before you do that make sure you have run File>Database Tools - all options in consecutive order on your database. See if that makes any difference.  If not open the support ticket and send the backup. Let us know who to look at and the steps you take to reproduce the issue.

http://support.roots...us_requests/new

[SimoneJ]

Happened to me, too.  Esp frustrating when the married names show up as primaries.  
I've run the database checks and all was well there.  Just sent a support request with my db attached and am hopeful.

[SimoneJ]

I submitted a support request on April 8 (with a GEDCOM file attached),

"I'm finding married names, alternate spellings, etc shown as the primary names in the app. I looked in your forums and found I am not alone. I've run the database fixes in order and it's still happening. I run RM 5. Wha'sup? Am attaching my database per the suggestion on the forum. thanks in advance."

it took until April 23 for me to receive this message:

• 
  "Thank you for contacting support.
  
• 
  Can you give me an example in your file that is showing this issue in the app?
  Regards,
  Jason"
  
• 
  That same day (April 23) I sent back :
  
• 
  "Hi, Jason, I've attached images from the app from just a few of the individuals affected and made notes on them pointing to the issue. In each case, the original RM 5 file has the correct names and alternate names in their proper places. There are many, many more cases in which the alternate names are being shown as primary names in the app but are correct in the original file. I've run the fixes to the db and it still comes out the same. Hope you can help as I really like this app but it's confusing to have the alternate names pop up this way."
  
• Sadly, since then, I've heard nothing.  It's rather discouraging to have sent something almost 2 months ago and not heard a thing.  Even a "we can't fix this" would be preferable to empty silence.  Expected better from RM.  I'll probably be taking the app off my iPad since the name error doesn't seem to have a solution.

[Renee Zamora]

I will check with Jason on the status of your ticket and have him get back to you.

[SimoneJ]

Thank, Renee.  I appreciate your very prompt response!

[SimoneJ]

Well, it is now 3 months since my initial request and 2 1/2 months since the first and only reply from support.  Sadly, Renee, I never did hear from Jason (request #33319) after your post on May 31; I figured I'd give him some time and not press for a resolution in case there was a heavy caseload.  But, by now, there should have been some answer.  

I think it's about time I gave up on this app.  The issue with the names is too pervasive and makes it too awkward to use. I have run the database fixes innumberable times. I have retried several times, both the cleaning of the file and a delete and fresh install of the app, and the problem has not changed.  

I am very discouraged about the lack of response from support.  I think I at least deserved a "can't find the problem with the info you sent us," "you need to upgrade to RM6,"   "we can't fix this," "it's your fault," or, at very least, some acknowledgement of my query.

I haven't had any other need to contact support in my years of using RM, but this is disappointing in the extreme.

Simone

[TomH]

I have not used it since the update because it became unusable. Like half-baked new features in the main RootsMagic program that remain unfulfilled years after being introduced, this app was also removed from the oven too soon. Yet, instead of withdrawing it or fixing it after overwhelming evidence, the company continues to promote it as an attractive bonus.

[Renee Zamora]

The app developer finally gave us a new build for the Apple app to start testing. So hopefully if all goes well we might have a new version of the app pretty soon.  I haven't even had a chance to start testing it because this just happened and there are a lot of files to beta test this version with.  But, I wanted to let you know there is light at the end of the tunnel.

[SimoneJ]

Thanks for the info Renee.   I hope they do better this time.

The issue of support ignoring my ticket still irks me in a major way and I find it distressing to think this fine company has big, hairy warts on its support face.  

If this is an example of what happens when answers are difficult, it bodes ill for customers seeking help.

It's not a problem for me when solutions are challenging and delays happen, but, the first rule of customer relations is good communication.  It didn't happen here and that's a big FAIL for my experience this time around.

[Renee Zamora]

SimoneJ, on 15 July 2013 - 05:10 PM, said:

Thanks for the info Renee.   I hope they do better this time.

The issue of support ignoring my ticket still irks me in a major way and I find it distressing to think this fine company has big, hairy warts on its support face.  

If this is an example of what happens when answers are difficult, it bodes ill for customers seeking help.

It's not a problem for me when solutions are challenging and delays happen, but, the first rule of customer relations is good communication.  It didn't happen here and that's a big FAIL for my experience this time around.

I'm sorry for the poor customer support you received.  What can I say we're human and make mistakes.

[RonB]

Renee Zamora, on 16 July 2013 - 09:11 AM, said:

I'm sorry for the poor customer support you received.  What can I say we're human and make mistakes.

Renee, unfortunately this seems to be a common occurrence for support.  Jason contacted me in early June (3rd of 4th) regarding the support ticket I submitted.  I responded with additional information as requested on June 6th.  I have not had any further correspondence related to the issue(s) that I reported since then.  I removed the app from my iPhone and iPad as it is apparent that any issues with the app have had/will have a very low priority for attention.

[Renee Zamora]

It concerned me that we were not getting back to our customers so I did a little investigating.  Here is what happened with the two tickets mentioned on this thread without responses, and I'm afraid with several others.  The tickets came into support in these cases Jason was troubleshooting the problem with you. When he identified there was a bug he passed the ticket onto development and communicated it to them. Unfortunately Jason didn't communication this move back to the customer. Once the ticket was in developments que it just sat there while they troubleshot the problem and used it as a reference. They mainly work off our tracking system to fix bugs so they aren't actively working the tickets, they are references for them. They had no idea the customer was not aware of the transfer of their ticket or that they were waiting for a response. Since the ticket wasn't in Jason's que he had no reason to think anything was a miss.

What should have happened in these cases is when the customer responded to a question from support, that helped us identify a bug, we needed to confirm it was a bug, relay that back to the customer, then forwarded the ticket to development. Then you the customer would know the status of your ticket and it was being worked on by a different department.

So we have some retraining and reviewing of our internal processes that need to happen over here. I'm very sorry we just left you hanging. That should have never happened.

[RonB]

Renee Zamora, on 16 July 2013 - 12:30 PM, said:

It concerned me that we were not getting back to our customers so I did a little investigating.  Here is what happened with the two tickets mentioned on this thread without responses, and I'm afraid with several others.  The tickets came into support in these cases Jason was troubleshooting the problem with you. When he identified there was a bug he passed the ticket onto development and communicated it to them. Unfortunately Jason didn't communication this move back to the customer. Once the ticket was in developments que it just sat there while they troubleshot the problem and used it as a reference. They mainly work off our tracking system to fix bugs so they aren't actively working the tickets, they are references for them. They had no idea the customer was not aware of the transfer of their ticket or that they were waiting for a response. Since the ticket wasn't in Jason's que he had no reason to think anything was a miss.

What should have happened in these cases is when the customer responded to a question from support, that helped us identify a bug, we needed to confirm it was a bug, relay that back to the customer, then forwarded the ticket to development. Then you the customer would know the status of your ticket and it was being worked on by a different department.

So we have some retraining and reviewing of our internal processes that need to happen over here. I'm very sorry we just left you hanging. That should have never happened.

Thank you Renee