Ian
I won't be using ACT ever again
I've been using ACT for probably 20 years. In 2024 they change the feature where you send a mail out to all of your customers from what was called a Mail Merge to Marketing Automation. The videos they provide are next to useless. The only good thing about my experience was the tech person who helped me navigate the problems...which are many. If it weren't for Andy in tech support I would have been lost. I was on the phone with him almost weekly for the whole year. I lost thousands of dollars using ACT. Here's why. When following ACTs own instructions, the newsletters I sent out to my 1000+ customers ended up in spam folders. When I used to do mail outs I would hear back from customers right away then more would reply over the coming weeks. I heard nothing back from anyone. I started phoning and emailing customers to see if they got my email from the Marketing Automation. It was in their spam folders. I know angry customers often exaggerate. Not here. It took almost a year to get this problem resolved. Andy was great but the problems with the back end of the software was so convoluted that even Andy had a hard time figuring out how to get my emails into inbox's not spam folders. I had to hire an outside tech person who ultimately figured out the final fix to get ACT working as it should have from the beginning. He had to help ACT's own tech person. This isn't a comment on Andy. He is excellent. It's a comment on how badly the Marketing Automation system is designed. Can there be any justification for my emails going to spam folders. For $870.00 CAD a year, a CRM should work perfectly. Not even close. During the time when my newsletters weren't being received, there is no way to determine the amount of money I lost due to customers going elsewhere because they didn't hear from me. Regular contact is key in retaining customers. ACT is responsible for my financial losses but there is nothing I can do about it. Adding to this debacle, just today I went to pay for my subscription, they shut my access to my database down. I was given no warning that this was going to happen. To be fully honest, they did send me notice a month ago that renewal was coming up and an invoice came a couple of days ago. I pay my credit card down at the end of each month and I couldn't renew today as I was at my limit which I always am at the end of each month. The PayPal option wasn't available. So this means I have to lay off my employees on Monday and Tuesday because I can't access my customer base to know where to send my guys (we're a building maintenance company). This will hurt them and cost me thousands of dollars. This is no way to treat a customer who has been loyal for over...it's got to be more than 15 years. In addition to the thousands already lost because my mailouts were ending up in spam folders...FOR ALMOST A YEAR!!!! , shutting me down was the final straw. Just out of principal, I will be using Maximizer or another CRM next year even it the learning curve is steep. I won't give ACT another penny after this year. Since they shut me down, I have to pay them to get my database back up so I'm stuck using them for another year. I'm going to call a lawyer on Monday since I'm feeling like it's illegal to hold a customers database ransom rather than just sending a friendly email saying I need to pay the invoice by a certain date. If you're going to buy ACT, take my experience into consideration.
Response from Act! LLCJul 24, 2025
Hi Ian, We’ve read your review carefully, understand your frustration, and have attempted to contact you multiple times via both email and telephone in an effort to find an amenable solution. We’ve been unable to reach you as you announced in your voicemail that you no longer answer the phone due to telemarketers. While we’d love to address your concerns in person, we’d also like to clarify a few points for accuracy relating to your comments. First, while you referenced paying for AMA, your account was on our free Basic tier and did not include an Act! Marketing Automation subscription. The Basic version offers limited functionality, and because we understand you had questions around the transition from Mail Merge, our support team provided extensive assistance despite this being a non-paid feature set. Second, regarding deliverability, inbox placement is impacted by many factors outside of our platform, including domain and email settings. We worked closely with you over many months to identify the best setup for your use case. And last, regarding billing, we began outreach several months prior and followed up nine times by email and phone before your subscription was suspended due to non-payment. While we offer flexible payment arrangements, these must be made prior to lapse. Multiple payment methods—including credit card, EFT, cheque, and PayPal—remained available. At this point, since we are unable to reach you for resolution, we wish you the best in your future endeavors.