Watch out! Do not buy products from Blocs Bakery

General Discussion
1

Good evening, Team!

I have been involved with some personal projects for some time, but as you know, I keep up to date with all the updates and contributions you make.

This time I want to help you, informing you of a serious problem that I have encountered.

Just a year ago, like most of you, I had the concern to find a solution to create a blog in my projects, and I found a solution “apparently incredible” Pulse CMS, Mr. Michael Frankland, or as it has been hidden among us, as @pulsecms.

(Blocs Bakery in Blocs.store: Michael Frankland | Blocs Store)

The case is, that is being dedicated to swindling many users with their products. The products it sells: DO NOT WORK.

When you ask questions: NO RESPONSE.

Your email and your phone are black holes, unanswered.

And above, it charges you annually, without having any possibility of claiming the money, or obtaining support.

I think we should unite against this type of practice, since I feel cheated. What’s more, if you buy your products you will be added to a Slack list, which does not respond either, it ignores you directly, and in your forum, it manages the messages to prevent this reality from coming to light.

I am a recognized professional, who feels a great love and a great appreciation to this community of professionals, authentic people, who do not deserve to be deceived.

So please, I strongly urge that we all fight against these injustices, and I hope you do not make the same mistake as me.

@pulsecms Michael, surely you read me, I’m still waiting for an answer from you and the return of the money you stole from me. I want you to know that I have reported you to the police and that I am going to claim every penny you have stolen from me.

Other cases, like mine:
https://forum.pulsecms.com/t/looking-for-refund/1521

I feel enormously having to denounce what happened in this way, but I feel extremely impotent and I do not want you to be a victim of this person.

Thank you all for your support.

A big hug for everyone.

-Jesús.

2 Likes
2

Wow! Now that is just sick! He ought to be removed form the Blocs forum and the store.

3 Likes
3

He needs to get a communication from @Norm telling him not to use the Blocs name in his promotions. People do this quite often to give the impression that an app developer is somehow endorsing the products. Got to be stopped if the man isn’t going to do the job properly.

4

I’ve mentioned this post to Michael. I’m hopeful he will get involved and help address any issues you may have.

Could I enquire, what is the specific issue you are having?

5

Good morning @Norm,

First of all I want to apologize personally for having to open this Post. But it has been the only communication option I had left, at least to avoid as far as possible that there are more people affected.

As I have described above, specifically what has happened is the following:

As a professional in the sector, in May of 2018 I wanted to explore new work tools, to stop doing wordpress projects and find much better outlets.

That’s why after researching a lot, I found Michael’s solution: Pulse CMS.

Due to his ability to sell the product, I was fascinated with the solution, so much so that I personally got in touch with him, because I wanted to help him expand his product in Spain. I thought it was the great solution I was looking for!

At first it was very good communication, we wrote and we talked to a group of Slack, by email … it seemed that everything was going to work.

In the course of our communications, I met: App Blocs, and I said: Wow! Blocs App + Pulse CMS, will be the definitive solution of the future …

And for that, I fell in love with Blocs deeply. Especially for your work and dedication, because when you set up a company and especially a program, you have to dedicate time to support, listen to your clients, dedicate yourself to your community, and above all be clear, that your goal, has to be to continue pampering and improving your product, pursuing excellence.

For that reason, he wrote to Michael.

I complained about the problems of compatibilities, installation and encouraged him to improve the product, I always believed in Pulse CMS. But it is a product, full of infinite failures.

The installation does not work correctly.

It has a lot of design and usability deficiencies.

The configuration options do not work in the panel, everything has to be chopped to code, when there is a panel with options, what should work!

The case is that although I encouraged and supported him, in December he stopped talking to me.

I wrote Slack several times, emails, I even called him on the phone. And there was no way to locate him, while he saw how, instead of working, he spent the whole year traveling.

The fact is that I threw in the towel, I said very well, I lost the money and there is no way to make the system work.

But to my astonishment, in spite of not using its software, and not giving support, nor worrying about the users … it returns to make a charge to my account, without warning.

It has an automated collection system, and how can you verify, I am not the only one who claims the abuse that is being made.

What I believe and consider, is that if you are a professional, you should take care of your clients, listen to them, help them, give them support and if you want to charge, they will notify or ask if you want to renew the subscription, because we live in difficult times and for many , we assume a commitment and an effort to invest in software, and especially if we can not get the profitability we expect.

Sincerely @Norm, I consider that you are doing an impeccable job, that you dedicate time and passion to your work, so you should take care of or demand a minimum of professionalism to people who wish to work with you. As is the case of @Eldar a professional who really cares about people, because each and every one of us, we are people.

That’s what differentiates a professional or a brand, from others.

