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Quick Time PRO a bait and switch

Y

YeOldeMacGuy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 13, 2006
2
0
I've been trying to join a bunch of clips to build a highlight DVD for my nephew to send to prospective football coaches. When I went to "join movies" in QT help I was led to a help screen that showed a very simple sequence of events to accomplish the task. It also noted that I needed to buy QT Pro.

So, I bought QT Pro and the results are no different than when I was $30 richer. I called Apple Support and, despite the fact that I've had my current Mac for less than two months and had purchased the QT Pro key an hour earlier, was told it would cost me $199 to talk to someone who might be able to give me an answer.

I ended up taking the clip DVDs to a guy I found in the phone book. It cost me $100 to get them concatenated and add some theme music to the background - a very professional job.

So, my question is how does Apple get away with this? I consulted the consumer fraud section of the local DA and they told me that I needed to try and contact Apple before they would consider a case. It's now been two weeks and no response from Apple.

The DA's office just advised me that they don't have the time to deal with Apple's legal staff and that I should simply file a claim in small claims court. Because I used a credit card, the purchase falls under credit card fraud and I can ask for up to $7,500 in punitive damages in addition to my $30.

I don't have the time to mess with the court. So, has anyone else had this or similar problems with Apple software, and how did you get it resolved?
 
Over $30, are you serious?

QT Pro opens up a world of functionality you won't find from the free version.
 
I can't believe I'm reading this. Unbelievable.

By the way, ever heard of iMovie?
 
Yes, I'm sort of confused too... editing a movie together is totally in the domain of iMovie. If you need to do pure splices for some reason, QTPro can do that. But any recent version of iLife comes with everything you would have needed to join the clips, add music, and make a DVD out of them.

I'm sorry you spent so much heartache and trouble and money over it... but I'm not sure how much more obvious it could have been that you would have been able to figure it out?
 
You thought about coming here to complain, but did you think of asking for help first? This seems to be a disturbing trend here at MR.

We could have helped you finish your project FOR FREE. No QT pro, no outside vender... we are not just here to listen to rants, we are here to help :)

I'll even show you how you could've put it in a thread:

I've been trying to join a bunch of clips to build a highlight DVD for my nephew to send to prospective football coaches. When I went to "join movies" in QT help I was led to a help screen that showed a very simple sequence of events to accomplish the task. It also noted that I needed to buy QT Pro.

Is there a free or easier way of doing this? I have a new Mac. Any ideas would be apreciated.
 
God no, he'd rather just ask us how he can sue Apple for his lack of computer software skills! Come on, this guy is beyond redemption.
 
spicyapple said:
Over $30, are you serious?

QT Pro opens up a world of functionality you won't find from the free version.
Click to expand...

$30 is enough money for me to worry about. If it isn't for you, please PayPal me $30.

Edit: Okay, first time poster. Old Mac Guy: this is a great place to get answers to questions like that, even if sometimes they seem esoteric. Odds are that somebody here has done exactly what you're trying to do in almost any situtation can teach you how to do it.

I'm not sure you have a legal case. Unless you were promised support for less than $199 per incident, then your only hope is to get a refund. The software does what you wanted it to do, you just couldn't figure out how to do it.
 
Quicktime Pro really is kind of a crock in my opinion, but more because of the fact that Apple releases Quicktime Player pretty much as a "look what you could do if you spent $30" program than as a stand-alone movie player (that can't even play movies full screen unless you spend the $30!). My dad bought Quicktime Pro 6 shortly before 7 came out, and he was not happy when he found out that he was going to have to spend another $30 on Quicktime 7.
 
YeOldeMacGuy said:
moan moan
Click to expand...

You didn't ask here how to do it if you were unsure? QTPro does add features you don't find in any other media playback software. I fail to see the problem as such... perhaps you expected handholding through the entire process? I don't know, perhaps the Mac's nature does invite that sort of behaviour but a few questions on this board would have solved it, instead of registering purely to complain.
 
since this is sort of on-topic, and you guys are all offering this guy help after the fact, but no one is replying to my topic, how can I split avi files? Can't figure it out in iMovie without importing the file, which takes over an hour. I have several of these 700mb avi files, so that won't work. I'm on a 6month old Macbook. Thanks.
 
The only way I know would involve cranking up Boot Camp and running Virtualdub. Maybe the reason no-ones answered is that there's no other way to do it. And probably best to keep this thread on topic so that the original poster can vent more ;)
 
Sesshi, are you replying to me? Cuz I can't believe I just got told there's no easy way to do something as simple as split an avi file on a Mac. In Windows I could download any number of free avi splitters. This is the whole reason I bought my first Mac; I thought this kind of stuff would be EASIER in OS X, not harder. jeez.
 
