Remo Recovery Software Doesn't Work and Customer Service Stinks
I purchased Remo Recovery Software (basic) a few weeks ago. It could recover files but the files were damaged and unusable. They were MP3 audio files.
I got in touch with support at Remo Recovery Software and asked for a refund. They wouldn't give it but said they would repair the file if I sent it to them.
They didn't repair it so I wanted a refund.
They stopped answering my emails. So now I'm left with software that doesn't work and no refund.
Below I've pasted my whole support conversation with them.
Problem Description:
Select Product:
Remo Recover (Mac) - Media
Problem Description:
I bought this product to recover lost WMA audio files. The software can find them all but they are all damaged in that they will only play for 30 seconds and then stop, even though the info for the recordings still state that they should be over one hour long. I sent one of the recovered files to a professional audio editor and he said he'd never seen a file do that before and he couldn't do anything with it either. So because the software isn't fit for the reason I bought it, I would like to have a refund of my purchase price. I've tried everything I can, but it keeps recovering the files in a damaged state.

Posted On: 1/16/2012 11:50:08 PM******** By: Tim White
Hi Ruth,
Thanks for contacting Remo Software.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you. We would like to inform you that we do not provide refund until there is an unresolvable bug or issue with the software. But we can assist you to recover your files if you could provide some details.
Thank you for contacting us,
*
We would like to know some details about the issue you are facing with the software:
May I know the exact cause for data loss?
Could you please tell me the problem that you are facing?
Could you please tell me the file types you are looking to recover?
Could you please tell me from which drive you are looking to recover data?
May I know whether you have used the drive to save any data after this data loss situation?
May I know the scanning option you have selected in the software? (Recover Files,Recover Photos or Recover Partition/drives)
Have you tried the demo version before purchasing the full version?
Were you able to find the files in the demo version?
Once we get these details we can assist you further to recover your files.
Feel free to contact us for further assistance.
Best Regards
Tim White
Support Team - Remo Software
Posted On: 1/17/2012 7:52:07 PM******** By: Ruth
I don't know the exact cause of the data loss. All I know is that the files are unplayable once they are recovered.
I can recover audio files but they will not play.
The files are .wma files.
I'm trying to recover them from my computer hard drive. I use a Mac OS X 10.7.2 computer.
Yes, I have successfully saved data since the data loss. It's my computer hard drive. I save files to it all the time.
I use the "recover files" option.
I did not try the demo version first.

Posted On: 1/18/2012 1:25:59 AM******** By: Matt Leipus
Hi Ruth,
Thank you for contacting Remo Software.
We would like to inform you that, in the above statement you have mentioned that you have saved the fresh data to your computer hard drive after the data loss situation. There might be a chance that the files got corrupted due to the saving of the fresh data to your drive so this might be the reason for not playing the recovered WMV files. We always recommend the customers that not to save any fresh data to drive after the data loss. Also like to inform you that open the recovered WMV files in different media players and check for the files whether they could be played perfectly.
We would also like to inform you that Remo Software has "Recover Photos" option which is specially designed and coded to recover the media files. We hope you recover the original deleted/lost data following the below procedure.
Please follow the below mentioned steps to recover the deleted/lost .WMA audio files:
Launch the Remo Software
(shortened this bit - my post was too long)
If you are satisfied with the recovered file then revert back to us for more information to save the recovered files.
Looking forward for your response.
Thanks & Regards,
Matt Leipus

Posted On: 1/18/2012 11:34:40 PM******** By: Ruth
You said saving the recovered file to my computer could have damaged it. I don't see how. Once it was recovered it wouldn't even play in the preview either BEFORE I saved it to the computer.
I've done as you've suggested and tried to recover the file from the photos option (which took over 5 hours), but I could not find it in amongst the recovered files. Most of them wouldn't play even in the preview option *just kept coming up with a message saying "Error: could not initialise".*
And I have tried playing the file on other audio equipment. As I said before, I even sent it to a professional audio editor (at great expense) and even he couldn't do anything with it.
This damaged file is an audio interview I did with someone overseas so it is irreplaceable and I cannot record it again.
If you have any more suggestions I'm open to them.
The software is no good to me if it damages files when it recovers them.

