Author: Slater Wold
Date: 12:26:42 01/09/02
Go up one level in this thread
On January 09, 2002 at 11:26:32, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote: >As a way of giving myself a Christmas present, I decided >to refresh my collection of Chessprograms a little. So >far, I owned Hiarcs 7.32 and Fritz 7, and I wanted some >new ones, notably with a good interface and WinBoard >support. > >After looking around a little, I decided on Gandalf 5 + >Century 4 (from Rebel) and Shredder 6 (from ChessBase). > >I asked my mom for her credit card, launched my browser >and placed my orders. No real problems on either site, >except that Rebel's site forgot to tell me where to >download the internet version (ChessBase doesn't even >have that), which I could use while waiting, and ChessBase >still hadn't figured the Euro out yet. > >No problem, I mailed info@rebel.nl, and got a quick >reply (and another identical one from another staff >member the next day) where to download and how to apply >the patch to remove the expiry date. > >ETA Rebel: 1 week / 2-3 days (depending on who you ask it seems) >ETA ChessBase: no idea, they didn't inform me of anything > >After checking my regular mail 3 times each day, and >a horribly long wait (or so it seemed) today the first >package arrived. Gandalf 5 and Century 4. Seems like >Rebel mailed fastest and beat ChessBase to it. > >No problem, Shredder will probably arrive tomorrow or so >I guess. > >Guess again. > >ChessBase just mailed me demanding that I explain why the >credit card holders name doesn't match up with the name on >the destination address, and also asks for an additional >security code that is somewhere on the card. > >So basically, it looks like it took them a week and a half >to even get as far as _reading_ the order. In the same time it >takes for Rebel to process, ship _and_ deliver, ChessBase >only got as far as reading the order. Very impressive. > >Now, for additional fun, I of course have since long given >my mother her credit card back, so I have no idea what the >'security check' is. > >Also, the email was not sent from ChessBase, but from chessland.de. >I don't know what that is, if it's related to ChessBase, and their >website doesn't work either. > >Do they reasonably expect me to be as stupid to send over the >credit card info *over* *plain* *email* to a domain _I don't even know_ ?? > >I mailed back explaining that she was my mother, and simply >refused to give the security check. > >So far, I am all but impressed by ChessBase. In fact, this is by >far the worst support I have ever seen. They are also the first >ones to complain about the credit card. I have ordered several >times with it before. > >To Ed Schröder: congratulations. You aren't ahead of the competition, >you are literally running circles around them. Lex Loep's interface >is very nice (yours is too, but DOS is DOS :) I just wish Century >would work under it... > >-- >GCP That is similiar to the test I did about a year ago: I sent 2 e-mails, 2 minutes apart, one to Bob Hyatt, the other to Chessbase. The subject was "question" and the body said, "Can I use the Namilov TB's from Hyatt's FTP with HIARCS 7.32?" 2 hours later, I get something from Bob, "As far as I know, yes. They are pretty standard TB's." 2 weeks later, I get something from Chessbase, "Yes." Pretty sad indeed. I will soon be ordering Shredder 6, and I might go to the Chessbase site to do so. Instead of using my CC for the transaction, I might use my girlfriends CC, and use my name to ship to. Let's see what happens! I bet they send it to an American without caring who's footing the bill. :)
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