Pinnacle Cart, Inc.

We are very sorry to hear this:The customer is entitled to a day money back guarantee they just need to follow the cancellation process from their account area This is posted in our terms and conditions (see Cancellation - ***/) To date the customer
has not issued a cancellation.With regards to the pricing it clearly states on our page the monthly cost for the platform and the starting costs for SSLs are stated on our pricing page As there are many options the price is presented and calculated before purchase based on the choice for SSLs the merchant needs SSLs are not an optional item any longer in the eCommerce space and for us to help keep the merchant PCI compliant we like the rest of the industry have had to enforce(PCI compliance is a requirement of any merchant services - their payment provider) A customer cannot checkout in our system without first choosing an SSL option and seeing what the monthly price will be Secondly they must agree to the terms and conditions before proceeding so I can assure they were not presented one price and then charged another the order is built as they interact with itThey must choose to proceed and accept the terms for the monthly charge presented.I hope this clarifies the situation I did see in several email chains were the SSLs were explained to the customer as for options in pricing and even bringing his own SSL. -***

The email and support options are for the current version of the licensed software purchased for one year This means that the licensed customer not hosted on our servers can gain access to our support department for tickets and phone to resolve issues or questions It does include new
upgrades to existing release they are on For illustration the current version this customer is on on is The access to upgrades includes maintenance releases too So would be an upgrade with new features or enhancements and 3.7.1.Rwould be a maintenance release The customer has as a version for their cart and has access to We released a new version of the cart last year in limited release and it has just within the last few weeks become available to licensed customers This was to insure compatibility in different environments and make a smoother transition for a path to get to from to This means the the customer can a.) continue to receive support for version which is $per year and/or b.) pay a one time fee to purchase the new version of the platform at a lower price than a new license Since the customer has a support plan if they upgrade the version to they will still have a support agreement for the year from date of purchase for access to upgrades and support on the new platform This is no different than any other software vendor you still have to pay for new versions e.gwindows or apple regardless of a support contract

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
There wasn't a proposal to rectify or resolve the issue for me, nor future clients.  Also, the merchant is misrepresenting how the SSL fee is presented to the customer on their site.  The fine print of Pinnacle Cart's requirement to collect extra funds for an SSL is presented as an additional and optional fee at the time a customer signs up for a trial.  Competing carts require SSL if storing customer data or collecting payment only.  However, when a customer uses a third party like [redacted], for example, for payment processing, SSL and PCI compliance is handled by [redacted].  The fact that Pinnacle will charge a customer $100 to cut and paste the SSL code shows that unnecessarily requiring SSL is done purely for profit. 
Regards,
[redacted]

We are presenting pricing fairly and accurately as shown on our site. We wish our previous explanation would have sufficed as we aren’t doing anything nefarious. Here are the key points and the page we are referring to - [redacted]/1.      We clearly list SSL’s at a cost on this page. Every package says “SSLs starting from $14.95/mo.2.      You knowingly ordered from us and agreed to standard terms and conditions. This point alone doesn’t make sense to us because if you had such an issue why order in the first place?3.      We are doing nothing that any good company doesn’t do. We clearly outline costs and use language like “starting from” to be clear about possible costs. I could watch 10 commercials tonight and see the same pricing structure ½ the time4.      We have never, and I mean never, had a complaint about our site pricing or marketing in the 10 years we have been in business and the 8 years we have been with the Revdex.com.We would love to have you back as a customer and we would be willing to compensate you in some way if you committed to using our platform. If you’re open to such a dialogue we would love to earn your business & trust back again.If you’re not willing to move forward with us, we would like to offer you advice as it relates to using an SSL. Your point about customer information not being relevant to PCI compliance is completely inaccurate.Here is an article from the industry authority about protecting Personally identifiable information (PII) as part of your PCI Compliances. It is worth noting that this is the website that we are also listed on as being PA DSS compliant. [redacted]/Almost as important as being PCI Compliant is getting your website into a position that [redacted] considers user friendly. That means your ENTIRE site should be in SSL mode as you can see Pinnacle Cart is at [redacted]. All sites should be in secure mode at ALL times, not just during checkout. [redacted]We are in the business to provide secure, quality software for small businesses. We are also in business to make a profit. It is our responsibility to provide all of our merchants with the most secure system possible. We are in agreement with the heavyweights in the industry like [redacted] and [redacted] to fully protect its customers by always being in a secure mode and. If our competitors choose not to do this, that certainly is their prerogative, but we feel we are leading by requiring the SSL for all stores in our network and we state that very clearly on all packages offered.We hope to hear from you to bring you back into a platform that considers security first.

