Branding free is NOT Branding Free!

[NC Software]

I paid the extra money for Branding Free, as I also did with vBulletin. For the chunk of money you pay for the Branding Free in SupportSuite all you get to take off is 2-3 items where Kayako is mentioned...NOT the staff portal as they claim that's not part of the Branding Free. Ummm, where does it state this? When I purchase "branding free" it *** IS *** branding free! So my customer portal is branding free, but my staff portal is not! I want my staff to think our software is "our" software and not pieces and parts from other companies, we want to maintain our corporate image and PAID Kayako to do so! Only AFTER the sale did they tell us "ummmm, that doesn't apply to the Staff portal" and it was short, sweet, and not very nice! Unacceptable...for those of you considering throwing more money at Kayako.

[breamteam]

I fail to find the actual Terms and Conditions.

Only thing i found was:

Kayako End User License Agreement

LICENSE GRANT

"You" means the person or company who is being licensed to use the Software or Documentation. "We," "us" and "our" means Kayako Web Solutions. "SupportSuite/eSupport/LiveResponse/SyncWorks/InstaAlert" is the program whose license and usage are detailed in this agreement, also referred to as "Product" in this agreement.

TITLE

We remain the owner of all right, title and interest in SupportSuite/eSupport/LiveResponse/SyncWorks/InstaAlert and related explanatory written materials ("Documentation").

ARCHIVAL OR BACKUP COPIES

You may copy the "Product" for back-up and archival purposes, provided that the original and each copy is kept in your possession and that your installation and use of "Product" does not exceed that allowed in this agreement.

TERMS OF USAGE

SupportSuite/eSupport/LiveResponse/SyncWorks/InstaAlert and Documentation are protected by United States and International copyright laws. Use of the "Product" is subject to the following terms:

1. You may use only one instance of the "Product" on only one computer solely for your own personal or business use, subject to all other terms of this Agreement.

2. You may not use the source code in whole or part in any other software or product.

3. You may not give, sell, distribute, sub-license, rent, lease or lend any portion of the "Product" or Documentation to anyone. You may not place the "Product" onto a server so that it is accessible via a public network such as the Internet for distribution purposes. Kayako retains all rights to distribute the "Product", under its own license, and reserves the right to revoke the license of any user who is holding an invalid license.

4. If you fail to use the "Product" in accordance with the terms and conditions of this License Agreement, it constitutes a breach of the agreement, and your license to use the program is revoked. If Kayako becomes aware of any breach of the terms of this Agreement, it may terminate your license and use of the "Product" pursuant to the terms set out in the Paragraph entitled Term and Termination below.

5. Following the expiration of your license, the "Product" must be removed from your server or another license must be purchased.

6. The URL of the site where the "Product" is running must be submitted to Kayako and all keys obtained must be used only for the domains they are allowed for.

7. You are bound to preserve the copyright information intact, this includes the text at bottom and in the title tags.

8. Kayako reserves the right to change this license agreement at any time and impose its clauses at any given time.

LIMITED LIABILITY

WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE "PRODUCT" OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE.

TERM AND TERMINATION

This license agreement takes effect upon your use of the "Product" and remains effective until terminated. Kayako retains the right to terminate your license to use the "Product" at any time, if in its sole discretion, you are not abiding by the terms of the Agreement, including, but not limited to, obscuring or removing any link or copyright notice as specified in this agreement. You may terminate it at any time by destroying all copies of the "Product" and Documentation in your possession, subject to the other terms in this paragraph. You agree, on termination of this license, to destroy all copies of the Software and Documentation in your possession. If you continue to use the "Product" after Kayako gives you written notice of termination of your license, you hereby agree to accept an injunction to enjoin you from its further use, and to pay all costs, including reasonable attorneys fees, to enforce Kayako 's revocation of your license, and any damages suffered by Kayako because of your misuse of the "Product".

