Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!caip!nike!ucbcad!ucbvax!hplabs!tektronix!tekig5!tekig4!briand From: briand@tekig4.UUCP (Brian Diehm) Newsgroups: net.micro.mac Subject: John Mitchell and FEdit Message-ID: <759@tekig4.UUCP> Date: Mon, 23-Jun-86 16:28:05 EDT Article-I.D.: tekig4.759 Posted: Mon Jun 23 16:28:05 1986 Date-Received: Thu, 26-Jun-86 03:17:54 EDT Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR Lines: 57 Keywords: mail fraud As many of you have complained, Mr. John Mitchell, author of FEdit, often does not deliver the goods when presented with shareware money. At the time of my last mention of this on the net, one person suggested that I call the Postal authorities, complaining of mail fraud. After all, he did cash my check. I am doing exactly that today. I AM ASKING THAT ANYONE ELSE ON THE NET WHO HAS BEEN SIMILARLY TREATED DO THE SAME --- simply call your post office and ask for the phone number of the nearest Postal Inspectors. Usually these are in the larger cities. The more complaints, the more impetus to action. DO NOT BE MISLED by a recent posting wherein someone stated that Mr. Mitchell's intent was to hold the orders until the "latest version" was out, at least until you read the details of my transactions below. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On December 28, 1985, I sent a $30 check to Mr. Mitchell. This was negotiated on January 15, 1986. I received no acknowledgement, no offer of an upgrade at cost, and certainly no documentation. On April 14, tired of waiting, I sent Mr. Mitchell a certified letter of com- plaint, in which I documented the transaction and asked for fulfillment of the contractual obligation implied by his cashing my check. On May 16, I received my certified letter back, marked "Unclaimed." Since my correspondent had meanwhile suggested the Postal Inspectors, I got their number while picking up the returned letter. The same day, before I called the Postal Inspectors, I checked my unix email. A correspondent at Apple, who shall remain nameless, informed me that Mr. Mitchell had been employed by Apple, and that Mr. Mitchell claimed that he had recently caught up on his correspondence with FEdit and that ALL ORDERS HAD BEEN FILLED at that time. That is why I say don't be misled by the recent posting. My response was to ask the correspondent to pass a message to Mr. Mitchell, detailing my story, and stating my intent to go to the Postal Inspectors if I did not receive satisfaction. However, since a new channel of communication (unix email) was now open to Mr. Mitchell, I was willing to wait two weeks for a response before doing so. It has been over a month now, and no response from Mr. Mitchell. However, I cannot guarantee that my Apple correspondent did indeed pass on the message, though I have every reason to believe he acted in good faith. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Therefore I am taking what action I can. I do not expect it will do much good. However, the impression I get from Mr. Mitchell's alleged statements is that he is either extremely disorganized or extremely arrogant, possibly both. I would be delighted to be proved incorrect. I do understand that some people have had excellent response when sending in money for FEdit, I just wish I were one. If you do send in a check, I would suggest that a Certified Letter will probably not get delivered, though it probably would be safer from a legal point of view. -Brian Diehm Tektronix, Inc. (SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply)