Why I will never again do business with TurboSquid...
So, I need a straight razor prop for this scene I'm working on. 3ds? Sure. I can turn that into an obj. I don't need the materials, just the model. And I find one for $1! Now, I've got stuff from TurboSquid before, but always just free stuff, and I've never had a problem with it. Until today, and the most bloody useless conversation with support I've had since 'I can't tell you the IP address of the DNS server, because it changes with every call'.
This is the product: Straight Razor
It's clearly listed as a 3ds model ( 3D Studio 2012 (.3ds) 34 KB ), and has NO OTHER FORMATS listed. It's even got a poly count. There's no reason to doubt this file is what it says it is.
So, I buy it. It's only a buck. Fuck it, right? I can rig the fucker in Hex. No big deal.
Except that after I buy it? It's a fucking .jpg. It's the first promo image for the product, stuffed in a zip file, with nothing else.
This is bad, but it's not critical. Tech support, yo. They've either got the right file, or they'll just give me a refund, right?
Tech Dude: [8:17:29 PM] Welcome to TurboSquid's live chat. How may I help you?
Me: [8:17:29 PM] I purchased a model clearly marked as being 3ds format (and no other format). Instead, I received in my downloads section a jpg image that is one of the promotional images of the model.
Tech Dude: [8:17:42 PM] Hello
Me: [8:17:47 PM] Hi there.
Tech Dude: [8:17:57 PM] May I get your login name please?
Me: [8:18:09 PM] My login name is Me.
Tech Dude: [8:18:50 PM] Thanks. Could you tell me are you referring to razor model?
Me: [8:18:59 PM] Yep. That's the one.
Tech Dude: [8:19:27 PM] Thanks. Please let me check it for you.
[8:21:06 PM] OK I see that this model comes as an image. We will contact the artist about this issue. As soon as he uploads the 3ds file we will email you.
Me: [8:21:53 PM] That's... kind of absurd. There's no 3ds file for something being sold as a 3ds file? May I get a refund, instead?
Tech Dude: [8:23:41 PM] Our procedure for handling problems with purchased products is to contact the author, address technical problems with the file, and attempt to resolve any problems in order to make a purchase satisfactory. Could you tell me when is your deadline?
Me: [8:24:45 PM] Monday. Mostly because I thought I would have this file as soon as I purchased it.
Tech Dude: [8:26:06 PM] OK I see. We will refund this but we will require refund agreement.
[8:26:33 PM] Please give me a moment and I will send you refund agreement.
Me: [8:26:39 PM] Thank you.
Tech Dude: [8:27:47 PM] Could you check your email inbox?
Me: [8:28:55 PM] I am checking now.
Tech Dude: [8:29:26 PM] Please print and fill this refund agreement and send it back to us. Then I will forward your refund process to our accounting.
Me: [8:30:31 PM] Print it and mail it? Would I be correct to assume that it will contain an address to mail it to, when I do receive it?
Tech Dude: [8:31:03 PM] Here is direct link to the ticekt. http://support.turbosquid.com/rules/views/1080393?
[8:31:39 PM] As soon as you fill it please attach it to this ticket. Then I will forward this refund to our accounting
Me: [8:31:43 PM] That link gives me the following error: "Access Denied You do not have access to this page. Please contact the account owner of this help desk for further help."
Tech Dude: [8:32:40 PM] Could you go to our webpage and then log in? Then please open this link.
Me: [8:33:33 PM] I am logged in. I can access my account from the menu at the top of the page. I am still getting that error.
Tech Dude: [8:35:33 PM] So please click on Support tab and then please click on View Previos Your Tickets (on the right side of webpage)
Me: [8:36:20 PM] Oh, that isn't the same link at all, to get to that ticket. Thanks.
[8:36:37 PM] I'll fill out the paperwork at once. Thank you.
Ok, so, link dude gave me to the ticket: http://support.turbosquid.com/rules/views/1080393?
Actual link to the ticket: http://support.turbosquid.com/requests/131564
These links are not even slightly related, except that they're on the same subdomain. And the link to 'View Your Tickets' is on the left, not the right. It's a bloody good thing I can't tell the difference between the two, half the time, either.
It's 20 minutes later, and there's still no email. Thankfully, the form is attached to the ticket, and it's nothing terribly absurd. I'm still never paying money for a product on TurboSquid again, simply for fact that something actually made it to the point of being sold, and not just given away, SOLD, without any system catching that the listed file type had absolutely nothing to do with the file type of the uploaded product. Holy shit, most random bullshit CMS setups can manage to tell when something's the wrong damn filetype, nevermind an ecommerce platform designed for the sale of digital products.
In the end, it's not even about the dollar. It's the fucking principle that they'd even think 'Oh, we'll contact the artist and tell him to upload the right file, and we'll let you know when he does' is even a slightly appropriate primary response. I mean, yes, someone does need to get on the artist's shit, because that's clearly the wrong file, but 'when he gets around to it' is never the correct timeframe for some shit like that. And, ffs, you offer to have the product PULLED until it's fixed. Or at least to put in a request to have it pulled until it's fixed, if you can't mark that shit, yourself. Because, yes, other people are going to pay money for the wrong product, if it doesn't come down. And then there will be a fucking horde of angry sons o' bitches.
(When there were grotesque pricing problems on our website, when I worked for entertainment provider I can't name, we had a clear path of who to notify to get that shit fixed. And if the customer had been overcharged, we refunded them. And if they hadn't been overcharged yet, and wanted to buy the thing for the right price, we put that through, from our end, where the prices weren't broken. It's not the same situation, but it's close enough to draw parallels between 'done right' and 'done like ass'. And you always. ALWAYS. tell the customer what's being done, not just for them, but to correct the actual problem. And if 'we're just going to let the artist know he should upload the right file' is all that's being done? FUCK THAT.)