[redacted]The price for the upgrade is stated in the order system to avoid any confusion.  I would ask if you felt there was a discrepancy to not purchase until clarified we would have been happy to communicate with you and clear it up.  As it is the product and price are always presented before purchase so that you can see the price agree to terms before purchase.  I have inquired with sales and support they are all aware it is $599  New versions simply are not free, this 3.8 release had a year of planning and work and just like any operating system from Apple or Microsoft new versions are not given away.  If we are to develop and continue to advance the product it takes investment of time and dollars that is recouped by selling the software which is our business model. I see your purchased the upgrade on 3/5 and you were instantly granted access to use the new version release.  Prior to that you have had and will continue to get patches and maintenance releases for 3.7.  With your recent purchase the same will now be true for 3.8 with its new features and patches for years to come.Thanks for your understanding and continued support.[redacted]

[redacted]Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.The was the business articulates the issue is not true, nor was this specified in any way upfront at time of purchase. I purchased a maintenance agreement that clearly included new releases. I have attached a screen shot from inside my account where it clearly states new release, and lists the dates of my contact. If you review the line above the highlighted item ($599) they are again referring to everything as new releases. At no time were anything but new releases discussed with me, and it was included in the contract.Additionally this new release item was discussed at $499 via customer support but shows as $599 at point of purchase.Regards,[redacted]

[redacted]I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.The was the business articulates the issue is not true, nor was this specified in any way upfront at time of purchase. I purchased a maintenance agreement that clearly included new releases. I have attached a screen shot from inside my account where it clearly states new release, and lists the dates of my contact. If you review the line above the highlighted item ($599) they are again referring to everything as new releases. At no time were anything but new releases discussed with me, and it was included in the contract.Additionally this new release item was discussed at $499 via customer support but shows as $599 at point of purchase.Regards,[redacted]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I hired Pinnacle to improve [redacted]'s SEO rankings. The list that they sent of the work that they did is simply that, a list of work completed. It did not raise our rankings in the least bit. There was never a report provided, although I requested one several times, detailing improvement.

Contrary to what was stated, [redacted] was never dissatisfied with the amount of time the project was taking. What was alarming was that as the project was nearing completion, there was no indication of a system to determine the efficacy of the work that had been done thus far.

When I requested reports concerning our rankings, it was then, and only then, that [redacted] began stating that the work that they were doing was a 'foundation'. This was never stated prior to this point, and definitely not stated when I was 'sold' on the program.

In addition, the choice to work within the one time framework as opposed to the monthly was not presented at the time of the initial proposal as a 'foundation' for the monthly work. This is a total mispresentation, and to be honest, appears to be somewhat of a lie to get out of completing the work that I hired them to do, which was to improve SEO rankings

The person that I had the initial sales call with ([redacted]) offered [redacted] two options. One was monthly, and one was a one-time project. At NO point did this salesperson state that the 5,000.00 project was 'foundation' for the monthly work. He said quite the opposite.

Only after [redacted] realized that there had been absolutely no improvement in our rankings did he state that [redacted] would need to pay for a monthly program to improve our rankings after we had already paid 5,000.00 for Pinnacle to do the very same thing.

So, the facts are misrepresented by [redacted], and by the SEO team.

The contract was signed and paid for to show improvement in SEO rankings. [redacted] is currently hovering between page 3-6 for the three most relevent search terms, which is exactly where it is stated in the business summary as having been when we began. So, there has been absolutely no improvement.

I will ask again for a resolution. [redacted] is willing to accept a partial refund. We will use that to hire a company that provides guaranteed results, and provides monthly reporting to show improvement in rankings.

