I have been threatened by someone with legal action for a posting I have made on mailing list.
The situation.
I bought some log analyzing software ($250.00US) for my server in January 2001. The software worked ok, not great. After a couple of months due to memory issues with the software I had to stop using it as it would crash my server whenever I used it.
The author was talking about a new version which would be released soon and that there would probably be a "modest" upgrade fee.
The version I purchased was th etop of line "pro" version which handled up to 500 "sub-reports" e.g. virtual domains.
When he announced the new versions there was a new top end version and the "pro" version was now the middle version. The thing that got me was that the "modest" upgrade was around $120.00 from the Pro version to the Pro version, to go from the Pro version to the new higer end version was $446.00 (he raised the prices of the product as well).
The thing that got me was that if I upgraded to the new pro version I went from being able to report on 500 domains to only 50 domains. I was not the only person to complain about this. And yes, each time someone on the list asked about the upgrade I usually posted as well pointing out this issue. The author denied lowering any limits, yet you could see this by simply looking at his website.
As the author refused to admit what he had done and he got pissed with my posts be banned me from posting on his list. He also stopped answering any direct support emails I sent. At one time, one of his employees offered me a 50% non-profit discount on the upgrade claiming that as I hosted for some non-profit organizationd I qualified (even though the site says you must be a 501c which I am not). I felt the was an attempt at a bribe and I refused to take the offer. I wanted to either have this issue ressolved or get a refund as the software could not handle the demands on my hobby site (pretty sad I think).
The author continued to ignore my emails, he even ignored my bug reports on the new beta version - only taking action a month or so later when someone else posted about them.
On a related list - for our web server software, whenever somoene posts about log analyzing software I recommend against his software citing my bad experience and pointing out that the support sucks. I have also pointed out that he has lowered the abilites in recent upgrades and has publically stated that there will be other new versions coming out to which I have suggested he might do this same thing again (removing or limiting features to fit in a new version level).
I have also stated that comparing his product to others (which he does to justify the higher cost) is pretty sad considering the multiude of options they offfer such as reports in pdf format, nice pie or bar charts, customization per domain, email options per domain to the domain owner etc. All features his product does not offer.
He has accused me of making factually false statements and has threatened legal action against me. I have told him to go right ahead as I have emails to prove what I say as well as screen shots of the specs post on his website. As well as hundreds of people that have purchased the software and know of the changes. Granted the new version does have more reports and some more features, but that does not change that he lowered the limits of one of the features from the 1.x version to the 2.x version.
Oh, and to get around the issue of the upgrade he simply renamed the product and now says the version I own has been discontinued. He also have a naming contest on thelist, to which I was excluded as I was (and continue to be) banned from posting to his list. So as a paid owner of the product I was not allowed to participate in a contest that all other paid owners were allowed to participate in.
And the new name of the product? xxxx SP (the name of the main product starts with an S anyway so it looks to me like he just shortend xxxx Pro to xxxx SP(ro).
So in your opinion, as I have only posted documentable facts (and he admits banning me from his list saying I was "rude", and others have also posted that they were on the list and observed the posts and know about the issue), as well as opinions - his support sucks. What are his chances at mounting a valid suit?
Thanks
Dale
Oh and I really don't think he has a shot anyway as I am in Germany and he is in the US. But besides that minor point.
one more thing, I really hate this site
I found it while looking over the new site postings at vBulleting.com (don't have my forums up yet) and I expect that instead of working on finishing configuring my new servers which have to be installed in less than 2 weeks I will be spending time readin this site instead!
The situation.
I bought some log analyzing software ($250.00US) for my server in January 2001. The software worked ok, not great. After a couple of months due to memory issues with the software I had to stop using it as it would crash my server whenever I used it.
The author was talking about a new version which would be released soon and that there would probably be a "modest" upgrade fee.
The version I purchased was th etop of line "pro" version which handled up to 500 "sub-reports" e.g. virtual domains.
When he announced the new versions there was a new top end version and the "pro" version was now the middle version. The thing that got me was that the "modest" upgrade was around $120.00 from the Pro version to the Pro version, to go from the Pro version to the new higer end version was $446.00 (he raised the prices of the product as well).
The thing that got me was that if I upgraded to the new pro version I went from being able to report on 500 domains to only 50 domains. I was not the only person to complain about this. And yes, each time someone on the list asked about the upgrade I usually posted as well pointing out this issue. The author denied lowering any limits, yet you could see this by simply looking at his website.
As the author refused to admit what he had done and he got pissed with my posts be banned me from posting on his list. He also stopped answering any direct support emails I sent. At one time, one of his employees offered me a 50% non-profit discount on the upgrade claiming that as I hosted for some non-profit organizationd I qualified (even though the site says you must be a 501c which I am not). I felt the was an attempt at a bribe and I refused to take the offer. I wanted to either have this issue ressolved or get a refund as the software could not handle the demands on my hobby site (pretty sad I think).
The author continued to ignore my emails, he even ignored my bug reports on the new beta version - only taking action a month or so later when someone else posted about them.
On a related list - for our web server software, whenever somoene posts about log analyzing software I recommend against his software citing my bad experience and pointing out that the support sucks. I have also pointed out that he has lowered the abilites in recent upgrades and has publically stated that there will be other new versions coming out to which I have suggested he might do this same thing again (removing or limiting features to fit in a new version level).
I have also stated that comparing his product to others (which he does to justify the higher cost) is pretty sad considering the multiude of options they offfer such as reports in pdf format, nice pie or bar charts, customization per domain, email options per domain to the domain owner etc. All features his product does not offer.
He has accused me of making factually false statements and has threatened legal action against me. I have told him to go right ahead as I have emails to prove what I say as well as screen shots of the specs post on his website. As well as hundreds of people that have purchased the software and know of the changes. Granted the new version does have more reports and some more features, but that does not change that he lowered the limits of one of the features from the 1.x version to the 2.x version.
Oh, and to get around the issue of the upgrade he simply renamed the product and now says the version I own has been discontinued. He also have a naming contest on thelist, to which I was excluded as I was (and continue to be) banned from posting to his list. So as a paid owner of the product I was not allowed to participate in a contest that all other paid owners were allowed to participate in.
And the new name of the product? xxxx SP (the name of the main product starts with an S anyway so it looks to me like he just shortend xxxx Pro to xxxx SP(ro).
So in your opinion, as I have only posted documentable facts (and he admits banning me from his list saying I was "rude", and others have also posted that they were on the list and observed the posts and know about the issue), as well as opinions - his support sucks. What are his chances at mounting a valid suit?
Thanks
Dale
Oh and I really don't think he has a shot anyway as I am in Germany and he is in the US. But besides that minor point.
one more thing, I really hate this site
I found it while looking over the new site postings at vBulleting.com (don't have my forums up yet) and I expect that instead of working on finishing configuring my new servers which have to be installed in less than 2 weeks I will be spending time readin this site instead!
