Re: WebCatalog Upgrade Pricing?
This WebDNA talk-list message is from 1997
It keeps the original formatting.
numero = 15141
interpreted = N
texte = Earlier today I wrote Jay at Pacific Coast Software saying that I was going to report back to this list about the situation following the public brawl that Grant and I had here last weekend. I'm sure that he, and a few others, are curious about what I have to say, because I am of course, free to say whatever the hell I want (loved the Gates/Satan transcript earlier today, thanks Natalie!).The dispute has been resolved to my satisfaction this afternoon. The original offer I received has been extended, and I informed Jay that I would let him personally know within one week (a time period I determined), whether, or not, I will be upgrading. I'm still at square one, in a way, but I can live with that.Even though I am satisfied, I fear that others might have lost some confidence in WebCatalog and/or Pacific Coast Software. Relax. It's an outstanding product in good hands.So what went wrong? A whole series of things went wrong. For my part, I feel it was a mistake to jump on Grant as I did. I still feel that I had to say something, but I now regret parts of what I said because after I came down on him so hard, I left almost no room for anybody to move. Somebody would have had to lie or cook-up some sort of cover story --- but the people at Pacific Coast are not the right type for that (sorry Satan, maybe we should try StarNine?).A couple of the lessons I learned from this is that if you want something from somebody, leave some room for comprimise. Don't back them into a corner with no way out. And to remember that the reader of your email is (almost) always a human. And as such, unlike machines, they have the right to be given a bit of slack.As the saying goes...hindsight is 20/20 vision... I wish that I would have just responded with how he was mistaken about my serial number and had unjustly jumped to some conclusions. I now think that any formula for Pacific Coast to self-destruct would have to include Robyn and Grant trading jobs for a month or two. Although --- on the other hand --- I've never actually talked technical stuff with Robyn :) Grant, you are one of the best, if not THE best, technical support person I've come across...but in sales... well... frankly, you suck (kinda like Hell's NT WAN server). :)Even farther back than that... The frustration that I was feeling could have ended with a simple email to Pacific Coast sales. Even though I didn't think that PCS could have sold me direcly (couldn't find anything on the PCS site), they could have asked the people at StarNine what the problem was, and why they were not responding to a customer's request for pricing. There was no reason it had to go public, along with the grief associated with that.I don't feel proud about the way I responded. At the time, my thoughts were let's make sure there are plenty of fingers to point so that nobody could be single-out to take the heat. Hanging the company President seemed like a great idea. At the time. But now that the DATs have been put away where they belong, I don't believe that Jay and Pacific Coast were trying to rip anybody off. This it what happened...I bought WebCatalog 1.6.0 (yes, I still call it WebCatalog) directly from the Pacific Coast online store. Later, I was flipping through a MacZone catalog that was sitting beside my desk. Whoa! I thought. This price is about two hundred bucks less than what I paid (this is about a year and a half or so ago folks, so now I don't know how current that MacZone catalog even was). In any case, at the time, a red flag went up, *price out of sync*.I sent an email to Pacific Coast. Jay handled it, and responded with an email saying my card was credited with the difference. Great service. I used that against him and Pacific Coast. Bad form. Bad timing. Jay, I apologize.Jay also told me that when the WebCatalog upgrade announcements went out, there were lots of bounces, and they did not bother to follow up. He apologized for that, even though none of us could determine, for certain, that mine was in there. It very well could have been. Afterall, my mailserver is a 486/66 running SLMail ...so, naturally, I have had some problems in the past (paging.... Wiillllliam Gaaates). Almost two years ago I gave that box something useful to do --- it was looking lonely, and just getting in the way of the hallway door.Anyway, like I said before, I still don't know whether or not I will upgrade WebCatalog, go to Typhoon, or use 2.0b13. However, I can honestly say that even though emotions were running high over these last few days since our heated exchange, Jay treated me with respect and integrity. My faith in WebCatalog, and the people at Pacific Coast, is not shaken.Final thought on all this... I think that the number of posts on the same subject after our brawl speaks volumes about the quality of this list. It might have been easy for some people to start attacking Pacific Coast, Grant, whoever... about some gripe or other. I did not want that to happen, and I'm glad it did not happen. Thank you for giving us some time to sort the mess out! More technical stuff, more humour, less sales, ... it works for me :)There. I'm finished. Sorry about the length.Now, on to my next question... Does anybody here know how one goes about swinging the same deal as Bill Gates?Cheers,Wendell Kozak Vancouver Island, Canada http://www.pollinia.com/ 250-751-9978