I also hope that Michael will show his face and give me back the money he stole. Trust is not bought, trust is earned, being honest and professional.

Thank you all for your support, I hope we get together to avoid these bad practices.

With all my respect and affection,

-Jesús.

6

I am not commenting on the points regarding software functionality or communication, because I am certainly biased. I am only commenting on the following point, which is very easy to explain:

With PayPal (or Stripe), the one paying for a product (buyer) must explicitly and actively approve a purchase, if it is a one time purchase. If the buyer is opting-in for a subscription (and I know there have been times where Pulse CMS was sold as a subscription) PayPal will give the buyer a clear information about that before the purchase is performed. In addition, the buyer is able to opt-out of a subscription either on the sellers platform, or on PayPal itself.

So, no “abuse” here, as a seller isn’t able to perform such an abuse. It was a subscription you opted-in for.

Peace and out.

Edit:

@KBConcepts and @hendon52

I would welcome if people here and in other forums weren’t convicting others when not familiar with the facts and without hearing both sides. Thanks.

7

I did not buy any subscription, he sent me a payment form for a product. At no time was explained to me, nor detailed that I was subscribing to any site.

And here we speak of a post-sale service (mandatory) for anyone who is dedicated to selling a product or service.

I do not know how the law will work outside of Spain, but here if you have a company and you offer a service or product, you can not charge and unsubscribe, nor can you communicate with someone and offer a payment model, not specified and deceitfully believe that is buying something specific, instead of a subscription, it has no logic, no sense.

Before vetoing the free opinion of other users, it would be convenient that you were the one who checked things before speaking, I have the emails, I have the payment email and I have the opinion of other deceived users like me.

And I have an official complaint from the police, which corraborates the problem.

We are not children and users, we look for professionalism.

8

It is more when you buy a software, the important thing is the functionality and the communication.

Users are tired of being sold smoke, if you tell me that your software works in a certain way, it has to work like this and if it does not work like that, answer the emails, attend to customers and provide solutions.

I know that you can be a friend or acquaintance of Michael, but the users of Blocs, we are not stupid.

You should learn from the management of @Norm, he works hard to offer a more and more polished software, he listens to the users, he attends to the concerns and problems of all of us, and he sells you a license and you buy them, he tells you the clear things, transparency.

That @Jannis, it’s called professionalism. Something that today many brands and people lack.

You know what’s happening, that people like you, take advantage of the trust that users place, that we believe in your good work. We trust in you, to find answers to our concerns, to improve in our companies, brands and projects.

So, minimally, have a little respect for the community. It evaluates the objective opinion of users like @KBConcepts or @hendon52, because we are tired of being deceived.

Do you think that because you make a basic web page, like this one: https://instacks.com gives you the right to deny the opinion to the users that you cheat?

If you want to sell and earn money, first respect the opinion of others, then strive to make a quality page to display your products, dedicate yourself with passion to make a quality product, and then most importantly: DO NOT DECEIVE YOUR CLIENTS.

Be honest, transparent and make clear what your intentions are.

Because software is not sold by subscription, software is sold by unit and, in any case, updated.

9

I told you I am not commenting on this…

Of course. Neither I am.

Me too…

Wow. Think. You convict me “because I make a basic web page”.

That’s what I am, and that’s what also my customers think of me.

10

So if you do not think about functionality and communication, I do not know why you want to silence people who think.

A company is quality, functionality and communication.

Yes, I criticize because you think you are capable of intervening in a serious problem, saying that functionality and communication do not matter.

What matters is that as your friend, he created a deceptive subscription model, and scammed a multitude of people, because we have to settle for your deception.

Yes, I publicly denounce all those who make you pass as professionals, with basic websites, to take advantage of the immediate and unconscious needs of many amateur users.

You take advantage of the ignorance of many users, who bite like fish, without really considering the quality of the product that is going to be found. I trusted Michael, and I was looking for a product that would do what it promised, and I found an unfinished product, which does not work.

There are thousands of complaints about it and you know that, WE ARE ALL WAITING FOR AN ANSWER.

11

Because I don’t know what happened regarding communication, I am not commenting on that.

I am not commenting on functionality, as I know it is a good product, and I know many happy users of it. See, I even didn’t want to start here.

If it wasn’t a subscription, you will certainly find out with your payment processor :slight_smile:

If this prejudices and prejudgment was pointed to me, thanks therefore…

12

@Dreamsur, I had the same problem with Pulse. I cancelled my account (and had proof) but he charged me for another year. I reached out to him and he insisted that it was a legitimate charge even though I provided screenshots of my cancellation. He did not answer subsequent emails on this issue and I haven’t heard from him since. I disputed the fraudulent charge with Paypal, and while at first PP sided with the seller (which was very odd to me because I had cancellation proof), they ultimately refunded my $268, but I don’t think they got that from Pulse. I think they coughed it up on their own. So to my knowledge, Michael Franklin got away with theft in my case.