Regards,

Dear Revdex.com,
This customer's transaction was voided on 2/26/16 and he was notified it was voided, please see attached-the same day he requested it be refunded.  Pinnacle Cart offers a 14 day free trial for which no credit card information is collected.  This customer wanted his trial...

extended and this request was not granted-however, the Sales Rep discounted his first month's hosting and SSL from $44.90 to $.01 and he was told he would need to cancel this service 24 hours prior to the next billing date.  The transaction took place through Pinnacle Cart's website, where this customer agreed to the terms and conditions-he knew he was purchasing this service.  This matter was resolved to exactly what the customer requested within 24 hours of receiving his request.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

There wasn't a proposal to rectify or resolve the issue for me, nor future clients.  Also, the merchant is misrepresenting how the SSL fee is presented to the customer on their site.  The fine print of Pinnacle Cart's requirement to collect extra funds for an SSL is presented as an additional and optional fee at the time a customer signs up for a trial.  Competing carts require SSL if storing customer data or collecting payment only.  However, when a customer uses a third party like [redacted], for example, for payment processing, SSL and PCI compliance is handled by [redacted].  The fact that Pinnacle will charge a customer $100 to cut and paste the SSL code shows that unnecessarily requiring SSL is done purely for profit. 

Regards,[redacted]

The document provided in the initial response and attached here (SEO Discovery) was the quote for service and it clearly had two types of services.  The first was foundation and would correct the errors stated which numbered in the 1,000s.  The second was for ongoing SEO work at a monthly rate for targeted results.  It can't be stated any clearer there was no obfuscation of the work to be done and what work the customer choose for us to do.  As far as the foundation work punch list all the errors identified and more were all completed per our proposal.  Foundation work does not provide reporting as that is part of a monthly service.  Foundation work is meant to correct errors that would impeded progress from the search engine standpoints and build a framework to leverage for monthly campaign work.

With the work completed to correct the errors and in some cases re completed because of the client changes we have over delivered on the work spelled out in the foundation.  At this point we cannot see how asking for a refund for services contracted for an delivered are an option.

This is [redacted] and I personally communicated with [redacted] last week and will show you with the factual information below that she just isn't telling the truth. [redacted]'s original comments to the Revdex.com is at the bottom of this response. 

She states we are "no[redacted]ous" for charging her...

random things. In addition to her monthly billing of which she is still and active account and hasn't even canceled service, her account has had one charge for the SSL on 5/16/13 in the amount of $149.  Here is the facts related to the SSL change and charges on all of our hosted customer accounts. 

We sent out 2 email notifications to the only email address [redacted] uses. 

4/18/2013 at 2:36pm to the email address - [redacted] - [redacted]'s email address

4/24/2013 at 9:34am to the email address - [redacted] - [redacted]'s email address

Here is the content of the email on 4/18/2013

April 18, 2013

NOTIFICATION: Transition to Dedicated SSL Certificates

Before we jump into the technical aspects of this notification, we want to thank you for your business. Some of you have been with us since the beginning - over 8 years! We’re proud to say we still have Customer 1 with us, after 9 years. Our focus has always been on what’s best for our customers and for this reason we are instituting the change outlined below. We value and appreciate every single one of our customers and look forward to assisting you in your online business. We have provided a link at the end of this email.Your website hosted on our servers is currently using our shared SSL certificate to secure your website. Based upon changing industry standards, we are discontinuing our shared SSL certificate. 

This change will require us to transition all customers to dedicated SSL certificates beginning Monday, April 19th. In order to convert our remaining customers currently using the shared SSL certificate, we will be offering significant discounts when you make your purchase prior to Friday, April 26, 2013.Our security certificate partner, Symantec, has provided this information to help in understanding this change:“Starting January 1, 2014, the industry is discontinuing the use of 1024-bit key length on SSL certificates and Code Signing products. This is in compliance with NIST Special Publication 800-131A.As of January 2012, 2048-bit keys will be enforced on all new multi-year Code Signing products and SSL certificates. All Code Signing products and SSL certificates will be required to have 2048-bit key lengths after December 31st, 2013. Please plan the adoption of 2048-bit key lengths in your Code Signing products and SSL certificates accordingly.”In addition to increasing your security, a dedicated SSL certificate provides you with these additional benefits:Maintain your own domain name across all pages – Savvy online shoppers notice when they leave your website to check-out on a sub-domain ie. [redacted]. Ultimately this causes a drop in conversions as customers abandon their order because they are expecting to buy from your website not Pinnacle Cart as reflected in the URL [redacted].

