There is a world outside the USA and Canada

Caroluk · Post by **Caroluk** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:25 pm

I have always bought the latest PhotoImpact box from Ulead on the day it was released. But not now that Corel have the reins. It seems they cant handle overseas sales, and the rest of the world must wait till the unspecified date when it is made available on local sites.

This is totally disgraceful. Corel, what you do is charge our credit cards then get Fedex to deliver the parcel. It is something all major sites have mastered so why are Corel so backward?

Before you swallow up any more superior software firms, consider whether you are capable of delivering the service they delivered. If not, leave it alone. And send someone on your sales staff to business school to learn how to handle international sales efficiently - setting up minor sites for other countries and keeping would-be buyers waiting months for products is NOT handling international sales efficiently.

Post by **Ron P.** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:27 pm

So where are you located that you can not get the current release? It has been out for some time now. If you're in the UK, you certainly can obtain it. It is not Corel's fault what the UK allows or disallows, or if certain taxes, or duty fees make it cost prohibited.

This is not an uncommon practice. For instance recently they released the next version of VideoStudio in Japan. However several other countries must wait a couple of months. There are few that may lag behind a complete version.

There is more to doing business globally then just putting something up for sale on a web site. Governments may prohibit business in some locations, and this must be adhered to, or else criminal penalties could be levied against the companies..

Caroluk,

You've been a member of this board long enough to know that any Corel or former Ulead reps do not visit this board, and that it is monitored and ran by product users. So posting messages like this, is not going to be seen by any Corel employees, or Reps.

Caroluk · Post by **Caroluk** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:11 pm

vidoman wrote:

So where are you located that you can not get the current release? It has been out for some time now. If you're in the UK, you certainly can obtain it. It is not Corel's fault what the UK allows or disallows, or if certain taxes, or duty fees make it cost prohibited.

If you try to purchase the box from the UK, and I don't want the download, you can put it in your cart and check out, but then you are told that it cannot be purchased from your address, and you are switched to Corel UK where the latest version available is v. 12. I have been trying regularly since I received the notification that it was available. And it IS Corel's fault. Other sites manage to apply UK taxes and despatch to us.

I have already emailed my opinion of this to Corel when X3 was first released, and not had the courtesy of a reply. My hope is that other would-be European, Australian, and world-wide purchasers who see this thread may also apply pressure to Corel over this.

Meanwhile, it seems I have to wait till Amazon.com start selling it, or get a US friend to buy it for me and ship it to me. It is a ridiculous situation that never arose with Ulead.

Post by **Ron P.** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:20 pm

You could try to telephone and ask them why you can not purchase the box version.

Corel World Wide Phone Numbers

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:34 am

Hmmm it's worse than that, I just checked and not only is there a problem with no boxed version, the current Download version is showing as Photo Impact 12.

I will send an email to Corel to get them to clarify the UK position.
Corel have been migrating the former Ulead Websites to new Corel Servers and changing the corporate appearance to their own. I suspect it might be an error.

Caroluk · Post by **Caroluk** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:03 pm

sjj1805 wrote:Hmmm it's worse than that, I just checked and not only is there a problem with no boxed version, the current Download version is showing as Photo Impact 12.

I will send an email to Corel to get them to clarify the UK position.
Corel have been migrating the former Ulead Websites to new Corel Servers and changing the corporate appearance to their own. I suspect it might be an error.

No, it isn't an error. I came across another UK user on another forum who bought the X3 download from the Corel US site. At the very last operation in the purchase process the $US were converted to £GB, but she did not notice till she got her bank statement that the price charged was £38 (about $75) higher than the exchange rate.

She wrote to Corel to protest and ask for a refund of the overcharge. Corel's reply was that she should not have bought from the US site, but should have waited till it appeared on the UK site when it would only be a little more expensive than it is in the USA. (No explanation was given as to why it should be any more expensive at all, but a straight conversion of $1=£1 is a very common ripoff over here, despite the reality being that $1.99=£1, so I suppose that if Corel charge less than that they think they are being fair with us.)

Corel refused to refund the difference and said that they would be willing to make a full refund, but she would have to remove the program from her computer and wait till it became available in the UK.

I am afraid this is no mistake, but deliberate Corel policy.

Caroluk · Post by **Caroluk** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:11 am

I now have my copy of PI X3, bought for me by a friend in the USA and sent to me by mail. It is a roundabout way of doing business, but it seems to be the only way to get a copy with a paper manual and a CD if you live in Europe. My husband, who is not so hung up on a paper manual as I, bought the download upgrade from Corel, and he was charged the correct amount. Whether it is because he already had an a/c with Corel, or because the woman on the other forum was just unlucky, we don't know. But my advice to any European wanting the box would be to find a friend in the USA - or Australia, you can already buy it there. I reimbursed my friend via Paypal and the whole transaction was very smooth.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:00 am

Glad you've now got a copy. I am still surprised that PI12 is still the current version on the Corel UK site.

oglitsch · Post by **oglitsch** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:04 pm

The same happens to me here in Switzerland: I bougth the upgrade for US$ 49.95 at Ulead's online shop. After the transaction I got the receipt showing EUR 54! Thats almost double the price!!! After a longsome search for a phone number on Corel's website I finally could contact a support person. The answer was, that they would escalate the problem and get in contact with me. Since then I never heared anything from Corel.

And the coronation of the whole story: I am no able to run PhotoImpact X3 on my computer. Installation is done trouble-free, but after double-clicking the program file, it loads for a while and then PIX3 crashes without any message... Congratulations, Corel.