PhotoHDR RIP-OFF ALERT

kdog

Anybody who's interested in purchasing HDR software and is considering PhotoHDR by Mediachance, might want to read the following tale before attempting to purchase. Bottom line is I got ripped-off, don't let it happen to you!!

On August 8 I purchased PhotoHDR from Mediachance from their website. Evidently they broker their purchases through a company called RegSoft. After filling out the order form and entering my credit card number, they sent me a "submitted" email with a link to a status page. The status page showed a receipt that the order was paid. According to the "submitted" email, I should have been sent another email with a download link for the software. I never got that email. Both RegSoft and Mediachance warn you that these emails are often blocked by spam software. I control the spam filter on my email server and know for a fact that the email was never received on my ISP's email server. I don't believe that email was ever sent. I filled out numerous contact forms on the RegSoft website (they don't give an actual email address) describing the problem, but they never returned my contacts. I also emailed the contact email address for Mediachance from the RegSoft "submitted" email: [email]sunimage@(domain deleted for courtesy).com[/email]. Never got any reply from them either.

By googling "RegSoft Sucks", I discovered RegSoft has a long history of doing exactly what they did to me. There's even a thread on the Mediachance website called RegSoft sucks, and I added a note to that thread. The complaints on that thread describe precisely the same behavior that I got. Oscar who owns Mediachance (probably the only employee), personally answered the post and gave me the party line that the email probably got stuck in my spam filter or that I may have mistyped an email address. In doing so, he ignored the fact that I got the first email from RegSoft which blows that theory. I sent two PM's to Oscar with my RegSoft tracking number and never heard back from him. It's clear he doesn't give a damn.

Bottom line is great software, and absolutely abysmal business practices. They've effectively ripped me off, and don't give a damn.

OSCAR -- if you're reading this, belly up to the bar and make good on my purchase. I have an HTML dump of my receipt which I had the forethought to collect, even though that information is now deleted from the RegSoft website. I've also sent you numerous PMs on your webforum which you've chose to ignore as well. So be a man and get me my software, or I will finalize my credit card chargback, which is a friggin' hassle that neither you nor I need.

I've paid, now give me my software!

CAVEAT EMPTOR. :splat

Art Scott

THAT REALLY SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel for ya, wish I could do something.

davidweaver

Just contact your credit card company and dispute the charges.

kdog

Art Scott wrote:

THAT REALLY SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel for ya, wish I could do something.

Thanks, Art. The thing that really disturbs me is that Oscar evidently feels like this isn't his problem. Fact is, I purchased HIS product from a link on HIS website. This is absolutely his problem. I can prove I paid. Why not just give me the friggin' software?

Here's a link to the Mediachance webforums "Regsoft Sucks" thread. I added several messages to the end of that. Note the dates on the posts. He's had plenty of time to respond. Two weeks is a long time. http://www.mmbforums.com/ipb/index.php?showtopic=19478

I also crossed referenced this thread. Let's see if he responds now.

kdog

davidweaver wrote:

Just contact your credit card company and dispute the charges.

I did. But now I have to fill out dispute forms, include a letter of description, include documentation, etc. It's a royal pain in the ass. :bluduh

glennchan

It would be worth your time to file a credit card chargeback after you've communicated with the vendor (which you have). Whenever you file a chargeback, the seller will get dinged with chargeback fees (these vary by payment processor). And he will almost certainly lose this chargeback since no product was delivered.

And if the seller receives enough chargebacks, his payment processor will kick him off.

For these reasons, please don't file chargebacks until after you've tried to resolve things with the vendor. (As an internet software vendor myself, I would hate to receive a chargeback!! Please let the vendor resolve your issue first.)

And also, pay with credit card over Paypal. Credit card offers good consumer protection and would be my choice over Paypal. I don't believe Paypal offers chargebacks (unless you fund Paypal via a credit card, and do the chargeback on your credit card).

I hope that helps.

glennchan

By the way, please don't list their email publicly. It might get harvested by spam robots, which means that their email will get spammed, which means that they will have difficulty dealing with customer support such as your case.

kdog

glennchan wrote:

It would be worth your time to file a credit card chargeback after you've communicated with the vendor (which you have). Whenever you file a chargeback, the seller will get dinged with chargeback fees (these vary by payment processor). And he will almost certainly lose this chargeback since no product was delivered.

And if the seller receives enough chargebacks, his payment processor will kick him off.

For these reasons, please don't file chargebacks until after you've tried to resolve things with the vendor. (As an internet software vendor myself, I would hate to receive a chargeback!! Please let the vendor resolve your issue first.)

And also, pay with credit card over Paypal. Credit card offers good consumer protection and would be my choice over Paypal. I don't believe Paypal offers chargebacks (unless you fund Paypal via a credit card, and do the chargeback on your credit card).

I hope that helps.

Thanks for the info. Maybe it'll help somebody, but it's not at all relevant to my situation. Let me clarify.

I made the purchase on August 8. I contacted RegSoft and Mediachance over a four day period before calling my credit card company on August 12 (which is also the day I stumbled on the Mediachance webforums in Google). That's FOUR days past what should have been an immediate download, and nobody even gave me the courtesy of a single reply. But they sure did manage to bill my credit card on August 8. :bluduh I think that's far more patient than most folks would have been.

It is clear that nobody is minding the store at neither Mediachance nor RegSoft. I did take your suggestion and remove their email address though (which mind you, never produced any results anyway.)

luc

Oscar at MediaChance (and the other people there) usually will do everything to support their customers. Your experience is likely an accumulation or unfortunate circumstances. I can guaranteee you, that you will receive your software or your money back or both - as unpleasant as your experience has been. Most likely Mediachance is on vacation at the moment.

