🚀 go-pugleaf

Jim Kateley writes:
>In article <1729@ut-emx.UUCP> jdm@ut-emx.UUCP (Jim Meiss) writes:      
>>                                                         
>>       About 6 weeks ago I received an announcement that the all      
>>new, fantastic version 4.0 of Dollars and Sense was now available--and
>>for registered users a mere $50 too!!

I read about it in MacUser.  So I called their 800-number back in March.  
The price is technically $49.95 + $5.00 shipping.  I had them bill it to 
my VISA.  "Would you like 2-day air on that, sir?"  Sure, why not, so tack 
on another $5.00 for a total of $59.95.  "All right, sir, you should 
receive that by Monday, Tuesday at the latest."  (This was a Friday.)  
Wonderful.  Thank you.

>>...and they billed my credit card...  
>>but it didn't arrive :-((.

Deja vu.  The following Wednesday came and no software.  I got on the
phone to them, inquiring as to the status of my order.  "Well, sir, you'll 
have to call our 213-number for that."  OK, spend my own money to find out 
where my order is.  What the heck, just one phone call.  So I did.  "Oh, 
sir, did you order from our 800-number?"  Yes, as a matter of fact.  
"Well, didn't they tell you that it takes another week before the order 
arrives at our warehouse so we can process it?"  No, they didn't.  If 
they'd done that I wouldn't have ordered 2-day air.  "Well, sir, that is 
the case, but you should have your package by early next week."

So I wait...

...and wait...

...and wait...

>>I called today and they said they "found >>bugs"--
>>in the code. Gee whiz, can you imagine that? I wonder if they've heard
>>of the time honored programmers method called "debugging" :-)( ?

...and wait.  Wednesday, TWO WEEKS LATER, and no software.  I'm pretty 
steamed by now, and call them to let them know.  "Oh, sir, what's happened 
is that our programmers found a bug in version 4.0 and your order has been 
held up until they can fix it."  That's OK, ship it anyway.  "I'm sorry, 
sir, we can't do that.  All orders have been placed on hold.  But you can 
just be patient and it will be there."

SURE...We all know how easy it is to debug and release code on time, now 
don't we?

>There were some nasty bugs in 4.0, the main one for me was it bombing
>in the middle of a session under Multifinder!

I just want my software.  I can understand not shipping it if there are 
major bugs in the bowels of the program itself, regardless of the 
environment it is operating in.  But to me, this instance has a 
work-around, i.e. DON'T RUN IT WITH MULTIFINDER.  If there are these kinds 
of bugs, they should just include a note inside the packages stating as 
such.  Then I won't even TRY to run D&S under Multifinder.  They should 
then announce that they will be shipping a free upgrade to registered 
users as soon as the bugs are fixed.  But, Jim is right, what they REALLY 
need is competent programmers and testers so software with MAJOR problems 
doesn't even get out the door.  Microsoft is as guilty as anyone else; 
witness Word 3.0.  (I know that's low, but I'm pretty upset with Monogram 
in general...read on...)

>>       Well the word from them is that the shipping date is still 2-3 
>>weeks away if you are naive enough to buy that!

This is absolute HORSESH*T!!  I ordered mine over 5 weeks ago, and they 
have really F*CKED UP, according to this:

>This is news to me, I received version 4.0 about 4 weeks after I 
>ordered it, and then about a month after that I received 4.1
>automatically!!  The postmark on my 4.1 disk is March 16th.
>This was suprising, as I had given up on 4.0
>and its bugs, and I had not gotten around to calling them
>and asking what was going on.

So where is MY copy??

Wait, it's not over yet.

Then, about a week ago, I was reconciling my VISA balance (kept in D&S 
1.3) with that of my bank via phone (electronic information, that kind of 
thing).  Amazingly, there was about a $60 discrepancy between the two.  So 
I called the bank and inquired as to the transactions that had taken place 
on my account in the last month.  (I haven't received my statement yet).  
"Well, Mr. Lacefield, I show that you have ...(such and such 
transaction)..., $59.95 on March (something) to Monogram, then $59.95 
AGAIN to Monogram the following week."

These IDIOTS have charged me TWICE for something they promised I would 
have over the weekend and HAVE NOT DELIVERED FIVE WEEKS LATER!!!!

What do you think I did next?  On the phone I get, PIS*ED as all hell, to 
their 213-number, informing them of their "error".  "Oh, sorry, sir, we'll 
reverse the charges just as soon as you send us your statement pointing 
out our mistake."  You IMBECILES!!  Don't you track your customer's 
transactions?  Can't you just look it up yourself?  "No, sir, we need 
proof."

That's IT.  What kind of a way is THIS to support your customers.  In my 
book, Monogram gets a big fat ZERO (0) on a scale of 1 to 10.  Not only 
did I have to make four phone calls to them (and still haven't received my 
order), but now I have to endure finance charges on two VISA transactions 
with nothing to show for either one.  Let me remind you that at no time in 
this scenario has Monogram mad any attempt to contact ME about the status 
of my order.

You can bet that this company will receive a nice little package from me, 
including my VISA statement, my phone bill, and a carbon copy of a letter 
to the Better Business Bureau.  And they will reimburse me for the extra 
transaction, the finance charges associated with BOTH transactions, all 
the toll calls I made to them, and the stamps I use to send them the whole 
schmear.


And I will NEVER do business with Monogram software AGAIN.  I wish the 
best of luck to anybody who does.  They will need it.

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Greg Lacefield
gregl@ozvax.gwd.tek.com
...!tektronix!ozvax!gregl