Re: DONT USE PIXEL TRANSLATIONS IN DELPHI

From: a (blwatters_at_shaw.ca)
Date: 08/02/04 

Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2004 09:26:44 -0700

Chris,

> Pixel Translations has a bait-and-switch method of luring Delphi
> programmers into buying their $3400.00 Pixtool/EZ toolkit.

Bait-and-switch is when a company deliberately advertises one
product and then says that that product is not available, is
out-of-stock, etc. and then offers you a different product under
different terms. This usually assumes that the product was never
really in-stock and hasn't legitimately run out. Also bait-and-switch
rarely applies online or when there isn't a substantial cost of
inquiring into product.

Unless they sent you something other than what was listed on
the invoice/order, this isn't a bait-and-switch.

> We purchased
> it because their site says it is only officially supported on Visual
> Basic, even though there are a couple of links on their site that
> dispute this..
> http://www.pixtran.com/Support/knowledgebase_article.asp?ID=3739
> http://www.pixtran.com/Support/knowledgebase_article.asp?ID=3679
> http://www.pixtran.com/Support/knowledgebase_article.asp?ID=3305

They where completely honest. They said, that they don't officially support
Delphi. "Not officially supported" means "not supported". It may or may
not work, they don't know, and they aren't resposible if it doesn't.

I don't know how "not officially supported" would encourage a reasonable
buyer to purchase any software.

If you honestly wanted an assurance that it would work under Delphi,
you should have asked for one. A simple e-mail prior to purchasing
saying -- that you are using Delphi 7, you understand it isn't supported,
but you would like to purchase with the proviso that you can return
it if you can't get it working -- would have taken 5 minutes.

> The toolkit DOES NOT WORK in Delphi5+ We are using Delphi7.

Did they say it would work in Delphi 5+? No. In fact, they told you
that they didn't support anything except VB.

>They should say that it DOES NOT WORK in Delphi.

Perhaps they should have also said it doesn't work under Java, Unix,
Fortran/80, a Palm Pilot, or one the space shuttles computers.

It is not the responsiblity of a vendor to list what a product won't do,
only what is does. If I buy snow tires for a Ford truck, it isn't up to
the tire store to provide me a list of every vehicle on earth which
the tires do not work on -- Mazda, bicycle, bus, airplane, ....

> They have refused to give us our money back, so I am getting vocal.

They are likely under no obligation to do so. They told you they
only support VB and you bought it for use under Delphi anyway.

You'd be far better off to have approached them and said, "Oppss..
we are really sorry. *We* made a mistake. I know you said it wasn't
supported under Delphi, but we really wanted it to work. Look is
there any thing you can do for us?"

Ask if they can put you in-touch with out other clients using Delphi.

BTW. You can still use it under VB as advertised. So you could always
write a VB .DLL or Active-X and include it in your Delphi program.

> Pixel Translations has a bait-and-switch method of luring Delphi ...
> Pixel translations is NOT a company to do business with. They are
> crooks.
> Be aware...
> ...

My first recommendation to you would be to hire a liable lawyer.
You have publicly accused a company of repeated illegal activity
and so far you haven't managed to convince me of any of these
activities and I'm only hearing one side. Worse, I'm hearing others
on the forum say that they have got it working under Delphi.

I'd say the only thing you are managing to do on this site
is set yourself up for a lawsuit.

Thanks,

Brett

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