Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[BBFG#]

In any event, it is the company that comes up looking disreputable and not the store.
If there are problems with this, it will not sour me from making future purchases from MFriend. However, it will create some cynicism in ever buying from Sample Logic.
(I had a similar problem with Spectrasonics, who after two months of technical support not being able to resolve an issue with Atmosphere, decided to 'deauthorize' the dealer for selling it to me at 30% off and unregister my software they had already registered from an authorized dealer with no problem two and half months prior.)

[tq]

Yes, the reaction by Sample Logic is a bit odd so far. Why are they so quick at coming to the conclusion "it's MFs fault, not ours, and we do not deal with them anymore, so it's the buyer's problem, not ours"? How do they know it's not their fault, and somebody messed this up during production some years ago?

Again, I think a SNAFU at production looks more likely than somebody running around at MF, opening just Fanfare boxes, stealing the serials, and then factory-sealing these boxes again. (A thief would probably identify the slowest selling products across the whole range of products in the store, and then steal the serials of all of these products, but just from boxes at the rear end of the shelf. From what we know so far, only Fanfare is affected, not Rumble, which probably was sitting on the same shelf in store, right next to Fanfare. Doesn't sound very logical to me. If the thief story would be correct, I would expect a lot more products from MF now coming up with these issues.)

To be fair, I can imagine that SL are very unhappy about MF selling this at such a low price. Still, it's not the fault of the ones that bought it, so leaving them in the cold would be a pretty bad looking reaction.

I think the most ethical and professional reaction from them would be: "O.k., we will re-issue serials for the ones being affected by the MF deal, even if it sucks for us and even if we don't deal with MF anymore. After, all, these are people who bought a legitimate copy of our product. A classy reaction will bring us potential customers in the future - wheras a bad reaction will potentially scare away a lot of future customers." (Btw, I bought full price products by them in the past. Needless to say that if I am affected, and if they leave me in the cold, I will make my maths...)

Anyway, I hope MF and SL do not play responsibility ping pong here, and do the right thing instead.

P.S.: Fanfare arrived here today, but I cannot install this for two weeks. Traveling with a MacBook Air. For what it's worth, the box looked perfectly sealed, and in addition to this, the inner plastic box was still sticking to the outer cardbord box, as if it was never touched or opened. So this really looks like a box directly coming from production. (Just wish I could install it right away...)

[jiten]

Well it seems there were only one or two accounts on this thread of Fanfare serials not working. I think quite a few more bought Fanfare, so it could be that I just got unlucky. Would definitely be interested to see how others fare.

Hopefully I get some kind of update from either SL or MF Monday...

[tq]

Yes, let us know how this goes! Might be interesting to see the reaction by both companies. Even if it's just two people affected, it would be a good indicator of how they deal with customers.

[Uncle E]

Now the interesting question is: Who honors the purchase of the customer, then? Basically, it seems as if the MF customers bought legit products with legit serials - that were copied and stolen somewhere in the process. Hopefully, MF and SL do not play a ping-pong blame-game without taking responsibility here.

My guess is that anyone with non-working serial numbers will receive full refunds from MF, then MF and SL will fight it out between themselves. I hope for SL's sake that they have a really strong case, otherwise they'll be wiped out by MF's legal department.

[Uncle E]

In any event, it is the company that comes up looking disreputable and not the store.
If there are problems with this, it will not sour me from making future purchases from MFriend. However, it will create some cynicism in ever buying from Sample Logic.

How would you feel if someone stole from you and then people blamed you for it? I have no idea what the truth is in this matter, none of us do, and that's why I'm not casting blame on either party, at least not until more information is brought to light.

[Uncle E]

Again, I think a SNAFU at production looks more likely than somebody running around at MF, opening just Fanfare boxes, stealing the serials, and then factory-sealing these boxes again.

MF does produce software boxes themselves and it's entirely possible that they were the ones who made these in the first place. I'm not saying that's what happened but we should probably find out more information from both them and Sample Logic before jumping to any conclusions.

[tq]

Sure, you're right about that. But from the buyers' perspective, this still looks a bit odd. In any case, if these are legitimate retail boxes (and I would guess so), I think *somebody* should then take responsibility. In the end, this is a software product, so it doesn't hurt SL to give the buyers a new serial (unless they have to pay a per code licence fee to NI - then this would certainly hurt their business). If they don't, then they probably lose a potential future customer, anyway. Again, I totally understand why SL are angry about this - but it's not their users' fault.

But you are right: Let's wait and see how this turns out. Too early to make any conclusions. Maybe this affects just a few people, and maybe MF and SL will do the right thing and help them. Let's hope for the best.

[jiten]

In any event, it is the company that comes up looking disreputable and not the store.
If there are problems with this, it will not sour me from making future purchases from MFriend. However, it will create some cynicism in ever buying from Sample Logic.

How would you feel if someone stole from you and then people blamed you for it? I have no idea what the truth is in this matter, none of us do, and that's why I'm not casting blame on either party, at least not until more information is brought to light.

Totally agree. I attempted to be careful in trying to relay my communication experience with both companies impartially. As I said earlier, I don't care to speculate on where the blame should be without knowing the full story. All I know is what SL told me in an email (regarding someone reselling serials). I have no idea what ML/GC's side is,

[VitaminD]

Blame irregardless, It is up to MF to make it right as they took your money.

As what E said, if MF wants to 'discuss' with SL after the fact, that is their business (literally ). But MF needs to either give you a license code that works or return all of your money.

[stixman]

I just got a reply from MF who assure me they will either refund or replace so i'm not worrying!

[Steve Bolivar]

I got my Rumble and Fanfare from MF Kansas City, and Fanfare installed and registered ok. Haven't had a chance to do Rumble yet.

[audientronic]

I got my Rumble and Fanfare from MF Kansas City, and Fanfare installed and registered ok. Haven't had a chance to do Rumble yet.

Cool. I guess replace may be an option for those who have problems then.

[audientronic]

Is this one just a serial in a box or are there disks? I assume there are disks if people are successfully installing but failing to register.

[jiten]

Is this one just a serial in a box or are there disks? I assume there are disks if people are successfully installing but failing to register.

No, it's a properly boxed product with 3 disks for Fanfare and a serial sticker stuck inside. "Installation" is just copy/pasting the Instrument/Samples/Data folders (standard Kontakt Player library format) into your Samples HD and then adding the library into Kontakt like you normally would. I can do all of that fine. Just get the error when putting the provided serial into Service Center to activate.