If I buy a car and a month later they don't want to give me a feature that was originally included in my purchase yes I will complain.

"Live Updates" is not a new feature from a newer model remote, it is something that was included and promised when I purchased my remote. It is something that was needed to configure my current system and something I expected may sometime be needed to support a future configuration of my system. I am very unhappy to see this disabled.

Sorry due to our distribution problem we are recalling and immediately uninstalling the braking system on your car... Please visit one of our "Authorized" dealers to make a purchase if you want your car to stop.

Henry- I just did it again. No problem. Maybe the MX-950 has not been restricted like the MX-850. All of the downloaded file had MX-950 in the name.

I guess they did not restrict the MX-950. Just tried the MX-850 again and it is still blocked. Wierd but what can you expect considering this fiasco.

It says what I do and you are probably the first to see it or comment on it. It is only there to save the place for our new website.I am not a web designer. I am a CI. It was something we threw together in 5 minutes when our old hosting service went out of business. The new website is being worked on by the same people that are did our scrapbook store site. The scrapbook store is my wife's endeavor. Attacking me will not get you the software. A few semi-local clients have already emailed with proof of purchase from authorized dealers and they now have the software, I haven't charged anyone a penny. Some are further away from me than you are.
WC, I am not ashamed of anything I say or do anyone can call me or email me anytime. Your profile screams anonymity.

Myabe because the 950 has yet to be WHORED as extensivly as the 850 was?

Really! Then I guess this question begs to be answered. Who is the pimp?

I applaud URC for their new policy, although this won’t be a popular position on this forum. We and other URC dealers started out selling URC products years ago, at deeply discounted prices and sold a lot of remotes. Then URC came out with a policy that in order to call yourself and be listed as an “authorized dealer” you had to advertise at MSRP. If you did not comply, your supply was cut off. Dealers had a choice, follow the policy and buy direct and stay in good favor with URC or break the rules get cut off then look for secondary sources to get remotes. Dealers like us and others listed as “authorized” on URC site who decided to take the legit path found sales decimated by those dealers that took the other path. We had a hard time blaming anyone who bought remotes at large discounts, but we sure felt crapped on just for taking the ethical path and following the rules. This new URC policy will hopefully level the playing field and give us a chance to compete. I am not saying what price these remotes should be sold at, but if URC is going to insist that authorized dealers advertise at MSRP and they let unauthorized dealers and ebay sellers continue unabated, it’s just not a fair situation and it had to be addressed.

URC is following in the steps that RTI used to protect the product value in the market place, and support their dealers. When RTI pulled the ability of dealers to sell on the net, a lot of people thought that this move would kill them. This was far from the case; RTI has prospered and come out with a ton of great new products since making this move. CI installers love them because they work, and if the sell a remote to a customer at $500 their customers don’t come back pissed they saw the same thing on Ebay for $300. The other thing RTI accomplished with the “CI only” move was to offload all tech support to the CI professionals and dealers; if you call RTI as a end user, you will get the stock answer “call your dealer or installer. I know after having talked to the URC support guys that they are busy and I am sure cutting support cost is an additional motivating factor in this move. Let face it the URC remotes are not tough to program but some end users can not set a clock on a VCR and they eat up a lot of support time.

If this policy works out you might ending up thinking twice about buying from unauthorized dealers, but remember most authorized dealers were always willing to sell at a fair price if you called them and asked. A fair price is not the Ebay $2 over cost price, if you expect real support and the dealer to be around to offer it.

As I said to start out, I applaud URC for their move. I do share some concerns though about how they plan to handle the customers that did buy from authorized sources. I hope that URC moves quickly to give legitimate customers (I wont argue what constitutes legitimate) access to needed software and live updates in a timely manner.

My 2 cents

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Cause they are trying to make peace with all the complaining CI's who whine and complain about how their line is unprotected instead of instead justifying their prices to customers with what they have to offer, ie: custom expertise. If you don't like your shrinking profit margins, go find another brand to sell.

Curious as nobody has commented on my mention of trans-shipping. It seems like some of the dealers here might know about that.

I'm a CI.

I sell, install and program RTI for the 2 reasons that are most important:

1. The RF is great.
2. They work. No customers calling at 11:30 PM.

URC's policies, prodecures and what-not do not affect me.

One curiosity has stuck with me as I read this entire thread.... which started getting really monotonous.... is:

Those of you that either bought from Ebay and are now screwed or feel that CI's are out to do nothing but screw everybody.... what do YOU do for a living?

Just curious...

Who was attacking you?

I just question your business accumen, your ethics and your abilities. You know...what you posed about buyer beware. You are not listed on URC's website as an "authorized" reseller.

Nothing personal.

Annonimity...I use my real name online...and you are CCD...hmmmm...OH!!!! I have never needed to even look at my profile as I am who I am right upfront.

Looks like URC has decided that to differentiate their two lines (consumer and professional) they have to take measures to make sure the professional line is only serviced by authorized dealers.

The problem, of course, is that they haven't done that before, and a lot of people bought their remotes (authorized or not) based on this information.

I see what they are trying to do here, but they should have done it with new remotes or a new line altogether, not retroactively trying to enforce it with their existing line. I would never buy a Crestron remote from anyone, let alone eBay. Why? Because I know it is going to be a constant hassle to get it programmed, and that means I can't make little tweaks on the fly as I go along.

Dumb business move, but I guess we all know that by now.

Sean

The dealers listed on URC's site are "larger direct dealers" there are many dealer that are not listed that are perfectly legit dealers that offer the same support. This is a beef of mine with them. I think that the distribution channels that I buy through should be shut down or cut down. I think that there should only be direct dealers so as to give URC more control. Maybe this will be the next shoe to fall. I sure hope. They have a wonderful model to follow with what RTI has done.
WC not to push the personal thing any further but why do you quote gas prices in Liters? Were you a big fan of the failed US changover to the metric system or are you not in the US? Not a jab or anything just thought it interesting.

Has anyone ever read the warranty?
It clearly states that remotes bought on auction sites have no warranty(from MX-850 manual). I read that as they will not receive any support period. I can sort of feel for you unlucky ones that bought from Costco, but Ebay, I don't think so. You people should know better.

I spoke to an attorney and he said that you cannot sue URC for this - your contract is with the seller, not URC. So, if the seller cannot get you the software, send the remote back or sue them.

I bought my remote from a store not ebay... I have no idea if they were "authorized".

I work for a company that makes high performance engine and transmission parts some used for street and also for drag racing. We are world famous in our field, sponser many races and racers as well as have our own race car. We make what is considered the best product available in most of what we manufacture.

The expertise in using our products goes far beyond that needed to program a remote and what can go wrong if improperly used can be much worse also.

Yet we stand behind every product we manufacture no matter where it was obtained. We know if it is our product it came from us and we would give support if it was purchased on ebay new or second hand. Funny thing is most of our products on ebay sell for more than we sell them for.

We also get constant phone calls for support and spend considerable customer service hours helping customers using products manufactured by our competition.

MX-900 software is still available on the URC website:
[Link: universalremote.com]

This is not the "new" software, its what you could have downloaded prior to Aug 1st. It can be updated with "live update" to version 1.10.086.