Serif Draw Plus X5

[Ian M]

I thought I would share this with you all to have a look at. Seems like some very powerful graphics software to design almost anything you want.

Heres the link to have a look at it. http://www.serif.com/drawplus/?mc=NLTRn100

[JSR]

It's a bit expensive at £80+, but there's a free version to try out at: http://www.serif.com/free-graphic-design-software/ If you use that first, you may find you receive an email giving you special price on the latest version after a week or two.

[Justin]

Serif software always used to be the cheap option. That said, it was always very good. I never found it to have the high functionality of the more expensive packages though and wonder if, at £80 it's on a par with similar priced software?

[JSR]

That's why I say - use the free one first.

The other day, I downloaded their free version of PhotoPlus. I haven't used it yet, mainly because it requires a wedge of disc-space and space on my netbook is at a premium.

Since then, they've been sending me emails to get the full version of PhotoPlus X4 for £29.95 - it's £51 (down from £71) on their website. I didn't go for that but, now, the latest email is offering it to me at £19.95.

For less than £20, I'm seriously tempted! Had I just gone and bought it at full price, I'd have kicked myself for not getting the cheaper offers.

In short, wait for the offer prices in their emails if you really want to buy Serif software.

[Mattie]

i used to use drawplus X4 and to me it was just as good as any other software, takes a bit getting used to the features but overall it's quite good software

[Ian M]

Jonathan has the right idea in waiting for the email with the special offer price. Also I have found with Serif if you talk to one of their sales people you can usually get the price even lower or get a few free extras thrown into a nice bundle.

One thing I would recommend though is get the resource guide for the imaging software. These show you step by step how to do things & it's in book form too.

[JSR]

Jonathan has the right idea in waiting for the email with the special offer price. Also I have found with Serif if you talk to one of their sales people you can usually get the price even lower or get a few free extras thrown into a nice bundle.
I went off Serif for a while - because of their phone calls. What started out as the occasional call to check your details, ask how you're getting on with the software, and alert you to new offers became more and more frequent before turning into heavy-handed sales tactics.

The last straw was when one guy phoned and kept pushing some great "bundle" deal costing around £100 - "with a saving of £350". Previous calls (before this guy) generally ended with me thanking them for letting me know, but I'd rather just check out their website and keep an eye on their emails. But, this time, the guy just kept pushing.

No amount of telling him that I wasn't buying was enough for him. If I said I didn't have the budget for the "bundle", he'd come back with a cheaper price. If I still said I didn't have the budget, he'd push the fact that I could try it all for 30 days before deciding to buy. Even when I told him that I wouldn't have the budget in 30 days time either, he still wasn't satisfied. The phone call turned a little ugly with him turning to insults because I was apparently too stupid to know what a wonderful offer the bundle was. I eventually just said "I'm not interested" and slammed the phone down.

The next time Serif phoned, I told them that I'm not comfortable with their phone calls anymore because of that previous one - and they haven't phoned me since. It's only recently that I've bought from them again because PagePlus X4 was going for a good price (I don't use it all that much, but my version was out of date from when I did buy it).

So long as they don't phone me, that'll be okay for me, but I'm certainly not going to phone them.

[Ian M]

I went off Serif for a while - because of their phone calls. What started out as the occasional call to check your details, ask how you're getting on with the software, and alert you to new offers became more and more frequent before turning into heavy-handed sales tactics.

The last straw was when one guy phoned and kept pushing some great "bundle" deal costing around £100 - "with a saving of £350". Previous calls (before this guy) generally ended with me thanking them for letting me know, but I'd rather just check out their website and keep an eye on their emails. But, this time, the guy just kept pushing.

No amount of telling him that I wasn't buying was enough for him. If I said I didn't have the budget for the "bundle", he'd come back with a cheaper price. If I still said I didn't have the budget, he'd push the fact that I could try it all for 30 days before deciding to buy. Even when I told him that I wouldn't have the budget in 30 days time either, he still wasn't satisfied. The phone call turned a little ugly with him turning to insults because I was apparently too stupid to know what a wonderful offer the bundle was. I eventually just said "I'm not interested" and slammed the phone down.

The next time Serif phoned, I told them that I'm not comfortable with their phone calls anymore because of that previous one - and they haven't phoned me since. It's only recently that I've bought from them again because PagePlus X4 was going for a good price (I don't use it all that much, but my version was out of date from when I did buy it).

So long as they don't phone me, that'll be okay for me, but I'm certainly not going to phone them.

I had just the same experience as you Jonathan a little while ago & sounds like it could have been the same person. In the end I put the phone down & I was angry & annoyed I called them to tell them I was now finished with Serif for good. They put me through to a manager who listened to everything I had to say & he apologised saying he had a good idea who the member of staff was & they were in the process of getting rid of him. To say how sorry they were they gave me a few items of their software for free & it was all the stuff I still use now. I've had a couple of phone calls from them since & haven't had the big sell as I used to get from them. I think they have realised now in times such as these their old sales techniques just don't work like they used to.