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TrainController UK price hike


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It would have come up then because that is when he banned sales of the products to any State that had voted for Trump ;)

It seems he is making a political/ethical statement about who he prefers to trade with. In the same way that people make ethical decisions about who they choose to buy from.

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It seems he is making a political/ethical statement about who he prefers to trade with. In the same way that people make ethical decisions about who they choose to buy from.

 

Not the same thing.

 

Someone/A company selling an item can be unethical and then I can decide not to buy it as I know the stance of the organisation.

 

Deciding not to sell to a state which support Trump means everyone in that state is then penalised regardless of how they voted, or even if they voted, it's the same for his logic regarding the UK - he'll be in apoplexy if Germany vote for something he dislikes.

 

I wonder if he checks the source of every component in everything he buys to make sure he agrees with their politics - I hope he's not using a PC ...

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Not the same thing.

 

 

 

Deciding not to sell to a state which support Trump means everyone in that state is then penalised regardless of how they voted, or even if they voted,

Off topic, but more people voted for Hillary Clinton than voted for Donald Trump.

The winner is decided on each state's electoral college votes. So a small majority in a state normally means the candidate gets all the votes of that state.

A large majority doesn't mean more ECVs. That election the ECVs worked against Hillary Clinton, even though more voted for her.

 

Keith

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Back in EU,it is illegal to set a different price to someone in the EU based on where they live (excluding delivery charges), so it seems Freiwald is acting illegally in respect of differential EU-German prices, and with respect to the UK until such time as it leaves the EU ( some years away if the transition Mrs May wants comes to pass). But whether a complaint to the relevant trading standards would achieve anything is another matter

 

Use other software seems the pragmatic choice. ITrain was suggested earlier.

 

Nigel

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Requires a login. Few of us not already using the system are about to sign up now, I suspect.

 

This is what he said on June 17, 2017:

 

"If the current timetable is actually put into practice, the UK will no longer be a member of the EU as of March 29, 2019. From this day on we will treat the UK like any other non-German-speaking country outside of the EU (i.e. like Iceland, Turkey or the Ukraine). This means in particular, that our higher USD prices will then also become valid for the UK. (In non-German-speaking EU countries we are largely tied to our lower EUR prices, which are calculated for Germany, but which do not cover the higher costs of translating the software and its documentation into English).

 

A further complicating factor is the fact that our tax accounting system can not deal with the case, that the VAT for a country falls within a calendar year. (Of course, we could expand our system, but I'm not willing to pay even a single cent for additional effords caused by those brexiteers). Instead it may be, that we will simply close our shop for the UK between January 01, 2019 and March 29, 2019.

 

At the moment, there is a good reason for the fact that our Euro prices, which are more favorable compared to USD, will apply to users in the UK only until December 31, 2018."

 

And then later in the thread

 

 

icon_arrow.gif Before 2015 we had to treat all EU customers like German customers. The German VAT rate applied and we had to transfer the VAT in the same way as for German customers.

icon_arrow.gif Since 2015 we have to treat EU customers according to their country. The VAT rate of the customer's country applies and we have to declare for each individual EU country the total VAT amount for all customers in this country. The additional efforts and the on average higher VAT rates caused us to increase the prices in the EU (outside Germany) from 2015.

icon_arrow.gif If "Brexit means Brexit" and no VAT will apply anymore, then we will treat all UK customers like all other customers in non German speaking countries outside the EU (USA, Norway, Russia, North Korea, etc.); as if there is no VAT at all and payment/prices in USD. However: if this change takes place in the middle of a year (e.g. in March 2019), we will stop selling to the UK between January 2019 and March 2019, because our accounting system does not support such change in the middle of a year (and no, we will not spend any efforts to extend our system to support such things).

icon_arrow.gif Switzerland is a special case. We have not fully understand their plans for 2019 and later, but it is my impression, that they try to channel off Swiss VAT for cross border sales to Switzerland. If this change would generate even the smallest extra bureaucracy for us, we would very likely stop selling to Switzerland from 2019.

 

Even more: we are not even willing to "learn" the regulations of each individual country. If we have only the impression, that selling to a certain country may raise complications for us, we don't spend time to learn. We simply stop selling there.

Edited by RFS
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I can't see a problem really. He clearly doesn't like countries that don't vote how he wants them to, and people in those countries can pay less for alternative software. Everybody wins, he gets to feel all good about how upright he is and potential customers get to pay a lot less for an alternative product. Happy days all round.

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Mr Friewald... Er wird ernten, was er sät [Will reap what he sows!]

