Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 2:00 am Post subject: Rip Offs
as i'm leaving due to the greediness of the site i'd like to add what a rip off at least one of this sites members sites are. http://custom-xmodz.co.uk/xmodz/index.php i didn't say anything before as hey you are trying to run a business and are providing a service. but **** it. i can at least tell you that a 200 gig hard drive is NOT worth $200. shop around. and "oh wait" you say. "they also provide a huge list of other software!!!" oh wait... you can download all these for free elsewhere ... "but i don't know how to install a mod chip." you don't even need to install a modchip anymore all you need to do is flash a new bios. tutorials can be found here http://www.xbox-scene.com/ total cost of my xbox modifications is around $100 as i had to buy a soldering iron to add a power button to the controller. so a brand new xbox is 150 and my mods have cost appoximatly$100 so for around $250-300 you can have an xbox that is offered on the custom xmodz site for around $553.07. Thats some expensive service. Peace Out everyone and remeber there are sites out there that cost you nothing to use.
TheModGod Xbox-Hq Legendary
Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 5303 Location: Greensburg PA
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 2:42 am Post subject:
Hey bud, as anyone's opinion is always accepted and appreciated I can understand your comments. However the person you make mention of, along with myself are in no way affiliated with this site. Granted I am a Co-Admin and help out with the US members (ppl who need burned disks and cannot donate due to no PayPal) this site is truly worth a 10.00 donation.
Other sites like Xbox-scene make a hell of a lot of money in advertising unlike this site. And, this sites bandwidth charges are astronomical! The donations are the only way the site owner can keep afloat. He posts the stats as far as how much bandwidth he uses so it's easy to see how it adds up.
For my work as an Admin, forahobby graciously gives me free banner space on this site, as he does for the site that you mentioned. He does not set vendors prices so this site should not be punished or talked down upon because of a sponsor/volunteer who donates to this site. After all, if you don't like how much a Lexus costs you don't boycott watching the Superbowl because they have an advertising spot!
Yes, it is very possible to find every file hosted on this site for free, we never said you can't get it for free and we will gladly give advice on finding those types of files, but what this site does is put them in an organized location and give the modder quick easy access to them. There is no charge for tutorials, cheats, reviews, news, standard downloads and forum posts....so to insinuate that there isn't value here for the non donating member is very misleading. Xbox Scene hosts 0 files...zilch..zip...nada. They get real cranky when people talk about certain issues too. Here, you can talk about anything without being frowned upon.
Also, the site that you made mention of is not in the US. So, who's to say how much he is paying for his supplies. I personally have never ordered anything from the UK because after I have done my conversions I always end up spending too much money. But, that's not to say that someone in the UK doesn't think it's a heck of a deal.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and allowed to freely express it here, and I am glad you said what was on your mind. I just hope that you do take a moment and realize that value is in the eye of the beholder, and I find that this site has great value whether you are using a free membership or you have dontated for the VIP membership.
As far as cutting on what someone offers for modding services and what they charge for that product/service all I have to say is if you don't like his/her prices you certainly don't have to buy. Sure, you can flash your TSOP for nothing, sure you can try a softmod....nobody ever said you couldn't. And, if someone wants to chase down every file and application that is installed on a machine, so be it. But...for people that don't have the time, or who feel they don't want to risk damaging their machine then there is definite value in paying for modding services. Hell, you have every right to build your own PC...it's cheaper, everything is available at your local tech stores...but, how many people actually build their own machines?
Anyway, I'm sorry you don't feel this site is worth your time and don't take offense to my reply to your parting shots. As you have the right to state your opinion, be prepared to hear someone elses as well. Good luck to you, if you ever need any help with anything don't hesitate to look us up.
Joined: Aug 28, 2004 Posts: 796 Location: Wales, UK
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:02 am Post subject:
Excuse me?
Riiight so you are leaving because of what I charge?
I would like to remind you that I am in the UK running a UK business primarily for the UK. Hard drives are not as cheap here as they are in the US as it less of mass market. Large chain stores (in the UK) actually sell the same hard drive as me for £25 more. So go figure. I charge for installing all the apps etc as they take up my time, time that I would otherwise spend writing tutorials or answering support tickets.
