Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery for Mac

1.0 stars

"Simply awful"

March 13, 2012  |   By rafaelmacho

Version: Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery 4.1

Pros

Easy to use the demo.

Cons

Bad company

Summary

After reading the other reviews, I found myself in a similar situation...
Last Wednesday one of my hard drive in my HP Mediasmart was refusing access to its content. I took the hard drive and put it in my macpro. I downloaded the demo 5.0 and run it overnight. The following morning when I woke up it says that it was able to find files. So I ordered the software. I received an email immediately after my online purchase...Except they sent me an email with a serial for the version 4.1. Which didn't work! I decided to call as their website says 24 hours from Monday to Friday. An answering message said that it was closed for holidays! At this point I wondered if the company was legit, or some scam company like Mackeeper.
Afraid to lose all my precious family photos, I tried another software (NFTS -3G) which basically mounted the hard drive on my desktop, and immediately I could see all my files.
The next Friday I received an apology email from the company with a new serial number. I looked online and found their 30-days policy. I thought I would be able to get a refund since I wasn't able to use their software and the correct serial.
On Friday I was able to call a customer service which told me to simply email and ask for a RMA #. I have sent several emails and I had to wait 4 days for an answer. Their answer was telling me that they would easily refund me, but before that I will need to talk to their customer service.
After another call, they said to email... which I explained I already did. I could see myself in a loop between emails and phone calls.
I end up calling my bank to escalate this as a fraud. With the supervisor of the bank and me over the phone, we spoke for over 50 minutes... They basically won't listen and refuse and send me to a loop. They basically will not assume their 30-days policy. So now the claim is escalating within my bank.
In short... their customer service is awful. They don't honor their 30-days return policy, and keep playing with email and phone calls. Here is a copy of their email:
"I would like to inform you that refund is not an issue for us, our prime motive is to help you in any way.So I request you to kindly co-operate with us and take our technical support assistance. If they could not resolve your issue in that case I will refund the full amount.
Software is not meant for only one time recovery, it carries a lifetime license which would certainly help you in future along with that we provide unlimited technical support to all our valued customers.

Hoping for your kind co-operation.
Thanks,
Vinita Chauhan
Stellar Information Systems Limited"

In the end, I can't believe their practice. They failed to provide a service for such an emergency situation. I couldn't use their software and serial number. I didn't want to lose my honeymoon, wedding, son birth pictures. :(
So yes I am spending over 25 minutes to write a negative review, because they manage to not only disappoint me but to upset me too. THis is not the way to do business, Stellar Phoenix.

As for my future backups, I decided to buy a Synology NAS with Raid 5, and I will add an online backup as well, I learn my lesson.

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1.0 stars

"Useless for what I needed it for"

January 28, 2012  |   By left1979

Version: Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery 4.1

Pros

Good interface.

Cons

Didn't work for me. Was trying to do a simple restore of Word documents that were erased (and not replaced) from a flash drive only yesterday. After a long scan this app couldn't find them. This is a basic function. Trial (free) scans from competing software found them. Needless to say I'll be spending the money (again) elsewhere. Don't buy it!

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1.0 stars

"The product does not work as advertised."

January 10, 2012  |   By alf_hanna

Version: Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery 4.1

Pros

None. The product does not operate as advertised on 2 TB drives. It does not even complete a scan without crashing.

Cons

I wish I would have found this review before purchasing. The product does not work as advertised. It would not complete a scan of my 2TB drive without crashing repeatedly. I contacted technical support, provided them with crash reports that clearly showed to me that they were the problem (I have developer and debug experience) and they promised to get back to me within 24 hours, which they did not do. Perhaps Indian developers operate on some ethical level that those of us in the US don't. They have not refunded my money, despite numerous requests. And on top of that, I bought a competing product, from Prosoft "Drive Genus" and it did recover the data as advertised.

Summary

Don't waste your money. These people seem to be crooks.

