I had made a very clear posting about this and had my thead closed!!!! I paid a user on here who had in thier sig they were a vb staff member (to the effect of it) and he uploaded a hacked vb on our servers. Here is my letter I sent back to my ISP

December 15, 2004
Attention:
Sarah J. Finn,
Subject: www.sprnch.com

This letter is just to inform you that I have attempted to contact Howard G Spinks via email and phone with no avail.

I have online www.sprnch.com that uses this software. I had this software installed by a Gary King whom I was under the impression worked for Jelsoft. (xxxxx@rogers.com; xxxxx@rogers.com and xxxx@gmail.com). After installation I paid this person via paypal (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) I also paid a remainder via bank transfer.

After receiving your notice I had no proof of ownership I then obtained a licence directly from Jelsoft. Payment also by paypal. (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) Info as follows:

vBulletin Owned License (edited) - Branding free option
purchased
Customer Number: (edited)
Customer Password: (edited)
I have spoken to the admin on this website about this issue and received a email from Steve Machol (Customer Support Manager, vBulletin) He said he saw a user by the name “Gary King” on the site that uses this name and he is following up on it.

If you need any more information please contact me.
Sincerely yours,

Now Steve Machol messages me back (KEEP IN MIND VB IS DEMANDING I REMOVE MY SITE) and says he has spoken to Gary King and he has changed his sig and he has locked the thread I posted warring users about him.

I am like... ok THIS GUY is pirating your software.... and you let him stay on? On top of that you hide my post to others?
This was his response (un edited)
================================================== =======
Unread Yesterday, 10:41pm
Steve Machol Steve Machol is offline
vBulletin Team
Support Manager

Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Arizona
Age: 52
Posts: 51,992
Re: Gary King
I have responded properly. You have bought a license and that is the end of the matter. Our 'lawyers' are not threatening you at all.

We are NOT responsible for your problems with a third-party transaction that we did not have any involvemewnt with. Nor are you allowed to use our forums to cary on a campaign against this person or anyone else.

Please respect our decision and the rules of our forum. Thank you.

Any further PMs our communication to me on this issue will not be welcome. I have explained this to you aver and over again and I'm afraid my patience does have limits.

Steve

================================================== ========
This was my response (un edited)
Read what I am about to say clearly.

You last post to me give strong implications you are threating me in some type of manner.

I was advised MANYTIMES to goto vbulleting.org for custom work. BY your staff members. this Gary King guy gave a strong implication that he was a staff member. if he didnt you wouldnt ask him to change anything. I am now getting the impression that if I continue aproaching you on this subject I will be what? Banned? License removed? I have made a copy of this and am awaiting your response.

Your lawyer 100% threatend me legally about this. I was given a DMCA notice.

Dont threaten me about me telling you about pirates that are selling your software on your site.

Then have the gall to try and have my site taken down becuase of it.

I am waiting for your reply.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now if this gets closed you know something is going on.
What you guys make of this? I have made a police report as well but I am now getting the impression that the Gary King guy is more connected than we think. I even see on this site he is using other people's code bragging it is his own.

I am at a loss of words.

You do not know what your talking about.
He is talking about payments for a service not a product.
Please dont mis inform people.

I have read the TOS of vbulleting.org and rules on posting....
Now that that is out of the way... this is the original PMs
---------------------------------------------------------
Re: Gary King
He removed all advertisements of vB services from his sig as I requested. This is now between you and him. As I explained before we were not a party to any third-party transactions between you two. If you had contacted us prior to paying him, you could have avoided this whole situation. Best of luck.

Steve

Quote:
---------------------------------------------------------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Machol
I had told Gary that since he actively advertises his vB services in his sig on these forums that he opened himself up to feedback - both good and bad. He has now removed these advertisements and I have removed your thread from public view. He, of course, is making serious claims about you, and I told him that this matter is between the two of you now and we have no standing in this dispute. Good luck.

Best regards,
Steve
---------------------------------------------------------
I have reported him to paypal and the police (offence o4652463) the reason you became involved is becuase your lawyers asked me to remove the site he put up for me.) I also dont think that removing what I said is fair. It is almost like your protecting him. That is a very unusual response.

I have full paypal, FTP and emal logs to prove he did this. why would you not let other users know this? In fact you your self state he has this stuff in his signature???? very confused on that one.

I tried to inform users on vbulletin.com and got my thread closed. They aparently dont need to have that kind of thing going on.

Gary King has never been listed as a staff member on this site or vBulletin.com, his name on vBulletin.com was not purple and did not say vBulletin staff, he also did not have one of our avatars which all staff members have.

Same goes with here, all of the staff here, our names are bold and as on both .com and here on .org the only staff is listed on the show forum leaders page.

Anything you do with a third party is outside of our control which is what happened.

You also dragged up an 18 month old thread.

Ok you guys glanced over all my jeberish over this right?

here is my original posts BEFORE I even knew what vbulletin.org was. Before I bought the software from Gary King and before I bought the real software from Vbulletin. PLEASE note who is talking to me.