I also pay xbox-hq a commision which means my prices cannot be rock bottom. And from my experience companies that do offer rock bottom prices offer shitty support and very little in the way of returns if found faulty or incompatable.
I offer all my customers the upmost support from the most trivial to full on repairs. Have you bought anything from me? If not then why are you complaining? And why leave the site? Seems a bit pathetic to me..
As I said I am primarily here for the UK, but just happen to ship worldwide. yes people can softmod if they like, but most people like to have a chip, an lcd screen etc and so on.
Are you going to email every chip shop on the planet with this new revelation you have discovered? You going to tell them they need to close down because everyone should just softmod? I have sucessfully run this business for over a year and the only complaint I have ever had was that I forgot to lock a hard drive, so i drove 25 miles to show them how to lock it as they were having difficulties. I look after my customers and they keep coming back because of it.
People know they can call me and ask me whatevr they like without being told to go away, or that "we don't support that".
Just because hard drives cos a certain amount in the US then what the hell does that mean to me? You should think about this before you post as you look a bit silly now.
I very much doubt that anyone in the US is going to buy a hard drive from me with the cost of the postage alone. The main reason I sell to the US is because they like the crystal xbox's which are easy to get here. I have never sold a black xbox to the US. They also buy a lot of my led kits, why i don't know, but they do and I have had nothing but possitive feedback.
The guy who helped me setup also has a mod shop and I am actually cheaper than him, and he has taken over £1,000,000 in the 3 years since he started.
You said that there are other sites out there that are free, my site is free unless you buy something, and xbox-hq is also free to use. You only pay to become a vip which gives you premium support and access to more downloads.
Do you have any idea how long some of us spend answering VIP support tickets? And none of us gets anything out of it financially, it all pays for the hosting and bandwidth. Forahobby has to pay over $4000 a month on bandwidth, the vip membership helps contribute to that, whatever else is left to paid comes out of his own pocket, hardly a rip off in my opinion.
Have you been on xbox-scene latley? what downloads do they offer huh? And im not being funny but they hardly support their members, when I got into the scene they were far from helpful. They just flame everybody and call them noobs etc.
Everyone gets supported here, whether they pay or not
I don't know why you have a problem with me as I don't see how it affects you but nevermind.
I hope you do not leave this site because of me, but if you do then it's a bit daft in my opinion..
DJH
forahobby Administrator
Joined: May 22, 2003 Posts: 23945 Location: NSW, Australia
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:21 am Post subject:
funkydopeloven,
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion...
Like Custom-Xmods mentioned pricing in the UK is very different from HD prices in USA.. Same goes for Australian Pricing..
Joined: Aug 28, 2004 Posts: 796 Location: Wales, UK
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:52 am Post subject:
yeh I mean over here it is equivalent to $10 for a packet of 20 cigarettes, and most people drive cars with less than a 1.6litre engine due to the cost of petrol. I mean how many 1.1 litre cars are there in america? they are the most common car here, no-one drives anything over a 2.0 litre unless they are pretty well off.
Ok in the UK to mod and Xbox:
£100 to buy an xbox
£20 to buy an aladdin or duox2
£100 roughly for a 200GB HD
£10 for a 20W soldering iron
£3 for solder (decent stuff)
£1 for a reel of wire
£5 for torx bits
That comes to £239
I charge £240 for that setup + P&P (which I may add is charged at cost)
So you can see I don't make that much, yes I pay a little less than that but not much as I am not a big operation.
DJH
TheModGod Xbox-Hq Legendary
Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 5303 Location: Greensburg PA
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 4:08 am Post subject:
Hell, my bottle of pepsi is a 2.0 liter..hehehe.
Actually, you don't pay here...you donate. This site isn't a business. It's a fan/hobby site. It runs strictly on donations
My best advice to anyone who is contemplating getting a mod. Check references, if none are listed...ask. Check what support is available. Check warranties. People buy from my the first time usually because of price. They buy the second time because of service
You cannot put a price on quality service. It's not tangible, therefore it's subjective. If you purchase anything whether it's a product or a service and you are happy with your choice, then you got a great deal. That's all it boils down to.
