Raceform Interactive The shocking facts

[deecee]

The current state of the product is not an issue here.The past state
however is.For many years Raceform produced and marketed products in
the shape of Computer Raceform and Raceform Interactive which it knew
full well were fundamentally flawed.We all paid good money in good
faith for those products.In return we had a right to receive products
which would allow us to do all the things that Raceform claimed they
could do in its ads and its promotional literature.Raceform claimed
that those products were horse racing analytical tools.However the
databases were riddled with errors on a scale that beggars
belief.Consequently as analtyical tools they were worthless.Its as
simple as that.Vast quantities of errors were allowed to build up in
CR because the database structure made them difficult to
correct.Raceform itself has admitted that to be the case but never
issued the appropriate warning.Even the BHB has stated that the CR
database was riddled with errors but it issued no warning
either.Raceform simply carried on regardless,advertising the product
as if nothing were wrong.History was soon to repeat itself with the
launch of RI.I have already shown in great detail,and given the
reasons why,that database too was worthless.Nevertheless,Raceform sang
its praises in its ads.As before,it made no mention of the fact that
vast quantities of vital data were either unreliable or plain and
simple inaccurate.We were all conned into thinking that RI was "the
real deal" but all along Raceform knew differently.Raceform have
shamelessly raked in millions whilst unsuspecting subscribers have
been left blissfully unaware about the true state of the RI and its
predecessor,CR.All the evidence points to an enormous cover up and I
will deal with the sequence of events tomorrow.Bye Deecee

[deecee]

All the evidence points to a huge cover up.Originally I wrote to Mr De
Wesselow who at the time was the Managing Director of Raceform.I told
him CR was full of errors.He obviously already knew that.He wrote back
and explained what had gone wrong.Things were bad.Seriously bad.I
asked him for some error free data.Mr De Wesselow could not provide me
with any.For the next few months I was left with no product at all to
use.By way of compensation I was offered a free subscription to CR's
successor,RI.Even that never materialised despite a number of
reminders to Mr De Wesselow.I then contacted my local Trading
Standards Office for advice.They photocopied all the relevant
correspondence and then sent it to their counterparts in Newbury,where
Raceform are based.I was told the matter would be fully
investigated.Next I wrote to Newbury saying that I could provide
conclusive proof the product was not of an acceptable standard.After
that everything seem to disappear down a black hole.To this day I have
never heard another word about the case.My local TSO also advised me
to write to Trinity Mirror(owner of Raceform) and to the BHB
(copyright owner of the data).My letter to the BHB was addressed to
Trevor Beaumont who at the time was its Director of Racing.I told both
parties that CR was riddled with errors on a scale that beggars
belief.I also expressed my concerns about the unethical practices
employed by Raceform.And I voiced my fears that RI would simply
inherit many of CR's problems.To Trinity Mirror,I pointed out that
Raceform had for several months both supplied and marketed to the
public a database product for which no accurate data was available.The
people at the top knew what was going on but even they failed to take
the necessary measures to prevent a repetition.As time passed,
Raceform Interactive became Computer Raceform all over again.No
lessons were learned and subscribers continued to be treated with
utter contempt. More tomorrow.Bye. Deecee.

[deecee]

When RI launched it was still full of errors.Raceform knew that.To
save itself an enormous amount of time and money,and to bring the
product to market as quickly as possible,it deliberately "block
manipulated" masses and masses of data.Hundreds of thousands of
records were affected.With so much vital data either unreliable or
just plain and simple inaccurate,the RI database was worthless.That
however did not stop Raceform from claiming that the product was a
horse racing analytical tool.To its eternal shame,Raceform sang its
praises in its ads but issued no warning that the data should be
treated with the utmost caution.Last May I ran some extensive tests on
the database.I could not believe what state it was in.With every
justification,I asked for my money back.In a set of tables spanning 3
pages of foolscap,I showed Raceform exactly where some of the more
major problems were.I also explained to Raceform why the methods it
had used would have had such a dramatic adverse impact on the
database.RI was potentially a good product.In the wrong hands it had
been ruined by bugs and errors.I told Raceform I very much looked
forward to being back on board once the product was free of all those
bugs and errors.Instead of telling me how long it would take to fix
them,Raceform responded by telling me I could no longer subscribe to
its products.Despite the very serious nature of the problems I had
brought to Raceform's attention,it took no immediate action.All
Raceform needed to do to test the validity of my claims was to run a
few simple queries.The job could have been done in minutes.As horse
racing is its core business,Raceform should have fully appreciated
that the accuracy of the data was essential to the interests of its
subscribers,and to the overall integrity of the product.Raceform has
no excuse whatsoever for not carrying out an immediate
investigation.Far from doing just that,Mr Pettinga of Raceform said he
had not the time to go through my letter but would do so over the next
few weeks and then pass on any relevant findings to the developments
team.Despite a mountain of potential problems within the
product,Raceform simply carried on regardless.Just as it had done with
CR.It continued to run its ads as if nothing were wrong with the
product.It knew differently of course.It just told no-one.Further
proof,if further proof were needed,that Raceform treated its
subscribers with utter contempt and cared only about its own bottom
line. Bye for now. Deecee.