PayPal

Hi, I sold a Formac Studio to someone and everything went ok. He sent me $180 via PayPal and I shipped it. It arrived ok. However, he wants his money back because it needs some upgrade that costs money. I was not aware of this and he wants me to send the money back. I said no because I need it for a family matter. After this, he says that his only course of action will to file a claim with PayPal. Do you think I can get in trouble with PayPal? There is no way I can pay this guy back.

Then, he claims it doesnt work with iMovie under panther. I know it does because I recorded off of my PS2. I recorded GTA: SA with it. I'm pretty sure that Panther was out a lonngggg time before that game came out. Also, he says that you HAVE to downgrade to 10.2 in order for it to work with iMovie. This is a lie.

What do you guys think I should do?

First he'll have to file a written complaint with Paypal and Paypal will then ask you for your side of the story the decide.

Oh...what do you think PayPal will decide? They can't really do anything. If it was through ebay, then they could, but sense it was through forums, then this guy cant do anything right?

Jeremy,
please don't call it a lie. I'm the one that had to call Formac and find out from them that it needed an EPROM upgrade. The fact of the matter is that if I plug in the tvr, it powers on, but iMovie doesnt pick up any signal from it. The whole point of buying it was to watch tv on it, not record ps2. If I cant use the tv tuning software, whats the point? When I use the hardware, as intended, with the intended software, it says that EPROM needs to be updated. Sadly thats only done by spending $70 to send it to them.

Sorry about your family situation, but I can't accept something that doesnt work in the way intended. Kinda like someone selling a USB/Firewire dvdrw and telling me to hook it up to the printer port to get it to work. Well thats not the way that it was intended to work. Did it work for you? Great. The fact remains that Formac techs told me flat out that my version of imovie wont work. When I tried it anyways, what happened? It didnt work.

6 out.

Before I bought this from you I asked you specifically if it worked with cable tv and if it recorded correctly. You said yes.

On one hand I have you telling me that.

Then I have you telling me that you're using it on Panther.

Then I've got this big fat message on my screen that says that the EPROM needs to be upgraded.

THEN...I've got Formac telling me that theres NO WAY that you were using this on Panther/ iMovie 4.

Who do you think I'm going to believe? When push comes to shove, I gotta believe that you knew about the problem and sold me the tvr anyways. Thats the more likely scenario. I've stayed away from calling you a liar and a cheat.

But Formac tech support is telling me one thing, and you're insisting they're wrong. Really, who am I supposed to believe?

Why should I be forced to keep something that doesnt work as designed, when you told me that it does?

6 out.

Jason, I honestly never did know about the problem. This is because i bought it off of someone that i know personally and they told me "the software sucks so just use iMovie" I never tried the software because I trusted him. So, this is how I never got this error. If you don't believe me then that's your problem. However, I do think that buying something from forums screams BUYER BEWARE. So, like I said in the email I sent you, I posted a picture of the serial number and model number. You could and should have done your research. This is not my problem. I don't think PayPal can do anything about it. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but what are you going to do? Make me pay money that I don't have? I also stated that there will be no refunds in the last post I made. Why don't you just live up the fact that it DOES work with iMovie?

Also, my dad does have the software that works on his newer Formac Studio and he uses software called Vidi. Search for it on versiontracker.com

You can't blame me for not knowing about some stupid upgrade. I never used the Studio anymore anyways, hence why I sold it. I used the thing about 5 times. Also, even if you do spend the $70 to do the upgrade, it’s still less than $299, in which it is to purchase a new one.

Not to get into the middle of things here, but...

How much did you pay for it Jason? There are people out there who would like a DV bridge (only for video input) if the price is right - like me (except I'm strapped for cash right now), as I would love to convert my old video tapes to digital and whatnot.

If not to me, maybe sell it off on ebay as a dv bridge (saying that cable in does not work, but video in is fine) and recoup money from it.

Just a thought...

Sogni, I paid 180 for it. The point is that its a dv bridge sure, but anyone that buys it will want to have full functionality from it. I dont know if he knew or not, but its shady to sell it without testing it, all the while telling me that it works for what I wanted it to work for, when clearly THAT IS a lie.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to take sides.

I wouldn't mind if it was a DV bridge only without the other functionality, but it is out of my price range.

The thing is though, it all works. The cable in works and everything. The only thing that DOESN'T work, is the software from Formac, which sucks anyways. Jason, try that Vidi software, here's a link: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18234

Jason, you better stop telling these lies. I know it works and so do you. I have the footage to prove it. Try it in iMovie and get a screen shot (command+shift+3) of the error message in iMovie. I really don't believe you. Email me the screen shot.