Hit #1:http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showp...5&postcount=20
Hit #2:http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showp...7&postcount=21
Hit #3:http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showp...80&postcount=4

How it started
Hit #1:http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showp...67&postcount=1
Hit #2:http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...944#post765944

The post vbulletin REMOVED
http://216.239.63.104/search?q=cache...ient=firefox-a

Proof Gary King did my site (now taken down)

Gary's sig when I hired him
http://216.239.63.104/search?q=cache...ient=firefox-a
Garys sig now
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/member.php?u=29846


and keep in mind Floris in this thread (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89197) says:
- Inform yourself and Jelsoft
All license and sales questions are done through sales@vBulletin.com. Don't be shy in asking for help or advice, or in reporting suspicious actions. It would be a shame to help others with their piracy, it would be a shame to help Jelsoft lose money, and it would be a shame to find out you have been ripped off, and worst of all, it would be a shame for the pirates to get off scot-free at your expense.

So?
You told me to come here to find a vbulletin "hacker"
Your point Zachery?

Yes we told you to lookhere for customizations not purchasing a license.

Let me be clear. You set up a site. vbulletin.com
Then you tell customers to goto vbulletin.org for cutom code.
vbulletin.com owns vbulletin.org

I find a user on both sites that is a member and says he is a pro at what he does.

this is after you refer me.

the user give me illegal stuff.
the user scams me of money

I report it to vbulletin.com
you remove it
I get mild hints to stop talking about it.
you say here (erwin) to post what happens

and you now say this is old? you now say "Anything you do with a third party is outside of our control which is what happened."

This seems to me to be full control by you and your staff.

other NON vb users am I right here? WHAT is going on with the wishy washy illegal support here? I have PROFF. FTP logs IP's MSN logs PAYPAL email transfers, managers at my bank. my ISP, YOUR LAWYERS.

what the ++++ is going on?

you know what? Let me start my Acrobat Now... I smell some money.

HOW CAN I GET A CUSTOMIZATION with out a LICENCE? How can I even "look" here with out a license??????

Maybe you know a few people that can help me out in this department since you told me to come here in the first place.

T3MEDIA.... I read your posts in this thread and on the surface I would be sympathetic to your position however,...

I read the threads you linked to and
a) vbulletin staff told you repeatedly that they weren't going to customize the software and if you wanted the additional functionality that you were seeking you would have to modify the source code and such modifications were already released to the vbulletin community as a resource on vbulletin.org

You were adamant about not modifying anything (incidentally, alot of companies buy off the shelf software that they customize in house). I can only speculate but I can imagine that someone contacted you and said, yes I can provide you with a vbulletin liscence with the functionality you wanted.

That right there should have been your first warning sign since vbulletin staff aka the company told you that they didnt do this nad would not do this. Yet you decided on your own to allow someone to do the alterations you were so adamant against in the first place. I can surmise that you were offered a deal that was 'too good to be true' and it just so happened that it was.

I could even try to understand your position about the recommendation to come here yet Zach specifically and clearly stated in his post that you would be working with a THIRD PARTY. I dont see a correlation between third party and jelsoft.

Furthermore, in one of the threads you linked to you said:

"it seems it’s just a bunch of guys practicing on your software to make it better. Mind you there seem to be some really talented people there. I do not wish this to be an option. I am not doing this for a hobby or fun"

Yet thats exactly what you did... o.O

Again, on the surface I can understand your frustrations but that isnt the fault of jelsoft of the vbulletin support team.

edit: incidentally,... I dont believe Gary Kings original signature indicated he was affiliated with vb either, only that his work was professional in quality.

My first expierence ended on a decent note itself. I was looking for a custom style and deposited money into the paypal acct. The person told me it would take approx 3-4 weeks. And as this time approached, he got harder and harder to reach and each time he gave me a different excuse as to what was going on.

I had finally tracked his Phone # down (love the net), and called him. And after a total of 6 weeks, I finally had enough of the excuses of 'i had to totally recode it' or 'Had this problem' or 'I was busy with something'. I told him I wanted a refund, had to even threaten small claims court. :/

But I did get my money back.

And please don't PM me, I will not divulge who it was since it did end reasonably.

• All services provided on vBulletin.org are provided by third parties without warranty from Jelsoft, either expressed or implied.
• You can see a list of vBulletin Employees at www.vbulletin.com/forum/showgroups.php. Those listed as Moderators are paid employees of Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.
• The only legitimate places to buy a vBulletin license at this time are www.vbulletin.com and www.vbulletin-germany.com.
• A purchase anywhere else does not enter you into a contract with Jelsoft and may be a pirated copy. Always check with vBulletin support before entering any agreement to purchase a copy of the software from a third party.

We will be looking to how people can offer their services on this site until such time as any changes are made, it is recommended to use trusted developers and legally binding contracts to protect yourself.