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Stoker Consignment Important Notice Posted 3/8/07 Notice to all of the Stoker Consignment software customers. Effective immediately (3/6/07) the Stoker Consignment business is closed for both new sales and customer support. Customers that are due a refund will be contacted within a few days notifying them of the amount of refund and steps involved to receive it. The Stoker Group is making every attempt to contact every store that has purchased the software, click here to read the letter that was sent out on March 5th 2007. We of course want to thank our customers for the support they have shown Stoker Consignment over the years and we’re sorry that decisions made for the health of the company have forced us to make this move. Below you will find a list of common questions and answers along with some help towards transitioning to another software application. Why is the Stoker Consignment package closing?Economic reasons, pure and simple. Once the cost of maintaining the software and technical support become greater than the sales volume, it is only a matter of time before the decision must be made to close the doors. Do I have to do anything at all to continue using the Stoker Consignment package?No, you do not need to do anything at all IF you already own the application. Who is eligible for a refund?Customers that have purchased either extended internet access or extended technical support will be eligible for a refund unless the period of time that the extension covered has elapsed. It is the intent of The Stoker Consignment Software Company to be as fair with the refunds as possible. For example, if someone purchased 6 months of internet access but has only used 2 months, we will refund that customer for the remaining 4 months. The same would hold true for someone that purchased 1 year worth of technical support but has only used a portion of that support; those customers will be refunded for the unused months of technical support. Will I get a refund if I paid the $25 one time technical support?No, customers that paid the $25 fee for a one time technical support call will not be eligible for a refund. What happens if I used the payment plan where I paid for 1 year of internet access and got the software for free? Customers that are in the process of paying for 1 year of the internet service and were eligible to receive a free copy of the software will be offered a very good deal. These customers can stop paying wherever they are in the payment cycle and continue to use the software as if it was paid off. If the customer has not yet received a license key from The Stoker Group, they should contact us immediately to receive a key. What happens if I am currently viewing a demo of the software for purchase consideration?The Stoker Consignment Package is no longer for sale and so you will not be able to convert your demonstration package into a purchased copy. When the demo software expires after 30-days, you will not be able to use the software. When will my refund check arrive?IF you are eligible for a refund check, you will receive a phone call from The Stoker Group explaining the steps involved, the amount of the check, and when it will be mailed. We are going to make it very easy, we will send you a letter stating the amount of the refund, its purpose, and then ask that you sign and return that letter to us. Once we have the signed letter, the check will be in the mail within 5 business days. Will the software stop working?No, the software will not stop working as long as you have paid for and received the license key from The Stoker Group. There is nothing inherently built into the software that will cause it to eventually shutdown permanently. Will my Xcharge for credit card processing stop working?No, the processing of credit cards through Xcharge will not stop working, that agreement is really between Xcharge and you, the customer. Will there be any support for the software offered through The Stoker Group or any other entity?No, The Stoker Group is not going to offer any further support for the product and we have not made any plans for anyone else to continue the support. However, The Stoker Group is offering each customer the rights to a source code license for the software indefinitely for a onetime fee of $1000.00. Click here to view the text of the license agreement. What does the licensing fee buy me?If you purchase the onetime source code license for The Stoker Group Consignment Software, you will receive a CD with the current source code of the application. You will be authorized to modify the software for usage within your store. Essentially you could hire your own Access programmer to make modifications to the software and use that modified software in your store location for as long as you wish. What doesn’t the source code license fee cover?You cannot resell the software in any shape or form. This means you cannot give it to another store, you cannot sell it to another store, nor can you start your own consignment software business using any portion of the software. What happens if I sell my store?If you have purchased the source code license fee for The Stoker Consignment Software, you will be allowed to transfer that source code license to a new owner should you sell the store, at no charge to any party. The new owner would be bound to the same licensing rights that you are bound to. Will the source code license software cover 100% of the Stoker Consignment application?Yes, every component of the Stoker Consignment package will be included. Will there be any support offered if we purchase the source code license agreement for The Stoker Consignment Software?No, there will not be any support offered. What this means is that you would need to hire a competent Microsoft Access programmer should you want or need to make any changes to the software. If the hired programmer is suitably skilled in Access programming, they would have a relatively easy time of making changes or correcting defects; however, it is not as easy to find competent programmers as one would like to think. It is for this reason that we only see this as a viable option for stores with the necessary knowledge to pursue such an endeavor. IF you attempt to make