This past week I thought it was time to purchase a new license for SPSS on one of my computers that would allow me to take advantage of recent changes, as well as have the product available on another computer. The experience in purchasing the software has been nothing but a complete nightmare, which resulted in asking the question posed above: “what happened to SPSS?”

In sharing some history, I have been an SPSS user (and strong advocate of the product) for a long time (much longer than I care to admit). Let’s just say that I was ecstatic to be a beta tester for the first version that was designed for a PC (at the time, the interface was way ahead of its time). And going back to those days of long ago, one thing you could always rely on the organization was the level of service you received with any issues you might have with the software, or even questions about statistics or what types of analyses are best given the type of data. If the person on the phone was unable to answer your question, they would find someone who could and that might be someone with an advanced degree in statistics and/or research methods.

Throughout the years, and as my career took me in a direction where I work with a lot of organizations who are involved in hospitality and consumer services, I have used some different organizations as exemplars for what I consider to be the standard in customer service (and service recovery). Among these organizations, I would include REI, LL Bean, KOA, the local coffee shop (The Gorham Grind, great place), and SPSS. Each of these organizations demonstrated a commitment to service and an understanding of their customers. If you had a problem with any of them, you knew that they would take care of you.