Also, I might've lied about the Monday deadline, but that's just because I didn't really want to sit through weeks of being jerked around. I've worked with the assholes who did that shit to customers.
This is the product: Straight Razor
It's clearly listed as a 3ds model ( 3D Studio 2012 (.3ds) 34 KB ), and has NO OTHER FORMATS listed. It's even got a poly count. There's no reason to doubt this file is what it says it is.
So, I buy it. It's only a buck. Fuck it, right? I can rig the fucker in Hex. No big deal.
Except that after I buy it? It's a fucking .jpg. It's the first promo image for the product, stuffed in a zip file, with nothing else.
This is bad, but it's not critical. Tech support, yo. They've either got the right file, or they'll just give me a refund, right?
Tech Dude: [8:17:29 PM] Welcome to TurboSquid's live chat. How may I help you?
Me: [8:17:29 PM] I purchased a model clearly marked as being 3ds format (and no other format). Instead, I received in my downloads section a jpg image that is one of the promotional images of the model.
Tech Dude: [8:17:42 PM] Hello
Me: [8:17:47 PM] Hi there.
Tech Dude: [8:17:57 PM] May I get your login name please?
Me: [8:18:09 PM] My login name is Me.
Tech Dude: [8:18:50 PM] Thanks. Could you tell me are you referring to razor model?
Me: [8:18:59 PM] Yep. That's the one.
Tech Dude: [8:19:27 PM] Thanks. Please let me check it for you.
[8:21:06 PM] OK I see that this model comes as an image. We will contact the artist about this issue. As soon as he uploads the 3ds file we will email you.
Me: [8:21:53 PM] That's... kind of absurd. There's no 3ds file for something being sold as a 3ds file? May I get a refund, instead?
Tech Dude: [8:23:41 PM] Our procedure for handling problems with purchased products is to contact the author, address technical problems with the file, and attempt to resolve any problems in order to make a purchase satisfactory. Could you tell me when is your deadline?
Me: [8:24:45 PM] Monday. Mostly because I thought I would have this file as soon as I purchased it.
Tech Dude: [8:26:06 PM] OK I see. We will refund this but we will require refund agreement.
[8:26:33 PM] Please give me a moment and I will send you refund agreement.
Me: [8:26:39 PM] Thank you.
Tech Dude: [8:27:47 PM] Could you check your email inbox?
Me: [8:28:55 PM] I am checking now.
Tech Dude: [8:29:26 PM] Please print and fill this refund agreement and send it back to us. Then I will forward your refund process to our accounting.
Me: [8:30:31 PM] Print it and mail it? Would I be correct to assume that it will contain an address to mail it to, when I do receive it?
Tech Dude: [8:31:03 PM] Here is direct link to the ticekt. http://support.turbosquid.com/rules/views/1080393?
[8:31:39 PM] As soon as you fill it please attach it to this ticket. Then I will forward this refund to our accounting
Me: [8:31:43 PM] That link gives me the following error: "Access Denied You do not have access to this page. Please contact the account owner of this help desk for further help."
Tech Dude: [8:32:40 PM] Could you go to our webpage and then log in? Then please open this link.
Me: [8:33:33 PM] I am logged in. I can access my account from the menu at the top of the page. I am still getting that error.
Tech Dude: [8:35:33 PM] So please click on Support tab and then please click on View Previos Your Tickets (on the right side of webpage)
Me: [8:36:20 PM] Oh, that isn't the same link at all, to get to that ticket. Thanks.
[8:36:37 PM] I'll fill out the paperwork at once. Thank you.
Ok, so, link dude gave me to the ticket: http://support.turbosquid.com/rules/views/1080393?
Actual link to the ticket: http://support.turbosquid.com/requests/131564
These links are not even slightly related, except that they're on the same subdomain. And the link to 'View Your Tickets' is on the left, not the right. It's a bloody good thing I can't tell the difference between the two, half the time, either.
It's 20 minutes later, and there's still no email. Thankfully, the form is attached to the ticket, and it's nothing terribly absurd. I'm still never paying money for a product on TurboSquid again, simply for fact that something actually made it to the point of being sold, and not just given away, SOLD, without any system catching that the listed file type had absolutely nothing to do with the file type of the uploaded product. Holy shit, most random bullshit CMS setups can manage to tell when something's the wrong damn filetype, nevermind an ecommerce platform designed for the sale of digital products.
In the end, it's not even about the dollar. It's the fucking principle that they'd even think 'Oh, we'll contact the artist and tell him to upload the right file, and we'll let you know when he does' is even a slightly appropriate primary response. I mean, yes, someone does need to get on the artist's shit, because that's clearly the wrong file, but 'when he gets around to it' is never the correct timeframe for some shit like that. And, ffs, you offer to have the product PULLED until it's fixed. Or at least to put in a request to have it pulled until it's fixed, if you can't mark that shit, yourself. Because, yes, other people are going to pay money for the wrong product, if it doesn't come down. And then there will be a fucking horde of angry sons o' bitches.
(When there were grotesque pricing problems on our website, when I worked for entertainment provider I can't name, we had a clear path of who to notify to get that shit fixed. And if the customer had been overcharged, we refunded them. And if they hadn't been overcharged yet, and wanted to buy the thing for the right price, we put that through, from our end, where the prices weren't broken. It's not the same situation, but it's close enough to draw parallels between 'done right' and 'done like ass'. And you always. ALWAYS. tell the customer what's being done, not just for them, but to correct the actual problem. And if 'we're just going to let the artist know he should upload the right file' is all that's being done? FUCK THAT.)
Also, I might've lied about the Monday deadline, but that's just because I didn't really want to sit through weeks of being jerked around. I've worked with the assholes who did that shit to customers.