Which doesnt state the items they are relating to in your post/email :S

[mikeb]

if you are that concerned, just use the templates and CSS to make the copyright notice super small and the same color as your background and use CSS to modify the look and feel of the Staff CP. As far as I read, there is no issue with modifying that, only the copyright notice must remain, even if it does not stick out visually. but I don't see what all the fuss is about.

But then again, I'm not expecting our Symantec Anti-virus to allow us to customize it to say Yournamehere Anti-virus just so my users think it is 'our' software. If you're trying that hard to pass it off as your own software, then you might just be out of luck. Why not Yournamehere E-Mail Client? Or Yournamehere Word Processing application?

[Darren]

All well and good, but when you purchase something which costs $99.99 and states BRANDING FREE option, with no documentation anywhere stating exactly what is allowed to be removed, I don't think it remiss of someone to assume that ALL instances of Powered By Kayako, Copyright Kayako, etc, be removed.

This can have impacts when demoing the internal workings of the helpdesk software to customers who don't want to just see tickets popping into their webpage/email inbox as part of a demo.

In many cases, the internal (Staff CP and Admin CP) areas are not too important to some companies, but to some they may be quite critical - hence the purchase of the BRANDING FREE option.

Which takes us full circle...

[mikeb]

So you spent $600 instead of $500, big deal honestly. I mean, it may not state it, but I think it is somewhat understood that the branding free is for what the users see, not the support staff.

Have you looked at pricing for REAL enterprise solutions?

[Darren]

I really don't get the "don't you know how cheap Kayako is compared to other products?" waffle...

The fact is, if Kayako had said "It only removes the copyright notices on the customer side", we would still have purchased the branding free option.
But they didn't.

That's my beef.

$100 may be a drop in the ocean compared with other companies, but that does not excuse poor service.

Would I be any more justified in this little whinge if v3 had cost me $35, 000 with the branding free option?

This option should have all of the details clearly stated - therefore you know what you're buying. If it had, then this thread would not exist and we'd all be happy.

[Darren]

Even Kayako are confused about what we can and can't remove...

Do a search on Branding Free in their knowledgebase and this is what you get.

All Kayako license holders are required to preserve the Copyright and Powered by notices that appear in the application, Failure to do so will result in breach of the License Agreement.

However, We do provide an option to purchase a Branding Free license that gives you right to completely remove the Copyright and Powered By Information from the products. The Branding Free option can be purchased at any point of time at https://members.kayako.net

For instructions on how to remove the Copyright Notices, Please email our Support department at support[at]kayako.com

[mikeb]

I'm just saying it is nothing to complain about, as people understand that not everyone can write their software. And, youg et what you pay for.

That being said, I think you should just modify it anyway. Like I said, I don't really see anything about modifying the look of the CP or Kayako in general int he TOS. and if the license doesn't say certainproducts only, then go ahead. And the Admin CP is apart of the same product subject to the same terms, so they can't really say in this part you can and this part you can't.

But I'll just leave mine the startard fuity colored CP because I don't care what my support staff sees.

[Varun Shoor]

We will be changing our terms, You are free to remove the Copyright from Staff CP if you have purchased the Branding Free Option. You can do so by editing the loginform*.tpl files under themes/admin_default, Please note that you are not allowed to do this if you havent purchased the Branding Free Option.

Regards,

Varun Shoor

[Varun Shoor]

As for the documentation we provide proper instructions to clients who contact us on how to remove the Branding Free areas, We dont do it publicly to prevent users from abusing it.

Regards,

Varun Shoor

[avidianite]

Varun, would you please provide to me a link to download this information? Here is what I want to achieve, maybe you can point me in the direction I need to be going in order to achieve it:
On the Customer Support Center page I want to replace the "eSupport" logo with my companies logo.
Additionallly on the Customer Support Center page I want to replace the white background with Charcoal Grey and the Blue UI components to Red, and the text to White. I would like these changes to be persistent throughout the ticketing system. Can this be done, and if so, is there any documentation that I might get my hands on to help me with this?