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Our Policies:
 Privacy Policy
Return Policy
"Bug" Policy
Software Activation Policy
Copyright
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Privacy Policy:
Q-Built Solutions is the sole owner of the information collected on this Web site. We only gather information we need to serve you better and will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement, except in cases where in good faith we believe that the law requires us to do so, it is necessary to protect Q-Built Solutions' rights and/or property, or if circumstances necessitate acting to protect the personal safety of the public or our staff.
For projects, we treat all files and data from clients and potential clients as "confidential" and will delete all of a client's data from our computers when:
1.) The project is completed, or
2.) 7 days after we receive the files for a free cost and time estimate for completing the project if the client does not accept our services (this ensures that there's no delay for redoing preliminary work if clients change their minds), or
3.) Less than 7 days if the client contacts us and requests that we delete these files prior to the standard waiting period.
For audit purposes, we keep a copy of any forms signed by clients and a copy of all written correspondence.
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Return Policy:
Our software at Q-Built Solutions is 100% guaranteed. If you purchase a software application from Q-Built Solutions and decide to return it for any reason, please notify us within 45 days of purchase, and we will refund 100% of the amount you paid (less any shipping and handling charges). If you contact us after 45 days but within 60 days of purchase and request a refund, we will refund 75% of the amount you paid (less any shipping and handling charges). 25% of the amount will be charged as an administrative fee. No refunds after 60 days.
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"Bug" Policy
Our software at Q-Built Solutions is 100% guaranteed. If you purchase a custom-built software application from Q-Built Solutions and find a "bug" within 90 days of purchase, we will fix the "bug" for free.
Our definition of a "bug" is a deviation from the written list of requirements and specifications agreed to by the customer and Q-Built Solutions. We guarantee that our custom-built software will work on the specifically-configured platform or platforms that it was designed for, but we cannot always guarantee that our custom-built software will work on every platform.
We mention this because occasionally customers have upgraded their operating system or installed new software after we've successfully installed our custom-built software on their computers. The upgrade, patch, or new software may be incompatible with the currently installed software, which may negatively affect our custom-built application's operations. In this case, we can provide an estimate of the cost and schedule to fix any problems with the new configuration, but we can't fix bugs that are due to unanticipated configuration changes for free. However, if the bug is our fault, we will be happy to fix it as quickly as possible at no charge to you.
The bottom line is, if it's our fault, we'll fix it for free within the 90-day window.
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Software Activation Policy:
Frankly, we loathe software activation, which has become more and more common as a means for software vendors to combat software piracy. It wastes the customer's time and assumes the customer's criminal intent to pirate the software unless this action is prevented by the software vendor. Many customers find software activation so annoying that they will buy an older version of the application or even buy a competitor's product, whose features aren't quite as good, just to avoid having to deal with software activation. (We've done this many times, ourselves.)
Software piracy, unfortunately, is a major problem in some regions of the world. A recent study from the Business Software Alliance reports that 36% of software is pirated worldwide, while a few countries in Asia exceed 90%. We, like other software vendors, are in business to make a profit and can ill afford to give away all of our products for free. (Don't worry. Some of our products will always be free and are available for download by anyone who has a computer and an Internet connection.) But there has got to be a better way to prevent software piracy than activating every copy of the software application.
We think we've found it.
Why not force the software pirates to activate their software and leave the rest of the legitimate software purchasers in peace? This is easier said than done, of course, but we'll describe our methodology for making this happen. When our software applications are first installed on a computer, the installation procedure will inventory the computer for the most commonly pirated software applications (such as Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, et cetera). If any of these applications are already installed on the computer, then the Windows Registry is checked for the license keys and compared to the most common license keys used for pirated software.
If there are no matches (meaning that the existing applications were legitimately installed on the computer), then our application will finish installing and the user can use the application without having to go through an annoying activation or registration process. All software installations should be this easy.
However, if any of the license keys on the computer match the known pirated keys, then our application won't finish installing on the computer. Our application will generate an installation code based upon the computer's configuration. (Please be assured that no personally identifying information will be used.) The customer will be instructed to contact us with this installation code, along with the purchase number from the customer's receipt, in return for the activation key to finish the installation.
Next, we'll use the purchase number to check our records to ensure that this copy of the application was purchased from us. When we find the purchase record, we'll generate an activation code based upon the installation code and E-mail it to the customer, who will use it to finish the installation of our application on his computer. This activation code will only work on this computer, so unauthorized copying will require a separate activation code to complete the installation on any other computer.
If the customer has no purchase ID, i.e., the receipt has been lost, then the customer can submit his name and we'll check our records to verify the purchase before generating an activation code. If we can't verify the purchase, then we'll encourage the customer to purchase a copy of the software so that we can generate an activation code for that application.
In any case, we do not report software pirates to any authority or software vendor. We believe that the embarrassment of being caught red-handed is punishment enough.
Will this methodology prevent our software applications from being pirated? Of course not. But it will prevent legitimate software purchasers from having to be annoyed by software activation and will place the burden of making the extra effort on those who deserve it.
Which is as it should be.
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Copyright:
All information on this Web site is copyright 2004 - 2007 by Q-Built Solutions, unless otherwise noted.
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