This is Wrong...

Mike_M

Some background:

After testing DVDFab AI upscaling for a few days, I decided to purchase the software on 10/9/22 in order to address some limitations recently encountered re: 720p in some modules using StreamFab.

I also noticed via a recent email from DVDFab/StreamFab that they are now cross-selling the DVDFab AI upscaling with StreamFab and touting it's ability to upscale 720p to higher resolutions evidently as a marketing opportunity with 720p restrictions that it has encountered with various streaming services.

Heck, I even purchased a lifetime license of "The Competitor" just for HBO 720p while waiting for StreamFab to address their DRM change from March.

The competitor updated their product on 4/29/22 in release 1.3.5.0 within a week of the first HBO DRM change in April this year.

And yes, I know that "The Competitor" is now addressing a second DRM change by HBO that evidently uses "Widevine L1" that has also affected their software's HBO resolution - that is taking longer to address, if it can be done.

I also decided to bite the bullet and spend a bunch of money upgrading my computer system due to wanting a better graphics card (got the RTX 3080TI/had the RTX 2070 Super) for DVDFab AI upscaling and secondarily to be able to run Win 11/64 pro since I had an unsupported "Skylake" processor.

*******

The "Purchase"

From within it's software (when I ran DVDFab All-In-One Lifetime product) it said that I could upgrade the products I didn't have for $129 (that included their AI products) but I was getting conflicting info via email on the price (see next paragraph) and also questioned If I could use the anniversary coupon code when I purchased.

Knowing how DVDFab/StreamFab's software works, sometimes you can/can't use the coupon codes and sometimes sales give you a different price (such as anniversary one from being a customer since 2008) and the fact that I received an email from DVDFab with a graphic showing DVDFab All-In-One Lifetime for $69 and including a $30 Visa card for the anniversary for returning customers. (See attachment #1)

I sent emails to DVDFab questioning what was the best price I could get, wanting to know before I purchased, but didn't receive a response from them.

I decided to go ahead and purchase an upgrade to my existing products.

1. I went to Dvdfab.cn and logged into Member Center.
2. I picked upgrade my existing products licensing for the products I didn't have.
3. This was on 10/9/22 12:57am and resulted in the following screen (See attachment #2) which came up with this as a "Gift of DVDFab All-In-One license for $69 with a $30 Visa Card".
4. I was pleasantly surprised, but figured this was how DVDFab was addressing the email I received above from them and it was better than the in-program offer to upgrade my missing existing modules so I proceed with the purchase.
5. It showed the following in my shopping cart (See attachment #3) for $69 dollars for All-In-One Lifetime Gift when I went to enter my Visa information to finalize the purchase and approve the $69 charge for this.
6. Imagine my surprise when I received a receipt (See attachment #4) from the 3rd party vendor for $129 for the "Lifetime All-In-One Gift" - which was different from what showed in my shopping cart and what I authorized on my Visa.
7. I was upset and immediately opened my DVDFab All-In-One product to see if it added those licenses to my product - It did (See Attachment #5 in reply to this since this forum only allows 4 attachments per post).

DVDFab has responded to the above with:

Hi Mike,

1. Some users who owned more products can get an upgrade price starting
from $69, when you click to check the promotion detail and check out,
the upgrade price will display based on your order/product and license
status. That means the price shown on the checkout page is the one you
need to pay.

2. By checking your license before you made the upgrade, the price
should b $129, you were not entitled to get the $69 one.

3. About the Gift a friend, I am not quite sure, the entry should be at
the member center, so from where else did you get that?

4. You mentioned you have taken screenshots of the steps, how about you
show them to us?

********

# 1 Some users who owned more products can get an upgrade price starting
from $69, when you click to check the promotion detail and check out,
the upgrade price will display based on your order/product and license
status.

I did own all products for StreamFab also and it was not unreasonable to believe that was being factored in.

and #1 of the response says that "That means the price shown on the checkout page is the one you
need to pay.".

It showed $69 on my checkout page.

#2 of their response contradicts #1 and they say I am not entitled to purchase the price they offered via Member Center upgrading my license and what was in my shopping cart at the time and what I authorized on my Visa.

#4 of their response is really frustrating/silly, since I received attachment #1 from DVDFab (which seems to have been actually incorporated in this process) and attached all of the above screenshots (#2 to #5) from the online purchase previous to the response by DVDFab I received today in the email thread/responses about the purchase.

DVDFab doesn't seem to understand that their software offered me this $69 DVDFab All-In-One gift at the time I choose upgrade my existing license via DvdFab Member Center logon and the importance of the shopping cart and the Visa authorization, both which were for $69, actually matching what the 3rd party vendor ended up charging.

Their process said that there would be a $30 Visa Gift card also (in attachment #2 of purchase), which I guess is another "you're not really entitled to this" when I did the purchase.