Updated on Jan 10, 2012

Correction: I bought both Drive Genius and Data Rescue from Prosoft. It was Data Rescue that recovered my files.

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1.0 stars

"Didn't work and company is unethical!"

November 11, 2011  |   By shara_26

Version: Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery 4.1

Pros

None, nothing...empty promises.

Cons

Didn't work and wasn't able to:
A. Get a Refund or
B. Get technical assistance either via phone or on line

Accidentally purchased the incorrect version and certain that I'd be refunded my money, immediately downloaded and paid for the correct version. Now down $80, I contacted the provider but that was confusing. Here's why:
- paid through PayPal
- received confirmation from Element 5
- for a product from Digital River GmbH
- called Stellar Phoenix

Though I didn't immediately file a complaint within the PayPal System, I did contact Element 5 (or whomever) and received a response from one of the above mentioned groups denying my request for the incorrect download. Later, I got an email telling me that I had to send them proof, etc. I was so terribly disappointed in the product and support that I launched a dispute for both purchases through PayPal. Given a period of 20 days to dispute, I had neither the time nor patience to deal right then and have since let it drop.

Summary

I'm crossing my fingers that in sharing this really sad story, someone will take pity and offer some assistance in the form of a free solution.

I have a DVD that I burned in 2005 and had not opened since. Upon mounting it at the beginning of September of this year, I was able to see the names of all of the files contained within but the data was corrupted and unreadable. Among the 3gb of data that it contains, there is only a single file that is both dear and irreplaceable.

In 2004, my friend, Jack Hensley, was working as a contractor in Iraq. The Word document that I'm trying to salvage contains a copy of an email he sent me in 2004 that includes a long and very detailed account of his life there and answers the many questions I'd asked of him in my previously. Shortly after receiving Jack's letter, and before I was able to respond, he was beheaded...the second of the three men to suffer such a horrific fate. His email was amazing and enlightening and in the wake of his demise, very, very dear. Though I hadn't revisited this email since 2005, this year, just before the 7th anniversary of his death in September, I wanted to read it to remember him and to honor him in my own way. After discovering this loss, I tried various methods and programs that all offered promise toward the recovery. In my desperation, I disregarded the negative reviews and warnings and turned to this product as a last ditch attempt.

You know how you always hear people who have suffered tragedies say, "if one person can learn from my experience..." Well, I guess that's my point. Please, please don't purchase this product. I'm not sure if you're able to contact me through CNET but if you are dying to give it a try, please reach out to be. I'd be happy to "share" ;) if ya know what I mean. This is my first post of this kind. I hope I don't get banned.

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1.0 stars

"DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!!!!"

November 1, 2011  |   By SJPhoto

Version: Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery 4.1

Pros

No Pros for this product or company.

Cons

Product doesn't work. Support doesn't help at all. You can't reach them by phone so don't even try and emails get answered with vague responses that don't pertain to the product and they always close the case before there is a resolution. They don't back up their refund policy at all so don't expect a refund if the product doesn't work.

Summary

I would definitely not recommend purchasing anything from Stellar.

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1.0 stars

"Recover all deleted Data for Mac-Recover Data for Mac"

September 8, 2011  |   By lovemei2011

Version: Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery 4.1

Pros

Recover all deleted Data for Mac-Nice to Recover Data for Mac,free download in http://www.mustsoftware.com/Nice-to-Recover-Data-for-Mac-guide.html

Cons

It is a all-in-one Mac data/file recovery software,including Multimedia Recovery for Mac(recover photos, recover videos, recover music for Mac) from both Mac hard drive and other portable storage devices.

Summary

Recover all deleted Data for Mac-Nice to Recover Data for Mac,free download in http://www.mustsoftware.com/Nice-to-Recover-Data-for-Mac-guide.html

Updated on Sep 8, 2011

Recover all deleted Data for Mac-Nice to Recover Data for Mac,free download in http://www.mustsoftware.com/Nice-to-Recover-Data-for-Mac-guide.html

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