Our Consumer Rights: Refunds and Misleading Conduct

We began using FlashMoto on the 30/11/2009 on behalf of our client Sticks ClothingTM who purchased it for development of his website. He originally wanted a flash website that he could edit the contents of himself to save money on content management.

We believe that FlashMoto has displayed Deceptive and Misleading Conduct through their advertising to consumers. False claims have been made in regards to the performance characteristics and benefits of both the FlashMoto product and its services. These claims can in no way be mistaken as just ‘puffery’ in advertising language but they communicate specific points that are not entirely true.

Our case for Deceptive and Misleading Conduct began with a lack of appropriate response to our community-based queries and support tickets on issues relating to our clients concerns.

Posts we participated in:

Assistance for non-ActionScript savvy developers - 3 months ago

- This post was ‘answered’ by Demetrio Fortman with promise of tutorials. This is our first concern in that (as pictured below) a statement was made that FlashMoto has ‘Comprehensive Documentation and Tutorials’. This is a very inflammatory statement since some basic tutorials are only in development and the word ‘comprehensive’ implies to the consumer that any reservations they may have about their lack of knowledge is not of concern.

Is this CMS suitable for a non-web savvy client? – 1 month ago

- Demetrio Fortman answered with “Please check out FlashMoto Control Panel online DEMO to check if it is suitable for non-web savvy clients. We are working on different user roles in the control panel, there is no such a feature for now, but If you are develop[er you can lock different objects in the XML. So it is possible”. The issue here is that most people have already been lured into purchasing FlashMoto through its misleading advertisements. Demetrio’s response is slightly too ambiguous to be clearly understood and is an indication that the CMS may very well not be suitable but ‘could possibly be?’

FlashMoto has taken our money and split! – 3 days ago

- Our post consisted of the following:

FlashMoto!
You have failed to respond to over 3 emails and closed all of our unresolved support tickets. We, as we have stated numerous times in our one way correspondence, have a client that feels your advertising was misleading and your attitude toward this issue is unethical. We wish to open a discussion concerning a refund of the product. It would be a good idea to get in contact with us through Get Satisfaction or directly as soon as possible.

This sparked a sudden response to all of our unanswered issues from the last few months.

Demetrio’s response was as follows:

Hello Dave, we will try to resolve all of your issues and find all the answers on your questions. We have checked your unresolved tickets - all of them are community questions. We will check out and answer all of them as soon as possible. Please feel free to ask any questions there, developers questions are greatly appreciated. All the refund requests and questions you can send to support@flashmoto.com. Thank you.

All the responses were adequate and well explained. However what the FlashMoto moderator failed to understand is that is not what we are asking for anymore. Our client is unhappy with the lack of response and with the misleading conduct. Our client wishes to obtain his rightful refund.

As for the refund requests and questions I also found a response to another post on FlashMoto’s refund policy where Demetrio can be quoted as saying, “FlashMoto doesn't offer satisfaction money back for now. We are releasing product TRIAL in march, you can check our online demo, help center and ask your questions at support.flashmoto.com and our community. All the refund requests and questions you can send to support@flashmoto.com. Thank you.” I hope that in underlying the word ‘TRIAL’ we aren’t to assume that we are not entitled to a refund due to our own fault in TRIALING their product.
To not resolve this issue by producing a refund is a violation of our statutory rights as consumers.

Our concerns with the Deceptive and Misleading Conduct are below with reference to the picture attached.

FlashMoto are stated as claiming the following:

1) Advanced WYSIWYG Editor – Editing Flash website is as easy as editing document in Word

2) Comprehensive Documentation and Tutorials, and

3) No Skills Required

Our case clearly demonstrates that there is a massive difference in the claims made in regards to the performance characteristics and benefits of both the FlashMoto product and its service, and what you are actually provided with.

We suggest that if your case is not resolved to your satisfaction to contact your country’s Consumer Watchdog or visit the website of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network’s e-commerce division at www.econsumer.gov.

If you have any questions or require further help with your support case please contact us at services@birthedcreative.com.