Copy of a letter I just sent to Fred Langa. Other copies will be sent to similar venues. Fred, ================================================== Fred, I ran into a little problem trying to buy the current JV16 PowerTools 2005 that I think your readers should know about. I used to use the freeware version of JV16, and read some reviews recently that said the shareware version was worth buying. Additionally, the site said they would bundle two additional programs with the purchase of JV16 PowerTools 2005. When I attempted to buy the program, the site would not complete the final transaction leaving the customer wondering whether he/she has been charged or not. Additionally, there didn't seem to be any method to get the additional programs that were to be bundled with the program. I e-mailed Macecraft Software and explained the situation and came away feeling rather troubled about the whole situation...... 1) They acknowledge there is a problem with the credit card portion of the process on about 2% of the transactions (their estimate). 2) They suggested using PayPal -- which adds an automatic charge of $3 to the cost of the program. Macecraft Software says the charge is required because PayPal charges more than the credit card company and Macecraft Software doesn't want to incur the additional costs. 3) Macecraft Software says the additional programs offered will not accept the JV16 PowerTools 2005 registration...........they hope to have these programs updated in March or April. I find this process unacceptable. For a company to charge extra fees for a product to cover costs resulting from the company's defective sales process seems inappropriate. Additionally, to offer a bundled product, knowing that the added programs cannot be registered seems like deceptive advertising at best (the word fraudulent comes to mind). I have included the complete e-mails below. Regards, Bob ,,,,,,,, Ô¿Ô¬ Cincinnati, Ohio - Scottsdale, Arizona ----------------------------------------------- Monday, 3/14/2005, @ 9:27:41 AM EST I've tried several times to buy a license for jv16 PowerTools 2005 this weekend. Each time I get all the way through the process to the point where I hit the last key to submit the order. When I hit the key, nothing happens. I'm not sure if the site simply isn't working, or if there is a charge made each time I hit the key. I have not received any e-mails from confirmation or registration e-mails from you so I assume the site simply doesn't work. Please advise what you want me to do to register -- and to receive the other two free programs. The site said that registration of JV16 would also provide a free registered copy of RegSupreme and RegSupreme Pro for free! Are these programs just part of jv16 PowerTools 2005 so registration, in effect, provides the two other programs? Regards from Bob -- the "Keyboard Cowboy" --------------------------------------------- Tue, 15 Mar 2005 17:42:04 +0200 Hello, If you can't place the order through our primary channel (i.e. through Luottokunta's CC service), then the only option available is PayPal. We are aware that some people are not able use the Luottokunta's service. This is very unfortunate, but so far they have not been able to solve this problem. We are very sorry for the inconvenience. The jv16 Powertools 2005's registration key can be used to register both RegSupremes, but only after we have released updated versions of these two. Please, see the following: http://www.macecraft.com/news/73/ We are sorry for the inconvenience. Best Regards, Leo Wartinen (Mr.), Macecraft Software --------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 3/15/2005, @ 11:21:59 AM EST I understand the problem. Unfortunately, it is unfair to your customers. If I use PayPal, I have to pay an extra $3.00. As a customer, I don't think it's appropriate that I have to pay a higher price for your product ($32.95) because your site has a flaw or bug and can't take a regular charge order. Regards from Bob -- the "Keyboard Cowboy" ----------------------------------------------------- Wed, 16 Mar 2005 09:59:28 +0200 Hello, The problem isn't with our site, our online store only asks your personal details and the actual payment is done at our credit card billing company's website. It asks the credit card information and handles the billing, but for some reason they don't always accept all credit cards. This is why we also offer PayPal as a payment option. The additional charge for PayPal payments is because we want to keep the PayPal payment option as secundary or backup method, handling PayPal orders is much more troublesome for us, and they do have higher transaction fees. Best Regards, Jouni Vuorio (Mr.) Macecraft Software ---------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, 3/16/2005, @ 9:30:41 AM EST Please don't think me argumentative..........but I respectfully disagree with your reply. You said "The problem isn't with our site, our online store only asks your personal details and the actual payment is done at our credit card billing company's website.". The credit card billing company is part of YOUR site, and your sales process. If they are having problems processing your orders, you need to get them fixed. You have chosen a service that causes problems for your customer -- should your customer be asked to pay extra money for your product because the credit card service you picked doesn't work? I think that if you acknowledge that you have a problem with your sales process, and offer PayPal as an alternative because of the problem, your company should absorb the extra cost of the alternative process. Please remember, *I* didn't choose to use PayPal (actually, I don't like PayPal), I only considered using it because your credit card charge process doesn't work. While $3 isn't a great deal of money, it represents a 10% increase in the cost of your product. I will not pay that 10% premium in order to facilitate your sale. Please advise if you get the process fixed, or find another, less punitive alternate payment process. An additional thought for you. Your company sales process needs to be fixed. I test and discuss freeware and shareware programs on several e-mail lists. I know from experience that people who go to a site and try to buy something and have troubles.....most often simply give up the process. When this happens, it represents lost customers.....or worse yet, customers who are unhappy and talk about their experience in a negative way. I see this on e-mail lists all the time. I'm offering the comments I've made to help you keep the product sales up. I suspect that you are loosing sales as a result of this problem we're discussing. Whatever you do regarding the charges is secondary to the real problem -- your company needs to fix the credit card charge process. With shareware, the customer expects instant gratification.......expects that the sale will be easy and quick, and they will be able to "play" with the newly purchased product. Anything that is negative in this sales process, will impact your product sales......and you may never hear from the customer that you lost a sale. Regards from Bob -- the "Keyboard Cowboy" ---------------------------------------------------------------- Wed, 16 Mar 2005 18:50:54 +0200 Hello, Well, we would fix it if it would be on our hands to fix. We have reported the problem to our credit card company but they haven't been able to fix the problem. We can't just start to use another creadit card billing company because other companies have much greater transaction fees. While our current provider Luottokunta (www.luotokunta.fi) can only handle about 98% of all credit card orders, its fees are 2-3 times smaller than the others'. We are a small company, we don't want to give away 5-10% more from our income only to fix a problem that only affects 2%, or less, of all the transactions. Best Regards, Jouni Vuorio (Mr.) Macecraft Software -- <Please delete this line and everything below.> To unsub or change your email settings: //www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk To access our Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PCTechTalk/messages/ //www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/ For more info: //www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/list?list_id=pctechtalk