Quote - > Quote - I'd say a couple of things:

1.  Oh, you noticed we were missing?  Way too little, way too late.

2.  You might want to wave the white flag without coming in here and labeling people "well meaning" liars.

 

I wouldn't say you are "missing" we still enjoy a very good level of business and it can't be all from people who only use DS.

I didn't call anyone a liar. But honestly thinking you know an answer does not actually mean you know the factual answer. There are a few DAZ friendly faces here that try their best to help out.  But they do not have all the inside knowledge and answers that a true employee like myself will have. That's all I meant.

 

So the head of DAZ marketing came here to be a "good-natured source of information"  If it wasn't affecting DAZ's bottom line, you wouldn't be here and we both know it.

From my viewpoint, Genesis is causing everyone to re-look their relationship with DAZ.  I know I have.  And my buying habits have adjusted accordingly.  And I am sure Rosity & RNDA have sent DAZ thank-you notes.

My reevaluation includes the company's attitude toward me, the customer.  Your company is from my perspective, very contemptuous of it's customers.  You can be that way if you are Apple.  DAZ isn't Apple.  You have no reality distortion field.

I am buying less & less at DAZ & I want you to understand why, and possibly take it to a staff meeting.  Probably not, because god knows, DAZ doesn't make mistakes.

It isn't Genesis.  For me, that was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

When I talk about being contemptuous of your customers, let me show you a pattern of conduct......

1a.  "We are working on the installers..."  Please.  Just stop.  DAZ has been telling customers that since at least 2005 that I am PERSONALLY aware of.  We both know that the company has no intention of changing the installer philosophy or fixing the old installers, so just stop already.  That is pretty contemptuous.

1b.  When someone from customer support tells me to buy a PC when I gripe about OS9 installers doesn't build any good will.  Just sayin'.....

If you use installers, why, oh why, can't you use one that FOLLOWS THE OS USER GUIDELINES that Apple & MicroSoft set.

2a.  DS4 - Why do you ask for feedback if you don't use any of it. Your beta folks told you they hated the new UI.  Did you make any changes? Nope. 

That is pretty contempuous.

2b.  Documentation.  How is that Carrera 8 manual coming? Or the Bryce manual, Or the Hexagon manual.  Do you see a pattern here?  My reason for ignoring DS4 isn't the crappy UI, that is an added bonus; it is the fact that my time is valuable, and I don't have time to waste figuring things out through trial and error. 

No documentation = contempt.

2c.  Software as perpetual beta.  Go buy a copy of "The Mythical Man Month"  Make your software manager read it.  Adjust software development accordingly.  Avoid "cool".  Cool is bad.  Your programmers aren't that good.  Really, they aren't.  Reliablity is good.  DAZ should try it sometime. 

Releasing a half-finished product = contempt.

As a side-note, nothing screams amature quite like releasing software without documentation.  Kinda difficult to incorporate it into work-flows without it.

Moving on to content.....

3a.  Making us wait 18 months or so for M4 after the release of V4.  Contempt.

3b.  After releasing M4 - No clothing content, but one of the first items was a tutu.  Really?  A tutu.  That wasn't funny.  That was giving the users the finger.  Someone should have been fired over that.

4.  Ask some old-timers about the swine-flu sales pitch.  Another idea that should have gotten someone fired.  Again, contempt.

Now for a quick dash over to the forums.....

5a.  Some of the biggest S&*$ stirrers on the DAZ forums have userids start with DAZ.  Sorry, but it had to be said.  They will start a thread and do a hit & run.

A suggestion.  Don't let anyone with a DAZ id respond to a heated thread without running it through a supervisor first.  A little sanity check wouldn't hurt.

5b.  Grow a thicker skin.  DAZ is supposed to be a business.  Whining about "negativity" makes DAZ sound like an emo teeanager that has been told to take out the trash.  Brick-bats come with the territory, & if DAZ can't handle it, perhaps the forums aren't a place for anyone with a DAZ at the beginning of their userid.  Notice that the only SM person that haunts forums is your counterpart - Mr. Cooper.  Everyone else stays far, far away.  Probably because they are busy making sure that their product is interoperatable with other 3d products & has documentation.  Just sayin'......

5c.  Fanbois - Threat or menance?

Then there are your fanbois.  I would highly recommend that you get your PAs some customer service training.  As a minimum, "How to win friends & influcence enemies".  You have PAs whose attitudes on the forums cost you sales.  If they sell on DAZ, they reflect you.  Whether you like it or not.  So talk to them already.

Now lets look at the website.  AAGGGHH!!! MY EYES!!!!!

6a.    If your customers tell you it causes migraines, YOU MIGHT WANT TO LOOK INTO IT. Telling paying customers "too bad" doesn't get them to come by more often.  Again, what was that word again?  Oh yeah, contempt.

6b.  Artzone.  Enuff said.....

And now a cautionary tale....

Once apon a time there was an gaming company called GDW.  In addition to many fine wargames, they made a Role Playing Game called TRAVELLER.  It was very, very successful. 

In the fullness of time, the people that worked at GDW moved away from the Traveller game system to a different gaming system that was based off another RPG they sold, Twilight 2000.  They decided that it would be easier for GDW to convert the Twilight 2000 rules set to Traveller.  That way, they would only have to maintain one set of rules.  The ungrateful customers would have none of it however.  They felt that if they wanted to play Twilight 2000, they would.  Well, GDW ignored their customers and released Traveller: The New Era.  They "vaulted" the old product & henceforth there would only be TNE.  Shortly thereafter GDW went out of business because, quite frankly TNE was a piece of crap (I was there - It is always bad when the product was referred to as the "New Error" - It is still called that by the way.)

20 years on people still play Classic Traveller, MegaTraveller, and a host of other game systems.  The TNE version.  Still dead.

Just sayin'.....