# Opentshirts Review



## Persnicketees (Sep 5, 2013)

Hello everyone,

Opentshirts has been around for many years now as they were the home to the open source, online tshirt design program. I was an early adopter of the program itself and one of the first to buy into their hosting package which they promoted on opentshirts as opentshirts hosting. 

Over the years, there was too much site downtime. 

The customer service was abysmal. 

Often they would argue, and lacked basic business etiquette. I stayed with them for far too long. 

As the designer began to become obsolete because of the passing away of Flash technology, I stayed on board because I had been told that an HTML5 version was in the works and that current customers would be onboarded at a discount. This went on for years. Again, often suffering site glitches and downtime which many of you know kills your SEO.

I became aware that my site was yet again, down. I found out that the hosting site was now redirecting back to Opentshirts. They have no contact page and the email addresses that I had did not respond to my issue. The chat function was reloading the home page. It began to work this morning.

This is were I stand now. They owe me 7 months of hosting, and refuse any access to my old site. After a long chat, where they were argumentative and insulting, they offered to "give" me all add-ons for "free" if I would sign up for service......

All my years of work, client info, financial info, designs, etc... are all gone. Simply gone. My entire business is gone. They deny culpability and play games of symantics about who and what opentshirts /opentshirtshosting is. 

Let me be clear. Do not use this company. In my opinion as a customer, they are unethical and have awful customer service. 

The designer product itself has confused customers and perhaps has led to more total time per customer because of the explanations and subsequent design work that I would have to do for them.

Please feel free to ask any questions, as I would be happy to answer them.

Thanks


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

sounds like they got bought out and you are barking up the wrong tree

the new owners are trying to ease the transition with that good faith offering
very kind, as they did not have to offer anything

your best bet is to contact the owner who actually was hosting your site

it's hardly semantics to say that the new owners should have any culpability for your past dealings,
for all you know they simply bought the domain name

you are bad-mouthing the wrong entity, opentshirts.com has been around for almost a decade

actually, i hope the mods will remove your post
because it is slanderous

opentshirts.com might be a fabulous company (judging by their offering they sound like it)

you should cease and desist such harsh judgement for a company who has been nothing but cordial and accommodating to you


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

i'm going to post the relevant info here:



> We have 55 historical records for Opentshirts.com.
> The oldest record dates back more than 9 years.
> There are at least 39 significant changes.
> All of the records publish domain name ownership data.


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## GeekMan (May 13, 2015)

Thank you for sharing. I was about to try them but was nervous to do so with the long list of previous customer service issues i kept seeing in various review. What you said sounds like alot of what i read previously. I was thinking of giving them a shot because i figured by now made the bugs are worked out but obviously they are not. Again thank you for sharing I very much appreciate it.


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## Signature Series (Jun 11, 2016)

GeekMan said:


> Thank you for sharing. I was about to try them but was nervous to do so with the long list of previous customer service issues i kept seeing in various review. What you said sounds like alot of what i read previously. I was thinking of giving them a shot because i figured by now made the bugs are worked out but obviously they are not. Again thank you for sharing I very much appreciate it.


Anytime you are looking for solutions like this just ask for a list of their customers that are doing things similar to you. You will weed out the pretenders real fast.


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## Persnicketees (Sep 5, 2013)

into the T said:


> sounds like they got bought out and you are barking up the wrong tree
> 
> the new owners are trying to ease the transition with that good faith offering
> very kind, as they did not have to offer anything
> ...


While I can appreciate your engagement in the conversation, it is curious to me how I am the customer giving the review, yet you are the one asserting some kind of authority here. I noticed that you didn't say that you were a customer and you hyperlinked to opentshirts site......twice..... If the best you've got is "it sounds like", then your the one being malicious.

I suppose I failed to be clear. My chat with opentshirts revealed their continued terrible customer service. I asked them twice if they were outright telling me that the same individuals were not running both sites.......They would not tell me no. This is part of the semantics to which I was referring. I tried to push them on the issue, but they fell cosmically short of even a simple denial.

Look, I don't know what your deal is, but let me say it again,

THIS COMPANY HAS SHOWN ME AWFUL SERVICE IN WHICHEVER ITERATION YOU CHOOSE TO FOCUS ON. i DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY. 

Also, it doesn't take long to notice there is ZERO contact information on their site (at of this moment 1/27/2018) and their chat feature curiously shows up and disappears. No contact info is hallmark for a bad company. 

There is a very well known member of this forum that was a participant in the early development of the opentshirt designer. Upon messaging him in order to find a contact at OT, he told me "try the chat feature", which was available all of the sudden when I went back to the OT site. I have my suspicions about his continued involvement with opentshirts. However, I don't call him out because I don't know for sure and I wouldn't want to say something about someone that wasn't true. 

My review is based on my experience as a both a long time customer, and a potential "new customer". I would LOVE for OT to register an account and post here....if even to dispute what I am saying. I would be completely open to them showing proof that they are not the same individuals. Which, remember, they were not willing to tell me. My thought is that they won't, considering they don't even offer contact info on the site.