Mediachance usually provides excellent customer service. They also use a second payment service "SWREG".

On the mediachance board you wrote on August 12th:
"I've initiated a charge-back with my credit card company against RegSoft. They are either a scam, or completely incompetent. Either way, it's between them and my credit card company now."

I am not connected to MediaChance in any way, but I would interprete it like you are no longer interested (understand that prefectly) and that you are getting your money back.

kdog

Oscar made a bunch of posts in the Mediachance forum yesterday, so we know he's still alive and not on vacation. Before that, he posted on 8/24. Before that he posted on 8/14, which was actually the one reply he made to my post. So that means he's seen my PM's and most likely my updates to the "RegSoft Sucks" thread, and is still choosing to ignore me after two weeks of my repeated contacts. I wouldn't exactly call that excellent customer service.

As I previously indicated, I posted a link to this thread in the "RegSoft Sucks" thread on his forum and invited him to clear his name here. Let's see what he does.

kdog

luc wrote:

On the mediachance board you wrote on August 12th:
"I've initiated a charge-back with my credit card company against RegSoft. They are either a scam, or completely incompetent. Either way, it's between them and my credit card company now."

I am not connected to MediaChance in any way, but I would interprete it like you are no longer interested (understand that prefectly) and that you are getting your money back.

Geez, nothing like a little selective quoting. . Here's that comment in context:

JoelG wrote on Aug 12 2008, 02:59 PM:

I had the exact same problem as Scotty. Got the "submitted" email, they charged my CC, never got the confirmation email with the download links. Contacted them twice, including sending email to sunimage, and I've been completely ignored for four days. I've initiated a charge-back with my credit card company against RegSoft. They are either a scam, or completely incompetent. Either way, it's between them and my credit card company now.

Look, I loved the trial download of PhotoHDR. However, I'm rather gun-shy to deal with Mediachance at this point. Should I try again with SWREG, or just give up and go with PhotoMatrix instead?

Respectfully,
-joel

I think that's pretty clear that I still wanted the software.

And here is Oscar's response:

Oscar wrote on Aug 14 2008, 07:49 AM:

...
Sorry about this experience - you could pm me before you did chargeback. I am sure the problem is in the e-mail delivery and the order already exist, just had not been delivered.

And here is what I said back to him. Notice the text in bold.

Joel wrote:

The way the chargeback works is that the CC company temporarily reverses the charge and sends me a form to fill out. So I believe I can undo the chargeback. If you get me the software, I will undo the chargeback.

Is that clear enough? I don't see him jumping at the chance to make things right here. Do you?

Keep in mind I also sent SEVERAL PMs to him indicating that the chargeback is not complete and that I still want the software.

neuron

My personal experience with MediaChance is very good. I bought PhotoHDR 3 last year, and received the download link immediatelly. At the beginning of this year I found out that there is v. 4 released and I am eligible for free upgrade. I used their web form and received new downloading link within a day. Then I found that there is bug in the new v. 4, so I used the form again, and the bug was fixed within four days I think.

I hope that you will get your software as soon as possible.

--
neuron

kdog

Thanks, Neuron. I won't be getting the software ever though. I completed my written report to the Mastercharge Fraud Department and received my credit. Neither Mediachance nor RegSoft ever made good on my purchase.

Regards,
-joel

Ric Grupe

kdog wrote:

Thanks, Neuron. I won't be getting the software ever though. I completed my written report to the Mastercharge Fraud Department and received my credit. Neither Mediachance nor RegSoft ever made good on my purchase.

Regards,
-joel

Unfortunately, a very believable scenario, Joel. Seems like the norm instead of the exception these days. Sometimes reputable companies with good products hire minimum wage people that don't understand what they are doing or why they are doing it for their point of contact with the public. Very foolish IMO.

kdog

Ric Grupe wrote:

Unfortunately, a very believable scenario, Joel. Seems like the norm instead of the exception these days. Sometimes reputable companies with good products hire minimum wage people that don't understand what they are doing or why they are doing it for their point of contact with the public. Very foolish IMO.

Thanks, Ric. But that wasn't the case here. Mediachance evidently has only one employee name Oscar who is the owner. When I finally found the Mediachance users website after four days of filling out website contact forms and being ignored, I tried to initiate a dialog with Oscar and only got one response from him that I must be doing something wrong. No offer to make good, even as I raised the "squeaky wheel" threshold in private-messages, and public postings. Meanwhile, he was chatting with forum users about competative products and future enhancements. I even posted a link to this thread and gave him the opportunity to respond in public to clear his name. My beef is squarely with the owner of Mediachance.

Regards,
-joel

Ric Grupe

kdog wrote:

Thanks, Ric. But that wasn't the case here. Mediachance evidently has only one employee name Oscar who is the owner. When I finally found the Mediachance users website after four days of filling out website contact forms and being ignored, I tried to initiate a dialog with Oscar and only got one response from him that I must be doing something wrong. No offer to make good, even as I raised the "squeaky wheel" threshold in private-messages, and public postings. Meanwhile, he was chatting with forum users about competative products and future enhancements. I even posted a link to this thread and gave him the opportunity to respond in public to clear his name. My beef is squarely with the owner of Mediachance.

Regards,
-joel

I see. Maybe he should hire some minimum wage people!

kdog

Ric Grupe wrote:

I see. Maybe he should hire some minimum wage people!

Indeed!! Evidently he found that answering a complaint from a customer about never receiving the software wasn't worth his time. So you're right. Hire somebody to do it!