Support for your ACCOUNTS Software

Getting Support for your ACCOUNTS Software

Cooperstock Software recommends three ways to get support for ACCOUNTS:

1. Read the Product Documentation: You can answer most questions by consulting the ACCOUNTS help file or manual (which have the same contents).
   • After installing ACCOUNTS, you access the help by via the quick link Help Contents & Index on the home page, the menu option Help ⇒ Contents and Index, or the Help button on virtually every other window.
   • You can search in the help using the Index or Search tabs.
   • If you haven't installed ACCOUNTS, you can read the manual online from the Documentation page.
   
   
2. Check the FAQs: Many common questions are answered on the Frequently-Asked Questions page on this web site.
    
3. Email Cooperstock Software: info@Software4Nonprofits.com. Please send as much detail about possible about your problem, with screenshots where appropriate.

ACCOUNTS Software Support Policy

Email support is available to all ACCOUNTS 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.

When you inform us of problems or have questions, we have the following policies, in order to optimize the use of our resources and give you the most efficient and effective support:

1. We reserve the right to first ask you to read a relevant Help topic or web page that we recommend, if you have not already done so, and try the instructions included in it. If that does not work, you can get back to us and let us know where you are stuck.
    
2. We ask you to send us your problem or question by email, with appropriate screenshots where relevant, and we will normally respond by email, rather than doing support over the phone.
    
3. If you do phone us, you will almost always have to leave a message, and we will generally answer you by email.
    
4. If we decide that it would be more effective to answer you by phone, we will do so. We can also use remote control sessions to see what is happening on your computer, if we feel that would be a more effective way to resolve your problem than email.

Per-Incident Phone Support Option

Some users have not been satisfied with our policy of almost always doing support by email, and want an option of phone and/or remote control support, at your request.

To satisfy those users, as long as your paid support is up-to-date, you have the option of paying a per-incident fee of $25, in advance online, for phone support (or remote control support, if it seems to us that will be more helpful than phone). One incident means one issue or question. Such support will not include us reading extensive contents of Help pages or web pages to you, but can certainly include discussing aspects of such pages that you have read but still do not understand. Details of how to pay this fee online are on the Payment page.

ACCOUNTS support cannot replace your accountant!

It is important to understand that while we can advise you on how to use the program to enter your transactions, get your reports, etc., we cannot advise you on what transactions you should be making, which reports you should use for which purposes, etc. It is your accountant's job to give you that advice, and it would be a major liability issue for us to do so!

Maximum One Day Response Time for ACCOUNTS Software

If you email us and receive no reply within a day, please phone us to follow up, at (416) 423-7722. Most emails will be answered much sooner.

Remote Control Support for ACCOUNTS Software

In rare cases, we may offer to solve complex problems by remote controlling your computer, with your permission and participation. In those cases, we use a program from Techinline to do so.

Bug Reports and Feature Requests about ACCOUNTS Software

Please report any bugs you find in ACCOUNTS, and feel free to request feature enhancements.

ACCOUNTS Software Support Exceptions

Your support subscription includes all normal "how to" questions, help with any problems you are having with the program, etc. However, there may be special unusual requests that are not part of the standard support expectations, like data conversions from programs that ACCOUNTS cannot currently convert from etc. In cases like this, if we are able and willing to take on the work, we will negotiate an hourly charge for our time. (It is 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.