In the scheme of things, this $60 is not a lot "to eat" based on what I spent on the above items, but debating internally whether to dispute with Debit Card due to circumstances and DVDFab's seeming lack of empathy/importance of what occurred during this purchase.

Very glitchy and DVDFab's response leaves much to be desired.

Mike

Mike_M

7. I was upset and immediately opened my DVDFab All-In-One product to see if it added those licenses to my product - It did (See Attachment #5 in reply to this since this forum only allows 4 attachments per post).
Mike_M

Here is attachment #5 that showed that DVDFab actually upgraded my DVDFab All-In-One License.

Which is the option I choose when I logged into Member Center at DvdFab.cn.

Despite it being reflected as a "DVDFab All-In-One Lifetime Gift" after I picked upgrade my license in their purchase process and in the 3rd party vendor receipt.

Mike

KidJoe

Interesting. Was there a confirmation screen between entering and submitting payment details? What did it show as total?

I'm surprised it didn't auto select Extended Download, (or did you deselect that before screen shot?)

Usually to get the lowest price you need to own "everything" except maybe 1 thing. If I try to upgrade my Dvdfab all in one, it shows me id have to pay over $200. But I don't own 4 things.

Their response does seem contradictory, I'm hoping they can resolve to your satisfaction.

On a side note, I'll be curious if you can test AI Enlarger with the 2070 vs 3080 from a speed perspective. And what your thoughts on the output are.

I haven't been happy with the results on videos I've enlarged. I don't think they look any better and the process takes 30-40hrs on my i9-10900k with Rtx3060 (was similar with my GTx1660ti)

Chameleon

Hi Mike, I feel you man, I even hurt for you, but this is something you have to get done with support, not on the forum, the StreamFab forum is program issues, not payment problems. Having tried addressing this with the support staff? I hope you get your issue fixed but I doubt anyone will come on the forum and discuss this. Maybe I'm wrong but I wish you luck.

jpp72

Ya that cart is horrible.

I upgraded my license to 3 more computers, paid, but like an hour later, i got an email saying i have the 3 more computers add-on left in my cart. So i paid again, thinking i didn't because i was doing it while coding and might have been distracted. Turns out, i had already paid. I now have 6 extra licenses and paid way more than if i had bought for 5 computers. Didn't make a support ticket cause i didn't want the aggravation of having to explain to an obtuse support person

Mike_M

Interesting. Was there a confirmation screen between entering and submitting payment details? What did it show as total?

1. I'm surprised it didn't auto select Extended Download, (or did you deselect that before screen shot?)

Usually to get the lowest price you need to own "everything" except maybe 1 thing. If I try to upgrade my Dvdfab all in one, it shows me id have to pay over $200. But I don't own 4 things.

Their response does seem contradictory, I'm hoping they can resolve to your satisfaction.

2. On a side note, I'll be curious if you can test AI Enlarger with the 2070 vs 3080 from a speed perspective. And what your thoughts on the output are.

I haven't been happy with the results on videos I've enlarged. I don't think they look any better and the process takes 30-40hrs on my i9-10900k with Rtx3060 (was similar with my GTx1660ti)
KidJoe

Hi KidJoe,

I was not offered any downloads, I guess since It was supposed to be upgrading my existing DVDFab license, although it acted like it was a gift (I guess to myself? ;)) during the purchase process and shopping cart and the receipt from the 3rd party vendor also says it's a DVDFab All-In-One Lifetime Gift.

I did not deselect what was shown.

The kicker is that it actually did apply this process that the receipt from the 3rd party vendor says is a gift as an upgrade to my existing license.

There is some disconnect here.

2. The biggest difference I note is that I can multi-task a lot more with the 3080Ti and not effect the FPS rate, whereas, the 2070 super doesn't allow me that freedom, but the 2070 Super is on a system with 16Gb Ram vs 32Gb here. In order to do a cleaner speed/FPS comparison test, I'd need to use both cards (swap them) in this same system. :)

I've mainly spent time converting older files/series that were sub 720p so far to 720p and I do notice a big difference in quality upscaling them to 720p.

Having this 3080Ti installed in a computer that can either boot to Win 10/64 & Win 11/64 Pro SSD boots, I have done some comparisons with the speed of each.

Win 10 vs Win 11 FPS speed does not seem very different with DVDFab AI upscaling using the same card and computer environment.

Mike

Mike_M

Hi Mike, I feel you man, I even hurt for you, but this is something you have to get done with support, not on the forum, the StreamFab forum is program issues, not payment problems. Having tried addressing this with the support staff? I hope you get your issue fixed but I doubt anyone will come on the forum and discuss this. Maybe I'm wrong but I wish you luck.
Chameleon

Hi Chameleon,

I do understand that this is program support, but also that the main reason for wanting/doing DVDFab AI upscaling is due to StreamFab modules with 720p.

