Serif Europe Ltd - www.serif.com

I recently bought Pageplus X7 to replace my previous version. On phoning to register I was offered X8 at a discount together with a refund on my purchase of X7. Great. I noticed that no refund was included in the charge to my card so I emailed to find out when the refund would be made. I was told NO refund had been applied and if I wanted one I needed to return the software. This is NOT what I was told by the 'sales agent'. I have just about all the available Serif software and have used it for years but no more. Do not take a word any Serif person says as the truth. I have been deceived and I don't like it.

My 1st issue was pushy salesman trying to sell me webplus x 6, which I was intrested in until they lied to me regarding half price sale just come in for it, when ive had pop ups on my computer for the last 2 months offering half price. And when I said I would leave it until after my hols in four weeks and he said its only on offer for 2 weeks HAHA "WHAT LIES" anyway I found it much cheaper with another site but same software.

My second issue is customer service is rubbish when ive had problems publishing my site, basically very unhelpful and didn't resolve my problem.

I purchased PagePlus X6 but before I had a chance to work with it due to getting out writings, health issues, etc. I received a call suggesting PagePlus X7 at a great deal. I'd bought a lot at one shopping--the whole set, paid over $700.00.d I had PhotoShop CS 4, an upgrade from CS 2 and hadn't had time to learn it for same reasons. I think I'm gonna send back the PagePlus X7, ask for a refund and buy no more for now. I told them I wished I'd never bought any till I learned PhotoShop. Hope I can get my refund. It's not a lot--although to me now, it kinda is--I just don't like taking something else on when I haven't learned what I have. I need other things so much more.

I already have Microsoft Desktop Publishing 2010 and wish to learn it first. As a gifted artist, I've been able to do well with plain Printshop.

I have been a Serif customer for many, many years & until recently was quite happy with your products catering for my requirements at a reasonable price. However , over the last couple of years I have become more & more disillusioned by the claims of it's software and it's actual performance. MoviePlus6 was purported to be able to produce screensavers with music and to support animated GIF files which in practice is not true.

Some of the sale claims of PhotoPlus5 never materialised. I purchased my copy in September 2012 only to have support for the product stopped at the end of March 2013. In general most purchases come with 12 month guarantee but not with Serif it would appear. In my opinion this is little more than corporate blackmail to force customers to buy the new versions.

I can not envisage the circumstances that would persuade me to purchase any further products from Serif

I consider myself computer savvy but a complete novice when it comes to actually creating websites. Surfing the web for some freeware to try, I happened across WebPlus 5X Starter Edition. Fininding it quite easy to use but only being able to build 5 pages at a time, I purchased WebPLus 6X along with PaegPlus X6 and PhotPlus 6X. I found WebPlus 6X really easy to use and very soon had a website up and running. Since then, the website has needed tweaking and up dating which I have found really easy to do. I would recommend this package to any novice.

As for PagePlus 6X and PhotoPlus 6X, I'm sure they are good in their own rights but were not for me. Similarly, DrawPlus 6X, which was bought from a followup sales call - not a good decision.

All items apart from the WebPlus have been returned.

Give them their credit though, Serif have honoured their money back guarantee although they did try, tediously, for me to keep the software.

Overall experience - Good but tedious in parts.

On the whole I am getting to know the prog but to date I have not been able to find a way of correcting converging vertical. A problem that often crops up after a travelling holiday in a city. Is there something I am missing?

The staff are most helpful and I have used their products for about 20 years and have found them all excellent.

This is the second time I have trued to return items, and been refused a refund. You owe me £500-00 and I want the money in cash, not a credit note. You promise a full refund, where is it.

Staff always keep me up to date with the latest upgrades or anything I might be internested in. They are always very polite, friendly and respectful on the phone so it does encourage you to try something. H R does a good job of employing the best staff.

If there is a problem there is no problem returning it.

Serif make a great range of software, and while some of their titles might not be state of the art, they are always great value and have very rarely let me down.

I've used PagePlus to layout and publish a complex 474 page book with hundreds of illustrations, and produced half a dozen websites with WebPlus. I've found a few minor bugs in MoviePlus, but all Video Editing software seems to suffer from this problem.

I have some minor criticisms. Almost all the phone calls they make to you are thinly disguised sales calls. They are pleasent enough though, and you do occasionally get offered a deal that is too good to miss. You do sometimes finding yourself buying an old version at a low price and then get told about a new version.

One thing I can't understand is why they use Shift-Click for multi-selection when Windows and almost all the other software I use employs CTRL-click.

But these "faults" are minor when you look at the great value for money and stabilty of their products.