DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT YOUR ATTORNEY. THE TEXT UNDERNEATH IS NOT A LEGAL ADVICE.
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I may not have answered all the questions. Please do not take my reply personally. My reply is not targeted at any particular individual (certainly not towards dnner). I have not proof read my reply so please ignore my errors. I have not reseached my claims. My reply is from my memory of what I learned in the Law School.
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You say you are an attorney. Well, I'm not. However, I just have to point out:
- You say you are out $50 and you mention suing? What attorney would consider this? First off, even if your hourly rate is only $100/hr you are wasting your time. Second, many jurisdictions will not allow attorney fees to be tacked on in cases like this (e.g. small claims level cases), so don't say your time will be reimbursed.
First of all I am not suing anyone. It is not worth my time. Yes, I will get reimbursed for me time, but this depends on the Judge. So, we cannot be so sure about it. I am new therefore I only charge $200/hour. What makes you think this can be a small claim? Agreed, the product is worth $50, but I can tack in emotional distress, other foreseen financial loss and breach of implied warranty of merchantability. Module developers are manufactures and they cannot, no matter what, disclaim the implied warranty of merchantability. Also, if I ask you a question and you answer affirmative then you add one more warranty known as implied warranty of fitness for particular purpose. And, then there are express warranties on your websites, and misrepresentations claim if your product fails to work as you say. All these breaches and my financial loss (failure to launch my website on time/advertisement expenses/ loss of business…blah blah) along with the distress caused to me can really add up. I can make this amount reach $100,000 or more.
- You think you can make them travel to your city every month. I'm no attorney and even I know you must sue a company in their place of business. In other words, if I buy a module from a developer in CA and I'm in Florida and sue him, he would be sued in CA and I would have to travel, not him.
This is a wrong statement. Your statement will only apply if your business is local and your customers are local. But you sell products on the internet. Your market is the whole world. So if anyone from France wants to sue you because of your crappy module, he has to come to your city? No my friend. He can sue you in his home town court. He can get a default judgment against you. Yes, you don’t have to pay the amount but then you can never go to France. You will be arrested as soon as you set a foot in France. It applies to our states too. I can sue in CA state court, if you live in CA or Federal Court if you live in another state. I can serve my complaint on you anywhere in the USA (some limitations apply) via a service processor/cop/marshal (fed). If you don’t come to the hearing, I can get a default judgment against you. In a default judgment all my relief will be granted since you are not there to object to anything. So I get $100,000 and my attorney fees. If you don’t live in California, and if I want I can come to your state court to force the judgment against you. Or I can just wait for you to come to California. If you come to California I can get you arrested for not paying. You will be released, of course, as soon as you post bail. But then you are stuck and you will end up paying me as the money will just keep on growing because of the penalties/ interest. You say you don’t have all that money. I can have a lien on all your future assets. Also, in the complaint, I will add Snow covered for being your agent, as a co-defendant. I am sure they have money. FYI- Agents are responsible for the manufactures. However, agents can get the reimbursement from the manufacturers. So I will get my money from snow covered right away and then snow covered can deal with you.
- Lastly, the software industry in the US has been afforded special protections from liability, etc. Read any software license you have and it basically says buy at your own risk, this product may not work at all, etc. Hey try this: Go to a major retailer like Circuit City and buy any software they have. Try it out then take it back and tell them it's crap. See if you get a refund...you won't! You expect more from random lone developers than from a $multi-billion company!
This statement is also incorrect. No special protections from liability are afforded to software industry. You can have as many disclaimers as you want to throw innocent people off. Many people do not understand that not all disclaimers are valid or apply. Software Companies never refund you money for their software but if the software is not working you can upload the software online using the same code (I think?). If this is not true, this is absurd. We just need to call the Microsoft guys from the customer help department. I need to research more on this Microsoft thing.
The bottom line: Do what the other posters here said and RESEARCH FIRST. Determine the top developers and only work with them. Otherwise buy modules with source code and have your own programmer support them.
I'm not a developer but please realize this: Many developers value their time at $40-$75/hour so if you buy a $50 module how much support do you really expect to get for free? Be realistic in your expectations and you will be more prepared in this market. Also be grateful that there are people willing to make free software like DNN and there are developers willing to spend time to make cheap modules. Otherwise go buy a corporate CMS for $50,000 and expect to pay another $15,000/year for basic support. Then you MAY be happy with what you get.
I am grateful for all your help and support you guys give here for free. You guys are wonderful. I was talking about modules developers who promise support in their subscription plans. I except your module to work as you promise. If it does not work as you per your warranty then why is it my problem? Why should I be the one to lose money?
So you go to buy a car. The dealer tells you the convertible just works fine. The hood retracts. But the dealer says not test drive, please. You trust the dealer and buy the car. Two days later it starts raining and you want the hood on but it doesn’t work. So who are you going to blame?
Now I will comment on your specific situation:
1. The developer that did not reply even though you bought 1 year of support: First, realize the SLA on your support may allow him days to reply. If more time than that has passed, then you are right. This is not professional and you did not get what you paid for. One tip is buy via Snowcovered where they post average time to reply to help tickets and allow you to post reviews.
2. "Another module developer will not refund my money even when he is aware that I cannot use his module as my website host prohibits use of his module. Therefore, he screwed me for 50 bucks. ": No he didn't. Why is it the developer's fault you didn't research whether your host supports the module 1st? That's your responsibility, not his.
Please refer to the convertible car theory. Also, I do not blame this module developer. I am sorry about that. However, before I posted this I think asked whether I can resell the module at a lesser price if I have not used it. Someone suggested that I should have gotten a refund, which I didn’t, therefore, I was ranting.
3. "In addition, one module developer told me that some of his modules are not supported, which he does not mention anywhere on his website. WTF?": He should mention it but you should also ask prior to purchase. Many major software vendors do not include support for their products, including big ones like Microsoft. Many will charge you by the minute if you call them. Not unusual.
I don’t think I have to ask about each every module. He has 20-25 modules in his subscription plan. He says if you get one year subscription he provides support and updates. So I go to him asking for his help because his two modules (small) do not work on DNN 4.5.5. He says, “Oh! I do not support those two modules.” Yeah, WTF?