Why I think Advanced Access Sucks

Great post on why Advance Access sucks by BlueRoof 360

Here's some contact info from the remarks:

I spent almost 6 years with Advanced Access and after seeing things rapidly
fall apart since the departure of John Morris, I finally resigned in December.
The only thing I can tell you is good luck. You’re going to need it. The
Customer Service Director doesnt actually deal with customers, and the General
Manager (previously known as the President - pre Dominion Enterprises who is now
being shopped by Landmark by the way, owner of Dominion Homes Media) doesnt
understand the needs of his clients and according to the final Newsletter I
received as an employee ‘07 was the most profitable year in the company’s
history! No mention of the fact that what was the heart of the company has
jumped ship seeing the iceberg ahead.
In case you want it, the phone number
for Justin Davis is
714-685-5128 Office Direct
Aron Spegon is the
Director of Customer Service (no number available, lol)
And if you’re
interested in who is in charge of denying you your money back even though your
site is not up 3 months into your contract you can call the “Director of Sales”
Casey Griswold 714-685-5135. Office Direct - in charge of sales and quality
control. Has the last say in who is able to receive a refund on their 30 day
money back guarantee.

March Madness

AA websites were down at least a dozen times through the month of March.

Again, no explanation.

Let's hope April brings more dependable service.

Advanced Access webistes down AGAIN~

It just goes on and on.....

Today they were down again.

This in from a former employee Scott Buskirk:

I am a previous employee of AA and I can tell you what the problem is. The servers they use are out dated and they don’t want to shell out the money for anything stable.

During the 3 day outtage that started all of this they blamed the local power company for not giving them enough power. Instead of bowing their heads in disgrace and taking ownership of their lack of updated equipment, they moved their servers over to a data center and ensured you that the problem would not happen again.

How many times has it happend now?Their IT people can’t tell the difference
between their asses and a hole in the ground so how can you expect them to keep
your websites up and running? I pull reports about AA regularly for my personal
clients who still host with them and the results are scary. There is more
latency than ever which creates slow access.QuickHomes will NEVER function
correctly because in AA’s own words, it’s just not important enough on their
list of a problem to deal with. The program doesn’t work right and never will.
Here’s a little “secret” for you too. Many of the boards have dropped out of
partnerships with AA and many more continue to do so due to the complaints they
get about AA.How is that going to help YOU as a realtor?

Could this be why Customer Service suffers?

AA is advertising for Customer Service Technicians for $12-$14 an hour.

Now this explains EVERYTHING!

Help Wanted

Customers unhappy with Advanced Access

Here's an interesting article entitled "Customer backlash against bad service - Growing gap between promised and delivered experience"

"Meet today's consumer vigilantes. Even if they're not all wielding hammers, many are arming themselves with video cameras, computer keyboards, and mobile devices to launch their own personal forms of insurrection. Frustrated by the usual fix-it options — obediently waitingon hold with Bangalore, gamely chatting online with a scripted robot — more consumers are rebelling against company-prescribed service channels. After getting nowhere with the call center, they're sending "e-mail carpet bombs" to the C-suite, cc-ing the top layer of management with their complaints. When all else fails, a plucky few are going straight to the top after uncovering direct numbers to executive customer-service teams not easily found by mere mortals."

We're upset and angry about Advanced Access, formerly an excellent product, that has been debased and destroyed by an uncaring and indifferent management.

Not the first time Advanced Access websites have failed

Look at this string of posts from last May.

1000's of agents websites were down and Advanced Access chose to communicate with their clients via a blog on Active Rain:

Advanced Access on Active Rain

Advanced Access Lies

Advanced Access continues to have repeated and continued server errors and power outages.

From their website:

Disaster Planning

24/7 Monitoring

All system monitored 24/7/365.

Notification sent to Server Engineers within 60 seconds of an outage.

On-line Four separate Uninterruptible Power Supply units

Provides at least 60 minutes of battery power should a power interruption occur.

On Site Redundant Emergency Generators

Available to ensure power availability should a long-term power outage occur.

On-Line Backups

Provides a continual data protection with immediate access to backups performed within the last two weeks.

Off Site Backups

Provides access to historical tape backups as well as to ensure protection of data from any natural disasters that should occur at our Company Headquarters.

If any of this were true, there would not be the repeated outages and website errors!

Advanced Access websites are often "DOWN" with no explanation

Unfortunately, since purchased by Dominion in September 2006, Advanced Access is a less-than-stellar website provider for the real estate industry.

Customer service has suffered greatly. Server outages are common, with clients websites being unavailable for hours or days on end.

Excuses are common too, as are the lies and misrepresentations to new and present clients.

Avoid Advanced Access unless you don't mind if your website is down!