# Native Instruments Customer Service



## Rex282 (Feb 27, 2019)

I've been trying to resolve an issue with NI for going on 2 weeks now.It took them 3 days to respond and from then on was 1 email a day which could have all been resolved in one day with good competent instructions.

Their tech help line is non functional.They never answer and say they have too many calls then disconnect you.This is completely unacceptable business practice in my opinion.I haven't paid a premium price for my libraries to be held hostage by a shoddy company that has zero concern for their customers.

I am just venting because 90% of all of my library's run on Kontakt and there are no alternatives.In my opinion this is a travesty.At minmuim it would be nice if all of the VI library's were run on their own engine then I could choose whom to do business with.I am positive I'd never do business with NI.At this point I'd love to be able to sell all of my Kontakt run library's so I never have to deal with NI again but at last... they cannot be sold...rock meet hard place.

There I'm done ...now I have to deal with these an incompetent Ni tech to accomplish the most simple tasks which they cannot just explain in a few emails.Id like to think m frustration will subside completely when this issue resolves however i know there will be many more.

So my more realistic dream desire is PLEASE someone who is ethical and competent create a new player for all the library's and put Kontakt out of business.Thanks for your time to read this.I await you opinions and flames.


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## EvilDragon (Feb 27, 2019)

Sooooo... what was the actual issue?



Rex282 said:


> create a new player for all the library's and put Kontakt out of business.



A number of them have tried, and here we are... Not much, if anything, has changed


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## Alex Fraser (Feb 27, 2019)

FWIW - NI allows you to resell your NI Komplete libraries. Maybe you meant third party stuff..
I'll admit - I like the fact that most sample libraries share the one engine (Kontakt.) At least it's mostly reliable. A world where every vendor tries to create their own engine, with the bugs and constant updates...I'm not sure I'd be up for that.


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## EvilDragon (Feb 27, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> A world where every vendor tries to create their own engine, with the bugs and constant updates...I'm not sure I'd be up for that.



I know I wouldn't. It'd be a nightmare.


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## polypx (Feb 27, 2019)

It is true though, the customer service at the bigger companies is atrocious. I had a problem with Cubase that I couldn't figure out, after two weeks of waiting the only suggestion from Steinberg was "reformat your system drive and re-install without any other apps on it".... which isn't exactly deep thought.


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## Rex282 (Feb 28, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> Sooooo... what was the actual issue?
> 
> 
> 
> A number of them have tried, and here we are... Not much, if anything, has changed



It is multiple issues mostly to do with KK61 keyboard.The main problem(now) is they respond one email a day (at most) with zero solutions.It is impossible to reach them by phone because they never answer it(I've tried everyday this week).Again if it was another company I would just not buy or use their product again except in this case almost every VI library I have uses Kontakt.This is like a monopoly where we are forced to use their product .For the most part Kontakt works good ,it is Native Instruments themselves I have a huge problem with.

I know I can't be the only one to have legitimate complaints there have to be many others if not now sooner or later.It would be great to have the numbers of complaints to NI about their abysmal customer service.IMO that is the 2nd most important aspect of a product. Especially in this case since it effects so many other products.

If they cannot even bother to offer quality help they should not be in business and only the customers can put them out of business.Unfortunately I know that's not going to happen any time soon even though it should.The only solution I can see is they get so many complaints they will have to pay attention.

Since I only have a few responses here that doesn't seem to be a good prospect either.I for one am getting tired of dealing with these companies that are more than happy to take our money but not to take responsibility for their products.This is the only community I know of that is large enough in numbers to have their voices heard.


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## Rex282 (Feb 28, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> Sooooo... what was the actual issue?
> 
> 
> 
> A number of them have tried, and here we are... Not much, if anything, has changed



East West Play is not the most stable player but if you don't like it just don't buy it same with Engine however Kontakt is not the same thing.You are at NI mercy if you need tech support.Like I said 90% of my libraries are for Kontakt.I would sooner deal with the buggy players than a buggy company any day.


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## EvilDragon (Feb 28, 2019)

NI is not obligated to provide support for 3rd party libraries, though, you are aware of that? Just saying.

Also, I think you would VERY quickly grow tired of buggy players after you'd find out how they can adversely affect your workflow.


