I really don’t like giving poor reviews, and have had successful purchases from webgraphiq in the past.
UPDATED
The original situation was stated in error - I believed only a week had lapsed between the released of Back in Stock regular and ‘Ultimate.’
In truth, more than a month had lapsed. I had misread a more recent email that still listed Back In Stock notification as a new product even though it wasn’t really new.
For some this may still seem like a short period of time - but it is not as bad as a week.
Had only a week passed, asking about swapping the products would have made more sense. With a month passed - not quite so much.
I suppose in hindsight it makes sense that Thomas refused to swap out standard for ultimate, even though my purchase was a whole week before the release of ultimate and it was not like there was any indication this was coming down the pipeline.
It doesn’t change the fact that there is no upgrade path from regular to Ultimate - although that is a marketing choice.
What is odd, the tone of communication that I got was that I was trying to rob the store - aggressive. It suggests to me that Thomas gets a lot of disgruntled customer feedback from people who want something for nothing. Why is that?
I personally feel like I was left a bit high and dry on this one. Yet another company that does not care about its customers once they have your money.
Protecting your assets is one thing - treating your customers as if they are trying to rip you off - well that’s something else.
The transaction left a ‘you don’t matter to me’ taste in my mouth. No more, no less.
If that is the way developers are going to treat this platform and its customers, then we will see the sharing stop within the community and it will turn into something more like the XC forums where the number of people willing to share their brains and their fixes will dwindle.
Id say give Thomas a day or two to think about and I bet he will come around. Ive never done business with him but his reviews seem pretty positive and he doesnt come across as unreasonable. I was actually visiting his site yesterday and was considering purchasing the horizontal drop down menu mod and I noticed the “new” back in stock mod and thought it was funny that there were 2 versions, 1 for registered users and 1 for unregistered users.
Sorry to hear that though. Im not sure whats all involved in this mod but I assume you have the right to change one however you see fit? I cant imagine it would be too hard to change it to give you that functionality but Im not an expert by any means.
Thomas has worked out something that is probably manageable and the tone of communication did settle down. Confidence has moved from ‘lost’ to ‘pending.’
If I didn’t have to explain why in the span of two weeks I had to purchase an almost identical product twice it would not be as big of a deal. Corporations are counting pennies and I’d rather not get in trouble for purchasing the ‘wrong thing’ from a company with a non-refundable, non-exchangeable policy.
In terms of changing add-ons myself, frankly I buy add-ons to save time coding. That being said, I generally reserve commenting on how much people charge for some add-ons that are, to my mind, elementary or are little more than tweaks of each other.
However some companies feel fine doing this with a clear conscience. Some companies also charge $50 a year for domain registrations. Some banks charge $3000 setup fees for virtual terminal page access.
Glad to hear that he is working it out with you, like I said he doesnt come across as unreasonable in his posts.
That being said, I do agree with you on the price of mods but its his work and he is able to charge what he wants. I need a dynamic preview mod and choose to code it myself. It probably would have been smarter for me to just pay the $30 or $40 that Thomas charges for it but Im stubborn (and cheap).
In hindsight I wish I had created it using hooks and as an add-on so that upgrading is easier in the future should me template files require changing. There is definitely a value in Thomas’ work and sometimes your time is worth more than money.
On a side note (and not directed at just Thomas) I would like to see a noble developer stand up and declare that purchasing a non-custom mod entitles you to free upgrades of that mod in the future. That is hands down the #1 reason why Ive yet to buy a mod from some of the 3rd party vendors out there.
[quote name=‘Tirade’]On a side note (and not directed at just Thomas) I would like to see a noble developer stand up and declare that purchasing a non-custom mod entitles you to free upgrades of that mod in the future. That is hands down the #1 reason why Ive yet to buy a mod from some of the 3rd party vendors out there.[/QUOTE]
I thought Thom does this. From his license agreement:
[QUOTE]11.) All license fees are non-refundable and [COLOR=“Red”]the product price contains free updates from older subversion to newest. (eg.:from v.2.0.3 to v.2.0.11 is free, from v.1.3.5-sp4 to v.2.0.11 not!)[/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
Bob
[quote name=‘jobosales’]I thought Thom does this. From his license agreement:
Bob[/QUOTE]
Well hot damn, if thats the case thats great. I had read somewhere that people were charging for mod revisions. I know Cs-Cart does 
Thanks for the correction.