Posted On: 1/19/2012 6:38:06 AM******** By: Matt Leipus
Hi Ruth,
Thank you for your information.
We are very much concerned about the issue you are facing and we do understand your situation. We would always recommend the customers that do not save the recovered data back to the same drive from where you are recovering them, it may cause the corruption of the deleted/lost data on your hard drive. We would like to know few details for the below queries.
May I know the total number of files you recovered?
May I know the approximate size (ranging between the size) of each file you recovered?
May I know the total number of files you are looking to recover?
Looking forward for your response.
Thanks & Regards,
Matt Leipus

Posted On: 1/19/2012 6:16:11 PM******** By: Ruth
The total number of files recovered was 516.
The size range is from 20KB to 11.73MB.
I am only looking to recover one file. But it was a big file. An audio recording of 1 hr 11mins.
And I know about not saving the recovered data to the same drive where it is recovered from. The software prompts this when saving.

Posted On: 1/19/2012 7:21:35 PM******** By: John Harris
Hi Ruth,
We would like to know whether you have saved the file (1 hr 11 mins).* If yes, please tell us the size of the file. So that we would provide you the steps to send us the file.
Once we receive the file, we will analyze it and try to repair it.
Looking forward for your response,
Best Regards,
John Harris - Remo Software
Member Support Team
john@remosoftware.com*
Support URL -
http://www.remosoftware.com/support

I'm trying to recover them from my computer hard drive. I use a Mac OS X 10.7.2 computer.
Yes, I have successfully saved data since the data loss. It's my computer hard drive. I save files to it all the time.
I use the "recover files" option.
I did not try the demo version first.

Posted On: 1/18/2012 1:25:59 AM******** By: Matt Leipus
Hi Ruth,
Thank you for contacting Remo Software.
We would like to inform you that, in the above statement you have mentioned that you have saved the fresh data to your computer hard drive after the data loss situation. There might be a chance that the files got corrupted due to the saving of the fresh data to your drive so this might be the reason for not playing the recovered WMV files. We always recommend the customers that not to save any fresh data to drive after the data loss. Also like to inform you that open the recovered WMV files in different media players and check for the files whether they could be played perfectly.
We would also like to inform you that Remo Software has "Recover Photos" option which is specially designed and coded to recover the media files. We hope you recover the original deleted/lost data following the below procedure.
Please follow the below mentioned steps to recover the deleted/lost .WMA audio files:
Launch the Remo Software
(Had to shorten this boring bit too)
If you are satisfied with the recovered file then revert back to us for more information to save the recovered files.
Looking forward for your response.
Thanks & Regards,
Matt Leipus


Posted On: 1/18/2012 11:34:40 PM******** By: Ruth
You said saving the recovered file to my computer could have damaged it. I don't see how. Once it was recovered it wouldn't even play in the preview either BEFORE I saved it to the computer.
I've done as you've suggested and tried to recover the file from the photos option (which took over 5 hours), but I could not find it in amongst the recovered files. Most of them would play even in the preview option *just kept coming up with a message saying "Error: could not initialise".*
And I have tried playing the file on other audio equipment. As I said before, I even sent it to a professional audio editor (at great expense) and even he couldn't do anything with it.
This damaged file is an audio interview I did with someone overseas so it is irreplaceable and I cannot record it again.
If you have any more suggestions I'm open to them.
The software is no good to me if it damages files when it recovers them.