Like you, my desire is to protect honest, hard-working web dev folks here in the Blocs Community and so I agree we need to warn people NOT TO BUY PULSE CMS - OR ANYTHING FROM ‘BLOCS BAKERY’ which is run by the same Michael Franklin.

Thanks for taking the time to post about this important issue!

Warm Regards,

Randy

2 Likes
13

This happend me too. No where to be found that he would charge every year but I have paid twice for Pulse CMS that I never got working. That may be my fault but the product was described to work for people with no prior experience.

Anyway at the same time I would like to say thank you to @Norm who constantly delivers a fantastic product!

1 Like
14

Thanks for sharing your experiences. @Creative, @jdpr. The saddest thing about all this, is that they keep the money, and then publish photos of their parties and trips, in their Pulse CMS accounts. Trips that we cost among all of us. Regrettable.

I just hope that as a community, we defend our rights, because we deserve respect as users and consumers that we are.

@Jannis: Are you still defending the indefensible or did you stay without argument?

I have it clear, I think to fight for my money and to denounce all the people who have negative and abusive practices in front of the users.

@Norm, continues to show the world, that with hard work and effort, you can make a difference through small details.

Thanks to you and your wife, for giving us this exciting project such as Blocs. Do not let anyone destroy everything you have achieved to date.

-Jesús.

15

All I stated was: it has been a subscription, and at least one customer confirmed that.

16

This is a problem of Pulsecms that has been seen for years, it is not the first unhappy comment, if I remember correctly, there must be more than one issue here about pulsecms and its poor compatibility with blocsapp.

When you buy pulsecms ask via email for certain characteristics, which according to the emails with the answers of Michael f. they were compatible with blocsapp, so I decided to buy it! (I still have the mail on that talk) …

But I had problems once I bought the product, the options for which I had bought pulsecms I did not have them, I even spent almost a year without being able to operate correctly pulsecms with blocsapp !!!

I approached via email, the pulsecms forum and through yuzoolcode! Although I had an answer, the problems could never be fixed until after almost a year! send emails and many comments of disgust for its malfunction!

Even a week after I bought it, I asked for a refund of the product, since it did not fit what I really should have done! but I never had an answer to that!

attached caption of a comment I made in 2018!

Captura de pantalla 2019-06-01 a la(s) 9.29.41 p. m..png794×459 43 KB

that was just one of the problems of pulcecms!

I had to hire a programmer to fix it! no doubt buying it was a bad idea, it was lost money, was to pay another programmer to solve what pulsecms “should have done” !!! and if they asked me to recommend it I would say flatly that “NO”.

I am dissatisfied by pulsecms, not to say disappointed and angry !! Currently I only use it to change images! In the same way I have requested the cancellation of your product! to not have to be renewed! but your panel does not allow you to cancel it or delete the account !, already send mail but I have not had any answer either!

I do not know what happens with the creator of Pulsecms, nor do I doubt that someone will find Pulsecms, in my case! Definitely it is not! and I also hope that all the problems are solved !!

I’ll comment again! Blocsapp should take out their Blocscms I think that we want everything, and who more than their own creator who knows how the application works! When I saw blocsapp without hesitation I bought it, with “Solis” I bought it the same! without duca I would buy your CMS! but good if this comes in a future I will be 2000% happy !!!

1 Like
17

I must say I thought I was okay after reading this forum post, because I had bought PulseCMS for $199, so as a one time payment. I was convinced of that. Apart from that, I’ve been playing a bit with Pulse last year, but never used it again.

I just looked on the Pulse site. Nothing that makes clear this is a subscription based service.

Today I got a receipt and saw that money was taken from my credit card account. I hadn’t received any warning that a new payment was due, as our friends from adobe, amongst others, do.

I’m very disappointed that more or less trusted companies as Pulse use these deceptive methods. I can’t see it any other way. Hope my credit card issuer company will pay me back!

Tom

1 Like
18

@Tom, I had to fight with PayPayl to get mine back. It was several days and many phone calls and emails back and forth. They kept siding “with the seller” (Pulse) because - according to Pulse, I had agreed to the ‘subscription’. I tried in vain to talk sense into Michael Franklin. He answered one email and insisted his charge was legitimate and refused to answer after that. Honestly, this may be strong words, but I believe he’s dishonestly taking a lot of money from a lot of people. I’m surprised and disappointed that @Norm still (apparently) supports MF by continuing to recommend Pulse CMS and for carrying his products at The Blocs Store. I don’t get it.