As I have posted in the forum on the product release date:
the Back in stock ultimate is not an update for Back in stock notification mod.
Is a new product with different features.
The demo is available:
[url]http://cscart-mods.webgraphiq.com/apparel/men/adidas-mens-climacool-mesh-polos.html[/url]
The users guide is available on the product details page:
[url]http://www.webgraphiq.com/img/user_guide_backinstock_v2.pdf[/url]
[url]Search results
Is nothing hidden.
Our terms are public, the problem is that in most cases people does not read it.
jobosales:
You have right, there are free updates between subversions, for the same product.
If a product does not work in a newest cs-cart subversion and we have released the updated version we are providing free updates.
You can not change a product with an other after that the order was processed, nowhere (I’m referring to intangible products).
The paragraph 11.) is not applicable in this case.
Also after a long discussion, our sales manager accepted my proposal, to help jagorny with a very favourable offer.
Did not get an ansver yet.
This is the case: bought something than an on other product appers and want to change to this. For intangible products this is not possible.
Well I hope you guys work it out but yeah Thom, thats my biggest issue and why Ive yet to buy any 3rd party add-ons. Not having some sort of upgrade path between versions means having to rebuy the mods everytime CS-cart changes to a new version.
I think thats the difference between offering free mods and charging people for them. if you charge for them people expect support and they expect the ability to know the product will work as the cart becomes more secure and more stable.
In fact its pretty lose, lose if you ask me, that only drives people like me to post free version of the mods (like I did with the dynamic preview mod) and then another person to clean it up and make it an addon. Then you lose sales. How does that help?
I can’t believe this is worth debating. I feel like I’ve spent the cost of the mod in time just discussing it.
You see Thomas’ reply. I invite you to take a look at the two ‘different’ products and determine whether the tweaks made justify calling it a new product or an upgrade - or even dare I say, doing it right vs. doing it fast.
If I pay $99.90 for a mod - and then discover a ‘new’ mod that looks so much like the original I confuse it for an update to include a new feature - only to find out that the said ‘new’ mod requires another $99.90.
What does that $99.90 get me? Let’s compare the ‘old’ product and the ‘new’ product.
Both products - notify me when available link
Both products - list notifications
Is this not the core functionality of both?
What does ultimate add?
The ability to list the notification on product details pages only
The ability to create notifications without registering
What does ultimate take away?
The pop-up feedback
The ability to ask people to register (this is not a toggle)
Meh… After looking at the situation and the code and the time it would take for me to make the necessary tweaks to what I’ve got, I’m going to pass on the ‘new product.’
Even with the discount he offered me - this is a free market economy and as far as I’m concerned, the entire premise is greedy.
And yes, I read the fine print - I just find this definition of ‘new product’ as convincing as Bill Clinton’s Lewinsky trial.
Moving on.
Ohh I do agree with you that in this particular case I think its bad business. If you release the same product but add a new feature to it and then sell it as a new product w/o offering your customers an upgrade path, thats bad business.
[quote name=‘ThomH’]
You have right, there are free updates between subversions, for the same product.
If a product does not work in a newest cs-cart subversion and we have released the updated version we are providing free updates.
.[/QUOTE]
Thomas,
Im interested in purchasing your dynamic search mod but there is conflicting information between your post and your license agreement so I wanted to clarify with you ahead of time. I felt this was better suited to the forum instead of a PM so that others can be clear as well.
In your quote above you state that if you release an update to a product (i.e. and older version to a newer version) then the update is free? Line #11 of your license agreement says:
11) All license fees are non-refundable and does not contain free updates from older version to newest.