Posted On: 1/19/2012 6:38:06 AM******** By: Matt Leipus
Hi Ruth,
Thank you for your information.
We are very much concerned about the issue you are facing and we do understand your situation. We would always recommend the customers that do not save the recovered data back to the same drive from where you are recovering them, it may cause the corruption of the deleted/lost data on your hard drive. We would like to know few details for the below queries.
May I know the total number of files you recovered?
May I know the approximate size (ranging between the size) of each file you recovered?
May I know the total number of files you are looking to recover?
Looking forward for your response.
Thanks & Regards,
Matt Leipus


Posted On: 1/19/2012 6:16:11 PM******** By: Ruth
The total number of files recovered was 516.
The size range is from 20KB to 11.73MB.
I am only looking to recover one file. But it was a big file. An audio recording of 1 hr 11mins.
And I know about not saving the recovered data to the same drive where it is recovered from. The software prompts this when saving.

Posted On: 1/19/2012 7:21:35 PM******** By: John Harris
Hi Ruth,
We would like to know whether you have saved the file (1 hr 11 mins).* If yes, please tell us the size of the file. So that we would provide you the steps to send us the file.
Once we receive the file, we will analyze it and try to repair it.
Looking forward for your response,
Best Regards,
John Harris - Remo Software
Member Support Team
john@remosoftware.com*
Support URL -
http://www.remosoftware.com/support


Posted On: 1/19/2012 9:43:44 PM******** By: Ruth
The file is 17.6MB.

Posted On: 1/20/2012 12:41:54 AM******** By: Matt Leipus
Hi Ruth,
We would request you to send us recovered audio file which you are looking for. Compress (zip/rar) the file and send it to email address:
support@remosoftware.com. We analyze the file and will update you as soon as possible.
Looking forward for your response.
Thanks & Regards,
Matt Leipus

Posted On: 1/22/2012 11:15:40 PM******** By: Ruth
I have tried several times and several different ways to email the file as requested, but the file is too big to email, even when zipped.
So instead I've uploaded it to the internet (but only for a couple of days because I don't want anyone else to find it) so that you can download it from there. It's the only thing I could think of to do.
The file is at
http://-------------.zip

Posted On: 1/22/2012 11:30:33 PM******** By: Tim White
Hi Ruth,
Thank you for providing the requested file.
We would like to inform you that we have received your file. We have taken this issue with high priority and our development team will start working on the same. Please give us some time to analyze the file. We will inform you once we resolve the issue. Please bear with us.
Feel free to contact us for if you have any issues.
Best Regards
Tim White
Support Team-Remo Software
Posted On: 3/9/2012 10:24:09 PM******** By: Ruth
It is now one and a half months since I sent you the file you requested. So far nothing has happened. I first got in touch with you to ask for a refund as your software had damaged the file I needed to recover and so it couldn't be used. Therefore your software did not perform as promised.
But so far I feel as though you've just given me the run around instead of refunding my money.
Now I have waited nearly 2 months (of wasted time) and you still haven't been able to repair the file.
If you cannot restore it, and it is permanently damaged as I first said it was, can you please just provide a refund to me.
That was all I was asking for in the first place and now. The software isn't fit for the purpose for which I bought it because it damages the files when it recovers them.
I don't want to waste any more time. I'm stuck with software I can't use and to date, you won't give me a refund.
Please return an undamaged file to me or issue a refund.
Thanks.

Posted On: 3/9/2012 11:18:25 PM******** By: Tim White
Hi Ruth,
We apologize for the delay in response.
We would like to inform you that our development team is working hard to resolve your issue as your file were highly fragmented due to using the drive/computer after data loss was happened. Also, our software doesn't write any thing to your recovered file as our software works on read only mode. It recovers your deleted/lost files which are intact with the drive. Our development team need 1-2 more days to resolve your issue. So we would request you to provide some more time to fix your issue. In the meanwhile I will keep updating you about the proceedings going at our end to fix this issue. Please bear with us.
Feel free to contact us if you have any issues.
Best Regards
Tim White
Support Team-Remo Software
Support Panel:
support@remosoftware.com