It's certainly easier if you kept just to within the Mac world ;) I don't know for sure if there is or isn't a splitter on the Mac, but as you may have noticed there's generally not as much AVI/WMV support on Macs.
 
shrhaider, open your avi file in MPEG Streamclip. Go to your in point and press 'i'. Go to your out point and press 'o'. The go to the file menu and "Save as..." (making sure you choose a new filename). Easy.

The Void
................
Sheesh!
 
Man, the lack of AVI support in the Mac world is the problem. I don't like Quicktime, it's a crap program that doesn't even display at full screen. Apple should get with the program. I'm not flaming, I love my Mac and I haven't installed Boot Camp or Parallels and I don't plan to, because (besides this little hiccup) so far I haven't seen any need to go back to the torture of Windows. The thing is, these AVI files are of a tv show that I appear on. This format is the only way I can get them. I don't want to go around wasting my time converting them. Ok I'm gonna shut up.
 
shrhaider said:
Man, the lack of AVI support in the Mac world is the problem. I don't like Quicktime, it's a crap program that doesn't even display at full screen. Apple should get with the program. I'm not flaming, I love my Mac and I haven't installed Boot Camp or Parallels and I don't plan to, because (besides this little hiccup) so far I haven't seen any need to go back to the torture of Windows. The thing is, these AVI files are of a tv show that I appear on. This format is the only way I can get them. I don't want to go around wasting my time converting them. Ok I'm gonna shut up.
Click to expand...

There are many ways to work with avi files on the mac. Just because someone can't help you on a message board doesn't mean they don't exist.

Your better off asking these sort of questions over here:

http://www.videohelp.com/
 
The Void said:
shrhaider, open your avi file in MPEG Streamclip. Go to your in point and press 'i'. Go to your out point and press 'o'. The go to the file menu and "Save as..." (making sure you choose a new filename). Easy.
Click to expand...

I get "Error: Can't write the movie file" when I try to save the file. Any idea?
 
I'm a little confused here. As I read it, the OP has a new Mac, he wanted to put some video files together, looked at the help files in QT, got an explanation he understood that included the info that he should buy QTPro.

Thinking he'll be able to do what he wants if he follows the instructions and purchases a key, he does so. It doesn't seem to work as the instructions led him to believe (though he doesn't include any details here). Since he's already read the help file, he now calls Apple, who says he will have to pay a very large sum of money to get help.

A lot of the replies seem to be criticizing him for not asking us for help first, or for thinking he could do what he wanted with QTPro. But the way I read the post, his gripe seems legit.

I'm not disagreeing with what anyone has posted, I'm just confused. Why isn't his gripe legit? :confused:
 
annk said:
I'm a little confused here. As I read it, the OP has a new Mac, he wanted to put some video files together, looked at the help files in QT, got an explanation he understood that included the info that he should buy QTPro.

Thinking he'll be able to do what he wants if he follows the instructions and purchases a key, he does so. It doesn't seem to work as the instructions led him to believe (though he doesn't include any details here). Since he's already read the help file, he now calls Apple, who says he will have to pay a very large sum of money to get help.

A lot of the replies seem to be criticizing him for not asking us for help first, or for thinking he could do what he wanted with QTPro. But the way I read the post, his gripe seems legit.

I'm not disagreeing with what anyone has posted, I'm just confused. Why isn't his gripe legit? :confused:
Click to expand...

I think his gripe isn't legit because he is claiming that apple told him he could do what he wanted if he upgraded to QTPro. Now, he is claiming that QTPro doesn't do what he wanted. This is incorrect, it does do what he wanted, he just couldn't figure out how. Thus his claim that he was conned is not legit.
 
I love Apple and will continue to buy their computers, but I think its simply INSANE to charge anywhere in the realm of $199, especially when it comes down to more simplistic problems.

Apple should have basic support FREE for minor issues and if its a larger problem that has to be addressed, then charge (a smaller amount also).
 
This pay for support crap after paying for the actual product is BS...reminds me of Intuit who I couldn't possibly hate any further. You have to PAY to give feedback on their crappy software (mac).
 
ckeck said:
Apple should have basic support FREE for minor issues and if its a larger problem that has to be addressed, then charge (a smaller amount also).
Click to expand...
It sounds good in theory, but if you set up a budget for how much that'd cost Apple, I think you'll see why they can't.

If anyone can show me a company that will gladly lead hundreds of thousands of people by the hand over the phone on problems like "how to splice two video clips together" for free, I'll withdraw my argument.
 
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