Board index » delphi » Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad

Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad

I recently purchased Crystal Reports Pro from the Zac Catalog (Zachary
Software's Delphi-Only Tools Catalog #310).  Although neither the ad nor their
representative mentioned anything about this, what they actually ship is the
_upgrade_ version of Crystal Reports Pro.

This competitive upgrade _will_ install if you have Delphi installed
(actually, RPTSMITH.EXE is all you need on your hard drive).  However, I
believed I had purchased the full product.  Zac did offer to refund my money,
but they wouldn't exchange the upgrade for the full version.

Be cautious in your dealings with Zac.

Bill Sorensen
revte...@xnet.com

 

Re:Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad


Quote
In article <465pqu$...@fstgal00.tu-graz.ac.at> pl...@iaik.tu-graz.ac.at (peter lipp) writes:
>From: pl...@iaik.tu-graz.ac.at (peter lipp)
>Subject: Re: Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad
>Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 23:11:24 GMT
>revte...@xnet.com (William E. Sorensen) wrote:
>>This competitive upgrade _will_ install if you have Delphi installed
>>(actually, RPTSMITH.EXE is all you need on your hard drive).  
>If you own it, why not accept it as a competitive upgrade, especially
>if you dont use RPTSMITH at all. You then do own a full version
>anyway, where is the difference?
>Peter
>Peter Lipp, Dept. Of Applied Information Processing
>University of Technology Graz, Austria
>pl...@iaik.tu-graz.ac.at   --- +43 316 873 5513
>http://www.iaik.tu-graz.ac.at

Well I, for one, appreciate the warning, since I currently use R&R v.5.0 for
DOS and am looking to buy a Windows-version report writing util of some kind.  
According to Bill, I might've ordered the Crystal product as listed in the Zac
catalog, only to find I couldn't run it.  Which would've been *very* annoying.

awb

Re:Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad


revte...@xnet.com (William E. Sorensen) wrote:

Quote
>This competitive upgrade _will_ install if you have Delphi installed
>(actually, RPTSMITH.EXE is all you need on your hard drive).  

If you own it, why not accept it as a competitive upgrade, especially
if you dont use RPTSMITH at all. You then do own a full version
anyway, where is the difference?

Peter

Peter Lipp, Dept. Of Applied Information Processing
University of Technology Graz, Austria
pl...@iaik.tu-graz.ac.at   --- +43 316 873 5513
http://www.iaik.tu-graz.ac.at

Re:Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad


Quote
>Well I, for one, appreciate the warning, since I currently use R&R v.5.0 for
>DOS and am looking to buy a Windows-version report writing util of some kind.
>According to Bill, I might've ordered the Crystal product as listed in the
Zac
>catalog, only to find I couldn't run it.  Which would've been *very*
annoying.

>awb

Well.... maybe.  According to the package, the Crystal upgrade requires
Crystal Reports Pro 1.0, 2.0, or 3.0; Crystal Reports Standard 1.0, 2.0, or
3.0; or THE MOST CURRENT VERSION (make of that what you will) of Visual Basic,
dBase for Windows, Business Objects, Impromptu R&R xBASE edition, R&R SQL
edition, or ReportSmith.

And, with the exception of a few quibbles (which I faxed tech support about
today), I _do_ like the product.  (My boss says R&R for DOS is faster,
though.)

My complaint about Zac isn't that they sold the upgrade, it's that they DIDN'T
ADVERTISE IT AS SUCH.  It's like selling a used car as new.  It may run just
as well, and it may be just as good a car, but it's still false advertising.

Re:Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad


In article <461j97$...@flood.xnet.com>, revte...@xnet.com says...

Quote

>I recently purchased Crystal Reports Pro from the Zac Catalog (Zachary
>Software's Delphi-Only Tools Catalog #310).  Although neither the ad nor
their
>representative mentioned anything about this, what they actually ship is
the
>_upgrade_ version of Crystal Reports Pro.

>This competitive upgrade _will_ install if you have Delphi installed
>(actually, RPTSMITH.EXE is all you need on your hard drive).  However, I
>believed I had purchased the full product.  Zac did offer to refund my
money,
>but they wouldn't exchange the upgrade for the full version.

>Be cautious in your dealings with Zac.

>Bill Sorensen
>revte...@xnet.com

True, it may be a little misleading but my overall impression of
Zac Catalog is good... the folks there are friendly and nice.

And I'm sure you could figure out from the price that it is a competitive
upgrade... in either case, there's no difference, I believe.

Also, Zac sells only Delphi-related tools, not any product, so they would
expect users to have Delphi to call their Delphi-Only sales line. <gg>

Cheers

Re:Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad


In article <46gfd0$1...@hearst.cac.psu.edu>,
Delphi Developers' Library <del...@mailhost.net> wrote:
Quote
>In article <461j97$...@flood.xnet.com>, revte...@xnet.com says...

>>I recently purchased Crystal Reports Pro from the Zac Catalog (Zachary
>>Software's Delphi-Only Tools Catalog #310).  Although neither the ad nor
>their
>>representative mentioned anything about this, what they actually ship is
>the
>>_upgrade_ version of Crystal Reports Pro.

>>This competitive upgrade _will_ install if you have Delphi installed
>>(actually, RPTSMITH.EXE is all you need on your hard drive).  However, I
>>believed I had purchased the full product.  Zac did offer to refund my
>money,
>>but they wouldn't exchange the upgrade for the full version.

>>Be cautious in your dealings with Zac.

>>Bill Sorensen
>>revte...@xnet.com

>True, it may be a little misleading but my overall impression of
>Zac Catalog is good... the folks there are friendly and nice.

>And I'm sure you could figure out from the price that it is a competitive
>upgrade... in either case, there's no difference, I believe.

>Also, Zac sells only Delphi-related tools, not any product, so they would

       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Quote
>expect users to have Delphi to call their Delphi-Only sales line. <gg>

>Cheers

I have bought only Clipper products from Zac.  I would never assume
that I needed Delphi for one of their products.

Joan

Re:Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad


Could someone please post or mail me info on how to contact Zac? E-mail,
WWW, or phone (a "real" phone no., not a a 1800 please)?

TIA,

Mark

--

pendr...@cse.unsw.edu.au

Re:Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad


Well... how about it? Surely someone has this info at hand.

Could someone please post or mail me info on how to contact Zac? E-mail,
WWW, or phone (a "real" phone no., not a a 1800 please)?

TIA,

Mark

--

pendr...@cse.unsw.edu.au

Re:Misleading Zachary Crystal Ad


Mark David Pendrith <pendrith> wrote:

Quote
>Could someone please post or mail me info on how to contact Zac? E-mail,
>WWW, or phone (a "real" phone no., not a a 1800 please)?

If you're trying to contact the folks at the ZAC Catalog, FT gave you the
right info.  If you're trying to get a copy of Zachary, that product has
been discontinued and is no longer available for purchase.  FYI.

-- //Steve//

Computer Associates    CompuServe: 76703,3035
Fax: 516/342-6861      Internet: 76703.3...@compuserve.com
Phone: 516/342-2458    America Online: KB6OJS

Other Threads