DVDFab sent a recent email highlighting/marketing DVDFab AI upscaling in relationship to StreamFab program and 720p - linking the two.

Sort of like they opened the gate to the "Competitor" software by sending an email with it's name when they inaccurately reported the speed of competitor without considering that the user can change the settings to "realtime" and in most cases it was faster than StreamFab. Unlike the Turbo-Speed toggle in StreamFab which Wilson Wang says actually does nothing and, I believe was mentioned for removal over 1/2 a year ago.

I *tried* emailing DvdFab before the purchase to find out what price I could get before I purchased, but didn't get a response.

The response I got today *was* from support staff.

I don't expect to receive a refund between what it showed/charged or a $30 gift card and probably will just drop the issue, but it's *really* annoying.

Mike

Chameleon

I agree Mike, I feel for you, you shouldn't have to get this many issues.

Mike_M

Update: Just received these two emails this morning, Mona is taking care of this glitch... :D

Email #1

Hi Mike,

Something does seem wrong with your order at the time of your upgrade process. The tech is trying to find out why that changed, however, the image of when the price change is not included, so they cannot find out where the problem is yet. Do you recall any of that?

Regards,

Mona

... and

Email #2 (A few minutes later - After I replied that I sent them all the screen captures I had and it did not show a price change on my screen/browser)

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply. We will partially refund you the order, refunding amount $69.

We may need to use your account for the test, if we do, I will reach out, thanks.

Regards,

Mona

*****************

Much appreciated!

Mike

Blurayfan

Mike I certainly agree with you that is definitely wrong. Glad Mona is working to correct this. IMO the original responder definitely needs to be informed they acted inappropriately.

Mike_M

The saga continues...

DVDFab/Mona wanted to use my ID to do some testing to try to figure out what happened with that purchase for $69 (on my screen) that charged $129 by the 3rd party vendor.

They asked me for my ID/Password to test.

Since then, I was locked out of Member Center (DvdFab.cn), StreamFab and DvdFab software on 10/25/22 since someone evidently changed my password without letting me know.

I had to submit a reset so I could logon to the Member center thru Dvdfab.cn and then get on StreamFab & DvdFab All-in-one licenses.

I've also received a few different emails from DVDFab that Mona told me in email to ignore and that they were continuing to test with my ID to find out what went wrong and why it showed one thing, but charged another.

1. One email I have received since they started testing told me to logon to DvdFab.cn Member center and to complete my $78.99 purchase ($69, +archive, +tax see attached #1)

2. Another email I have received since they started testing told me to logon to DvdFab.cn Member center and to complete the above purchase for $138.99 (cost the 3rd party vendor charged me and they added archive backup see attached #2) .

I actually purchased # 1 above (that's what was on my screen and authorized for Visa w/o the archival backup - I unchecked it).

Today, when I went to use DVDFab All-in-One Lifetime license, it shows I am no longer licensed for many of the modules.

I also should be getting a refund for $69 per Mona.

It's a mess.

All I know is that I *should* be fully licensed for DVDFab All-In-One Lifetime (like I was *before* the testing).

I don't think I want DVDFab to test with my email/ID anymore.

(frustrated) Mike

Mona

It's been restored, sorry for the trouble.

Mike_M

It's been restored, sorry for the trouble.
Mona

Thank you Mona

It looks like everything is back to normal and I have all modules licensed.

Thanks!

Mike

Mike_M

Followup:

Thanks for handling this Mona,

Got the refund of $74.69 per Credit Card statement.

I tested DVDFab AI/Scaler AI/Smoother, the main reason I completed the DVDFAb product for All-In-One Lifetime, and I also trialed Topaz AI and ended up buying it - (they have on sale till 11/7 for $159 - normally $299 - plus used November 15% discount code "GETVIDEOAI" for $135 total).

Currently using Topaz AI 2.54 (older version) and new 3.0.2 (released last month with a lot of new nifty features still has a few bugs in it that they are working on) but not the Stabilization feature.

It flawlessly upscaled some 720p videos from HBOMax and Hulu to 1080p in reasonable time (kick off when I go to bed at night) after I figured out which models to use and the parameters I needed and it can handle three simultaneous instances/conversions on my current new system I built and I can still browse using Chrome.

Again, thank you for looking into this problem with DVDFab billing, testing my ID to figure out what might have gone wrong and getting the refund done.

Mike

US - CST, No VPN, StreamFab 6.0.0.1 Lifetime/full, DVDFab 12.0.9.1 Lifetime/full
Win 10/64 Pro & Win 11/64 Pro, RTX 3080Ti, 32gb Ram
Win 10/64 Pro, RTX 2070 Super on old PC