posted
I have a friend named Jeff.....really, I do, he was at the WMASS picnic...and he wanted to buy a new pool cue we had read about. It is a jump/break cue, and is only used for those two things...the break, and jumping a ball.
So I went to InsidePool, and using his credit card we bought one. InsidePool is a company that has a web site, and also has a fairly popular magazine.
We used my computer, since Jeff doesn't have one at home, and my hotmail account as well.
The cues was suppose to be here in 5-7 days, and it has now been 17 days. Not only is the cue not here, but there is no customer support at all, just a recording. I have e-mailed them 5 times, and called them 3 times. I have been hung up on, and routed to a voice mail twice, all without ever speaking to a real person.
So today Jeff will have to call Visa and stop payment, and last night I e-mailed the BBB about them.
I also found a link about them claiming that this is not an isolated incident.
posted
Yeah that stuff happens... But it happens with mail order, telephone sales, even ordering in person. I have ordered several thousand dollars of merchandise online (at least), and never had a problem.
I hope you get the pool cue though. I'm sure a fair amount of cash was sunk on it.
posted
It's a bummer, all right. You never know when a company is going to die. For instance, I once used wallpaper software for my computer from a guy who sold it on the internet out of his garage (so to speak); for years it worked fine, and I'd buy another copy for other computers, etc. Then, changing computers, I went to his site, bought another copy, and ...
And nothing. No password ever came to unlock it.
I think he had given up because some of the features of his software were workarounds to solve problems with Windows, only in the new version of Windows those things weren't problems anymore, and instead of updating and upgrading his software (it was "Paperhanger") he just quit.
That's my speculation, because he never, never answered any of my inquiries. (I was actually afraid he had died of a heart attack in his garage and nobody had found his body.)
The thing is - he didn't take down his site. Maybe he "meant to get around to revising the program," and he did NOT ever actually charge my card, so nothing was taken from me (not your situation, I know!); but ... it's like walking into a store and being waited on by ghosts, only you don't know they're ghosts until you get out of the store and your purchases aren't in your hands after all. (There it is, a complete one-sentence fantasy story in a simile.)
But to me, the danger of the occasional flaky store that doesn't deliver is WAY offset by the brilliant convenience of being able to get an obscure book or strange item from stores you would never, ever EVER have been able to find prior to the internet.
Like ... the book of paintings by artist Graham Sydney. We saw prints of his work in NZ but couldn't afford one. When I got home, lo! His book was not available in the US. But Amazon had links to Australian booksellers who DID have it, and now WE have it. How would we have found those booksellers before the internet? Eventually we might have - but frankly, we would have given up long before that.
Or the time we needed a funny "dead bird" for our production of Once Upon a Mattress. Kristine combed the internet and found a place in Maine that sells practice dead ducks for training dogs - seriously - with a bendy neck so the dogs can carry them (just the right weight and buoyancy, too). Who knew such a thing EXISTED? But it was perfect for our comedy, and we still have a lovely duck.
All because of the internet. (And, I might add, the internet WITH GOOGLE.)
By the way, the best wallpaper manager for Windows is, bar none: Wallmaster Pro. I have a library of several thousand scanned artworks that are the art gallery that runs on my screen when nothing else is there. I keep all icons off my desk except the d++++d Recycle Bin, which Windows won't let me get rid of even though I would RATHER access it like everything else from my Start menu. And I get a different piece of art every ten minutes (because that's how often I set it to change). Since the computer is the "wall" I look at most often, it's nice to have beautiful new art on it all the time. One moment its a magnificent photo of scenery I'll never get to see in my life; the next moment, a heartbreakingly lovely Bouguereau painting; the next moment, a funny illustration from a card I once got which I scanned and kept. I don't share these or sell these, so I'm not cheating anybody out of copyright. I just get to live and work in a gallery of thousands of artworks.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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This tool makes a few policies and registry tweaks accessible through a "friendly" GUI. One of the tweaks in question lets you remove the Recycle Bin from the XP desktop. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I don't think its an immoral copyright violation, and its definitely not a copyright violation anyone's likely to pursue, but it is a copyright violation.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
As someone who registered at ebay just to get Monster in a Box which is out everywhere else, and has recieved it and then watched it several times, I'm currently quite satisfied with internet buying. I do, though, tend to be very wary of anything small, I like shopping on amazon for the simple reason that I know they'll do what they say they do, and the one time they couldn't, the question of if I paid for something I didn't get was never even an issue.
Unfortunatly sometimes even amazon doesn't have it (like my Spaulding Gray experience) and then you have to venture into the great beyond.
quote:t's like walking into a store and being waited on by ghosts, only you don't know they're ghosts until you get out of the store and your purchases aren't in your hands after all.
You should totally write that story.
