Bashing on other forums

[MaderDesign 3]

It's unreal the amount of bashing that goes on over at Tshirtforums. I can't even stand to post on there that much let alone read. Any time you mention US cutter all they do is bash bash bash. You got the fan boys of Signwarehouse and Fellers all over it. Complaining about customer support and stuff. People expect a $350 cutter to perform like $1500 or something. When it does it's immediately the suppliers fault. Sorry people, you bought a Ford expecting a Porsche, your fault.

So far I've had nothing but trouble with my cutters, but not once have I been treated bad or not helped. Brandon and Levi have been nothing but helpful. And going out of their way to help me. I'll be getting a different cutter out of this but not without the help and patients of USC.

[almon 3]

I've had to deal with sign warehouse The city got their 1st cutter from them. Come to think about it I DID GET TO WORK AT HOME MORE ON MY CP-2500 UNTILL THE CITY SENT BACK THEIR CUTTER AND SOFTWARE AND GOT A CP2500 FOR THE SHOP NOW I HAVE TO STAY AT WORK ALL DAY.

[MaderDesign 3]

What? lol

[mikerob2334 2]

I love my refine i got from uscutter, but on the other hand a lot of people on here seem to be turned off by signwarehouse. i don't understand this as i buy a lot of materials (never equipment) from them and love their customer service and fast shipping. i guess every experience is unique

[Renegade 2]

Damn USCutter for providing products that function and keeping all of us hard at work!  

There seems to be a growing problem over at TSF.  I used to really like it and learned a lot there, but seems like the management has been left to the moderators.  Most of them seem ok, but there are a couple of the main ones that seem to be mostly concerned with making everyone conform to their opinion and trying to intimidate members.  What you might not get to see is how many posts are removed or even worse edited by them.  Not because of offensive or problem posts, but because of differing opinions.  So much for freedom of speech.  Luckily we have the freedom to goto better forums.

[midwaste 4]

I visit TSF quite a bit, and only when it concerns USCutter is there a problem, IMO. The "old timers" over there are pissed that USCutter made entry into the sign/vinyl business so cheap and easy.  See Signs101 for even worse attitudes.  I agree with some of their opinions, but they are dicks about it consistently.

Other than the Vinyl Cutter forum, I visit the SP forums and others and don't see too much problem.  Maybe the mods of those forums (Solmu) are better than others.

I do hate how they allow sponsors to use shill accounts to post fake positive reviews though...I'm looking at you, silkscreensupplies.com

[Renegade 2]

I almost didn't buy my first cutter from USCutter because of the posts on TSF, but luckly I took a chance.  Even though I had some trouble at first with my new cutter, but thanks to Ken Imes and Fivestar I kept working through the problems until we got things worked out.  Made it an easy choice to go back to them when I bought my Graphtec.

I can tell you that this isn't the only forum they have a problem with.  Its starting to seem like they have a problem with any forum that calls out their problems.  Just hope they figure out where their problems are before they kill what used to be a great forum.

[Guest fivestar]

Everything I have seen over there in that thread has been true.  I have posted in that thread a few times myself.  I am glad to see you (mader) have had great customer service, possibly because of threads like that floating around the net they have FINALLY went back to customer service.  But all in all this place has went way downhill from its peak.  Not only this forum, but more importantly (at least it should be) their customer service.

 

[BannerJohn 1,324]

It's unreal the amount of bashing that goes on over at Tshirtforums. I can't even stand to post on there that much let alone read. Any time you mention US cutter all they do is bash bash bash. You got the fan boys of Signwarehouse and Fellers all over it. Complaining about customer support and stuff. People expect a $350 cutter to perform like $1500 or something. When it does it's immediately the suppliers fault. Sorry people, you bought a Ford expecting a Porsche, your fault.

So far I've had nothing but trouble with my cutters, but not once have I been treated bad or not helped. Brandon and Levi have been nothing but helpful. And going out of their way to help me. I'll be getting a different cutter out of this but not without the help and patients of USC.

