REFUND DECLINED: AAF - Nuendo 8 vs Cubase 10

Hoping to see what other’s thoughts are on a little situation I’m in concerning the ability to import AAF in the recent update of Cubase 10.

2 weeks prior to the release of Cubase 10, I owned Cubase 9. Cubase 9 which of course doesn’t allow the import of AAF.
Because of this I crossgraded to Nuendo 8 specifically to enable this feature.

2 Weeks later, Cubase 10 was announced with the ability to import AAF.

This is clearly just a coincidence how this worked.
I had absolutely no way to anticipate AAF import let alone when Cubase 10 was going to be released.

My local reps sent a refund request and to have my licensed reverted back to Cubase 9 which resulted in Steinberg declining with absolutely no reason as to why. I think this is a little unfair on Steinbergs part, I think it’s obvious that I have a genuine unfortunate situation, but all for not even to give a reason.

Yeah there’s terms and conditions and refund policies (which I must add are riddled with bogus mistakes obviously due to language barriers) but, if fair was fair I think I deserve a bit more as a loyal Customer (since Cubase 5 and purchased every update up to 9).

Anyway, any thoughts on this? Or is it just me?

Note: Yes there has been OMF import, it’s dated by comparison so no longer met my requirements.

That does seem a bit of a poor customer relations move… if it really was only 2 weeks.

Admittedly software purchases are usually non refundable but Nueno is a hefty investment so I feel your frustration.

Perhaps an appeal to Steinberg in Germany ?

I have a feeling that many Nuendo users might find Cubase up to their needs now, though I applaud SB for adding AAF support there, it was sorely needed!

First, I agree that it would be good for Steinberg to refund your Nuendo crossgrade fee of $1300 (I think this is the current crossgrade price?) and give you back your Cubase 9 so you could then upgrade to Cubase 10, which is $160. That’s a $1140 difference and after all, it was only 2 weeks, right? Would be very nice of Steinberg to do that for you.

HOWEVER, let me present an analogy. It’s not a great analogy, but see what you think…

You previously owned a nice car – let’s say it’s a sedan for this analogy. It did ALMOST everything you wanted, but it was missing ONE really important feature. And that feature was AAF. In my analogy, that’s probably at the level of a basic navigation/map system. Nothing special, but arguably a feature that should have already been in the sedan for a few years… but for whatever reason – probably an artificial and marketing-driven reason – the dealer did NOT include the navigation system (AAF) in the sedan models of cars. Very annoying, but it was the reality of life at the time.

But you were fed up, and you had to have the navigation system (AAF). You could have bought a third-party navigation system (i.e. there are workarounds, such as even buying something like AATranslator for $200 or using a combination of other apps that you might already have for a workaround, or even you could have continued using OMF!), but you wanted that specific navigation system integrated right into the car. And truth is, it should have been there in the first place. But you wanted that one.

So you went to the dealer and saw that their expensive SUV had the exact navigation feature you wanted, and you decided that you HAD to have that feature, so much so, that you felt that it was worth spending $1300 at the time. Yes, it was a super important feature to you at the moment, and you justified it at the time, and it felt right and was going to save you hassle in life and work, and you went for it, and spent the $1300.

So you traded in your sedan, and walked out of the dealership with a shiny new expensive SUV. And it had the navigation feature that you wanted.

Now I don’t know what went down at the dealership – maybe you told the dealer that you wanted the navigation system more than anything in the world, and that somehow it was worth $1300 to you. And yes, if you told them that, it would have been really cool of them to say… “hey, hold off for two more weeks… the new sedan is coming out, and that will actually have the navigation system in it!” In a perfect world, that would have happened. But it didn’t. Instead, you traded in your sedan, bought the expensive SUV, and drove off the lot.

