waycott@ellymae.phx.mcd.mot.com (John Waycott) (07/06/89)
I recently purchased a few programs from Software Discounter's of America through the GEnie timesharing system. A very interesting problem occurred. I bought copies of Fleet Street Publisher 2.0 and Degas Elite. Well, I received them a few weeks later and to my surprise I got a copy of FSP 1.0 in a box which was clearly labeled 2.0. What makes this interesting is that Michtron, the distributor of FSP, NEVER SOLD version 1.0! The box and manual were shrink-wrapped, and no warranty card was in the box. I called Michtron and they told me to send it all back to them directly and they would send me a proper version. They thought I was being ripped off. I can think of two situations that might have caused this: 1. SDA had a bunch of FSP 1.0 versions left over and repackaged things to get rid of their old copies. This seems unlikely since SDA would be deliberately engaging in fraud. 2. Someone who had FSP 1.0 bought 2.0 from SDA and returned the 1.0 version to get their money back, keeping the new version. SDA then shrink-wrapped everything and put it back in inventory. When I opened the Degas Elite package (also shrink-wrapped) the envelope which contained the diskette had been deliberately cut open. My guess is that someone bought the program, made a copy of the disk and returned the package to get their money back. Has anyone had any similar experiences with SDA or other mail order houses? Although I was able to resolve the problem, I find it disturbing that SDA apparently does not check their returned items for completeness and that they sell "used" software as if it were new. The real problem, however, appears to be blatant piracy. The recent talk about piracy in this newsgroup has not really touched upon how piracy can hurt those who buy the pirated products as well as those who sell them. It is obvious to me now why many software vendors refuse to give refunds and only exchange defective diskettes with the same program. -- John Waycott ..mcdphx!ellymae!waycott
david@bdt.UUCP (David Beckemeyer) (07/07/89)
In article <11201@ellymae.phx.mcd.mot.com> waycott@ellymae.phx.mcd.mot.com (John Waycott) writes: >I recently purchased a few programs from Software Discounter's of America [editied...] >Well, I received them a few weeks later and to my surprise I got a copy >of FSP 1.0 in a box which was clearly labeled 2.0. What makes this interesting >is that Michtron, the distributor of FSP, NEVER SOLD version 1.0! The >box and manual were shrink-wrapped, and no warranty card was in the box. As a software vendor, I've seen quite a few resellers do this sort of thing. It seems pretty common for dealers to open the package, copy the programs, and then re-shrink-wrap it and sell it. Not too bad in itself (so that they can demo the program and become familiar with it) if they at least put everything back, including the reg. card. But many times dealers have registered a program, then sold that same disk to a customer! Of course, I can't blame the customer - he gets validated. But it's a hassle for us and for the customer. This happens even in stores, not only with Mail-Order. What's worse, many dealers have sold the "NOT FOR RESALE" demo diskettes to customers! All this causes us to have to use a registration scheme and validate the honest paying customers before giving tech. support. (Yes some people actually call with phoney reg. numbers, hoping to get help with the program for which they have no manuals.) This is an inconvenience for the customer, especially when the reg. cards get lost in the mail. Overall though, most dealers are not this way. I'm sure this also happens on the IBM-PC too. I agree with the John though when he says nobody has brought up how the honest paying customer is hurt by piracy. Some of the points about how the vendor is helped by piracy may in fact be true. But I still argue that if the software vendor is making a profit from the product and pirates are using the product for free, then the paying customers are financing the pirates, by paying an inflated price. Arguing that the pirates wouldn't buy the program anyway is no argument; they are using the program without paying for it. The paying customers are paying for the software that the pirates use. The pirates owe that money to the paying customers, *not* the software vendor. The paying customers should take up a class action suit against the pirates. -- David Beckemeyer (david@bdt.UUCP) | "Adios amigos. And, as they say when Beckemeyer Development Tools | the boys are scratching the bad ones, 478 Santa Clara Ave. Oakland, CA 94610 | 'Stay a long time, Cowboy!'" UUCP: {uunet,ucbvax}!unisoft!bdt!david | - Jo Mora
Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) (07/08/89)
Hi John, I've been buying software from SDA for over three years now and have yet to have a problem or hear of anything like that! It is apparent though that something strange is going on if TWO programs were tampered with. I'll send a copy of your letter to Mark Lane at SDA to see if he has any comment on what happened - may be a case of a bad employee copying software at SDA...