You have an amazingly optimistic attitude. 6 weeks and 3 tries and you still don't have a working cutter. I hope USC gets it worked out and you are satisfied. I know they will try hard.

As for bashing on other forums..well, plenty of bashing goes on here as well...that's what forums are for. Opinions,shared info,etc. As a mod, I have actually been instructed by the man at the top, NOT to delete posts criticizing USC.

I suppose it's all in which side of the fence you are on. If you are happy with tech support, you sing praises...if you are NOT, then I guess you  do the opposite.

I've had a few peoblems with SignWarehouse, but MaryLynn soon sorted them out. One thing I can say for them..I never had to pay for their mistake.

Fellers..well,.once I got the catalog and saw that their prices were higher than anyone else I deal with..sometimes by a BIG margin..I wrote them off. I'd go broke paying their prices,esp for blank banners.

One more thing...as a mod, I see and hear things that the rest of you don't. Some good,some bad.

[NukleoN 34]

That T-Shirt forum...I've been there. The forum looks like ...um...well it doesn't look good. Something about it makes me not wanna sign up, though I've read reviews of equipment through Google and such.

I see this time and again with moderators left unchecked. I got banned from another forum (not related to vinyl/printing/t-shirts) because of bad moderation and my attempts to fix it through the admin and I started a competing forum as a result (smart car stuff). You would think people who buy smart cars are out-of-the-box thinkers but they're not. Sadly some smart-car owners are really dumb, and some of them have moderator priveleges on certain boards. I've been a super-moderator on a motorcycle forum for about 5 years, where we have about 10,000 members.

A board is only as good as the people in charge (and of course the people participating), but the people in charge have to set the tone. If they're smart, helpful, FAIR and present (like this board) I think things tend to go pretty well. I also want to congratulate the admin for being strong-enough to allow criticism of USCutters. Simply deleting criticism is a recipe for disaster. In fact, being too loose with thread-locking and censorship overall is a recipe for disaster...it's one thing to ban spammers, and yet another to squelch the real opinions of forum members...and any forum needs members or it's not much of a forum.

So again, congrats on having the strength of character and confidence in your products to allow dissent or complaints...after all, I see you guys working to fix issues people have and let me tell you, that just makes me think more of you for your customer service, not less of you for the issues which arose to begin with.  

Those with confidence in their ideas, products, etc. have little to fear from criticism.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I don't know about the t-shirt forums (I don't do t-shirts) but I do know that if the mods are all volunteers, I can understand how things happen. I spend 3-4 hours a day modding here for which I am paid nothing. It's a hard job. I usually check in every few hours during the night as well. I had my cousin bring me a laptop while I was in hospital so I could keep tabs on things..I take a laptop on vacation. I take my mod job very seriously.

There are 2 other volunteer (unpaid mods) and 5 or 6 employees who are listed as mods. Guess who does all the modding?

Like I said, it's not an easy job. When ken was at USC he backed my decisions 100%. I wish I could say the same of those who currently run things.

[Guest sciondrgn]

I don't know about the t-shirt forums (I don't do t-shirts) but I do know that if the mods are all volunteers, I can understand how things happen. I spend 3-4 hours a day modding here for which I am paid nothing. It's a hard job. I usually check in every few hours during the night as well. I had my cousin bring me a laptop while I was in hospital so I could keep tabs on things..I take a laptop on vacation. I take my mod job very seriously.

There are 2 other volunteer (unpaid mods) and 5 or 6 employees who are listed as mods. Guess who does all the modding?

Like I said, it's not an easy job. When ken was at USC he backed my decisions 100%. I wish I could say the same of those who currently run things.

I had talked to Brandon about some changes and helping out if needed John.. I never heard anything back from him.. There is a few things that needs to be changed by an admin that mods cant do unless granted by an Admin on the SMF forums (Mostly board correction and cleanup and theme styling )

But on the note.. USC has been a great forum. I've learned alot and tried to help others when I can. I was on TSF for a little while. the forums are very hard to understand and the layout is atrocious to say the least.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Funny,that. I almost never hear back from Brandon either (Maybe 10% of the time) and I am a MOD.

