Invited in to help fight piracy!

The question has nothing to do with piracy.

Their are other Karaoke manufactures out there to choose from, so that point is irrelevant.

On the simple notion of how THIS business treated you, if Sears treated you the same way...

Would you STILL shop there?
Would you be so forgiving?

This is not a cut against SC, this is a BUSINESS question.

 

No, we sold most of them when we downsized our business. The bulk of the rest, we offered to Kurt (at the cost we paid -- why should we take any less?), but sadly, he has never responded to our offer. We have enough left for the system we have left -- if we were to decide use them. If we got rid of those and sold them to anyone but Sound Choice, there is a possibility someone might say we never had any at all. So we will keep them unless Kurt wants to buy them for what we paid for them. We have never "shown them" to Kurt. We're not interested in any type of audit. We have nothing to prove and currently, since we have pulled them, we should be free from the threat of a lawsuit unless someone supplies "misinformation" with regard to any investigation.

 

Yes, I would be so forgiving. The man in charge can't fix problems he doesn't know about. I've complained to my cell phone company and not been happy so I ask for a supervisor. I keep asking up the food chain until I'm made happy. With SC, I didn't go through that process. I hadn't gotten mad enough to start working up the food chain.

I was very angry when I joined this site because there was a local pirate bragging about being legal when I knew he wasn't. I was feeling a bit like why can he get away with this when I was legal and I'm paying. That pirate is now on Kurt's radar...

 

Well then you are covered 9 ways from Sunday. I understand you are angry, so take pictures or video of the discs you own and send it to Kurt. It proves you have the discs and it stops Kurt from coming after you and then you can use your discs.... If you do that and he still sues you, I'll call him an [****][****][****][****][****][****][****] myself!

 

I will say nothing else regarding the matter. You feel how you feel. Its not up to me to decide how you should feel. I guess we just differ in the way we conduct our daily lives.
I have had problems with some company's myself, and they can fix the issue, and like you I usually keep at them until its fixed. But knowing it had to come to that leaves me with a permanent dislike for whatever company it is. That's my point.

Your able to forgive and forget alot easier than I.
I am able to forgive, but I don't forget.

To each his own...I don't think either of us are wrong in our way of thinking. Just different is all.

Hope you enjoy the boards, and I assume backlash will calm down very shortly.

 

Thunder Hag,
Disagreement is not a bad thing. It's what makes life interesting. Character is how you respond to disagreement. I do forgive and move easily. It comes from always believing the best of people until I'm proven wrong. I've made mistakes and I would like to be forgiven easily without having to beg.

 

I don't hold people and businesses in the same bracket.

People I usually tend to give the benefit of the doubt. I also am a pushover for believing in people etc. But then again I am usually burned for being that way.

 

Jennifer, i'm glad you got what makes you happy from this. if you are able to forgive and forget, more power to you. it has got to be easier to go through life without holding grudges. i wish i was able to let go sometimes myself. just keep doing what you feel you should do towards improving your business, and if that means actively hunting, go save your business. and don't worry about one side or the other, if you disagree with anything SC does, you are a pirate supporter, if you agree with SC, you are a puppet for Kurt, the line has apparently been drawn very solidly down the middle. kinda like being Democrat or Republican, whichever one you are, the other side hates you......but i kinda like you:laughpill:

 

I like her, too. I worry about her, but I do like her. We're all just trying to get through life the best way we can. We just have different ways of doing it.

 

Agreed...I like you too

Its a shame its so B&W, because NOTHING in this world is really so 2 sided.

 

IMHO, Kurt did nothing more than finally make right by you before you confirmed absolutely everything the "anti-SC Crowd" has been saying all along right here on this board. If you didn't end up with a complete and total refund, I would be absolutely floored.

 

I don't understand why it has to be all or nothing. Common ground is usually found somewhere in the middle.

I like all of ya'll too!

 

Nothing will stop Kurt... unless it's a check.

However, you are welcome to call him anything you like - far be it for me to stop you, it's a free country and all that.....

However, I've taken a "PRO-active stance" that he will not get that chance to sue for any reason simply by removing Sound Choice brand.

We've done that for quite some time now and it hasn't affected our business one bit.

