Capital Communications sold outdated and obsolete training videos at premium price Venice, Florida

Client first contacted Capital Communications March 8th, 2012 inquiring about our 12 part lab technician training dvd series. Client had probably either seen our webpage labtrainingvideos. Com. or possibly heard about us through some of our customers in their immediate area. I encourage you to review our website for your own information. Please note last paragraph on opening page, where it states basic lab skills training.
Please review the partial customer list. Many of those individuals have come back to us, and ordered multiple sets for either different departments or facilities. No doubt they were not upset about our programs content.

March 8, 2012 We sent out a free dvd demonstration preview on this series for the client to review. The preview demo dvd consists of a 10 minute series overview followed up by two shows in their entirety just so the client can see how the
programs are laid out.

August 1, 2012 we received an order from the client for the entire series. During the same week we received orders for programs from this series from other customers, along with an order from one existing customer who had previously
purchased the series last year for their corporate library. Now they put in another order for an additional five series for their
manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. And Canada.

Full price Yes, we do charge full price. We do not offer discounts. As in item 3 the company that purchased the five series also paid full price. The reason we do not offer discounts is because if someone complains that we offered a discount to one company, than why wouldn't we offer a discount to another company. The last thing we want to do is upset our customers by offering discounts behind their backs for one person, and not the other. We began our business in Los Angeles over forty years ago, and we have always played it straight with all of our customers. Although to be candid we did offer the United States Department of Defense a discount when they purchased one hundred and fifty copies each on two of our safety titles which
totaled three hundred programs.

Whereas the customer says he cannot use? Why, I don't know? These are BASIC technique & procedure training programs that would apply to virtually every industrial lab, and are designed for people either new to a lab, or for refresher training. These are not marketing programs. We don't promote certain products by certain manufacturers. We just explain how to do the procedures correctly, and safely. Chances are there will always be one person out there who will say, gee, they used a
ABC Balance in the dvd, and we use the XYZ Balance. Basically, all analytical balances do the same thing. They weigh samples, so if the balance in our module has a button on the right, and a clients lab balance has a button on the left, who cares? The point is how to explain to a new lab employee how to measure the sample correctly by using the analytical method as directed by the lab supervisor. The same techniques and procedures would apply for glassware, mechanical
devices, eye wash stations, hoods, etc, etc. We do not say, this is the law. Our programs are generic, Our programs are ancillary teaching tools for lab managers to use to make sure everyone is practicing the proper techniques, and safety procedures. This client said he could use some of the programs? What's up with that?

Regarding refunds - We do not offer refunds because of past problems with piracy which is the biggest problem facing both
the recording industry, and film business. Since many computers come with dvd burners we are not in the business of watching our product being replicated, and passed around. We know this occurs in isolated instances, and are not implying any wrong doing by anyone. However, there are people out there who feel piracy is o.k. Sorry folks, it's not. With the downturn in the economy along with the fact many budgets have been cut some people feel they can just take it because they either like it or feel it is needed. I'm sorry, we are not a discount retailer. Oh, and by the way even one of the largest discount retailers does not give refunds on opened dvds. What does that tell you?

Solutions We apologize if the customer feels he was mislead. We feel since the free preview went out in March, and the order was received in August. That was over five months to ask any questions.

Good deal of money. Please do not mis-quote or fabricate numbers you paid. Check with your own accounting department. Your invoice total was $1,783.20 counting state tax, not $1913.00. At $134.00 per title we do not feel this is overpriced. In fact, we had a price increase June 1, 2012 to $144.00 per module, and we gave you the old price of $134.00 mainly because
you had contacted us in March. We saved you $120.00 dollars. We don't have the luxury of home video sales because home video is predominantly entertainment, and not training. In all honesty we have had more people contact us saying this is really a great price, and a cost effective way to train people. Try sending four people to an outside training seminar. By the time you consider the lost time out of work, paying for the seminar, mileage or travel, meals, training materials you have far out spent our $134.00 module price. Plus our materials are on hand at all times for either new employee orientation, and/or refresher training. You don't have to wait for an outside training seminar to open up which in some cases can take up to six months.