Posts: 1357 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
The problem is now worse....Visa refused to charge back the item for some reason. I had been doing all the talking up to now, as he used my e-mail address and I felt somewhat responsible since I found that store for him. However, I was not about to call Visa and claim I was him, that would be actual fraud on my part, even if it was done with his permission. So I had him called, and they refused to give him his money back....to make things worse, it was a Visa Debit card, which I was unaware of, so the money is already out of his account.
I called them again today, during their posted business hours, and got the same recording. I left a very nasty message, trying to get any sort of response at all, and still have heard nothing.
Jeff is not happy, and I don't blame him. He doesn't seem pissed with me, thank God, but he is unhappy that Visa is giving him a hard time as well.
I told him that Visa has to help him, they brag about fraud protection in their ads, and that he needed to call them back later this week.
When we looked at other web sites some of them were back ordered on this item, which may be the problem....they may be having trouble getting the item to ship to us. We went with this site because Inside Pool is a fairly well known magazine, but there doesn't seem to be anyone there who gives a hoot.
Actually, that's not altogether true. Fair use absolutely does NOT depend on whether you legally own an authorized copy of the work or not, although that can be an element of one of the factors used to evaluate the fair use defense.
posted
Rob, let Jeff know that that sucks...well...it sucks. I won't use my usual phrase here. Pop would have to scold me.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Dag, I mean in this particular instance owning a copy would make it fair use, but not owning a copy means its almost certainly infringement . Not in general (though certain copyright holders dearly wish that were so, and act like it is).
This is in large part because the use is not particularly transformative -- its still being used as the same artwork.
posted
I thought Scott said he owned some of it, and scanned it. Isn't that legal, if you won a copy of the original, for private use?
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote: it's like walking into a store and being waited on by ghosts, only you don't know they're ghosts until you get out of the store and your purchases aren't in your hands after all.
posted
I really depend on internet buying to suppliment my eccentric little life way up here in the middle of cattle country. Currently, I have two CDs on their way from Pakistan, and I'm using the brain-shaped Jello mold I got from Neuromart.com as we speak. Posts: 285 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I went on an internet buying spree yesterday. It was great though. I'm getting a mini USB Flash card for work (the money will be reimbursed to me) and I also bought 7 dog crates, 6 water buckets and 6 food bowls.
Prices would have doubled if not tripled, if I'd bought any of them in person.
posted
Internet shopping is awesome. My mom wanted to do something special for her sister for Christmas this year coming up, and I suggested let's make her a quilt - my aunt does a lot of quilting but like many people who do crafts, she never makes anything for herself. I don't mind piecing quilts but I hate to do the hand sewing, and my mom loves to hand sew and hates machine sewing so I figured it would be a perfect gift for us to work together on.
Well, my aunt loves African animals and animal prints, so I found a free pattern on the internet for a quilt that I knew she'd love. The fabrics used in it are from a line by Northcott called "Serengeti" and it's unfortunately an out of print fabric.
Internet to the rescue, I went to Northcott's website, looked up the archive of expired prints, got the fabrics manufacturer's code number, and went internet searching. Found the fabrics I needed, and was even able to comparison shop between several different places.
Without the internet, I wouldn't have the free pattern (it was available only as a download) and the chances of me finding the fabric by driving around and looking in person at different quilt shops and fabric stores are pretty slim. Think of all the energy I conserved by not doing all that driving! Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Provided you get them...as it stands now, Jeff's price has gone up an infinate amount....no matter how much he spent, there is 0 chance of getting his cue. Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I don't like to buy things on the internet for very logical reasons
1. Shopping is fun. It's a bonding activity. You cannot hang out with your friends while staring at a computer screen arguing about who's turn it is now. At least in a store you can look at other things which interest you when you're bored.
2. I shop for books and clothing almost exclusively. Clothes you can't shop for online (yes, I know people do it, I've just never been able to) because you need to know what they look like and how they fit you and if they make you look hot. You can't tell this by looking at a 2D picture on the computer screen. Or at least, I can't.
As for books, I almost never buy them. I go to the bookstore, look for books I'm interested in, and check them out of the library. I only buy books I'm positive I like. You cannot browse on Amazon. You can get a book you already want, you can look for books by a favorite author, but you can't just look over the sci fi and young adult sections for something you might like. They have way too many books for that to be possible. So when I do buy books, I buy them from the places where I browse, the real bookstores. I figure it's the least I can do to support them.
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
I have nothing but good things to say abut ebay so far, even though I did have something damaged in shipping. When I asked about it the seller gave me a full refund asap, without me even asking for it...she had packed it well, too, but it broke.
I just wish someone would get back to me from Inside Pool, just so I knew what was up.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Talk about "Ask and Ye shall recieve.", I just heard a noise from my computer as I typed the last post, and when I went into my email there was a message from Inside Pool.....
I guess Inside Pool doesn't really sell the stuff, they just have an agreement with another company, and that company was in the process of changing locations.
I now have a new contact number, and the name of two people to ask for when I call.
I don't think this is a fix-all, but it is a step in the right direction.
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. Not in general (though certain copyright holders dearly wish that were so, and act like it is).![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
