NIK Collection woes continue.

by in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment

Hi everyone,

After nearly two weeks of so-called “support” from DxO I’m no closer to resolving my problems with NIK 9. I’ve requested a refund but they seem more than reticent to do this and keep stringing me along with very intermittent and equally ineffective responses from their NIK developers so it looks like I’m £150 down with nothing to show for it. I found this on the web and I can readily echo these remarks based on my experiences :

“Many users have expressed dissatisfaction with DxO’s customer support. Common complaints include:

Unhelpful Responses

  • Users report receiving vague or irrelevant replies to their inquiries.
  • Some have experienced long delays in receiving any response at all.

Long Wait Times

  • Customers have noted that it can take weeks to get a resolution for their issues.
  • Frustration is common due to the lack of timely assistance.”

Last piece of software that I buy from DxO, we could call it a day and part company amicably but they won’t even acknowledge let alone affect my request for a refund. For every ineffectual “suggestion” from them I’ve tried about twenty of my own and reported back to them with my findings which have largely fallen on deaf ears. I can only conclude that they don’t care about their customers and I’ve been a loyal customer for quite a few years. I can further conclude that Nik Collection 9 is flawed unlike all their previous versions that I’ve owned and they won’t admit it. It is the only piece of software of a great many that won’t run. In thirty-something years of hands-on computing including supporting computing software, personally and professionally, I’ve never had a piece of software like this and seldom encountered such poor “technical” (or lack of) support.

Kind regards

Leigh

10 thoughts on “NIK Collection woes continue.”

  2. Hi Leigh,

    I think Sherry’s suggestion about trying a new Windows profile is actually a sensible one, especially if something in your current Windows user settings has become corrupted.

    Personally though, I would probably avoid manually removing registry entries unless DxO support specifically guide you through it, as that can sometimes create even more problems than it solves.

    Before going that far, I still think the simplest next step would be checking Event Viewer to see whether Windows is logging an actual crash when Nik tries to start.

    Press the Windows key and type:

    Event Viewer

    Open it and go to:

    Windows Logs → Application

    Then try starting Silver Efex or another Nik module again.

    After it fails, look for a recent Error entry around the same time. Double click it and see if it mentions DxO, Nik, or “Application Error”.

    Sometimes Windows will actually tell you what crashed, often a graphics component or missing system file, and that can point much more directly to the real cause than the usual uninstall/reinstall cycle.

    Kind regards,

    Marc.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Hi Marc, thanks for your help. I have already tried a new user profile and checked Event Viewer application logs and there aren’t any entries for NIK collection. My gut feeling after all that I’ve tried is that this is an installation issue, I’ve tried installing as Administrator with antivirus unloaded but it makes no difference. I know this isn’t startup program or service related as I’ve tried with all startup items and all non-MS services disabled. I’m confident to edit the registry and always make a backup but I think that the Revo unistaller and NIK cleanup do that, unfortunately DxO support aren’t giving me any ideas.

      Thanks again,

      Enjoy your weekend.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • Hi Leigh,

        It certainly sounds as though you’ve already done a very thorough job troubleshooting this from your side, far beyond the usual uninstall/reinstall routine.

        The fact that Event Viewer is not even logging an application error is actually quite interesting in itself and does make your installation theory sound plausible. Normally one would expect at least some sort of faulting module or crash entry to appear there.

        At this point DxO support really should be looking deeper into installer logs, dependencies or possible compatibility issues rather than continuing with generic suggestions.

        One last simple thought, perhaps worth trying before giving up completely, would be downloading a completely fresh copy of the installer again, ideally with browser cache cleared first. Corrupted or incomplete installers are rarer nowadays but they still happen from time to time.

        Kind regards, Marc.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Hi Marc,

        Thanks, I tried after clearing cache in Edge and also with Firefox that I haven’t used to do2nload the installer before and added the download to the 10 that I already had 🙂 . A good suggestion on your part but unfortunately it didn’t resolve the problem.

        DxO have the nerve to advertise”

        “Priority access to our team of experts.

        Accelerated response times for all your requests.

        Personalized support for installation, configuration, and advanced use.”

        if one pays £25 and I’m not throwing good money after bad if my experiences with them are anything to go by. As I paid with Paypal I raised a case with them 5 days ago not had any updates from them, they’re probably waiting for DxO to have the courtesy of replying to them.

        All the best,
        Leigh

        Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Sherry, that must have been really interesting, Sivler Efex is probably the best bit of the NIK collection along with Viveza. Problem with their support as most support is that their first tier support staff just have a basic crib sheet which doesn’t go very much further than turn your computer on and off and try uninstalling and re-installing and running their clean up tool something I’ve tried countless times. Their second tier support the so-called “developers” have only made one suggestion with removing the licensing file which I tried but knew that it wouldn’t work as the program never gets as far as to check to see if one has the file. That’s it the only intervention with the “software experts” in two weeks. 😦 . Ansel Adams never had these problems 🙂

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      Reply

      • I know how frustrating it is. I had a corrupted key word file problem in Lightroom last week. I thought Adobe would help. They did not. I found a way to fix it myself by looking up how to fix a corrupted CSV data file. If you are using Windows, I suggest that you have them remove all the files from the system registry. If their techs cannot help you do that, I would try loading Nik onto a new Windows profile. If you are using Apple too bad, it is a black box.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Hi Shery, your suggestion is a good one unfortunately I have already tried this with a new user profile but the same happens. I have run their NIK Cleanup tool after using both windows add/remove programs or Revo Uninstaller pro, the later does a good job if cleaning up leftover files and registry entries. Thanks for trying to help.

        Liked by 1 person

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