Outdated materials Chemistry glassware has been around for years. Yes, there are new pieces, and we show them in
our programs. Electronic balances have been around for decades. The same would apply for eye wash stations, and hoods. We show them. They really have not changed that much. The principles are basically all the same. No, we do not show automatic equipment such as titrators, or pipettors mainly because we did not want to do another program on equipment calibrations. Or what to do if your equipment is out of calibration. That information is going to vary between the different equipment manufacturers.

Possible solutions that the client may want to consider would be as follows:

Produce your own professional series of programs. Right now in a down economy one could probably do something similar for twelve to fifteen thousand dollars per module. Now add in another six thousand dollars for a graphic artist to develop the workbooks, and marketing materials. So if you did your own twelve part series say at twelve thousand dollars a module, and six thousand dollars for graphic arts that would be approximately one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Plus the fact
you would lose anywhere from eight to twenty months out of your life in development, pre-production, shooting, post production, and final tweaks. So, instead of re-inventing the wheel, $134.00 per module sounds pretty cost effective verses one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Of course, if no one really cared about professional production value, and someone just wanted something quick and cheap, one could always produce their own training programs on a cell phone camera. Hopefully the on-camera narrator would not forget any of their lines in the twenty minute presentation. The cell phone video
attachment could then be sent to all employees. If a certain piece of lab equipment were to be purchased or replaced even if it performed the same function as the previous piece of equipment you could start production all over again since that particular subject module would become as you say outdated.

Another option may be contacting another producer/distributor and requesting a free preview on their procedure and skills programs. Explain that you want to see everything they have, and that the preview could possibly take up to five months. I personally don't think many or any of them would follow through with your request.

If you did go into full production with experienced camera people, sound people, gaffers, continuity people, pre and post productions facilities, editors, graphic personnel for both the dvd and printed artwork, and the various other people that make up a production, and decided to sell your product to other corporations to recoup your expenses than you may want to consider hiring additional marketing, shipping, and secretarial personnel. Figure that would be about another sixty
thousand dollars per year. That would take your costs out to two hundred and ten thousand dollars.

Also, please consider duplication and printing costs for preview, and marketing materials. Please note that we spend approximately five dollars for every free preview we send out, and that's just for the dvd, envelope, printed material, employee time, and postage expense.

Since you feel you were mislead, and if you do decide to produce your own programming, and not mislead your potential customers I presume you will be sending out all twelve modules in your series for review to potential customers. Let's see, that's approximately sixty dollars per preview. Now say you do only one hundred previews a month, that's
six thousand dollars a month in preview expenses alone, and let's say you had to wait five months before your first return sale that would be an additional thirty thousand dollars in costs before you showed any kind of return on investment. So, our series at $134.00 per module still seems to be the most cost effective way to train new employees.

With our programs training can begin the day our materials arrive. They can be utilized by different departments, and you have the option of back up documentation for personnel files if needed. You do not have to wait months to develop a program which
allows the lab personnel to focus on their current daily job tasks. Bottom line, if only one of our modules helps prevent one employee's costly error, or one accident than our program has more than paid for itself.

I hope this clarifies our position on this matter, and offers some possible solutions to the client. This is the first complaint we have had regarding this series, and we respect this one persons comments. However, since the series is currently being
utilized throughout the world we are putting this in perspective as to the programs many benefits to the companies, governmental departments, colleges, and universities that use this series in their educational and/or training programs. We also realize that every lab manager or lab supervisor in the world did not attend the same school, at the same time, and have the same instructor so as everything would be uniform. We realize we are not going to please all the people all the time. That's life. I guess that's why some people drive Ford's, Chevy's, Chrysler's, Toyota's, Hyundai's, and Volvo's. We do not claim to be 100% right all the time, but I do feel confident after being in business for over forty years we are doing more things right, than wrong.

