Customer Ratings & Reviews

I'm splitting this review up into two sections. First, the software itself, and second, the experience of buying a digital download from Best Buy. I had been using an older version of CorelDraw (home & student version) for several years. For what I do the program had worked fine and met my needs. After recently getting a new laptop I thought I would get the latest version of CorelDraw. Shame on me for not downloading the trial software first. After tying out the full suite, which was great but serious overkill for what I do, the price was too steep. The home & student version was as good as the old one with new features of course. I mistakenly thought that Essentials would be a happy medium between the two. How wrong I was. One of the key features I need, which is the ability to trace other images, only has the most basic tracing feature and does an extremely poor job at it. Didn't take long to realize a lot of other features I would have considered "essential" are not included in this version. Features such as the variety of brush strokes are gone. You are left with the most basic ability of doing line work and that's it. The home/student version is the way to go if you are looking to use Corel products. The second part of this review deals with the frustration of being stuck with useless software and having no means of "exchanging" it. I could have purchased this directly through Corel, but choose to buy it through Best Buy because this year has been difficult for all, and I know brick & mortar stores are suffering much more so than online only retailers. Because of that I wanted to at least give some money to Best Buy despite knowing that most of the money goes to Corel. Because of the strict rules for digital downloads - basically you are stuck with it no matter what - I have no options of getting a refund and/or doing any sort of exchange. I find it laughable that in this day and age a product code cannot be deactivated be allowed to "exchange" that for another version. I did not want my money back - I just wanted to get rid of Essentials and get the Home & Student version instead. The first time I called customer service it said there was a 2-1/2 hour wait time. Tried the next morning as soon as the center opened and managed to get through to somebody after 15 minutes, only to be told I had to call another number that dealt with digital products. I was also informed it was unlikely I could do anything. Long story short, I was never able to actually get in touch with anyone. The one time I did I got disconnected because they couldn't hear me. The other times I tried calling back the wait time was again 2+ hours. Pretty much are forced into a situation where you just give up because it becomes so much of a hassle to talk to anyone. You want to be patient and understanding while we are dealing with Covid, but this is just too much. If I had purchased it directly through Corel I may have had a chance to do some sort of exchange, but because of Best Buy's policy I'm out $120+ on software that is quite simply worthless to me. Mind you I still love Best Buy, but I will never buy a digital download product from here again. As to Corel, having already wasted money on this I don't feel like spending more and will be switching to the "other" art company software.