 

That is your personal decision Staley, As Bird posted the resentment she has everytime she sees those discs in the garage you " can't use " anymore....Why not just do a Skype audit with Kurt even if you don't agree with his tactics, then you'll never have to worry about those tactics AND you get to use all of your discs and you won't be limited anymore. Only speaking from a business standpoint this makes the most sense to me, and if it was my company in this situation and this decision was presented to the other heads of my company i'm pretty sure that's what we would opt to do regardless of how much we may now despise the company. It's not like your contributing any funds to him, they aren't making new music and you already own the discs, i see no down side

 

You're missing the point. Why should we have to prove we are not criminals in order to use merchandise we purchased legally in the first place. It isn't the hassle, it's the principle.

I'd no more do that than take back and show everything I purchased at a particular store to prove the same thing. I would simply choose not to give another dime to that store.

 

You seems you were their hero for a day & now all this!

Truly insane!

 

Ditto to BirdofSong AND I would add the following:

There is nothing to prevent SC from coming back and demanding any dam* time they please as long as we use the product that we already paid for.

SC is perfectly ABLE to issue a license (not a "convenant") to use that trademark on a computer yet they refuse to do so - even for those that rent the Gem Series at how many thousands of dollars?

However, they are unwilling to do so - even for the customers that send them thousands of dollars.

It's all about "control" isn't it? And "the company" seems to have that "all or nothing" attitude. Well, they can't have it all, so they'll get nothing from me.You are welcome to subscribe to that all you like and I hope it works out well for you.

Their M.O. is (as Jennifer Price said) to use their "mob tactics" and "strong-arm" methods and IMHO, one-sided contracts for control over their own customer's business. Jennifer doesn't realize that she spent an hour on the phone with a self-admitted "debate club" member who used those skills to convince her that somehow he was "innocently out of the loop" as to her treatment by his own attorney. I find that an extremely impossible scenario, don't you? Funny how when she first got here, she was screamin' up a storm about her treatment and now, suddenly it's "nonya bidness." If you look back, you'll see where I posted that "I hope she doesn't go silent." Which is what she has now been instructed to do. One hour on the phone with "the company" and she's now officially "working free" for them.... and waving the same cheerleader flag. If it makes her feel better than that's fine. Who am I to judge her situation? But that doesn't mean I can't have an opinion either. And my opinion is that she (and apparently) her husband are simply very trusting and forgiving people - yet gullible. She doesn't have any real idea who she's dealing with and even though she has stated that she settled and "made her bed and is willing to lie in it" I believe she rolls over and now sees Brad Pitt, when it reality, it's still Kurt Slep.

 

I'm not talking about you buying the gem series or contributing ANY money at all to them, i'm only saying it would make sense to me to continue using discs you already own. COULD Soundchoice come in whenever and do another audit? I suppose they COULD, but is that realistically going to happen , Most likely NOT. I do understand disagreeing and seeing defying them and not using their product as a way to boycott them. But , as i said this doesn't seem like the smartest business decision when you already own a lot of that product that is now gathering dust.

 

Not if using those same discs will expose my customer to uneccesary legal action as long as I play them or cause them to played by any patron who brings one in.

It's not a "way to boycott them" at all. It's protection for me AND my customers is what it really is. They are playing the "technicality game" using trademark as a dragnet. When that plays out, what will be next, public performance? And why not? They've already denied it - however the countersuit (or class action suit) for fraud and/or entrapment wouldn't be too far behind. It's a very real possibility.

And yes, I own a LOT of a product that the very same manufacturer is daring me to play as well as venues allowing me to play so that they can get a chance to extract money from as well. Now let's talk about who is spoiling what...

Walk into a club in Arizona now with a set of Sound Choice discs and see how far that will get you. They sell you the discs and then turn around and sue the club for you playing it.... Helluva racket ain't it?

 

You're missing one VERY important part of the audit/settlement agreement. After you either Settle or in your case go through the audit and pass , your paperwork has legal documentation to state that Sound Choice Will not and Can not pursue any legal action , UNLESS it can be proven that you are using PIRATED materials or not operating 1:1. These are the ONLY 2 things that could open up legal proceedings, you are protected from everything else. I had my lawyers triple check that section of the contract and that is what it states.