XRJDM@SCFVM.BITNET (Joe McMahon) (07/13/89)
I received a visit from a Mac user here at NASA this morning who was very upset about a letter he received concerning Virus Detective(tm). It seems that he had decided that he wanted to keep VD, so after reading the dialog telling where to send the money and how much, he sent in a check for $25. (He had version 2.2; I verified that the "Credits" dialog up to and including version 3.0 specified this amount). He then received a letter from the author *billing* him for an extra $15! It seems that the price went up with version 3.0.1. (I verified that too.) He has returned the disk which was sent him and has requested his money back. I have never heard of any shareware author billing anyone before. I'd appreciate opinions on whether we should continue to support the author by making this software available. I'd even more appreciate a direct response from the author, if he reads this list. I'm posting this partly in the hope that he will respond, and partly because I truly dislike denying access to a good tool possibly because of a one-time mistake or misunderstanding. I'd appreciate _direct_ replies from the readers of this list as to their thoughts and feelings on the subject. Thanks. --- Joe M. Internet: xrjdm@scfvm.gsfc.nasa.gov | "NOOOOO one expects the Spanish Phone: (301) 286-8090 | Inquisition!" -- Cardinal Ximenes
XRJDM@scfvm.gsfc.nasa.gov (Joe McMahon) (08/02/89)
Here is Jeff Shulman's reply to my letter about VirusDetective.
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Bob forwarded your letter to me. I *would* appreciate you sending a followup
letter to the virus list since I feel my reputation is at stake. I do
empathise with the possible hurt feelings a user may have when seeing a
bill for being honest. I have since been sending a letter of explanation
as to why the price increased. I am still sending users what they paid for
at the old price along with the bill (your friend *did* receive a disk if
you recall). I'm not out to punish my honest users but to inform them that
there has been a price increase and I would appreciate it if they paid the
difference (after all it isn't fair to the new users who *pay* the current
higher price for someone who paid the lower price, at the same time, to get
the same service).
Jeff
uucp: ...rutgers!yale!slb-sdr!shulman
CSNet: SHULMAN@SDR.SLB.COM
AppleLink: KILROY
Delphi: JEFFS
GEnie: KILROY
CIS: 76136,66734AEJ7D@CMUVM.BITNET (W. K. Bill Gorman) (08/03/89)
Yeah, I know - wrong list, but...
Wouldn't it be interesting if others, say auto dealers, took
this same position,i.e., since one has the use of a vehicle purchased from
them, kick in the difference in price between, say, the '89 and '90 models?
Yeow!!! :-)