Now, if you want to continue to speculate and use conjecture as a basis for taking a stand, as opposed to offering a legitimate counter review as an actual customer, have at it.


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

you admittedly have zero info and i am the one speculating?

of course i'm speculating, hence my verbiage

guess how many times some poster joins this forum to solely bash a,b,c, or d

without the other side of the story then balance needs to be injected into the converstaion

i would hope someone would do that for me, so i do a little research on both sides

as i said you have no info, you are just throwing out guesses hoping to hurt their reputation
from the sounds of it, you hope to garner some free hosting from them
if they were so horrible you certainly would not be angling to become their customer if they massage you just right

i would not engage raging customers either, let alone give out personal/professional details to them

you come across as unhinged in this matter,
as do every other 'member' that posts a couple of hit pieces,
then never engages in any other convo or returns to contribute anything save bile

you could simply be the type of customer we all dread,
how do we know?

it's akin to me covertly spray-painting 'deviant' all over your house,
would you want all your neighbors to believe me or you?


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## Persnicketees (Sep 5, 2013)

into the T said:


> you admittedly have zero info and i am the one speculating?
> 
> of course i'm speculating, hence my verbiage
> 
> ...


I understand the point you are making. If you feel the need to belabor it, I suppose you can make as many entries as you see fit.

If you were to spend any time reading my posts you would see that I have been active in conversations about OT and OTH since inception. I have used it since before it was even fully functional. I was a member of the forum at Openshirts! Did you even know that was a thing? You speak of me like I'm new. I'm actually happy that you insist on continuing this conversation because now I can let people know that Opentshirts shut their forum down, with no notice, on the very people that were spending their time installing, testing and running the opensource project. It left a lot of people struggling. You can find those same references in this forum. 

Some additional clarity for readers:

Opentshirts was instrumental in the opensource OT designer.
Opentshirts ALWAYS pointed people to OpentshirtsHosting ONLY.
Opentshirts Hosting now redirects back to open t shirts for a subscription product. 

I would invite anyone with interest to test the waters for themselves. Though, I'm confident in what will be found.

I stand by every word of my review. I have a right to express my opinion, as do you. I really do wish you well. And, if your intentions are in fact honorable, I commend you for advocating.


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## Signature Series (Jun 11, 2016)

Persnicketees said:


> I understand the point you are making. If you feel the need to belabor it, I suppose you can make as many entries as you see fit.
> 
> If you were to spend any time reading my posts you would see that I have been active in conversations about OT and OTH since inception. I have used it since before it was even fully functional. I was a member of the forum at Openshirts! Did you even know that was a thing? You speak of me like I'm new. I'm actually happy that you insist on continuing this conversation because now I can let people know that Opentshirts shut their forum down, with no notice, on the very people that were spending their time installing, testing and running the opensource project. It left a lot of people struggling. You can find those same references in this forum.
> 
> ...


Looking from the outside you can tell a lot about how each person communicates. We have yourself attacking a product which let us be honest has been questionable at best from day one. We then have Into the T attacking you personally and to be frank it is their comments that are full of rage and unhinged. For kicks I went back to the site and tried to add a standard clipart to a hoodie - all I got was a spinning indicator and the clipart never loaded. Also again notice not a single reference to sites that are currently using the app. It is comical to claim to be the number one on-line design studio when there is not even a single example of clients that are using the tool. This is a perfect example of buyer beware.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

into the T said:


> you should cease and desist such harsh judgement for a company who has been nothing but cordial and accommodating to you


How do you know how cordial and accommodating they were? The OP initial posts says otherwise.


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## click here (Jan 29, 2018)

what you have to ask yourself is are my replies inversely proportional to the op's,
a superior mirage, an opposite mirror reflection?

i think they are, but psychologically we have 'david and goliath' goggles on,
we root for the underdog (which is generally a good/healthy position)

so it appears that i have over-reached, when i have only mirrored

bile mirrored is ambrosia, it is merely a level for others to somewhat accurately assess both sides
they could very well be a company that has issues, or they could not
i've never heard of either of them

why are all our bad memories so vivid and readily accessible?
same theory at work here

my analogy of the graffiti is apt,
we see it all the time 
(simply point the finger and your mind automatically assumes guilt, 
and clothes the finger-pointer in a bathing white light)

* i lost all my info in that malwarebytes fiasco yesterday, hence the new username *


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## prteez (Aug 15, 2012)

Persnicketees said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> Opentshirts has been around for many years now as they were the home to the open source, online tshirt design program. I was an early adopter of the program itself and one of the first to buy into their hosting package which they promoted on opentshirts as opentshirts hosting.
> 
> ...


Neet to see they do finally have an html designer and they got away from pure java and went with fabric.js Interface could use some work as well as english


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## Persnicketees (Sep 5, 2013)

Update:

ICANN directed me Public Domain Registry because of OTH/OT (Confirmed to be the same business) possible violation of their terms of service. PDR had me try to contact OT again, PDR did as well. After no response, PDR unlocked my domain and I have now moved it to a reputable hosting company. 

So, there's another indication that you should stay away from OT/OTH.