Higher level of security – All of the SSL certificates we now offer carry 2048-bit key length security to keep your site and customers at the forefront of website security. 

Choice - Choose the SSL certificate brand right for your store. Due to the change, we reviewed all of Symantec’s current offerings and will be passing along three new options for you to consider.As a valued customer and to assist us in converting websites to dedicated SSL certificates, we will be sending you a separate email with your exclusive discount and a listing of our new SSL offerings.It is important to note, that your site will ALWAYS REMAIN SECURE. If you have not completed the purchase of your dedicated SSL certificate by Friday, April 26th, 2013, we will convert your shared SSL certificate to our entry level, 1 year dedicated SSL certificate and process the transaction on your behalf.

If you’re ready to get started now and would rather not wait for our next email that outlines our new SSL certificates, you can call our sales team today and they will be happy to assist you.[redacted], option 1 for Sales Team 

As always, we value and appreciate your business. 

Pinnacle Cart, Inc.

Last May, [redacted] had several emails with [redacted] in our office. Though we understand her concern on cost, the email string with [redacted] that went back and forth was all about the SSL so any comment about charging for random things is absurd. 

Until the end of last week, we have no record of speaking with her and this was [redacted] Umpelby's email from 5/28/13

Additional To: [redacted]

CC: 

BCC: 

Attachment: image001.jpg

Subject: SSL CHARGE

Body:

[redacted],

I attempted to call you back regarding the ssl charge to your account. No voicemail box picked up so I thought I would try and contact you via email. The sales team attempted to notify you through email and phone regarding the change to the rapid ssl with a charge of $149.00. If I refund or credit the charge the ssl will be uninstalled and your site would no longer be secure. Any customers that want to purchase something from your site will be aware that it is not a secure checkout. Please advise if you would like me to proceed.

*Pinnacle Accounting*

*Monday-Friday 8am-5pm Mtn. *

We feel strongly the facts support our position. 

That brings us to last week. An authorization in the amount of $10 was made to [redacted]'s account for over use of disk space in the month of March. Here is the copy from our terms and conditions, that all customers agree to at the time of purchase, that outline the charges. 

ADDITIONAL FEES

Based upon the Pinnacle Cart Software Service package, additional costs will be charged as follows:

Bandwidth – $3.50/gigabyte over Startup, Small Biz and Entrepreneur packages.

Disk Space – $10/up to 100 megabyte over Startup, Small Biz and Entrepreneur packages.

Here is a link to our terms and conditions - [redacted]

She posted similar comments on our Facebook page and she was immediately addressed and I got involved within about 30 minutes of the original post. 

After researching the entire complaint, I found everything that was written here. I did everything I could to try to save her as a customer including offering professional business advice on her account at no charge. In the end she said she was going to move to a new provider and I still offered to credit her the $10 and did so. I also offered a $50 savings on the renewal of her annual SSL. In the end it may have saved the account as she still is an active customer of ours. Here is a summary of the last few emails between [redacted] and myself. Read from the bottom up. 

I'm thinking, that, I really need to change services. The ssl had long put a foul taste, now the overcharge, I have very little desire to stay. I am looking at one established company, who does eat the ssl and charges 19.99 and are willing to knock 50 off for new business now. and yes their service has not gone down as another person I know has been with them for a year. Your company's customer service with me has always been the stance of 'tough, take it or leave' it has been rude and always leaving me on the defense. I am an end user if this is abuse I must receive to stay, I won't.