Posted On: 3/10/2012 12:00:33 AM******** By: Ruth
I really don't see how 1 or 2 more days will help as your team have supposedly been working on repairing my file for well over a month now. But I'll wait the 2 days, only because I have no choice. That will be Monday, 12th March. If the file cannot be repaired, then I want a refund. Also, as I stated in my initial complaint, it wasn't just this one file that was damaged, it was all of them. Every audio file that I recovered using the software was damaged.
And please stop blaming ME for the fact that the file was damaged. The only thing I did after retrieving the file, was to try and play it (naturally). But it was damaged already. So using my computer after this happened has nothing to do with it whatsoever. I feel as though you are just trying to pass blame. But I am not to blame for a recovered file that was damaged as soon as it was recovered. And it's ludicrous to say that using a computer can damage files that are stored on it. That is rubbish. My brother-in-law is a computer programmer (and has been for over 20 years *now) and I showed him your emails and he couldn't stop laughing at what a silly idea it was either. He agreed that using a computer doesn't damaged the files on it. He said that even after a hard drive crash, files can still be recovered intact. He said that if files are damaged during recovery then it's from using faulty software.
So please do not make any more statements that are not true. They may make entertaining and amusing reading to a professional programmer, but serve no other purpose.
In your previous email you state that your software "recovers your deleted/lost files which are intact with the drive" so you are saying that it recovers files that are intact. Yet when I tried to play the audio file, it was damaged. So it must have been the software that damaged it, just as it damages every audio file it recovers. I've since tried recovering more audio files, and every time, the files are damaged. So it is definitely the software that damages them because, as you say, it recovers files that are intact. I've even tried deleting files on purpose and removing them from the trash, and they're fine. Then I delete them again, and use your software to pull them out of the trash. And guess what? They are damaged.
I cannot make it more clear to you than this. Every time, (not just once or twice but EVERY SINGLE TIME) I use your software to recover an audio file, it damages it and it and won't play.
Just return an undamaged file to me by Monday 12th March, or refund my money. That is all I'm asking for.
Hi Ruth,
We would like to inform you that our development team is working hard on your issue. So we would request you to provide some more time to fix your issue. We will inform you once we get any response from them. Please bear with us.
Feel free to contact us if you have any issues.
Best Regards
Tim White
Support Team-Remo Software
Support Panel:
support@remosoftware.com

Posted On: 3/13/2012 8:47:52 PM******** By: Ruth
I was promised that my file would be repaired and returned to me by Monday 12th March. It is now Wednesday 14th and I still have no file.
I have now waited nearly 2 months for you to repair this file OR refund my money.
You have done neither.
What I want now is my file returning today OR my money refunding today.
I won't tolerate any more excuses. It doesn't take this long to repair a file. Remember I already sent the file to an audio expert who said the file cannot be fixed.
Do not tell me you need even more time. You have had plenty of time. You've had weeks to repair the file.
So today, I either want my file returned intact, or my money back.
No more time. No more excuses.

Posted On: 3/15/2012 4:12:33 PM******** By: Ruth
Okay. So now you're ignoring my emails.
Great customer service guys.
I asked for my file repairing or a refund. You have provided neither. You've just led me a merry dance for weeks on end. *You asked me to be patient and give you time to repair the file. So I waited as you asked me to do, but I can now see that you had no intention of repairing the file (because it cannot be fixed). You were just hoping I'd go away and be quiet. But I won't.
I'll wait till the end of this working day. If I don't receive a repaired file or a refund, I'm going to post all these support tickets online for others to see how bad this software is, how lapse the customer service is, and how I cannot get a refund, even though the software won't work at all.
If I get a refund today, I'll go away and say no more about this. If not, These support tickets are going live on the internet in the next few hours.
I'm so sick and tired of this whole thing. What has become clear to me is that you never had any intention of even trying to repair the file, nor were you ever going to give me a refund.
And if all I get today is another request to be patient, these support tickets WILL go live online. Today is cut off day. It's a refund or a repaired file.
I'm not an idiot, but you've certainly tried to treat me like one. But no more.
Refund or repair - TODAY!
