A continuing tragedy
But gettting close to being solved...
I thought I would put the latest info at the top of the page. After the disaster with StoreFront software, I was amazed that they did not have the integrity to refund at least part of the money after never being able to get their software to work, but I will write it off as "tuition" in the school of ecommerce. I discovered the www.getafreelancer.com website and described the site requirements and found someone to fully implement ecommerce and he did a great job. A great job of getting me to 95% complete, then he abandoned me. After a month of relentlessly pestering him and getting nowhere, I posted the job of finishing the site and landed another programmer who quickly moved it to 99% complete and then he abandoned me. After weeks of sending unanswered emails to try and get the last bit completed, I posted the job again to finish the site and they are working on it now and should have it finished in the next few days. Then I will run it in trial mode for a few days and it should be ready and tested by the first of December. I amnot holding my breath though.
The new site will be http://www.supermagnetman.net and it actually works now, but it is not 100% clean in all areas but several people have found it already and placed orders there so it may work for you but you are warned that we are still working on the final tweaks - such as multi-line address fields and some error handling issues. This existing site will remain active for quite some time since so many customers have bookmarked it.
For over a year I have wanted to have complete online ordering system for you, my customers. I have tried a variety of approaches and finally in December, 2005, I paid a small fortune for the StoreFront software. It has been a terrible experience. This has to be the worst software I have ever tried to use in over 25 years of computer work. After 2 long months I don't think I am any closer to having an order processed online than I was before I wasted my money. I could not recommend this software for anyone. Parts of it look simple and look really cool, however the program does not do the #1 thing - process online orders. The certificate installation process is far more complex than anything I saw in all of my training as an MCSE in the world of Windows software. I am working diligently with a new web hosting company to try and get the certificate crap installed and it is like chopping down a giant redwood tree with a rubber hatchet. If it is possible to one day have it working I will move quickly to make this available to my customers. Thanks for your patience as I plod along with my archaic system.
Now here I am in August of 2006 and StoreFront has painfully lead me through many more hoops and now I have the payment processing system operational and everything works and my preliminary tests are OK. The lone remaining problem is that the software will not send the customer an email. Of course, it is supposed to but it is not doing it. It generates some active x error and only sends me an email with the barest of order details. For some reason they thought it was OK to send me info about the order in this format:
Order Summary:
Order ID: 1017
Order Total: Merchandise Total: $5.00
Discounts: $0.00
Sub-Total: $5.00
Local Tax: $0.00
State/Province Tax: $0.00
Country Tax: $0.00
Shipping: $1.00
Handling: $0.00
Order Total: $6.00
Gift Certificate: $0.00
Grand Total: $6.00
Billing Information:
Name: George Mizzell
Company:
Address1: 1836 Canyon Road
Address2:
City: Birmingham State: AL Zip: 35216
Country: US
Phone:
Fax: None
E-Mail Address:
Payment Method: PayPal
Shipping Information:
Name: George Mizzell
Company:
Address1: 1836 Canyon Road
Address2:
City: Birmingham State: AL Zip: 35216
Country: US
Phone:
Fax: None
E-Mail Address:
Shipping Method: Standard
These products will be shipped to the above address:
1.
Product ID: Rect0750
Quantity: 5
Product Name: Rectangle
Product Description: [ProductDescription]
Price: $1.00
Attributes (if any):
There does not seem to be a way to make their sorry software actually change this format and make it more like a tabular listing and include the product description. It writes product description, it just doesn't include it. I don't know what it sends the customer since it hasn't sent anything yet.
Now comes the clincher - after all this hard work and now being down to hopefully the last step, StoreFront is holding back and has not replied to my numerous attempts to get this final answer. They have an extortion fee that they charge for the final answer and they want me to sign up for an extremeluy overpriced support package to hjelp fix their crappy software and make it work. It would be like me selling you unmagnetized magnets and then charging you double the price to magnetize them. Since it is very important that I get this working I will pay their blackmail but their tactics has generated an intense hatred that I have never had for any corporate entity before them. If anyone ever suggest StoreFront software - take my advice and RUN from them. Run hard and fast until you are exhausted and then run some more.
This software has no order management system whatsoever and now that I have been delving deep into it, it is missing most of the items I consider basic essentials for online commerce.