Regards,

Jim
Springer
Capital Communications




P.S. If you have a minute yu may want to look up impax labs lawsuits, and capital communications lawsuits. Draw your own conclusions.

Client first contacted Capital Communications March 8th, 2012 inquiring about our 12 part lab technician training dvd series. Client had probably either seen our webpage labtrainingvideos. Com. or possibly heard about us through some of our customers in their immediate area. I encourage you to review our website for your own information. Please note last paragraph on opening page, where is states basic lab skills training. Please review the partial customer list. Many of
those individuals have come back to us, and ordered multiple sets for either different departments or facilities. No doubt they were not upset about our programs content.

March 8, 2012 We sent out a free dvd demonstration preview on this series for the client to review. The preview demo dvd consists of a 10 minute series overview followed up by two shows in their entirety just so the client can see how the programs are laid out.

August 1, 2012 we received an order from the client for the entire series. During the same week we received orders for programs from this series from other customers, along with an order from one existing customer who had previously purchased the series last year for their corporate library. Now they put in another order for an additional five series for their manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. And Canada.

Full price Yes, we do charge full price. We do not offer discounts. As in item 3 the company that purchased the five series also paid full price. The reason we do not offer discounts is because if someone complains that we offered a discount to one company, than why wouldn't we offer a
discount to another company. The last thing we want to do is upset our customers by offering discounts behind their backs for one person, and not the other. We began our business in Los Angeles over forty years ago, and we have always played it straight with all of our customers. Although to be candid we did offer the United States Department of Defense a discount when they purchased one hundred and fifty copies each on two of our safety titles which totaled three
hundred programs.

Whereas the customer says he cannot use? Why, I don't know? These are BASIC technique & procedure training programs that would apply to virtually every industrial lab, and are designed for people either new to a lab, or for refresher training. These are not marketing programs. We don't promote certain products by certain manufacturers. We just explain how to do the procedures correctly, and safely. Chances are there will always be one person out there who will say, gee, they used a ABC Balance in the dvd, and we use the XYZ Balance. Basically, all analytical balances do the same thing. They weigh samples, so if the balance in our module has a button on the right, and a clients lab balance has a button on the left, who cares? The point is how to explain to a new lab employee how to measure the sample correctly by using the analytical method as directed by the lab supervisor. The same techniques and procedures would apply for glassware, mechanical devices, eye wash stations, hoods, etc, etc. We do not say, this is the law. Our programs are generic, Our programs are ancillary teaching tools for lab managers to use to make sure everyone is practicing the proper techniques, and safety procedures. This client said he could use some of the programs? What's up with that?

Regarding refunds - We do not offer refunds because of past problems with piracy which is the biggest problem facing both the recording industry, and film business. Since many computers come with dvd burners we are not in the business of watching our product being replicated, and passed around. We know this occurs in isolated instances, and are not implying any wrong doing by anyone. However, there are people out there who feel piracy is o.k. Sorry folks, it's not. With the downturn in the economy along with the fact many budgets have been cut some people feel they can just take it because they either like it or feel it is needed. I'm sorry, we are not a discount retailer. Oh, and by the way even one largest discount retailers does not give refunds on opened dvds. What does that tell you?

Solutions We apologize if the customer feels he was mislead. We feel since the free preview went out in March, and the order was received in August. That was over five months to ask any questions.

Good deal of money. Please do not mis-quote or fabricate numbers you paid. Check with your own accounting department. Your invoice total was $1,783.20, not $1913.00. At $134.00 per title we do not feel this is overpriced. In fact, we had a price increase June 1, 2012 to $144.00 per module, and we gave you the old price of $134.00 mainly because you had contacted us in March. We saved you $120.00 dollars. We don't have the luxury of home video sales because home video is predominantly entertainment, and not training. In all honesty we have had more people contact us saying this is really a great price, and a cost effective way to train people. Try sending four people to an outside training seminar. By the time you consider the lost time out of work, mileage or travel, meals, training materials you have far out spent our $134.00 module price. Plus our materials are on hand at all times for either new employee orientation, and/or refreshertraining. You don't have to wait for an outside training seminar to open up which in some cases can take up to six months.

