Support Policy
Support is available to all DONATION users who:- Are still in their initial 60-day evaluation period for the paid version, or
- Have paid for the program within the last 12 months, or
- Are in their first month after registration of the free Lite version, or
- Have paid the small annual support fee for the Lite version.
Getting Support
Cooperstock Software recommendeds four ways to get support for DONATION:
- Read the Product Documentation: You can answer most questions by consulting the DONATION help file or manual (which have the same contents).
- After installing DONATION, you access the help by via the menu option Help -> Contents and Index.
- You can search in the help using the Index or Search tabs.
- If you haven't installed DONATION, you can read the manual online from the Documentation page.
- Use the Support Forum: Check forums.Software4Nonprofits.com. This web forum lets you search for similar questions that have already been answered, which may solve your problem immediately.
- You can post questions to the forum (after registering as a Support Forum user) and we will answer it.
- You can also post suggestions for new DONATION product features.
- Check the FAQs: Many common questions are answered on the
Frequently-Asked Questions page on this web site.
- Email Cooperstock Software: info@Software4Nonprofits.com. You may also phone us at (416) 423-7722, but we would strongly encourage you to try email first.
One Day Response Time
If you email us and receive no reply within a day, please phone us to follow up, at (416) 423-7722.
Bug Reports and Feature Requests
Please report any bugs you find in DONATION, and feel free to request feature enhancements.
Support Exceptions
Your support subscription includes all normal "how to" questions, help with any problems you are having with the program, etc. However, it does not include custom data conversion from other systems. Fortunately, these are almost never necessary because of the flexible importing options in the program. It also does not include any work I do for you to develop custom mail-merge receipts or letters, because you are able to do that yourself in the built-in mail merge editor, or via Microsoft Word in unusual cases. If you do need me to perform custom data conversions or custom receipt or letter development for you, we will negotiate an hourly charge for my time. (It is extremely rare that anyone needs this.)
How to Report Bugs Effectively
Check out software developer Simon Tatham's useful article on bug reporting at www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html. It indicates what sorts of details are helpful when reporting apparent software bugs. The article exhibits a bit of "attitude", but does give good advice overall.