[Guest sciondrgn]

Funny,that. I almost never hear back from Brandon either (Maybe 10% of the time) and I am a MOD.

Like i had told him I will be glad to help if they need it. I rarely see the other mods on and I'm usually on everyday.. Ill forward along the fixes/suggestions to you that I sent to him but most are in the scope of an Admin user roll and not just a mod but maybe you can get through to them.. Brandon thought they were good ideas but like I said never heard back..

[Guest fivestar]

Oh don't get me wrong, TSF has became a Nazi place.  I've had more then a few run-ins with them over there.  People who know me from that forum knows what I'm talking about.  I'm not afraid to call 'em like I see 'em and from I've seen around this place lately it's not looking very well.

When you get time, go through the posts of the members who have been here for quite a while, who also have alot of posts and see how many are still helping with tech support on this site.  Not very many, most have got sick of it and left the site completely, some are still helping with tech support, then there's people like me that come here but no longer help with much tech support.  Every now and then I'll throw an idea out for tech support, but nothing like I used to.

It's nothing personal against the newbies that need help.  But why should the company expect its customers to run tech support via the forums while they, the company, are making all the money?

Hell that'd be like me making someone a shirt and then expecting them to go ahead and make the next order for me while I collect all the money.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I have said it many times before..it's the members who make these forums what they are. If we had to depend on USC paid employees, all this would be would be a very empty chat room. Keep up the good work guys. Like Five said, we used to have a lot more help here and I miss the old gang.

It might not be said enough by those who SHOULD be saying it..so I will say it...I appreciate EVERYONE who makes an effort to contribute and help people. Paid tech support, phone calls,.tickets...are all well and good...but people have problems after quitting time Mon-Fri. and on weekends too. And they come here. Cheers and thanks to all who help!

[RPM Graphics 6]

.it's the members who make these forums what they are.

Very true.  I started out on TSF when I was just getting started.  I get better responses here with real answers and less BS.  Just seems to be a more helpfull bunch who don't feel the need to belittle somebody who is trying to learn....

[BannerJohn 1,324]

.it's the members who make these forums what they are.

Very true.  I started out on TSF when I was just getting started.  I get better responses here with real answers and less BS.  Just seems to be a more helpfull bunch who don't feel the need to belittle somebody who is trying to learn....

belittling someone new will get  a  a fast response from me. That is one thing we will not tolerate here.

[the vinyl tree 0]

good morning all,

its interesting that when i got up this morning i found this postin the new topics . ive been in the background for a while now just reading and making the occasional post here and there in this forum and i must say it fan-bloody-tastic  and an honor to be a member. now even that i live in the best place in the world (aussie)  LOL i love coming to this forum its on from the time i get up of a morning until i go to bed quite late. the doctors are saying that this forum is one of the best places for me to be!. as it supportive and encouraging and does so much for my mental state and condition that its a formal part of there diagnosis. ive been to other forum and yes ive seen the in fighting and it show on the forum and on the customer service of that company. just think -" is that the way my business want to be seen?"

they say the best form of advertising is the old "word of mouth" and thanks to you tube and facebook , my space and twitter it only takes literally minute for the wrong or negative message to get out and a very long time to get it back if at all. its the age of social networking and its the future!.  i just received an invite to another sign forum based on how helpful i was on this one . most of the members that are in that forum have been or are member of here . so to the people like bannerjohn and the rest of the mods -thank you because you are us cutter not the person in the office (so much ;D)

in this post there is not one comment that doesn't speak volumes

about the feelings that are share by all.

if i was in the states i would buy from uscutter solely based on this forum.

pete   

[NukleoN 34]

Paid or not, some mods can make a place unliveable if their decision-making isn't sound or fair. That said, I think USC is doing a good job, and I appreciate that people can speak their minds without all kinds of threads getting locked or deleted.

And yeah I appreciate the fact that I could ask my noob questions without getting berated. While I can handily defend myself, I appreciate that people are nice here. I mean, I am no longer a noob with respect to vinyl cutting and am too glad to share my experience with more newbies who are just getting into it.

