Do the dragon and nuance speaking naturally serve you well?

DRAGON: 1. a mythical monster generally represented as a huge, winged reptile with crested head and enormous claws and teeth, and often spouting fire.
2. a fierce, violent person.
NUANCE: 1. a subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.
2. a very slight difference or variation in color or tome.
NATURAL: 1. existing in or formed by nature.
2. free from affection or constraint.

Here's a typical case of customer service having gone to the dogs. Or is it to the dragons? The naturally speaking dragon! Or should it be called a voice recognition monster?

Let me share with you an experience — however, I do not claim to wrestle with a dragon. I simply wanted to get a simple question to their heavily publicized proclamation answered. Who doesn't get annoyed when he or she is being ignored. Frankly, I must admit, I was annoyed — and still am. Actually, I am very disappointed because "Dragon Naturally Speaking" is a good product; it just got kicked around like an orphan from foster parents to foster parents. And now it's in the hands of Nuance Communications, Inc. Of couse, sadly, some foster parents in the world of homo sapiens use the foster children as vehicles for putting money into their pockets.

This is what it's all about: In conjunction with an intended upgrade, I want to buy a digital recorder to record interviews away from my computer. Visiting the Nuance website at http://www.nuance.com/, I bumped into the following statement under the heading "Key Benefits": "MOBILE -- Dictate into any Nuance-certified handheld device for automatic transcription when you synch with your PC." Great! All I need to do is find out which of the multitude of available recorders are "Nuance-certified" for use with Dragon Naturally Speaking. That, I discovered, is more difficult to discover than what the brothers Fidel and Raul Castro are up to these days. The Nuance website refused to give the answer.

I wrote a letter to Paul Ricci, Chairman and CEO of Nuance Communications, Inc. (http://www.nuance.com/), now the owner and seller of this wonderful voice recognition program we have all known for years as "Dragon Naturally Speaking". Let me give you the contents of the letter here. It explains all.

May 1, 2006
Mr. Paul Ricci
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
Nuance Communications, Inc.
One Wayside Road
Burlington, MA 01803
Via facsimile: 781-565-5001 (2 pages)
Via email: Paul.Ricci@nuance.com
Subject: Customer Service and Marketing Strategies — Dragon Naturally Speaking
Dear Mr. Ricci:
By way of introduction:
■ I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking, Version 6 Professional on September 3, 2002 (Serial Number And PREF-6-000651).
■ Furthermore, I recommended your program to a friend and client. This latter action caused me to raise eyebrows and brings me now to the brink of regretting both of my decisions of choosing Dragon Naturally Speaking. And here is why: I need answers to the following questions before going forward with purchasing and installing the program for my friend and client:
1. Will Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 Preferred work with Microsoft WordPad? Your website does not specifically identify WordPad but states that the program works with "virtually all Windows®-based applications."
2. Which are the "Nuance-certified handheld devices[s] for automatic transcription"?

During the past four weeks I submitted these questions TWICE to Nuance via your company's email customer service inquiry system. The response from Nuance? None! Zilch! Nada! We also invested our valuable time in pursuit of the following:
1. We searched a number of websites (including nuance.com) selling your products and could not find the answers.
2. We visited two computer stores in Miami that sell your products and could not find the answers.
3. We carefully read everything printed on the outside of your program's packaging and could not find the answers.

Isn't what I report here disappointing? I will gladly supply detailed information, including dates and names, in support of my report. How would you feel and what would you do if you were in my shoes? I am frustrated. In an abundance of caution, I express dismay. How can you create a successful company with the evidence of such poor marketing techniques? Making certain customer service works flawlessly and no customer is left in the dark is the unchallengeable prerequisite for making a customer happy. A satisfied customer is your best salesperson. I am not satisfied. I am disappointed.
Sincerely yours,
Heinz Dinter, PhD
c: Kristen Wylie Kristen.Wylie@nuance.com

Have I heard from the voice recognition software purveyor? Nope. I am puzzled. I don't understand. Why can I not get an answer? Not even from Kristen Wylie who is in charge of providing "detailed information about Nuance and our products". I mailed my request. I faxed it. I emailed it. Oops! Perhaps I should have contracted with a flying dragon to deliver my easily answered inquiry. I am annoyed. I am their customer and go to the trouble to sit down and write the man a letter — and the folks at Nuance ignore me. What an ANNUANCE! Frankly speaking, I don't understand the finer nuances of Nuance's customer service business practices. Do you? Will sprinkling pepper on the dragon’s tail make him curtail his vivid running away from a simple customer service issue? What's your take on this dragon adventure? What's your experience? Please let all of us know.