Glad you found a place to relieve a little pressure! Wish I could help but can only sympathize.

Naming the software may help, with luck someone else will eventually find this post due to web crawlers. This forum comes up on google a lot. Either there will be strength in numbers, or someone else may tell you how to get satisfaction. You may consider writing one of the computer magazines for help.

As roselvr says, name the product as you never know who lurks here.

Other than that you might consider documenting your experience with this new update and send it to the company CEO explaining that you are far more than mildly upset with the whole procedure. Be forthright and do not take 'no' for an answer, you may be surprised what you can achieve.

Thank you all for the advice. I'm wondering if what they are doing is legal? I am not very computer savvy and they are asking me to do things I'm not sure of. I am so afraid of losing my data, I wrote them back asking if there wasn't an easier way to fix these programs. I just got an email back stating that if I would agree to a remote session, they could clear up the problems. I don't know what to do. My feeling is this program is so messed up, it needs to be rewritten. I don't believe a remote session will clear up the multitude of problems.

But if I list the name before I give it a try, I may lose all chance of getting help. Is there any protection regarding software purchases? Can a software company release a beta program as a finished one? Can they charge for it?

I'll update this post tomorrow.

Jane

Sadly Jane it makes little difference about the legality, they are big fish and you are not. Most of us sign away any rights when we click to agree to the terms of use for any software unfortunately.

Why do you feel a remote session would not fix the issues if indeed they have the fixes? Of course you might respond to that by asking them to send the 'fixed' program so you can remove the current version and install the 'new and improved' version. You would need a copy of the good program in case you ever have a crash and need to re-install.

They have dampened your spirit Jane, don't allow that to happen. Be firm, be polite and if today's session does not find the cure then go looking for someone higher in the company and insist on getting this resolved.

I would make sure I had a secure backup of my data and let them go ahead with the remote session. If they can't fix the problems then you will have to decide what to do next.

Thank you Owbist, you are very sweet. I am waiting to hear from them. I just reread all the exchanges back and forth over the last 2 weeks and it's extensive with so many downloads, I'm not even sure if I downloaded all their fixes.
The reason I don't feel hopeful is because I keep running into new ones. It appears that they made changes to fit the government guidelines, but it threw the rest of the program off. Things are not working in unison. As soon as they fix one problem, it throws off other parts. Also, the fixes don't overwrite the old problems, so they pop up again. They want me to search for the old files and delete them 'carefully.'
I think they are a small company. I found them a few years ago advertised in a number of medical catalogs. I do insurance billing and record keeping. It's important that the program is accurate. Their old program was. Their new upgrade, is not. They had a year to upgrade before the mandatory changes were implemented. I think they didn't test it in 'real life' before releasing it.

I have over 3,000 patients-records entered on this program. The thought of starting over, literally makes me ill. I wish I knew how to handle this. I think I was probably the first person to switch to the new upgraded version. It appears other customers have not upgraded yet. So in effect, I am the guinea pig.
Thanks for listening,
Jane