 

On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 4:43 PM, [redacted] <[redacted]>

wrote:

Let me remove the charge for $10. In addition, I will get your package moved up to the next level at no charge. This stops the overage charges because you are barely over right now and the new package will put you within the limits of your site. On the SSL, there isn’t a lot I can do but I can offer you a $50 savings for this year (your renewal is next month).

 

If you agree I would still like to set up a call with you when you have time.

 

I’m curious about your business and feel I can bring you a few ideas to assist you in growing.

 

Thanks

 

From: [redacted] [mailto:[redacted]]

Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 2:38 PM

To: [redacted]

Subject: Re: Pinnacle Cart

 

if you mean email yes. I am about to go to sleep as my schedule puts me on the way to early side for a work day

 

On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 3:50 PM, [redacted] <[redacted]> wrote:

[redacted],

 

I received a note from our Marketing Manager about your concerns with charges  you are incurring.

 

You have been a customer of Pinnacle Cart for a long time and I will do anything within my powers to keep you as a customer.

 

Do you have time to talk ?

 

Thanks

 

 

President & CEO

| p: [redacted]

| c: [redacted]

I'm hoping [redacted] had a change of mind as I really think I could assist her business in growing.

We are very sorry to hear this:The customer is entitled to a 14 day money back guarantee they just need to follow the cancellation process from their account area.  This is posted in our terms and conditions (see Cancellation - [redacted]/).  To date the...

customer has not issued a cancellation.With regards to the pricing it clearly states on our page the monthly cost for the platform and the starting costs for SSLs are stated on our pricing page.  As there are many options the price is presented and calculated before purchase based on the choice for SSLs the merchant needs.  SSLs are not an optional item any longer in the eCommerce space and for us to help keep the merchant PCI compliant we like the rest of the industry have had to enforce. (PCI compliance is a requirement of any merchant services - their payment provider).  A customer cannot checkout in our system without first choosing an SSL option and seeing what the monthly price will be.  Secondly they must agree to the terms and conditions before proceeding so I can assure they were not presented one price and then charged another the order is built as they interact with it. They must choose to proceed and accept the terms for the monthly charge presented.I hope this clarifies the situation.  I did see in several email chains were the SSLs were explained to the customer as for options in pricing and even bringing his own SSL. -[redacted]

We are presenting pricing fairly and accurately as shown on our site. We wish our previous explanation would have sufficed as we aren’t doing anything nefarious. Here are the key points and the page we are referring to - [redacted]/1.      We clearly list SSL’s at a cost on this page. Every package says “SSLs starting from $14.95/mo.2.      You knowingly ordered from us and agreed to standard terms and conditions. This point alone doesn’t make sense to us because if you had such an issue why order in the first place?3.      We are doing nothing that any good company doesn’t do. We clearly outline costs and use language like “starting from” to be clear about possible costs. I could watch 10 commercials tonight and see the same pricing structure ½ the time4.      We have never, and I mean never, had a complaint about our site pricing or marketing in the 10 years we have been in business and the 8 years we have been with the Revdex.com.We would love to have you back as a customer and we would be willing to compensate you in some way if you committed to using our platform. If you’re open to such a dialogue we would love to earn your business & trust back again.If you’re not willing to move forward with us, we would like to offer you advice as it relates to using an SSL. Your point about customer information not being relevant to PCI compliance is completely inaccurate.Here is an article from the industry authority about protecting Personally identifiable information (PII) as part of your PCI Compliances. It is worth noting that this is the website that we are also listed on as being PA DSS compliant. [redacted]/Almost as important as being PCI Compliant is getting your website into a position that [redacted] considers user friendly. That means your ENTIRE site should be in SSL mode as you can see Pinnacle Cart is at [redacted]. All sites should be in secure mode at ALL times, not just during checkout. [redacted]We are in the business to provide secure, quality software for small businesses. We are also in business to make a profit. It is our responsibility to provide all of our merchants with the most secure system possible. We are in agreement with the heavyweights in the industry like [redacted] and [redacted] to fully protect its customers by always being in a secure mode and. If our competitors choose not to do this, that certainly is their prerogative, but we feel we are leading by requiring the SSL for all stores in our network and we state that very clearly on all packages offered.We hope to hear from you to bring you back into a platform that considers security first.

