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Where is Digital Flames' Barry ?

GregT

New Member
Doug,
Very wise comments. If people just are able to step back and talk things out, good things will happen.
 

Techman

New Member
he didn't get the downloads. They failed.. He has not received the dvd, according to the mail service it wasn't sent out until after the fact.
Why ask him to compromise on a failed delivery?

Many of our jobs are time sensitive. How many of us lost work because we couldn't get supplies fast enuf. All of us have.
I don't think this compromise its a good deal at all...

But, actually, its none of my business. It's between the dealer and the buyer.
 

B Snyder

New Member
To me, when the mitigating circumstances are mine, I would prefer to lose a little business today, rather than lose a customer... and that's even if it was in private... but in our little on-line community, (which is where the connection was made, so a reasonable place to resolve it IMO)... I'd refund it, and I'd refund it fast.

I share this viewpoint. Barry refused and so on 3/28 a chargeback was ordered.

I would agree to paying the prorated price to download the 2 files from the 82 piece collection. I would never agree to paying $49 each for 2 files.
It really was easy to sell the job without having the files. I showed the client the images on the digital flames website and said I could use them for their background. He said "cool" and it was a done deal. I do this with istockphoto all the time. Most of my customers are computer savvy so I often direct them to istockphoto so they can spend their time finding what they want. Then they email me the image they want and I purchase it on my account for the job as needed.
 

EnergyDesign

New Member
I do not see it as bashing a merchant....B, was very cordial and explained what had been explained to him. Bashing would have been him cutting to the bone from the start. As one other person stated, merchants should take the good with the bad....
 

iSign

New Member
First, I'll agree with tech when he says this really isn't anyone elses business besides Brian and Barry... but here is this discussion, going on in public, and I "know" these guys... so as is typical of me... I have an opinion.

And, I thought of suggesting a "compromise" because I think both of these guys have some valid concerns. What I'm NOT going to do is insinuate that either of them is misrepresenting the facts, because I have no reason to suspect that.

That said, while I've already stated that I think Barry would benefit more in the long run by just agreeing to Brian's request... IF these were strangers, I'd make the case that while an un-opened DVD seems as though it should be returnable.. IF a seller had any concern that a downloaded file might have went through... I could see that as reason for some reservations in agreeing to the return.

I don't know if Barry had that concern, or it something like that factored into his taking the position he took... but this post caused me to consider that possibility:

This customer asked for me to get it to him asap, to which I offered and supplied an FTP site to get the files he needed that day. We did have some trouble (the files were truncated because the first upload was interrupted). He emailed me to let me know this and I fixed the files, downloading them to another computer to make certain they worked fine. I emailed him to let him know that the files were available, and I heard nothing about them "not working" until today.

On the other hand... $98 is a lot for 2 files, if the DVD has 82 files.

...and lastly, I realize that selling a job based on a webpage is possible... but i would bet money someone printing actual samples can sell more jobs, faster, more easily, and possibly for more money. To each his own, but that's where my "hard to sell something you ain't got" comment came from... besides the fact that sometimes time frames get in the way of doing it your way...

...but I guess I don't need to tell you that.:Oops:

Peace out guys... hope I didn't appear to take sides, because I know I haven't actually taken one. :peace!:
 

B Snyder

New Member

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Master's Touch

New Member
Brian, what's the point? I don't know why the postmark is the 28th instead of the 27th. But look at the timeline, even with my "egregious" delays you received the DVD within 8 business days.

I do not think that time frame is unreasonable at all. It's not good, and it's not what we strive for around here, but as a person who orders stuff online all the time, it is reasonable IMO.


I'm also way behind in checking my email since I was out last week, and I found the email Brian said he sent on the 21st.


Look at the first thing he has to say:
Got em. Thanks Barry. Did you send the DVD yet? Do you have a delivery confirmation #?

-Brian

He's writing this in reply to my email from the 19th....

On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:31 PM, Master's Touch-Digital Flames <Barry@masterstouchsigns.com> wrote:
> You should already have my download instructions....just let me know
> if there's a problem...thanks again!

He has said here in this forum that HE NEVER got the downloads to work, yet here in this email from the 21st he says he DID.

I may appear hard about this, but as any merchant can tell you, it is a constant fight to protect our properties. Most of us are small fish, sign shop owners who work doubly hard trying to do both things at once. Other clipart guys, and fontographers alike will tell you how much it sux to have your hard work swiped.

So tell me Brian what do you say to this? You brought this into the public forum...you tell me...you had the files all day on the 20th, plenty of time to see if they worked or not. You then emailed me on the 21st and said that you had them and THANKED ME FOR IT, so what gives?

I'm sorry, but I think we'll just go ahead with the Visa Chargeback arbitration, thanks very much.
 

B Snyder

New Member
The point? To let others have an opportunity to asses your credibility. The post office will not print a stamp dated the 28th on the 27th. You shipped out the DVD after you knew I canceled the order. It cost you $5.25 and you charged $14.95. This doesn't appear very righteous either.


Yes Barry. I "Got em" but they didn't do me a whole lot of good. I downloaded them on the 21st. On Monday the 24th I uncompressed the zipped files that I received and got the error that the files (in WinZip terms) "...not appear to be a valid archive..."


I started contacting you by every possible method on the 25th because the DVD hadn't arrived yet (Priority Mail sent the 20th should have arrived by the 24th.) I falsely assumed you would ship an order out the same or the next day that you received it and charged the customer for it.


You shipped the order after I canceled it. You insist I have ownership of 2 files. I don't. I've offered to pay the prorated price of the 2 files if you could successfully get them to me. I refuse to pay $100 for 2 pieces of clipart. Thats why my original email to you was to find out which images were actually in your sampler sets. When I found that the 2 images I wanted weren't part of the sampler set I told you I'd just buy the entire collection. This is because I can not justify paying $49 per image. The sampler set at least included 6 images for $120 and I was willing to pay that.

I don't have your DVD, I don't have your files and I don't have my $415.

FWIW, here's how my job turned out. Not quite the same effect but I managed to keep the customer.
 

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