What is your annual fee all about, and what is your support policy?

We are committed to your success with our product. We will respond to all support requests, either by phone or by email, or Remote Support typically within an hour, though at times response might be longer (weekends are not as quick response time), for example it can be longer depending on how many customers are ahead of you or who might have a more urgent issue. Our bottom line commitment to response is 3 days, this accomodates weekends and holiday periods. We are retail oriented, just like you are, so we know that not everything can be handled during business hours. Much support is handled via the GotoAssist Customer remote support tool and much is handled off-hours.

Since January 2010 we have required that customers have a paid-up Annual Fee of $99 which covers License Renewal, Support, Updates, and Maintenance. We use the term 'good standing' for customers who are paid up for this fee. New customers, for the initial 30-days after purchase, will receive any sort of telephone based technical assistance (POS program, PC, or networking), and after the 30 day period, only GoAntiquing! Point-of-Sale program support. We use Remote Support sessions, telephone, Facebook groups, and generic Q&A via 'Support Request' and email, as support tools. Support also includes password resets, re-activation of software on your existing PC, or on a replacement PC. Essentially anything that might cause you to contact and ask for any sort of assistance qualifies as a support incident and if the Annual Fee is due or overdue will mean the current fee as well as any past year fees that are unpaid must be paid at that time.

NOTE: The first year of this Annual Fee is included in the initial purchase of the license for the software.

---

Basics of Support

• We will assist with any question related to use and operation of GoAntiquing!
• We only support the very latest version of the software. If your software is not updated when you call for support you must first get it updated to the current version.
• We expect that any computer you use for GoAntiquing! is efficiently prepared and free of viruses, spyware, or other malware. We also expect customers who operate a multi-register shop to ensure the same is true of the network, e.g. it is setup correctly for maximum efficieny and speed. See our detailed Network Checklist for specifics about networking.
• We will train you, the primary contact person of the shop, in use and operation of any aspect of the program, but will not train subordinate staff, as the assumption is you will train your own staff in accordance with your own policies.
• Non-payment of the Annual Fee, any Gateway Overage fees, or special fees (see below under Extenuating Circumstances) that are due will mean you are not in 'good standing', all support is discontinued, and the shop will not receive any Support and will not be eligible for the premium services such as Data Backup and Dealer Gateway. Please be aware that under extenuating circumstances we reserve the right to revoke your ability to use the software if unpaid Fees exceed a certain limit or if customer is rude or verbally abusive during discussion about late fees (see below) - basically we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone (within limits).

---

Support Approach

We have several ways of providing you with support.

• Typically Support is handled best by submitting a Support Request with a follow-up phone call or email. Most people want to just call first, but it is actually best to start with a Support Request because it opens a conversation regarding issues or questions and attaches your data for us to analyze.
• To submit a support Request, click the Reporting bar on the left side, click the icon labeled Support, click Add New, and fill in all blanks. Make sure and give lots of details about the issue or question before you click the Submit button.
• Support phone number is 800-385-7911. There is an urgent feature in the voice menu system which should only be used if the software does not operate at all.
• We also use a Remote Support tool, provided by GotoAssist, to interact with your computer visually and with mouse/keyboard, to help coach and mentor you, or to solve issues directly.

---

Extenuating Circumstances

Occasionally extenuating circumstances come up, which might be various scenarios. This section tries to identify some of these and give you insight into how we would proceed should that case arise.