modifications to the software using someone who does not have the prerequisite skills (“oh my son is a genius” or “uncle Bob can do anything” or “what the heck, I can learn anything”) it is likely to be disastrous. On the upside, should you find a competent Access programmer you will have the rights to a first class consignment software package that you can use for as long as you are in business. What about a shared Access programmer across multiple stores?This would be a great idea, if a group of stores banned together and found an Access programmer willing to make changes to the software that all the stores shared, that would not be a violation of the source code license agreement. You would be prohibited from selling this software to any other store for any reason, but you could use within your own store indefinitely. Does The Stoker Group have any recommendations for Access programmers?No, we do not have any recommendations and we will not be offering any support. Why is The Stoker Group charging a fee for the source code license rights?If a consignment store closes, they make every attempt to do right by their customers and then they sell off whatever assets they have accumulated. In the case of The Stoker Consignment Software package, these assets are the software itself. The Stoker Group has over 10 man years of work invested into that package and we can hope to make some return on that investment. When will the source code license application be available?This source code license for the software will be available by March 31st; anyone wishing to purchase a copy should contact us immediately at Consign@stoker.com . You will be required to sign and return a license agreement and make full payment prior to The Stoker Group mailing you a CD. We will not be accepting checks or payment plans. Will the web access for my customers stop working?Yes, if you are using the web access to allow your customers to view their accounts online, that service will be shutting down on March 15th. You should notify your customers now that the service will disappear at that time. Will there be an option just to keep the web access up and running?No, there will not be any option for this service to continue because The Stoker Group will not have any resources assigned to make sure that this service continues. Without some level of support from The Stoker Group, this service cannot continue. Please see the discussion on refunds for additional information. Will there be an option to buy the license rights to this service.No. The application that handles the internet service was written in Visual Studios and would require extensive knowledge of that programming platform in order for anyone to install it on their own server. If you feel that you have the right skill set to take this application and modify it to run on your own server, then The Stoker Group will email it to you at no charge but it will come with no guarantee, warranty or support. Will my OFF SITE backups stop working?Yes, if you are using the feature of the software that allows you to store backups of your database on The Stoker Groups server, that feature will stop working on March 15th. To avoid the program from attempting to do an offsite backup, you should go into the Company form, then the Backup tab, then remove the check mark from the field “Enable offsite” and then click the Update button. Will my local backups stop working?No, if you are using the automatic features of the software to perform backups to CD’s, jump drives or any other local resource, that feature will NOT stop working. Will the email stop working?No, the email feature will not stop working. What about the new Vista windows operating system?The Stoker Consignment Software has not specifically been tested under the new Vista operating system offered by Microsoft. There are not any specific reasons that using Vista should pose a problem, but we cannot say for certainty that there will not be any issues. Will there be any updates to the software available now or anytime in the future?No, the Stoker web site will be shut down and no updates will be available. What is my risk right now?There is probably no risk to you right now as long as The Stoker Consignment software is installed and running satisfactorily at your store. The software will continue to run exactly as it has been for an indefinite period of time. However, should there be an unexpected problem with the software and it stops working correctly, there will be no one to turn to for support. It is for these reasons that The Stoker Group recommends that you make plans to install a different software package in your store as soon as possible. Does The Stoker Group recommend any other software package?No, we do not have an agreement with any other software vendor to help you transition from The Stoker Consignment package to any other software application and so we cannot really make any recommendation. Will it be difficult to switch to another software vendor?I don’t know of anyone that wants to switch to another software vendor if they are happy with their current one. It isn’t necessarily difficult, but it certainly can be stressful. We have noticed over the years that the customers willing to put in the time up front to learn the application have a much easier go of things than those that don’t. Installing a consignment package to run your store is not the same as buying some auxiliary software like say Photo Shop. If you can’t use the consignment software thoroughly right from day one, the impact on the store can be severe. The new vendor may want to pull out some data from The Stoker Consignment database into their own database, but you often times must pay for that service. The database that you have on your machine (ConsignData.mde) is easily opened and read by someone skilled in these tasks, this means that the right person can pull out some of the data such as “Consignors” and “Consigned Tags” fairly easily, pulling out other information may not be so easy. Will The Stoker Group offer any support to other software vendors in converting the Stoker Database to their format?No, we will not be keeping any staff that would be available for such support. |
The Stoker Group, Inc.
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