Associated Messages, from the most recent to the oldest:
Earlier today I wrote Jay at Pacific Coast Software saying that I was going to report back to this list about the situation following the public brawl that Grant and I had here last weekend. I'm sure that he, and a few others, are curious about what I have to say, because I am of course, free to say whatever the hell I want (loved the Gates/Satan transcript earlier today, thanks Natalie!).The dispute has been resolved to my satisfaction this afternoon. The original offer I received has been extended, and I informed Jay that I would let him personally know within one week (a time period I determined), whether, or not, I will be upgrading. I'm still at square one, in a way, but I can live with that.Even though I am satisfied, I fear that others might have lost some confidence in WebCatalog and/or Pacific Coast Software. Relax. It's an outstanding product in good hands.So what went wrong? A whole series of things went wrong. For my part, I feel it was a mistake to jump on Grant as I did. I still feel that I had to say something, but I now regret parts of what I said because after I came down on him so hard, I left almost no room for anybody to move. Somebody would have had to lie or cook-up some sort of cover story --- but the people at Pacific Coast are not the right type for that (sorry Satan, maybe we should try StarNine?).A couple of the lessons I learned from this is that if you want something from somebody, leave some room for comprimise. Don't back them into a corner with no way out. And to remember that the reader of your email is (almost) always a human. And as such, unlike machines, they have the right to be given a bit of slack.As the saying goes...hindsight is 20/20 vision... I wish that I would have just responded with how he was mistaken about my serial number and had unjustly jumped to some conclusions. I now think that any formula for Pacific Coast to self-destruct would have to include Robyn and Grant trading jobs for a month or two. Although --- on the other hand --- I've never actually talked technical stuff with Robyn :) Grant, you are one of the best, if not THE best, technical support person I've come across...but in sales... well... frankly, you suck (kinda like Hell's NT WAN server). :)Even farther back than that... The frustration that I was feeling could have ended with a simple email to Pacific Coast sales. Even though I didn't think that PCS could have sold me direcly (couldn't find anything on the PCS site), they could have asked the people at StarNine what the problem was, and why they were not responding to a customer's request for pricing. There was no reason it had to go public, along with the grief associated with that.I don't feel proud about the way I responded. At the time, my thoughts were let's make sure there are plenty of fingers to point so that nobody could be single-out to take the heat. Hanging the company President seemed like a great idea. At the time. But now that the DATs have been put away where they belong, I don't believe that Jay and Pacific Coast were trying to rip anybody off. This it what happened...I bought WebCatalog 1.6.0 (yes, I still call it WebCatalog) directly from the Pacific Coast online store. Later, I was flipping through a MacZone catalog that was sitting beside my desk. Whoa! I thought. This price is about two hundred bucks less than what I paid (this is about a year and a half or so ago folks, so now I don't know how current that MacZone catalog even was). In any case, at the time, a red flag went up, *price out of sync*.I sent an email to Pacific Coast. Jay handled it, and responded with an email saying my card was credited with the difference. Great service. I used that against him and Pacific Coast. Bad form. Bad timing. Jay, I apologize.Jay also told me that when the WebCatalog upgrade announcements went out, there were lots of bounces, and they did not bother to follow up. He apologized for that, even though none of us could determine, for certain, that mine was in there. It very well could have been. Afterall, my mailserver is a 486/66 running SLMail ...so, naturally, I have had some problems in the past (paging.... Wiillllliam Gaaates). Almost two years ago I gave that box something useful to do --- it was looking lonely, and just getting in the way of the hallway door.Anyway, like I said before, I still don't know whether or not I will upgrade WebCatalog, go to Typhoon, or use 2.0b13. However, I can honestly say that even though emotions were running high over these last few days since our heated exchange, Jay treated me with respect and integrity. My faith in WebCatalog, and the people at Pacific Coast, is not shaken.Final thought on all this... I think that the number of posts on the same subject after our brawl speaks volumes about the quality of this list. It might have been easy for some people to start attacking Pacific Coast, Grant, whoever... about some gripe or other. I did not want that to happen, and I'm glad it did not happen. Thank you for giving us some time to sort the mess out! More technical stuff, more humour, less sales, ... it works for me :)There. I'm finished. Sorry about the length.Now, on to my next question... Does anybody here know how one goes about swinging the same deal as Bill Gates?Cheers,Wendell Kozak Vancouver Island, Canada http://www.pollinia.com/ 250-751-9978
Wendell B. Kozak
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