• Inability to host a Remote Support session: Any customer that cannot run a Remote Support session, and the support staff determines that is what is needed to assist, will be charged $39 per support call (which must be paid via credit card immediately).  This is in addition to the $99 Annual Fee.  The ability to use Remote Support cuts a support call that might take an hour if we only have telephone for communication to perhaps 10 minutes or less.
• Non-GoAntiquing! program support limitation: For the first 30 days of operation we will also assist with general computer setup, networking, and configuration of your PC. After 30 days, if support requests related to use and operation of your computer, it's operating system, anti-virus or firewall software, printers, other peripherals/hardware, or networking occur we will assess if that requires an 'extended support' support fee of $200/hr. We will clearly communicate to you if/when we determine that a support request has crossed the line from regular to extended support and give you the option to stop the support call before incurring the 'extended support' fee. Please note if you agree to the fee but later refuse to pay the fee we will consider you to have lost your 'good standing status' and future support will be available only if past-due payment is made - at the same time you will always be eligible for program updates.
• Requests for changes to the software: Sometimes you may find that you would like a simple change to an existing report, such as removal of some information, a change in placement of the information, a font change, or possibly in the case of barcode or 'item' labels a new size format. Such requests will incur a $50 fee to be invoiced for the work to do the modification for your needs. Sometimes we may take the modification and make it generally available, this does not mean you get refunded, it just means that you paid to get your need elevated in priority for fast use at your shop. There are other times when you may request a change to a report or change to the program that is so extensive that it exceeds the $50 simple modification fee, those sorts of changes will be assessed and we will tell you what we feel the cost will be and we will offer a 50% discount on that work if we feel it is worthy of general availability in the program for all other shops. That said, many such requests if not urgently needed are always logged and added to the list of requests that may be implemented as time and other priorities allow.
• Training fee for replacement staff: If the person who was trained by our Support Staff leaves the shop, and ownership needs a new manager or primary person trained, that is an additional fee of $200 per hour in 1 hour increments (30 minute sessions), it is unfortunate we have had to add this to our policy but it is necessary to protect our Support Staff from repeating the same training to different people at the same shop, over and over again.
• Dispute and inconvenience fees: Occasionally when a payment is made to us via Credit Card someone at the business might see the charge and not understand it. Sometimes, instead of contacting us to work out the question you have, some people will dispute the fee by complaining to their bank. It is almost a 100% fact that your bank will side with you, and our processor, usually PayPal, will side with the bank. So the fee will be debited from our account. This is severely detrimental to our business. In these cases there is usually an additional fee charged against us by PayPal or another credit processor. To recapture this, we will invoice you for the original fee amount, the dispute fees we are charged, as well as a $25 "Inconvenience Fee" (meaning you have inconvenienced our business by the dispute and it costs us time and effort to resolve it). Failure to make good on any such fees will result in software deactivation within 2 weeks of being invoiced.
• Good standing: We will only support customers 'in good standing' because for our business to survive and be here for you as you need support we must limit our time assisting customers to those who are current with the Annual Fee.
• Software deactivation: We reserve the right to remotely shutdown your right to use the software if past due accumulated unpaid Fees meet or exceed $198 or if as part of a discussion about unpaid fees the customer is rude or abusive or directly states they have no intention to pay fees.
• Miscellaneous demands: Occasionally we are asked to participate in some sort of data research to assist in determining answers to various questions; examples are to find out if theft or other suspicious activities have occurred at the shop, if an accountant or bookkeeper has sales tax or other accounting questions, matters that might require research into reseller / tax exempt purchase history (in case of audit by state or other agency), or other situations. If this involves more than 5 minutes of time, custom programming, custom report creation, documentation, copying, mailing, legal consultation with your attorney or my attorney, your accountant or my accountant, interviews / statements / depositions / affidavits for any manner of law enforcement, there will be a fee based on $200 per hour (1 hour minimum) plus any direct expenses (such as my attorney's fees, travel expenses, and productive work time lost). Any interaction where there is a legal action or dispute involved between you and a third party (such as a vendor or employee or other), we will require that you provide a letter to us that states you will "defend, hold harmless, and indemnify Brave New Software LLC from any claims and damages arising out of any information or assistance provided to you from Brave New Software LLC".

IMPORTANT: GoAntiquing! licenses are non-transferrable from one business to another (please see the End User License Agreement presented at installation also see the FAQ titled 'What happens if I sell my business? Who owns the software?'.