I am waiting for the response from the bank about void transaction status.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 11157584, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

Kamilah B.[redacted]

[redacted]The price for the upgrade is stated in the order system to avoid any confusion.  I would ask if you felt there was a discrepancy to not purchase until clarified we would have been happy to communicate with you and clear it up.  As it is the product and price are always presented before purchase so that you can see the price agree to terms before purchase.  I have inquired with sales and support they are all aware it is $599  New versions simply are not free, this 3.8 release had a year of planning and work and just like any operating system from Apple or Microsoft new versions are not given away.  If we are to develop and continue to advance the product it takes investment of time and dollars that is recouped by selling the software which is our business model. I see your purchased the upgrade on 3/5 and you were instantly granted access to use the new version release.  Prior to that you have had and will continue to get patches and maintenance releases for 3.7.  With your recent purchase the same will now be true for 3.8 with its new features and patches for years to come.Thanks for your understanding and continued support.[redacted]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

The support tickets that Mr. [redacted] is referencing should never have been closed. To simply state that "Pinnacle Cart cannot duplicate the errors" that many of our customers experienced does not resolve the issue. An e-commerce cart should successfully allow customers to order with ease, and allow the company to fulfill that order based on the generated invoice. This is something Pinnacle Cart's software DID NOT DO. Also, Mr. [redacted] did not reach out to the company. I had to request to speak with the CEO on multiple occasions before finally having the opportunity to communicate my frustration to Mr. [redacted]. Mr. [redacted] simply stated that they needed [redacted]e to fix the issue. This response came months after Pinnacle Cart's support staff was first alerted of the issue. There were multiple no call backs, and no texts back. No problems were solved. Again, simply not solving the problem and only offering that "the error cannot be duplicated" is a lack of ownership for a failing cart. Our customers were repeatedly having issues, so it was not a one [redacted]e instance that could not be duplicated. We were simply passed on the to the "next level" of support, yet tickets were closed and the problem still remained.

Mr. [redacted] should communicate with his support staff. The "added features" that were supposedly added did not fixed the issue. We were advised to add features and were in a bind. We were willing to try anything to make our cart work properly. The support staff was also suggesting to leave items that we no longer offered for sale on the back end to avoid problems with completing orders. As advised, we left items open on the back side of the cart but switched them to inactive. We were charged overage charges for taking the advice of the support staff.

I was present for the conversation between [redacted] and [redacted] regarding the error of the cart not charging shipping on some orders. To state that [redacted] berated Pinnacle Cart's support staff is simply wrong. It is just another instance of Pinnacle Cart placing blame, yet again. [redacted] first accused FedEx and then went on to accuse [redacted] of not setting up the shipping rates correctly. The end result was that Pinnacle Cart was sending code containing the wrong state abbreviation, even though my staff had properly entered it into the back side of the cart. I was out the cost of paying my employees to try to solve the issue as well as the $200 freight cost. This was a CODING error on Pinnacle's end, and was completely out of our hands to fix. [redacted] never received an apology for this instance as well. [redacted] has been highly praised by our customers and is highly professional.

At no [redacted]e did [redacted] deny turning on dev mode. She wanted the issue resolved any way possible. Pinnacle Cart wanted access to our PayPal account, as Pinnacle blamed PayPal for the issue. Her hesitance was with allowing another company access to secure financial information. She did not feel that she had the authority to grant access. After discussing with our Accounting Department, we granted them access. The result was "Pinnacle Cart cannot duplicate the error".

At this point, I just want to alert all other businesses that Pinnacle Cart is a pure scam. The issue was never about the money. We would not ask to be reimbursed if the cart had in fact worked properly. Our main challenge is that Pinnacle Cart did not offer a cart that accurately recorded and accepted orders online. We stayed with the company because we did not have the [redacted]e to invest in a new cart provider. To simply not fix a reoccurring error is unacceptable. We supplied all the necessary information such as: order numbers, confirmation numbers, emails to our customers, and even our Paypal account information to try and help. Pinnacle Cart chose to close the tickets with no resolution. I have attached two documents proving that we had to reach out to our customers when these errors occurred.

