Is MathWorks completely shut down on the weekends? Non-technical question

Hi everybody,

I tried to purchase the student version of MatLab last night, and though it seems part of the process has gone through, I am still not able to download the software. The order has not posted to my bank account and I have not received a confirmation email, but I do have an order number and receipt here on the "My Account" part of this website.

I know that customer support isn't open on the weekends, but in reality I don't know if there is any human verification that actually needs to happen aside from confirming student status, which can happen within 30 days of purchase. I really wanted to have this by today so I could get some work done, the semester has just begun.

Is MathWorks known to be totally dormant on the weekends? I thought I could at least get it downloaded and then finish up the registration come Monday.

Thanks for the help, Scott

[samuel]

18 months later and I am encountering the same problem. I purchased on Friday evening to use over the weekend, specifically to have write code while traveling to demonstrate MONDAY. Why isn't this mentioned at the time of purchase for a downloaded product? I don't need it Monday.

To compound the problem, I lost hours rechecking the order to see if my order has been processed.

Had it been apparent that you can't purchase a download after closing Friday, I would have ordered just before closing time even though I was in a hurry to leave.

The waste of $100 for an old version is secondary to the need I had this weekend. Please add a caveat to the ordering instructions for downloaded software!

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

It appears to me, based upon my experience, that Mathworks does not undertake automatic credit-card processing. I suspect that staff enter the details onto a credit-card terminal manually.

[Scott]

This almost looks like a sarcastic answer, seeing as it's 2012. But I guess I just have to take your word for it and wait until tomorrow to figure it all out when customer service is back up and running.

Thanks for your help!

[Jan]

I do not think that this is sarcastic, even or especially not in 2012. Too many internet companies have been attacked and successfully cracked. The manual processing by a human has the marvelous advantage that it allows to recognize the patterns of an attack much smarter than any virus protection could do. Imagine the trival defense of a DDoS attack: Unplug the connection, call the admin, block the channels of the evil intruder, re-connect.

I prefer waiting until Monday instead of increasing the chance that my credit card data are distributed to criminals. Although we have 2012, I'm happy about TMWs decision to prefer the work of smart and friendly humen instead of dull robots.