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## Soundhound (Feb 28, 2019)

NI has customer service?


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## kgdrum (Feb 28, 2019)

fwiw,I have almost always found NI tech support via phone in the USA to be one of the best but I have never had luck via NI's online tech support.


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## NODZ (Mar 1, 2019)

polypx said:


> It is true though, the customer service at the bigger companies is atrocious. I had a problem with Cubase that I couldn't figure out, after two weeks of waiting the only suggestion from Steinberg was "reformat your system drive and re-install without any other apps on it".... which isn't exactly deep thought.



There is actually no way, that any customer support on earth is worse than the Steinberg support. They really suck! Zero Down Time requests are proceeded fast, but for my other inquiries it took them 2- 12 (that was only one time, but still...) weeks to answer. :D 
I have no experience with the NI customer support, but they can´t be THAT bad :D


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## Rex282 (Mar 11, 2019)

I am still waiting for a cogent answer from these bozo's.They refuse to help.Does anyone know a way to contact a living human being(if they employ those).I cant believe no one else hasn't had this same problem.It's going on 3 weeks now.Getting very tired of their shit.


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## Rex282 (Mar 11, 2019)

kgdrum said:


> fwiw,I have almost always found NI tech support via phone in the USA to be one of the best but I have never had luck via NI's online tech support.


You must be born under a good sign because I've called them multiple times been placed on hold up to an hour then have been disconnected everytime.Please tell me your secret.I may have to drive to their building in LA(which I'm pretty sure doesn't exist) and try to talk to a human there(which I'm pretty sure doesn't exist)...futility is fun!!


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## sostenuto (Mar 11, 2019)

Major decline in USA NI telephone support in recent weeks /months. Was strong positive here although their range of personnel personalities and capabilities was unacceptable. 
For my needs, NI was becoming s 'mainstay', and now a questionable future source.
Not fun as a K11U ++, KK S49 user ……….


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## Rex282 (Mar 11, 2019)

sostenuto said:


> Major decline in USA NI telephone support in recent weeks /months. Was strong positive here although their range of personnel personalities and capabilities was unacceptable.
> For my needs, NI was becoming s 'mainstay', and now a questionable future source.
> Not fun as a K11U ++, KK S49 user ……….



That's putting it nicely.I've read their online help and some of those techs are major assholes(if they actually exist).I just want my stuff to work and answers to why it doesn't without all the unnecessary complications and distortions.It's like asking Sarah Sanders which way Donald trump thinks up is.


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## Tod (Mar 11, 2019)

Well I've had my issues, I sent them a support email 2 months ago an haven't heard back and I know I never will. But that won't stop me from buying more products from them.

And we do have EvilDragon who is a wealth of information. I don't know how he does it, but he's literally a walking encyclopedia. Ha ha, and when does he sleep.  

I'll admit I'm an NI fan, but I do hope they get their support together a little better.


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## MartinH. (Mar 11, 2019)

Rex282 said:


> incompetent Ni tech





Rex282 said:


> they should not be in business





Rex282 said:


> bozo's





Rex282 said:


> major assholes




Personally I've had pretty good results with being nice and polite towards the people I want help from. Just saying... ymmv.

In the late 90s I've briefly worked in a position where I got to take care of emails sent via a "report download link as broken" form, and it was a life changing experience to be on the other side of that fence for a bit.

It's been a couple of years since I have dealt with NI specifically, but I don't remember having problems with the support person. Though I ended up just selling the audio interface that I had an issue with and didn't buy hardware from them since.

The best support that I've ever seen are the guys from Reaper. Blew my mind how fast and helpful they were. That played a big part in me being a strong advocate of Reaper and recommending it to others regularly.


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## jbuhler (Mar 11, 2019)

Well, since they now run support through their support forum, it's not even clear how it works any more. Getting an answer seems very hit or miss. I got a fairly quick and straightforward response on my query about KK 2.1. But I'm now having an issue with my expression pedal that runs through the S61 and I saw someone on the NI support forum had a very similar problem. 

First response from NI to query: request for further information. Information given. 

Second response from NI to query a week later: NI support person asks user to try simple solution that probably was tried even before the query and it of course does not solve problem. 