 

Germany thinks the UK needs them, Merc, BMW, VW, Skoda, etc, kitchen appliances etc, etc.

 

Germany and France have both looked after themselves in the EU. The two richest nations in the bloc, at the expense of all others I think.

 

The Germans have more to lose than we do.

 

That said it is not an easy decision or situation for all those that have purchased TrainController.

 

I am going with iTrain.

Edited by model-trains
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I see two problems.

1. Herr Freiwald gives the impression he thinks on his feet rather than planning for all eventualities, and also seems to make irrational business decisions/announcements based on politics, not good business practice.

Which is somewhat ironic, given that he's criticising Trump....

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If I have read everything correctly for the next few months if you buy Tain control. You buy it at a high price for a reseller. First question does this now mean that Thier is a company in the UK selling it if so can we now get phone support to a UK number. Secondly if we have a problems and bought it for the reseller who do we get support from.

 

Richard

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If I have read everything correctly for the next few months if you buy Tain control. You buy it at a high price for a reseller. First question does this now mean that Thier is a company in the UK selling it if so can we now get phone support to a UK number. Secondly if we have a problems and bought it for the reseller who do we get support from.

Richard

The name of the reseller is ShareIt. I have googled them and can't find any info about them and any connection to selling Traincontroller, so I am at a loss to what extent any support or comeback you would have. Freiwald has stated that the contract to buy will be with them, but you still get the download from freiwald. Personally I like to know whom I'm dealing with. As to phone support I'm of the opinion there won't be none Edited by Andymsa
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http://www.shareit.com redirects to http://www.mycommerce.com which is a Digital River platform used by several companies to receive payments internationally - think of it like Paypal for companies.

 

These aren't agents as we understand, they are merely a transaction processing company and your contract will still be with RailRoad and Co, though at the increased price :(

 

I am only guessing that this is what he means, and given his statements, I could well be very wrong.

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The name of the reseller is ShareIt. I have googled them and can't find any info about them and any connection to selling Traincontroller, so I am at a loss to what extent any support or comeback you would have. Freiwald has stated that the contract to buy will be with them, but you still get the download from freiwald. Personally I like to know whom I'm dealing with. As to phone support I'm of the opinion there won't be none

 

My understanding is that Sharelt is just the handling agent for the sale, and therefore will not be providing any technical support which will still be via Freiwald. If you have issues or questions, by far the best way is to raise them on the forum.  Freiwald prefers it that way as your question and answer is seen by everyone else on the forum and hence the knowledge is shared. 

Edited by RFS
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http://www.shareit.com redirects to http://www.mycommerce.com which is a Digital River platform used by several companies to receive payments internationally - think of it like Paypal for companies.

 

These aren't agents as we understand, they are merely a transaction processing company and your contract will still be with RailRoad and Co, though at the increased price :(

 

I am only guessing that this is what he means, and given his statements, I could well be very wrong.

Thanks Iain for clarification on the reseller.

 

"How does the purchase of products from Freiwald Software via this external service provider work?

In the process itself, there are not much changes for you as a buyer. You can put all desired items in our web shop in the shopping cart as before. At the end of the purchase process you do not pay directly to us, but you are automatically directed to a form of the external service provider and conclude the purchase process there. You make the payment to this service provider. This service provider is officially your seller in this process."

 

The last part is of interest, I would surmise that freiwald will consider any contract of sale to be between buyer and the reseller and any issues should of the transaction be taken up with them. What is not clear from his site FAQ is what liability does he still have after the transaction. So let's take for example non delivery of the USB stick who is libel here, the stick is sent by freiwald not the reseller. I would feel more happy having more clear info from freiwald on buying problems

Edited by Andymsa
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Not sure of the legal situation while the UK is still in the EU, but I can sympathise somewhat with the unwillingness to sell to countries where the regulations make this more complicated. 

 

However this isn't just a one-off purchase.  Some of us have expended considerable amounts of money with Freiwald, not to mention the amount of time needed to configure the layout in the software.  If cut off from future updates all this may be wasted. 

 

I took a look at the iTrain manual.  It doesn't do all I would like but it does a lot.  The latest Freiwald upgrade seems underwhelming in its features so I will be holding off buying either until either the next iTrain appears with the promise of British signals, or the Brexit situation is resolved in a way that takes us back to the status quo on buying TC. 

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http://www.shareit.com redirects to http://www.mycommerce.com which is a Digital River platform used by several companies to receive payments internationally

That's interesting as who sells you TrainController. = Digital River

Weren't they the company that actually supplied Freiwald's payment process in the past?

Nothing's changed then!

 

Keith

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