Avid Technology Reviews 200

Appalling aftersales support. If you ever have issues with your product don't expect the process of resolving your issue to be easy, or resolved at all. Their website is often down or unresponsive so logging a ticket is just as challenging as getting through over the phone.

Would never buy avid products again.

Just joining the chorus so to speak. Pro Tools is one of the best DAWs I've ever used. Admittedly, these days, other software is catching up and in some regards, surpassing them (they slept on virtual instrumentation and MIDI for waaaay too long, such that it's still clunky), but it's still one of the best for a reason. And that reason is in NO WAY related to how they treat their customers, which is shameful, unethical, and will %100 be their downfall. If you've been using this software for decades, like myself, you are kind of forced to stick with it. I don't have time to get as proficient at Ableton or Logic as I am at Pro Tools. But to the young producers and engineers who are coming up, why would they ever join the ranks?
Pro tools charges you hundreds of dollars EACH YEAR to use their software, bundle very little of value in that price, and CHARGE you for ANY kind of support. I don't particularly need setup help or even support most of the time, but when I do there is never a simple answer waiting in a forum (don't even get me started on their forums). And oftentimes, it is a fault of glitchy, faulty programming. But if that IS the case, I have to spend $40 to talk to ANYone in their support team. Am I refunded if they can't fix the problem? No. Am I refunded if it turns out it's their software's fault? No. NO other DAW works this way. You bought ableton live or logic pro, you're welcome to talk to real humans to get help. Almost no other PRODUCT works that way. It's gouging, harmful to the industry (which is now more individual creators than large studios), and honestly quite indicative of their policy of once you've paid the bill, they couldn't give two sh**s about you. This company is the definition of bloated old men ruining a company because they don't connect to or understand in any the way the current landscape. To be clear, their support has ALWAYS been horrific (been using for more than 20 years), but they got away with it because what else were you going to use? Cakewalk? Vegas? They don't seem to appreciate that they have real competition now. And I may have to let them keep abusing me, but I will not recommend this software to anyone, and most of the younger generation will never touch it.

Avid Technology, how do you feel about stealing over $200 USD from people during COVID? Auto-renewal set to ON without any notification or anything. Thievery. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM

What the hell is "Avid Link" anyway and why do I need it with SIBELIUS?? Seems like an extra layer of who knows what ......something to go wrong. Trying to use Sibelius First and it is telling me to log into my Avid Link account. I AM logged into my Avid Link account. Just spent 15 minutes typing a question into the help box on the Avid Link support page. A button said "Take this to Avid Community" and when I clicked it everything I had typed disappeared and I was taken to a generic page.

Messaged them. They never got back to me but used my email address to send me sales emails instead.

Use any other software provider

I've been a long time user of Sibelius and have an active subscription that AVID auto-renewed for me against my will. I can't currently even use the Sibelius I'm being forced to pay for because I've apparently exceed the maximum number of devices registered to my license. However, I can't contact support to even get the licenses reset because you can't email them, can't use the live chat and can't call them without having to pay for a support plan. I will be switching to literally any other notation software once I can get my money back and cancel this crap subscription.

I've used Avid Media Composer for 18 years but only continue to do so because I'm too lazy to learn another NLE. I come from a broadcast background and know this application well. I could write pages about how terrible it is in almost every area. Avid was one of the first in the game, but the competition overtook it many years ago. This company is astonishingly complacent. Their software is difficult to learn, counter-intuitive, clunky and riddled with age-old bugs which have never been addressed. You only have to look at their forums to see the plight of thousands of users, up against deadlines and desperate for help. Meanwhile a host of essential features, which come as standard with other NLEs, can only be accessed in Media Composer through expensive third party plug-ins. I'm writing this review because I've just been prevented from renewing my subscription though a bug on the website, which takes me back to my account page when I hit the "renew" button. Even their website is the least-user friendly I have ever encountered. My advice to anyone thinking of buying Avid Media Composer is DON'T! Except in very specific areas, Premier and Final Cut Pro will do the job much better, and save you hours or even years of frustration.
And finally, just look at the other reviews here, almost all negative. Avid hasn't responded to a single one of them. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about the ethos of this dreadful company.

