WebEx sucks all the way to the end - what a painful experience

We started using WebEx http://www.webex.com/ in January of this year. It's a web conferencing system that allows you to do online meetings and conference calls. We thought we were safe by buying the leader in the market. Well we were certainly wrong about that. Some of our experience:

The WebEx software only works about 2/3rds of the time. Typical for users on the other end to have problems installing the software.

When you call WebEx to get help they expect you to keep your prospect on the line while they try and figure something out (ya right!). To get to anyone that knows anything takes 3 or 4 people - each time we were left with "if you don't know anything then why the %&*@! am I talking to you?!!"

Once the problem is solved (or in most cases not) WebEx sends you an automated survey "How did we do". In each case we gave them a terrible review, but did anything change? No.

I could go on and on about the problems we had with them, but instead I'll focus on the last issue.

About a month ago we cancelled the contract with the end date of June 14th. I received confirmation from them that the service would stay on until the 14th. Well today we discover that they terminated the service and we're offline. In typical fashion I called WebEx and had to speak to 3 different people all who didn't have the ability to do anything to help me. So, we get cut two weeks early and my only recourse is to sign-up for the service again - or use their pay per use service.

In closing. WebEx sucks.

Is Google going to buy Salesforce.com?

Bit of news from Reuters this morning:
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN2127967220070521?src=052107_0745_FEATURES_mna_today

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Salesforce.com Inc. rose nearly 5 percent in pre-market trading on Monday after a report it is in talks with Google Inc. for an alliance that could help them compete better against Microsoft Corp..

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the two companies are still working out details of a potential partnership, which is expected to be announced in the next few weeks. The report cited unnamed sources.

The paper said one outcome could be a Web-based offering that integrates some of Google's online services such as e-mail and instant-messaging with those of Salesforce.com, whose customer-relationship management tools help salespeople track their accounts.

Salesforce.com shares rose by around $2.14 to $47.94 in pre-market trading while Google shares were flat at around $470.