We have since switched to another cart provider and have not had a single issue. Orders come through smoothly and even tripled in amount. Mr. [redacted] is welcome to compare our new cart to our "cart" with Pinnacle Cart. When Mr. [redacted] states that he has never had an issue like ours, I would disagree. Pinnacle Cart's Facebook page is covered with negative reviews as well as other online forums. The bottom line is -- Pinnacle Cart did not offer a functional e-commerce cart and did not provide the proper customer service/support to fix the errors.

Regards,

[redacted] Scheer

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

I reject partial, I did speak with [redacted] and he did refund the $10.00 however, I have done nothing absolutely new from last month to this month to incur the charge. And wow, business owner calling one a liar, is pretty brazen. Revdex.com please look at the reviews for Pinnacle on the Pinnacle cart Facebook page and you will see for yourself as others have had issues for their horrible service, sorry Pinnacle you aren't telling the truth on this. I have a webcart and finishing up details on the move with that provider. Quite eager to get me off your cart system that its more important to give the customer the poor service then try and keep them. Customer service has been rude and I won't accept anyless. I will guarentee That I will be off before your next cycle. Do not charge after this last cycle. Check for yourself, their Facebook page, you will see I am not the only unsatisfied customer

Regards,

We are in an unfortunate and regrettable situation with [redacted] Store and apologize for the inconvenience they experienced. 

Over the last 10 years we have serviced over 40,000 accounts and tens of thousands of trial customers and have always put our best foot forward with...

the software and our support of the software. 

To paint the entire picture of our relationship with [redacted], we can provide statistics and data to more clearly see what really happened. [redacted] became a customer of Pinnacle Cart in August of 2012. They have been a client with us for 18 months. 

In 18 months, 21 support tickets were submitted, 21 support tickets have been closed. Over the same period we have fielded 29 phone calls. All calls were answered live or their voice mail was returned. Bottom line is this was a very active account for our company. It is important to note the contact with our company was almost exclusively with [redacted], not [redacted], the person who submitted the complaint. We feel the reason for noting this communication of events can be somewhat skewed when done through a third person and we feel that is a factor in this case. 

Our service is offered as a "pay as you go" model. When [redacted] purchased the store in 2012, the chose a plan that was $29.95/month. 

Over 18 months, their investment in our monthly service is only $539.10. The majority of their investment was with web design that they ordered seven months ago. The cost totaled $1500. The design work was completed to their satisfaction. In fact, we did additional design work for them in January for almost $200. So just on the surface, it is really hard to see how much they disliked the software and our company when they continually ordered more services.

But let's address their key concerns. 

Whenever issues arise, and they simply do and will as a software provider, we rate the severity of the issue and handle it according to a level 1, 2 or 3 response. Level 3 response will always include issues related to checkout. [redacted]s issue was related to checkout and it was escalated to the desk of the CEO, Mr. [redacted]. In February, Mr. [redacted] personally reached out to their owner and began to have dialogue in an effort to understand, detail and fix any issues. He provided their owner with his cell phone number and had many text messages with him to keep him apprised of progress. During this [redacted]e, we dealt with [redacted] who is very challenging to deal with and quite unprofessional. She would scream, berate and swear at our support staff who were only trying to help. In the end, we certainly tried to do our best but she became part of the problem. In fact, one of the early ideas we had to better understand the issue was to turn on another piece of software that would track and monitor all activity on their store. She refused to allow us to do this and until Mr. [redacted] stepped in an demanded it we would have never figured out the issue. Her position delayed the fix by a few weeks. 

It is also important to understand how we fix issues. First the process begins by identifying the issue. In this case, they were able to show a few orders that had issues. Step one complete for us. We then must go into a mode to try to replicate the issue because there are so many variables that you end up looking for a needle in a haystack in some cases. This was definitely one. When we can replicate, we then rate the issue as noted above.

After we turned on the software to assist us in tracking the issue happened again about 10 days later. It is also important to note that the issues referenced did NOT happen all the [redacted]e and was very sporadic and infrequent. Though we do agree, it was an inconvenience for the [redacted] customer. 