I bought a Sibelius Upgrade from Avid. After about an hour stuffing around on their ridiculously complicated and confusing website, finally was able to install the so-called upgrade. In fact, it has less options than the previous version - they've charged me for an upgrade and delivered a downgrade. Impossible to talk to anyone. Crap service.

i've been trying to activate my sibelius ultimate license on my new computer for a week now . there are people in the forums doing their best to be helpful, but at this point i need one on one support. i purchased a support code but can't find out how to activate it, despite instructions to go to my account and view my downloads . i find the website extremely hard to navigate, and the 1-888 number leads to a full mailbox, while the 1-978 number redirects to the website and doesn't have an option for speaking to an agent without a support code ( but that's what i need help with ). worst customer service of any product i've ever used .

I have been simply trying to activate Pro Tools on a different computer and all I get is the runaround from their support. It has been a week now and I still haven't been helped. They keep asking me to send a screenshot, over and over and over, and when I do, their reply is to send another screen shot. Avid is the worst of any companies that I have ever dealt with. If I didn't have so many sessions recorded with Pro Tools, I would simply use another software. I hate this company with a passion!

I would give the a 0, if possible. I created a Case to cancel my subscription and received a reasonably quick reply asking why I was cancelling. I replied to say it was simply due to non-use. There was no reply from Avid in several days, so I followed up two more times... nothing. I created another Case, which they cancelled within 24hrs due to being a duplicate Case, so I replied to the original two more times over the course of the next 2 weeks. Still nothing. Avid sucks. Great product but they clearly don't care about their customers in the least.

Awful customer service, you can't speak to a person if you run into a snag. I bought a support package only to find out it was an online support, which I could get anyway. I feel ripped off.
I use ProTools which I am tied to because all my mixes are on that system but other DAWs seem much better.
I find their site really hard to navigate and not clear what to do when I get on the site.

although Avid had a great product it stand very far from having a good customer dept and extremely hard to get to them. I subscribe for a year for protools. They dont tell you that when the year is over they subscribe you back for next year with out you telling them yes. They have a portal with a button that is on for auto renewal and dont tell you nothing about it. I just enter that web like 2 times or 3. When I signed in and today to cancel and thats where I find out that they have me in a whole year contract with out me saying yes. That was very tricky from avid installing a button on web that was already on I didn't turn on. So watch it if you are going to do any digital subscription with this company My name is Axel Rodriguez. My expectation about this company are in low levels and don't think will return to have this service as there were nobody to talk just an email that I sent with out getting any respond form them. So watch it you could be the next.

Most appalling customer service model of ANY company Ive dealt with in 40 years. And I mean EVER. Their stupid system ID/product activation never works, and when you click "chat" on their website you get an automated bot that takes you to a "community" where you pray you'll find a relevant article that helps. If you want phone help, you call the hotline, and an automated voice tells you to enter your System ID, which it then says doesnt exist! If you want actual HUMAN HELP (like any reputable company provides for free), you have to pay $29US for a one-time "support code" - not joking! And if their support doesnt fix the problem, you dont get a refund for the code! I hope this company burns to the ground, they should be ashamed. Disgusting company.

If you use their distributor service and you collect any good royalty, they freeze your payment, making excuses, they froze my payment, and upon asking me they giving excuses like fraud stream, and I'm waiting on my case to give any update by 3 months+, they always say no updates, because they freakin' Scamming.

Don't use their bad service anyway if you love your hard work and hard earned money.

Seriously, I have no idea how this company manages to remain thought of as the industry standard! I always have a backup DAW ready to go in case Pro Tools won't work. 90% of the time I have to use the back up. You can't pick up the phone and call and get your issue resolved. If you are counting on Pro Tools for a paying session, DON'T!

Not only do their products (Pro Tools in this case) barely work and live up to modern standards, their customer support is the literal worst.

I really hate that I love using Sibelius. Because of that stupid activation software not working half of the time... !!

Avid seriously has the absolute WORST customer support of any company I've ever dealt with in my entire life. It is actually so difficult, that I'm getting rid of all avid software forever. You can't talk to anyone on the phone unless you enter your "system ID". I have a system ID, but the robot on the phone doesn't recognize it when I enter it and won't let me talk to anyone. The online chat isn't available 1/2 the time either. It's truly unreal. I am now stuck, can't use the software, and can't get help. The help I need is can't be addressed by the "community" option either. I need to talk to someone. It's a total waste of money...

The worst website and worst customer service ever. Any interaction with the company is a nightmare. And there is no customer service. A robot will reply to the chat, fails to provide information, looks for someone, and then says "no agent available." Disappointed each and every time.