So now you’re driving around with your shiny new SUV and you’re perhaps realizing that holy smokes, that was $1300 for that navigation system. And you might be feeling a little buyer’s remorse. You might be feeling a little bad about it because the holidays are coming up, and you could have bought a nice gift for your wife for $1300, and perhaps lived without the navigation system. The decision might or might not have been haunting you… but then… boom… the news comes out…

Just two weeks after you buy the nice expensive SUV, the dealer announces it is now selling a sedan with the navigation system! Just two weeks! Now that kind of stinks. You could have had the navigation system for a mere $160 and not a whopping $1300. You might feel a little ripped off, maybe even a little betrayed… not sure how you emotionally handled it, but it was frustrating enough to you that you decided to…

…ask for a refund on your expensive new SUV and ask them to give you back your old sedan, so you could upgrade that to the new sedan…

…and they said no. Now again, I think it would have been a good thing for them to say yes, mainly because it had only been two weeks and it would have been very good customer service. But we’re dealing with a car dealer that doesn’t have the best track record for customer service, so what do you expect would happen?

Technically, by their user agreement that you may or may not have been aware of, they didn’t have to do that… or at least they felt that they didn’t have to do that. You may be able to appeal to them again and get them to do it… or you might even be able to talk to your credit card company or maybe even take them to court if you wanted to spend the enormous time and energy – I have no idea of the laws in your country… there might be a way out for you.

But the bottom line is that they said no, and now you have a choice of what to do…

  1. Appeal, try to force the reversal of the charge, etc., etc., etc.

  2. OR just accept that you now have an expensive new SUV!

I’m not suggesting you do one thing or another, but in this analogy, just consider this:

You STILL have the SUV! Nothing changed about the SUV. It STILL has the navigation system. So what that the sedan now has the navigation system too?

You had to realize that features are constantly being added to new versions of both sedans and SUVs and at some point it was likely to happen that the sedan was going to get the navigation system! That’s kind of what happens in life. You just had bad timing. But you STILL have the SUV. Truth is, you could have even predicted that the sedan was going to get the navigation system if you had been keeping an eye on the competition, because the competition to that sedan had just added a navigation system (AAF) just recently! (Presonus Studio One Pro 4 just added AAF in May and IMO that was likely extra pressure on Steinberg to finally include AAF in Cubase.)

Anyway, for whatever reason, the sedan got the navigation system and you didn’t know about it, and you ended up spending $1300 to get an SUV with that navigation system.

But again, you still have that SUV. The dealer probably feels justified in keeping your money because, after all, you still have the SUV. They didn’t rip you off, they didn’t likely consciously deceive you, and they ultimately gave you the SUV that you paid for! And they might even feel more justified because they also already gave you the option of a 30-day trial to drive around the SUV so they may feel you had ample time and opportunity to make an informed decision. So they are unlikely to reverse their decision, but maybe it’s worth a try.

On the other hand, you still have a really good, albeit expensive, SUV. It not only has the navigation system that you wanted, but it has a LOT of other great things in it too. Maybe you never intended to use the other great things… but think about it for a minute. You now can go off-roading and other cool 4x4 SUV things. You can go places and do things that the sedan just can’t handle. You can take trips and adventures that the sedan is simply unable to accomplish. To that you might say, “I don’t care, I only needed a sedan, I’m never going off-roading” and I totally understand that. I get it. You only needed a sedan for the suburbs and autobahn. But have you considered using that SUV for what the SUV can also do? Maybe it will broaden your business a little? It might solve other problems you didn’t realize you might want to solve?

And finally, IF you are indeed STUCK with the SUV and are even so frustrated with the SUV that you become angry about it… you can always SELL your SUV. Yes, you’ll take a loss… but you can sell it (and depending on your negotiating skill and luck finding an eager buyer, you might not even take that big of a loss), then BUY the new sedan and you’ll take a bit of a financial hit, but then you can comfortably sit back in the new sedan. Life goes on.

It’s just an analogy. But seriously, you’ve now got Nuendo. If I were in your shoes, I’d consider appealing perhaps one more time, but then just embracing that you’re now a Nuendo user! Get in there and discover the other cool things it can do. And don’t forget that a new Nuendo update will likely come out fairly soon with a bunch of other new enhancements… and there might be some other killer feature in there that you might love.

You’re an SUV driver now. Not a bad thing.

pakadigital, if you can’t get a refund, spend some time learning nuendo automation. I don’t think I will be happy mixing in Cubase without fill to loop/preview/punch