That's why the free world is so cool....you can make up your own mind what you want to say and do.
later all
TheModGod
--------------------------------
http://www.xbox-hq.com http://www.themodgod.com _________________ Good Deals: Death@Hand, funkydopenloven, StaticMind, Slamscaper, PorscheXboxter
Bad Deals: None Yet
Pending Deals: Vanguard
viking24 Xbox-HQ Member Xbox Version: 1.1 Modded: Xecutor 2.6
Joined: Jul 08, 2004 Posts: 58 Location: NH, USA
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 4:11 am Post subject:
Ok ..I feel like I have to weigh in here. I have no affiliation w/ this site other than a paying member. My experience has absolutely positive. I have never felt pressured to buy or pay for anything I didn't want. When I did make a modding purchase, it was from a site that advertises here and I shopped the net to make sure I was getting a good price and the vendor was reliable. I chose to support an advertiser here because the of the advertiser's merits, and if I let the hq make a buck or two..all the better.
As I was modding my second box yesterday and ran into problems...I can't tell you how reassuring it was to know the HQ is here. Although I figured it on my own I had no doubt someone could help me out here if I needed it.
As a notoriously cheap bastard I was hesitant to drop the measly $10 on a VIP membership...now I would gladly pay double. Yes, I know a lot of the info, files, ect here are not HQ originals, but the key is they are ALL HERE...in one spot. Combine that w/ HQ AI's, tutorials and downloads...$10 is worth every penny. Keep up the good work guys! _________________ XBOX v1.1
Xecutor 2.6 Modchip
200GB Seagate HDD
X2 4983.67 Bios
EvoX 3935 Dashboard
80mm Blue LED Cooling Fan
Mad Catz Lynx Wireless Controller
custom-xmodz Xbox-HQ Freak
Joined: Aug 28, 2004 Posts: 796 Location: Wales, UK
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 4:23 am Post subject:
I totally agree RM, the first modchip I bought took 3 weeks to be delivered, i had my HD, my xbox but no chip, never used them again.
If I was some fly by night then I would not hang around here helping people. I would hate to think someone was unhappy with something they bought for me, but thats just me.
No one on the site is saying you have to buy from me however, you can buy from anyone you like. i got really pissed of with being messed around when ordering chips, or ordering hard drives that were advertised as lockable but were not. I even ordered 5 200Gb hard drives the once and I received 160GB usb external drives, and they said it was taking 7 days for them to reply to an email and 42 days to get a refund/return. Ok they were real cheap but not worth the hassle.
nullmind on this forum will vouch for my aftersales support, we spent ages together trying to figure out a fix to his problems, he did not know me at all and found me from this site, and funnily enough he is american tho he lives in the UK (dunno why he would want to)
DJH
slick_j_2002 V.I.P. Lifetime Xbox Version: 1.1 Modded: Xecutor 2.6
Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 273
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 4:46 am Post subject:
I just thought I'd throw in my two cents here...
Xbox-Hq is by far the best site available for Xbox modding. Sure, it doesn't have all the tutorials that Xbox-Scene has, and it hasn't got the amount of traffic that the other site has, but it makes up for that in quality.
Like TMG said, Xbox-Scene does not host files. They don't even want you talking about the files there, let alone asking for them. Here, you donate $10, and you get access to the latest and greatest code in the scene. If something you're looking for isn't here (and it exists) someone here will hunt it down for you within 24 hours.
I made the $10 contribution before I even knew what a great site this was. That's because I sometimes make hasty decisions when it comes to buying things I want... But once I realized how strong of a community there actually was here, I immediately threw another $40 in the site admin's way. And I can say with all assurance that I'll be happy to contirbute more to the site in the future whenever my funds allow it.
As far as the discrepencies with the prices of the premods and such, I have only one thing to say: Business is business, man. If anyone thinks they can move units for much less and maintain a satisfactory level of customer service while still making a profit, they're more than welcome to try. Besides, no one is making anyone shop at a particular spot. Don't want to pay $200 for a HDD? Okay. Don't! Go somewhere else. I did. And, like me, you'll take the risk of not knowing if the drive is compatable with your Xbox or if it is lockable. Every retailer I've seen advertized on this site has stood behind their products, and that's something you won't find on just any other site.
Money is always a bitter subject, but not worth destroying relationships over. In the end, it's only green paper (or orange or red or someshit if you're foreign ). You can't put a price on the type of community that exists here.