Also, in regards to your dynamic search mod, installing it would remove the “search by category” drop down menu. Id like to modify your file to include a category drop down menu but line #5 of your license says:
5) Except as expressly set forth in this Agreement, you have no right to use,
make, sublicense, modify, transfer or copy either the original or any
copies of the Software or to permit anyone else to do so. You may not
allow any third party to use or have access to the Software.
Can you please clarify these 2 items for me?
Thanks!
[quote name=‘Tirade’]Ohh I do agree with you that in this particular case I think its bad business. If you release the same product but add a new feature to it and then sell it as a new product w/o offering your customers an upgrade path, thats bad business.[/QUOTE]
You bought at us not long ago, it seems this “bad business” is still good for you…
[quote name=‘Tirade’]Thomas,
Im interested in purchasing your dynamic search mod but there is conflicting information between your post and your license agreement so I wanted to clarify with you ahead of time. I felt this was better suited to the forum instead of a PM so that others can be clear as well.
In your quote above you state that if you release an update to a product (i.e. and older version to a newer version) then the update is free? Line #11 of your license agreement says:
11) All license fees are non-refundable and does not contain free updates from older version to newest.
Also, in regards to your dynamic search mod, installing it would remove the “search by category” drop down menu. Id like to modify your file to include a category drop down menu but line #5 of your license says:
5) Except as expressly set forth in this Agreement, you have no right to use,
make, sublicense, modify, transfer or copy either the original or any
copies of the Software or to permit anyone else to do so. You may not
allow any third party to use or have access to the Software.
Can you please clarify these 2 items for me?
Thanks![/QUOTE]
If you don’t understand something in our terms or any other activites, or you have requests contact us directly on our page,
especially [COLOR=“Red”]if you are not sure - better not to desinform people.[/COLOR]
[quote name=‘ThomH’]If you don’t understand something in our terms or any other activites, or you have requests contact us directly on our page,
especially [COLOR=“Red”]if you are not sure - better not to desinform people.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]
How has he disinformed anyone? He asked for a clarification which would be useful to others here as well.
To be frank, I have never considered using your services because of your rudeness in the forums which makes CS-Cart support look exemplary in comparison.
Bob
Yes, as my posted stated, I was asking for clarification. Your post says one thing and your license agreement says another.
If what I posted is incorrect then please update your license agreement because all I did was copy and paste from it.
Can you please answer the 2 questions that I asked? The reason I feel its necessary to be answered here is because your license agreement also states that all sales are final and there are no refunds. So I think its important the we are clear on your license agreement.
I’ve thought of buying from webgraphics so I would like to know is there free upgrades or not?
A straight reply would most probably bring you more business rather than trying to find someone else to blame for a simple error on your website.
Is nothing hidden, you can read our terms and conditions on our webpage, is public.
If you have any questions regardind the terms the better way is contacting us on our webpage, the sales manager will answer your questions.
mrfoameruk!
our name correctly is webgraphiq, maybe you didn’t realized it…
Tirade-
snorocket has a pre-release sale on his Auto-complate search add-on which should be available in a week or so:
[url]http://www.snorocket.com/store/auto-search-addon[/url]
Bob
[quote name=‘jobosales’]Tirade-
snorocket has a pre-release sale on his Auto-complate search add-on which should be available in a week or so:
[url]http://www.snorocket.com/store/auto-search-addon[/url]
Bob[/QUOTE]
Now I understand why I’m rudenes for you.
Yes, snorocket is always copying our ideas, and others…
[quote name=‘ThomH’]Now I understand why I’m rudenes for you.
Yes, snorocket is always copying our ideas, and others…[/QUOTE]
Spoken as if you were the originator of the dynamic search idea.
I am sure he is coding his add-on from scratch and could well argue that he found inspiration in the same piece of software that also inspired you - that is, any number of similar searches in countless other software packages.
By the way, your post sounds strikingly similar to an earlier post about people copying you (e.g., Horizontal Category Menu). No, Thom, not everyone is copying you.
Bob