Third response 11 days later: NI support person asks user to try another simple solution that again I'm sure user already tried before the original query was even posted. ​That response was today, so I have no idea how long it will take to get another response. 

I guess if NI can't deal with this I'll contact Sweetwater support, since they who sold me the S61. 

Which equipment manufacturers offer good support? I really can't see buying any further hardware from NI unless they address their support in a serious way.


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## bigcat1969 (Mar 11, 2019)

If I can be forgiven for adding my own issue, new computer and got Native Access going, but it won't recognize my player version of VSCO2. I input the code and it says I've successfully registered it and to go to the not installed instruments window. It never shows up on that window no matter hw many times I hit refresh or shut down NA and restart. Blooming frustrating.


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## MartinH. (Mar 12, 2019)

bigcat1969 said:


> If I can be forgiven for adding my own issue, new computer and got Native Access going, but it won't recognize my player version of VSCO2. I input the code and it says I've successfully registered it and to go to the not installed instruments window. It never shows up on that window no matter hw many times I hit refresh or shut down NA and restart. Blooming frustrating.


When you entered the code, did it mention the correct library in text form somewhere? I've been sent an incorrect license key once. The key was valid, but for the wrong library. If you are unsure, I'd send the key to NI and ask them to look it up in their database to what library it belongs.



jbuhler said:


> I really can't see buying any further hardware from NI unless they address their support in a serious way.


Me neither. For the issue with my Komplete Audio 6 interface I've found a bunch of people with similar issues and various dubious workarounds that worked for some (but not me), like trying different USB 2.0 cables to connect it. I got the impression their hardware is just so broken for some users that they can't get it to work no matter what, and the support people just have no way of helping you. At best they can forward info or data dumps from your system to the dev team, which possibly is too understaffed to handle it or not able to reproduce the issue so that they could fix it. Or maybe they could and would want to, but their bosses insist on doing work that produces more short term income, like developing new libraries and plugins.


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## studiostuff (Mar 12, 2019)

I've called and gotten through to NI support on several occasions... They were helpful. YMMV.


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## Tod (Mar 12, 2019)

MartinH. said:


> Me neither. For the issue with my Komplete Audio 6 interface I've found a bunch of people with similar issues and various dubious workarounds that worked for some (but not me), like trying different USB 2.0 cables to connect it. I got the impression their hardware is just so broken for some users that they can't get it to work no matter what, and the support people just have no way of helping you. At best they can forward info or data dumps from your system to the dev team, which possibly is too understaffed to handle it or not able to reproduce the issue so that they could fix it. Or maybe they could and would want to, but their bosses insist on doing work that produces more short term income, like developing new libraries and plugins.



Ha ha, well I've got a Komplete Kontrol S61 keyboard that doesn't work properly and I've asked for support, but got nothing.

I also have a Komplete Audio 6 and it works great. However, when I first got the interface, one the line inputs didn't work. At the time I could get by with out the input, but really needed the interface, so I waited until the warranty was almost up. Then I sent it back to Sweetwater and ended up with a brand new one that's worked fine every since.


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## jbuhler (Mar 12, 2019)

MartinH. said:


> Me neither. For the issue with my Komplete Audio 6 interface I've found a bunch of people with similar issues and various dubious workarounds that worked for some (but not me), like trying different USB 2.0 cables to connect it. I got the impression their hardware is just so broken for some users that they can't get it to work no matter what, and the support people just have no way of helping you. At best they can forward info or data dumps from your system to the dev team, which possibly is too understaffed to handle it or not able to reproduce the issue so that they could fix it. Or maybe they could and would want to, but their bosses insist on doing work that produces more short term income, like developing new libraries and plugins.


The current method they have for support is so confusing. You really don't know if you've submitted something. You don't know if anyone has read it. The support people sometime take weeks to answer fairly straightforward requests and when the simple solution doesn't work, they will go silent for weeks more afterward and sometimes never come back to it. It's really hard to know how you are supposed to get relief if you have a real problem. Even though I like my S61 mk 2 very much, I could not at this point recommend any NI hardware in good conscience.


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## bigcat1969 (Mar 13, 2019)

Well my solution was to actually pay attention! I was looking under V when what I wanted was under C. After installing lots of effects and instruments to get the list down to size, boom there it was in front of my face. Carry on with all your real problems and good luck.


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