We went through our process, deemed it to be a Level 3 concern and immediately began working on the fix. The issue only occurred when a user made a purchase from an iPad with iOS7 AND used paypal express on checkout. Honestly, it really is amazing to actually find issues like this. From the day we were able to identify the issue until it was fixed and ready to be deployed to our customers it was five business days. We reached out to [redacted] when it was completed and let them know we could deploy the fix on their store. Unfortunately, they didn't stay current with our releases and they would have to upgrade their store to get to the most recent version of the software. We can't possibly provide fixes for all of the 95 different versions of the software we have had over the last ten years. They didn't want to do the upgrade on their own and didn't want to pay us to do it for them. 

While all of this was going on, our CEO did a review of their account and offered their owner compensation for the challenges without being asked. Their plan was moved from $30/mo to the $60/mo plan without any changes in what they paid! He saved their account $12/mo or over 20% + plus doubled all of their resources. It is important to note that nothing related to our terms and conditions requires the concession offered. We feel that their current request is simply based upon the idea that the generosity offered by our CEO would simply be rubber stamped and we would somehow pay them back everything they paid us for services we provided. 

In the end, their cart issues covered the last two months they were with us. 

To close the issue, we have decided to credit the last two months of service to have the issue go away. That is an additional saving of $59.90. 

In addition, our CEO continues to honor our "Guarantee to Increase Sales" offer. The challenge is [redacted]'s owner will not provide the details that Mr. [redacted] requested three [redacted]es. In order for us to validate the guarantee, we compare the last six months on the previous provider they used with the first six months using our system. This is a very simple and straight forward request that goes unanswered. Even though they are no longer a customer, we will honor this offer until the end of April. 

Here is the last email chain related to this topic. Please read from the bottom up. The conversation is between Mr [redacted] and the [redacted] owner. 

---------------------------------------------------

From: [redacted]

Sent: Monday,

March 31, 2014 11:23 AM

To: [redacted]

[redacted] Store 

Subject: RE:

Refund for [redacted] Store

[redacted] I’m not sure why you need to try to read into something I’m saying.  

I have made it very clear that we stand behind our product, provide services that satisfy thousands of customers and are willing to pay you back money based upon our guarantee. It is you that choose to not comply with our simple request to validate. 

 

 

 

From: [redacted] Store [mailto:sales@[redacted]store.com] 

Sent: Monday, March 31, 2014 9:44 AM

To: [redacted]

Subject: Re: Refund for [redacted] Store

 

So what I am concluding here is that you do stand behind your product, you do not provide the services that that you agreed to provide, and you have scammed us out of the money we paid.

 -----------------------------------------------

In conclusion, we do make every effort to make all of our customers happy and from [redacted]e to [redacted]e recognize that we can't always make it happen. We take ownership for having software issues, 

We also take great pride in the overall quality that supports thousands of store owners and how quickly we turn around issues when identified.

The email and support options are for the current version of the licensed software purchased for one year.  This means that the licensed customer not hosted on our servers can gain access to our support department for tickets and phone to resolve issues or questions.  It does include new...

upgrades to existing release they are on.  For illustration the current version this customer is on on is 3.7.   The access to upgrades includes maintenance releases too.  So 3.7.1 would be an upgrade with new features or enhancements and 3.7.1.R1 would be a maintenance release.  The customer has 3.7 as a version for their cart and has access to 3.7.15.  We released a new version of the cart 3.8 last year in limited release and it has just within the last few weeks become available to licensed customers.  This was to insure compatibility in different environments and make a smoother transition for a path to get to from 3.7 to 3.8.    This means the the customer can a.) continue to receive support for 3.7 version which is $299 per year and/or b.) pay a one time fee to purchase the new version of the platform 3.8 at a lower price than a new license.  Since the customer has a support plan if they upgrade the version to 3.8 they will still have a support agreement for the year from date of purchase for access to upgrades and support on the new 3.8 platform.  This is no different than any other software vendor you still have to pay for new versions e.g. windows or apple regardless of a support contract.