As an admin on one forum and a super mod on another...the main thing I'd like to see are spelling-mistakes fixed in thread-titles. Not the threads themselves..just the titles. Keeps the forum looking neat.

By the way that t-shirt place has too narrow a focus (since the entire forum is named after 't-shirts' and it's super sloppy...like one giant spam ad). It's weird how posts are mixed in with ads....is that just because I am not signed-in?

[the vinyl tree 0]

Paid or not, some mods can make a place unliveable if their decision-making isn't sound or fair. That said, I think USC is doing a good job, and I appreciate that people can speak their minds without all kinds of threads getting locked or deleted.

And yeah I appreciate the fact that I could ask my noob questions without getting berated. While I can handily defend myself, I appreciate that people are nice here. I mean, I am no longer a noob with respect to vinyl cutting and am too glad to share my experience with more newbies who are just getting into it.

very true ....count me in on this one too

[MaderDesign 3]

BannerJohn, Fivestar: I know exactly what your saying, everyone has their opinion and bashing goes on here, but it just seemed like if USC was even mentioned it was like "RUN!" I've had my run in's with forums, specially car forums. I'm a hardcore car guy, and imports that is, so I take a lot of shit from that. But i've built a lot of motors (4 cyl) that have produced 600-700 hp and don't think twice about a race against a V8. We had the "Gang" that was together for a long time on the forums, but then people started getting sick of the new owners of the forums because our "trusted" owner sold out. The changes made the forum miserable and they moved on. We had some of the die hard guys stay but the new members the forum brought was horrible. The new owner basically hired in new mod's, admins' that had 0 knowledge of how a car worked. It was bad.

So far without everyone I prolly would have gave up and thrown in the towel with this cutter. For some reason I am optimistic. because it seems like i'm the only one who has had this problem that can't be fixed. So i'm glad I'm the only one but pissed i'm the person to have this problem. I hope nothing but good things comes out of this, and something is solved so no one else runs into these problems. Banner, Speedoggy, Fivestar, James605, Preston all have chimed in more than I could ever ask for and i'm grateful for that.

So far the forums seem great, you have the occasional users that get hurt by a little criticism, but that's everywhere.

[UncleCrack 0]

Dont take offense to this but I think it may be you. My cutter has perform flawless from day one. I have made A LOT OF MONEY with my 500 dollar cutter paid itself off the 1st week I got it. Biz wise it has been one of my smartest parts of business I have added on. Vinyl doesn't cost much and turn around time for customer is fast.

Im sorry you are having issues but realistically you can get a lemon in any product. I use to be a senior tech for Dell and even when I would capture a customer's "lemon" when I got it in to begin working on it 9 times out of ten it was some type of software or driver causing all the problems the customers were experiencing.

Good luck.

-Jack

[BannerJohn 1,324]

man, I get that! I was a computer tech for 4 years and I can tell you that 90% of the fixes I could do over the phone. I had one guy who had the same problem on all of his computers... can you say 'limewire'?

[MaderDesign 3]

Here's the thing UncleCrack, this problem is not a computer problem, I didn't even hook the thing up to make a cut with it and it was already doing the same thing. So this can't be a computer issue. User error I'd like to rule out, I have built numerous computers, was one of the computer engineers at my college, so knowing what my computer has and doesn't have wouldn't be good. The cutter should not cut jagged lines like this by just plugging it in and hitting test cut.

Dont take offense to this but I think it may be you. My cutter has perform flawless from day one. I have made A LOT OF MONEY with my 500 dollar cutter paid itself off the 1st week I got it. Biz wise it has been one of my smartest parts of business I have added on. Vinyl doesn't cost much and turn around time for customer is fast.

Im sorry you are having issues but realistically you can get a lemon in any product. I use to be a senior tech for Dell and even when I would capture a customer's "lemon" when I got it in to begin working on it 9 times out of ten it was some type of software or driver causing all the problems the customers were experiencing.

Good luck.

-Jack