Outdated materials Chemistry glassware has been around for over 200 years.
Yes, there are new pieces, and we show them in our programs. Electronic balances have been around for decades. The same would apply for eye wash stations, and hoods. We show them. They really have not changed that much. The principles are basically all the same. No, we do not show automatic equipment such as titrators, or pipettors mainly because we did not want to do another program on equipment calibrations. Or what to do if your equipment is out of calibration. That information is going to vary between the different equipment manufacturers.

Possible solutions that the client may want to consider would be as follows:

Produce your own professional series of programs. Right now in a down economy one could probably do something similar for twelve to fifteen thousand dollars per module. Now add in another six thousand dollars for a graphic artist to develop the workbooks, and marketing materials. So if you did your own twelve part series say at twelve thousand dollars a module, and six thousand dollars for graphic arts that would be approximately one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Plus the fact you would lose anywhere from eight to twenty months out of your life in development, pre-production, shooting, post production, and final tweaks. So, instead of re-inventing the wheel, $134.00 per module sounds pretty cost effective verses one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Of course, if no one really cared about professional production value, and someone just wanted something quick and cheap, one could always produce their own training programs on a cell phone camera. Hopefully the on-camera narrator would not forget any of their lines in the twenty minute presentation. The cell phone video attachment could then be sent to all employees. If a certain piece of lab equipment were to be purchased or replaced even if it performed the same function as the previous piece of equipment you could start production all over again since that particular subject module would become as you say outdated.

Another option may be contacting another producer/distributor and requesting a free preview on their procedure and skills programs. Explain that you want to see everything they have, and that the preview could possibly take up to five months. I personally don't think many or any of them would follow through with your request.

If you did go into full production with experienced camera people, sound people, gaffers, continuity people, pre and post productions facilities,editors, graphic personnel for both the dvd and printed artwork, and the various other people that make up a production, and decided to sell your product to other corporations to recoup your expenses than you may want to consider hiring additional marketing, shipping, and secretarial personnel. Figure that would be about another sixty
thousand dollars per year. That would take your costs out to two hundred and ten thousand dollars.

Also, please consider duplication and printing costs for preview, and marketing materials. Please note that we spend approximately five dollars for every free preview we send out, and that's just for the dvd, envelope, printed material, employee time, and postage expense.

Since you feel you were mislead, and if you do decide to produce your own programming, and not mislead your potential customers I presume you will be sending out all twelve modules in your series for review to potential customers. Let's see, that's approximately sixty dollars per preview. Now say you do only one hundred previews a month, that's six thousand dollars a month in preview expenses alone, and let's say you had to wait five months before your first return sale that would be an additional thirty thousand dollars in costs before you showed any kind of return on investment. So, our series at $134.00 per module still seems to be the most cost effective way to train new employees.

With our programs training can begin the day our materials arrive. They can be utilized by different departments, and you have the option of back up documentation for personnel files if needed. You do not have to wait months to develop a program which allows the lab personnel to focus on their current daily job tasks. Bottom line, if only one of our modules helps prevent one employee's costly error, or one accident than our program has more than paid for itself.

I hope this clarifies our position on this matter, and offers some possible solutions to the client. This is the first complaint we have had regarding this series, and we respect this one persons comments. However, since the series is currently being utilized throughout the world we are putting this in perspective as to the programs many benefits to the companies, governmental departments, colleges, and universities that use this series in their educational and/or training programs. We also realize that every lab manager or lab supervisor in the world did not attend the same school, at the same time, and have the same instructor so as everything would be uniform. We realize we are not going to please all the people all the time. That's life. I guess that's why some people drive Ford's , Chevy's, Chrysler's, Toyota's, Hyundai's, and Volvo's. We do not claim to be 100% right all the time, but I do feel confident after being in business for over forty years we are doing more things right, than wrong.

Regards,

Jim Springer
Capital Communications