ah well - it cheeses me off man the way they get on this trip - the way i see it, people on forums would agree about cracks being detrimental to smaller s/w companies, but these sort of insiduous lynching-mob things on forums carry around the www, they do similar damage imo
so people start to carry round this whole trip in their head about Philip Rees or whoever - if someone asks about Philip Rees or whoever, people pop up quoting second hand rumours they heard somewhere and start running them down - but it's not like they are a big company is it?
we're not talking here about yamaha or some other huge corp' - Rees is a small company, it's people jobs we're talking about.
all it takes is a lynching mob ripping the company to shreds wholesale on the www and this gets around and forms an impression people take on board, and suddenly it doesnt matter that Philip Rees is a long standing company , one of the oldest british music tech companies who have survived for years.
so how if they are such crooks and mess up peoples orders all the time as suggested did they stay in business this long?
My position is that these sort of people who take a small personal complaint onto the web and drum up nastyness IN GENERAL about the company can be hurting the company as much as s/w crack sellers,
Secondly i'm suspicious of some of these peoples complaints - having a card debited twice by mistake DOES happen, it happened to us last summer, but with the guys attitude i wonder why it's taken him 4 months!!!... and he's getting no-where? - that just doesnt usualy happen - First up he waited 2 weeks before evenb phoning about his order! - that's strange for a UK-to-Uk delivery isnt it?.
I think, IF (and this is an IF so far) there is a REGULAR problem with this companies online retailing then it'd be better if the people who have experienced this on SoS forums get together, form a group and put their complaint in writing with documentary evidence/listing/dates - then present this to Rees in a spirit of perhaps more coolness - Point out to Rees that there is obviously a problem in this department, state that they all agree the products are great and they'd like to see the company carry on succeeding, but that this issue needs addressing - They could appoint an arbitrator to liase between them and Philip Rees company etc - Perhaps even SoS could take on that role in instances where goups of people are having a problem over something with a small music-tech company
then, this documentary listing of the peoples order problems can be presented to Rees company, who can compare this 'Problem order' data with their sales figures online shopwise, and see a percentage of errors against orders, and sort out the problem for EVERYONES benefit
I just think we have so many british companies going to the wall, peoples jobs are at stake often, besides the fact that it'd be good to support these indie companies.
I think in the case of Novation, with them the issue besides late s/w updates was the ADAT output interface wasn't it? - well, if 1000 users wanted this update and would have to pay for it (as they would) mebbe 100 quid for the upgrade or something, then wouldnt it have been better to collective into a group, appoint an arbitrator and see how they could work with the company to get this accessory available?
like if 1000 users were planning to pay 100 quid each for the ADAT interface then that's 100,000 quid - they could liase with Novation if Novation WERE in financial problems to pay for a run of the data interfaces to be produced, whatever it took to get it done - That surely is better than running the company down wholesale causing their sales overall to drop and further pushing the company down isnt it?
well that's my opinion because surely you want the company to survive so your produuct can be supported etc over the following years.
(but mebbe i got all that adat interface wrong, i though from memory that's what it was anyways)
Now for example, I have a supernova... it broke down a while back... I didnt rave and rant and cuss them out online and try and bring people online to gang up on them and mistrust them, what I did was BE COOL, call and talk with Novation..... as it happens I didnt need the SuperNova at the time it went wrong, so i just talked cool with Novation and I can get a replacement anytime I like, cos I said "I dont care if it's s/h or what, just swap mine out for a working & tested one"
and to this day, i still can go over there to their place and swap it out when I'm ready & have a free day to do it cos i was nice to them, cool, co-operative etc
If alternatively i tried to publicly drag the company down, probably it'd be different - if i HAD needed the Supernova at the time, STILL by having a cool attitude I could have got it sorted at the time
i just think people are too eager to rip into small companies which are trying to supply the small hobby feild we all enjoy which has few users as a percentage of population.
But i think if you attack a company and get angry and rave at them etc then it just doesnt do anyone any good - after all, the issue is that no-one ever comes onto the www and posts:
"I ordered a coupe of midi boxes from Philip Rees, they arrived with a few days and they are great, I'm really happy!".
followed by other people posting about THEIR good experiences
anyways - I bet a fiver i could get this guys refund sorted in a week
and i think if you've seen freinds die of aids it's WELL sad to use that expression as he did - Then some guy popped up saying Philip Rees in person was probably using his company's online system to 'steal' money for his own personal use - that is well sad imo
there is just some sad bitchy power-trip people on that forum imo who swan around like they never made a mistake in their working life and god help anyone who crosses them.
___________________________________
I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws.... I call it... Big Jaws!!!