The most infuriating customer and support experience of 2012, thus far, easily goes to Nuance Software. I spent half my day purchasing Dragon Naturally Speaking and unsuccessfully downloading the software while talking to two separate support teams (DigitalRiver and Nuance) both of which blamed each other.  Below is the LinkedIn Mail I sent to the GM of the product.

Robert,

I ruptured a ligament in my hand recently and underwent surgery last Friday. Since I spend a great deal of time on my keyboard I decided to purchase Dragon Nat Speaking.

At first your customer experience was positive, I was greeted by a live chat on your website and received a phone call that aided me in placing my order. This was appreciated given that I can only type with one hand. However, the experience quickly went down hill from there. Upon purchasing I received an email with my order number and an URL to the DigitalRiver powered store. My initial attempt to download the 2.5 GB file was unsuccessful (yes, I’m wired and on broadband). I then attempted the download with a download manager, but failed and was informed I exceeded the number of allowable downloads in the process.

I contacted Nuance support, they directed me to DigitalRiver, I ended up in what I presume to be an outsourced call center in India. The scripted support agents in India were ineffective and quite frankly would be an embarrassment to my company. The DigtalRiver store experience is embarrassingly bad http://www.flickr.com/photos/roebot/7245132810/in/photostream (case in point). The overall customer support is too something I would be ashamed of.

In short, I have now spent several hours (on hold alone) of my day simply trying to download a file and working with both Nuance and DigitalRiver support. Nuance has washed their hands of any responsibility. DigitalRiver has informed me that I have already downloaded it as many times as they can allow (30) and washed their hands.

I would appreciate it if someone shared this information with me about my company were we to perform so inadequately, which is why I am informing you.

Not only should DigitalRiver be removed as the vendor for their eCommerce, Nuance should assign a Customer Experience Officer to holistically improve their entirely broken experience.

Can anyone recommend a good alternative to Dragon? Perhaps the Customer Experience is so atrocious because there aren’t any?

Here’s the best gumbo I’ve ever had. It’s Basil Ashby’s  recipe.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Recipe

You will need the below items for the Gumbo.

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup Flour – use regular flour not self risen.
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 1/2 cups chopped bell peppers
1 cup chopped Green onions
1 1/2 pounds SMOKED sausage cut into bite size ( Get as good brand as you
can find) Andouille
Sausage if you can find it.
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 bay leaves ( remove when gumbo is done)
8 cups chicken broth, more if you think you need it. ( I use Swanson
chicken broth no fat)
Note: do not use the chicken broth from the boiled chicken it’s to greases.

4-5 pounds of chicken meat cut or pulled to medium size bites.
Note: Remove the skin from the chicken, then boil in water until done ,
cool chicken then remove meat set aside in a bowl
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
Season Chicken Rub- see below recipe for the rub.

Important Note: have everything chopped and ready to go before you start
the roux.

Let’s put it together””

First step and very important one is making the roux. Combine the oil and
flour in a large cast iron pot or enameled cast iron Dutch oven. Pour one
cup of oil in pot on medium heat, once the oil is hot, start adding the
flour a little at a time. This is a little work but you can’t leave the roux
once you start. So have a beer or two ready to drink. Stirring slowly and
constantly for 25 to 30 minutes. You want the roux to get dark brown, the
color of chocolate. If you see any black speaks in the roux it has burned
and you must start over. So go slow it may take 3 beers. After roux is done
add the onions, celery, bell peppers, and green onions to the roux continue
to stir for 4 to 5 minutes. Then add the sausage, salt , cayenne, and bay
leaves. Continue to stir 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chicken broth and stir
well, bring to a boil reduce heat to medium-low. Cook uncovered stirring
occasionally for about 1 hour or less. You are now ready to season the
chicken that’s in the bowl with the seasoning rub. After you season the
chicken add to pot. Cook gumbo for at least an hour or more at a simmer.

Season Chicken Rub
8 tablespoons paprika
3 tablespoons cayenne
4 tablespoons ground black pepper
5 tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons onion powder
4 tablespoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 1/2 tablespoons dried thyme.

Note: This rub recipe is more then you will need, so you will need to kind
of guess how much to use, but add a pretty good amount. Now take the rub and
season the chicken in the bowl all over before putting in pot, stir chicken
well after spreading the rub on the chicken. This rub is all the seasoning
you will need for the Gumbo. Serve over rice”‘ Enjoy

I spent nine days in East Texas and Louisiana recently. While there I ate gumbo six days straight and I gathered a few gumbo recipes from my wife’s family (verbally). Then  today I reviewed over a half dozen recipes online and I found this recipe at AllRecipes, which seemed to be pretty solid. I used this and the folk lore of Tara’s family as guidance to create my first gumbo today, which took me a good four hours. While I won’t really know for sure until tomorrow I think I’ve got a winner. Next time I’ll have to make my roux darker though.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup bacon drippings
• 1 cup coarsely chopped celery
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
• 3 quarts water
• 6 cubes beef bouillon
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco®), or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning blend (such as Tony Chachere’s®), or to taste
• 4 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons gumbo file powder
• 2 tablespoons bacon drippings
• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen cut okra, thawed
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 1 pound lump crabmeat
• 3 pounds uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons gumbo file powder

Directions

1. Make a roux by whisking the flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.
2. Place the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux, and mix in the sausage. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.
3. Bring the water and beef bouillon cubes to a boil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Stir until the bouillon cubes dissolve, and whisk the roux mixture into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.
4. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in a skillet, and cook the okra with vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes; remove okra with slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo. Mix in crabmeat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder.