The Drumbeat 2000 & Macromedia Saga

Filing a Claim in Small Claims Court

It is unlikely that Macromedia will suddenly decide to listen to the repeated requests of its customers. This has been made clear time and time again on the Newsgroups by Macromedia employees. The only thing which seems to impact Macromedia's decision-making process is money. By each of us uniting in our common self-interest we can send a powerful economic message to Macromedia. Contrary to popular belief you do not need to hire a lawyer to take a case to small claims court. See the links below for more details. If you need evidence for your claim please see Complaints Filed Against Macromedia - 5/22/2000 (also available as PDF file or RTF file.)

We will send the following message (hopefully by the hundreds or thousands) to Macromedia. 

The amounts that can be collected from a successful small claims court case vary from state to state ($1,500 - $15,000). The average is $4,300. If we assume the average, 250 Drumbeat users = $1,075,000. 500 Drumbeat users = $2,150,000. 1,000 Drumbeat users = $4,300,000. 

Therefore, all Drumbeat customers who purchased the product from Macromedia (Elemental Software users are not eligible) should email these individuals at Macromedia. In order to file a claim in small claims court, you must also send it in writing to the company. A sample letter/email is included below. Email the following people at Macromedia. You can also send email to the Macromedia Board of Directors and other senior management at Macromedia and express your dissatisfaction with the way in which the company has handled the situation.

rburgess@macromedia.com - Rob Burgess, President & CEO

ballum@macromedia.com - Bryan Allum, Senior Vice President
Worldwide Field Operations

klynch@macromedia.com - Kevin Lynch, Senior Vice President, Product Development
and General Manager, Web Publishing

dmendels@macromedia.com - David Mendels, Senior Vice President, Marketing 
and General Manager, Web Publishing

bdavis@mcomedia.com - Beth Davis, VP Marketing

More information on Small Claims Court Filing

Check any of these resources, your local state information, or serahc on the Web for small claims court to find out how to file. There is a small filing fee. In New Jersey it is $12.00.

Lawguru.com - Small Claims Court Questions and Answers - Find out how to file a claim

Consumer Law Center Lawyers and Courts Self Representation Small Claims Courts

How Much Can I Sue for in Small Claims Court - Nolo's Legal Encyclopedia - state by state amounts

Courts & Mediation Law - Nolo.com Legal Encyclopedia

How to Complain- a guide to complaining and courts from Consumers League of New Jersey

Mr. Rob Burgess
Macromedia, Incorporated
600 Townsend Street
San Francisco, California 94103
Tel (415) 252-2000

Dear Mr. Burgess,

I purchased Macromedia Drumbeat 2000 on [Date] based upon your company's stated commitment to 1) provide a product that would work under "Windows NT 4.0 and  later and to 2) "the next generation of Drumbeat 2000 will contain a greater
integration between Drumbeat and Macromedia's existing products." Both of these commitments made by your company have not been met.

Your company falsely stated in the Macromedia Drumbeat Users Guide that 1) the product would not work under Windows 2000 and you did not inform me in a timely fashion 2) that you were replacing the product with a new piece of software that was not directly compatible with Drumbeat 2000. This information was critical in my selection of Drumbeat 2000 as a software product upon which to build Web applications. The inability of your product to work under Windows 2000 has created a serious hardship for my business which was entirely avoidable if your company had been forthcoming with information about Windows 2000. 

As a result, I have spent $[Dollar amount] on the purchase of Drumbeat 2000 (invoice copy enclosed). In addition, I have had to purchase software X for which I paid $[dollars] in order to operate the program under Windows 2000. I also have had to purchase Y book $[dollars] or have taken Z training course $[dollars] in order to learn how to use the new software. My total expenditure in order to rebuild my Web Sites on my computer that runs Windows 2000 is $[dollars].

I and other Drumbeat customers have repeatedly asked your company to 1) provide a patch for Windows 2000 and 2) provide a Service Pack 3 that solves the software bugs introduced in Service Pack 2. Your company has made no effort to provide these essential resources to me or other Drumbeat customers.

I am officially requesting that Macromedia announce by June 15, 2000 its plan to provide a Windows 2000 patch for Drumbeat 2000 and a new Service Pack to fix the bugs introduced by Service Pack 2. The announcement should include a planned date of release for both software patches. 

If Macromedia fails to respond by June 15, I will immediately file this case in small claims court.  The terms of my claim would be restitution for the cost of Drumbeat at $[dollars], the cost of software X $[dollars], the cost of Y book $[dollars] and/or Z training course $[dollars] The total value of my claim is $[dollars].

You may reach me during the day at 111-111-1111.

Sincerely,

BASEMENT

To complete this letter, select the items in red above and apply the following contract - Tell [Macromedia] what you think of their [customer service] and how you want your [money back].