Funkydopeloven, I really hope you stick around here, because the site is nothing like you claim it is, and I think you'll realize that at one point or another. Best wishes to you, though, wherever you go, and know that if you decide to come back, you'll always be welcome here and receive the same great level of service that all other members get!
custom-xmodz Xbox-HQ Freak
Joined: Aug 28, 2004 Posts: 796 Location: Wales, UK
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:26 am Post subject:
I hope he stays too, I don't anyone leaving cos I know how good the damn site is. but if I was looking on a russian website and they charge twice as much for a hard drive, I would'nt complain, i would just go to a british company instead
DJH
jaedin916 Xbox-HQ User Xbox Version: Xbox 1.4 Modded: Xecuter 2.6
Joined: Dec 05, 2004 Posts: 11
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 6:07 am Post subject: $10 is nothing...
I just recently did my first Xbox mod from the help on this site. I was having an extremely hard time finding the right files and getting any help at all from that Xbox-scene site. When I was told about this site I was excited to see everything organized in folders with info about the file where else can you go and get that? To complain about a $10 donation is crazy. The information that's provided here is easily worth more than that. Starbucks costs $3.50 what's wrong with a few bucks more?!
To the HQ guys keep up the good work the HQ is loaded up at least 10 times a day in my browser! _________________ Xbox v1.4
Stock HD
Xecuter 2.6 Pin Header Install
Xbox v1.0
60GB HD
Xecuter 3 pin Header Install
Shark2th Moderator
Joined: Nov 17, 2004 Posts: 5222 Location: Tennessee, USA
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 4:05 pm Post subject:
Look the fact that the guy had to post twice basically the same crap should tell you all you need to know about the poster. No doubt. So stop defending yourselves against false accusations for if it was true, it would be said by a whole lot more people than that one soft... uh... modder..... hehehe _________________ http://twitter.com/HQ_Shark2th
funkydopeloven Xbox-Hq Genius
Joined: Nov 30, 2004 Posts: 1942
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:35 am Post subject:
i find myself drawn back to reading this sites forums as they are some of the best out there, my outburst was about how the bittorrents are now VIP only. i neglected that in my post. i am an avid torrent user, both uploads and downloads and felt like i been robbed.
i want to apologize to xmods, i was more enraged at the torrents than anything you do or charge. if i had my way everything in life would be free. i also think they charge to much for a massage with a happy ending but if you don't wanna pay for the service you can always do it yourself.
edit and btw Sharky, a softmod is not bios flashing
slick_j_2002 V.I.P. Lifetime Xbox Version: Xbox 1.4 Modded: Xecuter 2.6
Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 273
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 4:49 pm Post subject:
Glad you're back, funkydopelover. I knew you'd come to your senses.
Anyway, I really think it's worth the $10 to become a VIP. Not only will you get all the torrents, you'll get easy access to absolutely any xbe you could possibly want.
Just go for a week without buying a soda, and you'll have saved the money to get VIP access.
tonespace Xbox-HQ Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 20, 2004 Posts: 41 Location: New York, U.S.A.
Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 3:25 am Post subject:
a noobies two cents:
this site is awsome!
the guys here offer selfless specific, easy-to-understand support, and so far i've had about a 25kb .ini file length full of questions.....lol, all have been answered with patience and supprot, thanks again.the download links are beautiful, who wants to search the ends of the net to find everything?thats what rpg's are for.i donated 5 bucks, and when my trial ends, Hq will have my well spent 10, mabye 40 .i am speaking from a noobie perspective, who is addicted to learning all that i have since the last 5 days, but for such a low price, you get alot here.and as far as what another man sells his modding services for, thats too obscure to define a definitive price range, let alone the mark up costs that he pays for supplies.i know a place that charges $500 for a modded xbox, BUT YOU HAVE TO PROVIDE YOUR OWN XBOX!most people i know wouldnt dedicate 5 days to modding there system and would gladly pay for the services.i just have a geniune interest in the mechanism of how it all works.so to the guy that feels this is a rip off, i'll tell you from someone who knew not a thying about an xbox beyond the warranty sticker, anything about ftp's,ect. that i have found great value here.THANKS AGAIN GUYS!
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). You can't put a price on the type of community that exists here.
No doubt. So stop defending yourselves against false accusations for if it was true, it would be said by a whole lot more people than that one soft... uh... modder..... hehehe