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## Screen168 (Feb 22, 2016)

Thank you for sharing. I will develop my website.


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## Marti (Apr 12, 2007)

Don't belittle Persnicketees, I also experienced horrendous customer service from Opentshirtshosting.com. Completely lost my website, had to rebuild entire site without any designer program, as my OT files, every single file/everything was kept by them. Very rude, unhelpful. Basically they had us held hostage. I don't know about you, but I don't care to do business with anyone with that attitude. (FYI: prteez was actual programmer that set my OT up for me. He did good by getting away.) I purchased the whole setup & lost everything.

I just received an email from AdvancedArtist again pushing a new OpenTshirts. Tom was the original creator/pusher/whatever back in 2013, is he back in control of this? I've asked him if new OT is in any way associated with OTHosting. No response yet.

Does anyone know about this new offering of OpenTshirts? Ha, ha, for $499 I could start all over?


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## BestTexasTees (Oct 30, 2018)

Dang it. Wish I had read this earlier.
Got suckered into updating our opentshirts with the new version.
41 days after I bought into it, nothing. They kept saying that they were having trouble migrating our site.
I should have checked into it better. Beside the fact that the newer version runs on HTML5 and Java instead of Flash, it's the same old thing. Did seem harder to work on designs.
At any rate, I have requested a refund. Not holding my breath.


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## BestTexasTees (Oct 30, 2018)

I forgot to add that in looking at the emails I got from OpenTshirts, virtually everyone was [email protected].
This makes contacting them really difficult. 

We were happy with the system in 2104 when we got it.
Now however, would not recommend it all, ever.

Edited 11/2/18

Just got notice from them that we are not eligible to receive a refund!
I am so mad right now that they should be glad they are in UK.
STAY AWAY FROM OPENTSHIRTS!!


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## ukracer (Feb 11, 2010)

BestTexasTees said:


> I forgot to add that in looking at the emails I got from OpenTshirts, virtually everyone was [email protected].
> This makes contacting them really difficult.
> 
> We were happy with the system in 2104 when we got it.
> ...



Open Tshirts in the UK first |I have heard about it.
Last I heard Tom sold it all to a guy who dumped the Forums we were running without even the decency to let us know it was going.
Prteez who was the only chap who knew anything about it has been uncontactable for a while....which is sad as we used to speak regularly despite me being in the UK and him in the states.


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## BestTexasTees (Oct 30, 2018)

Well now I have totally lost track of the days since this whole thing started. 
Been in contact with them and am assured that the refund is still coming.
I shall not hold my breath.


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## ukracer (Feb 11, 2010)

into the T said:


> sounds like they got bought out and you are barking up the wrong tree
> 
> the new owners are trying to ease the transition with that good faith offering
> very kind, as they did not have to offer anything
> ...



Not sure who Persnicketees contacting for info but I ran the forums for a few years for NOTHING and we were always promised this that and the other.


It never worked out....Prteez salvaged many installations for folk but even I cant get a reply from Chris now (although I think he is still alive).
I had a problem with fashion Factory from https://www.advancedtshirts.com/ formally Advanced artist. Sadly I did not even get any reply from Tom.


What really got me upset was the way Hamid took down the old OpenTshirt forum without letting us save the content so all our work was lost.


I dont know who the new owners are but the attitude sounds exactly like Hamid. The one big loss to the online Tshirt decorating market was Chris Hill who was hoping to produce his own HTML5 designer but work kept getting in the way.


I have only started posting back on these forums as I am trying to see if there is a viable cheap product I can set up and use to allow personal customers to use so I dont have to "read their minds" and can get finished artwork ready to cut or print (I know printing is easier to get than cutting).


Anyway I am currently looking at Fancy Product Designer as the price looked OK as I have now ditched Open Cart in favour of Word Press and Woo Commerce.


Would love to hear peoples experiences of it as it does not seem to have any updated Your tube content for a couple of years and the fact you have to buy extra templates even for mugs puts me off it a little.


I am guessing you can create your own if you know how to. sadly I dont so I am a little way of deciding which way to jump yet. 


As for Open T Shirts its the same as their hosting expensive and they can KMA.


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## prteez (Aug 15, 2012)

I am alive


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## ukracer (Feb 11, 2010)

prteez said:


> I am alive



Glad to hear it officially. 


I thought you must have uninstalled skype.. lol


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## ukracer (Feb 11, 2010)

Update on where I stand now. 


I was going down the route of Fancy Product Designer being the best I have seen BUT I cant find anyone who actually uses it that I can get to send me some files it produces in the back end/ admin so I can see if they are actually cut ready and useable.


The Admin demo does not allow you access to these files and I have to ask why?? There are a number of unclosed threads all asking questions around the same topic which concerns me.


Anyway I have posted in their suppot and we shall see.....I think most of the useful features are now being switched or added to pay monthy.


I have also been sent a link to this one Zakeke https://www.zakeke.com/en-GB/ and they also seem to have the useful features as paid monthly... I have yet to look into this one in much detail BUT using teh search engine on this forum finds nothing for Zakeke so I am not sure its big enough yet?




Any one using 



Fancy product Designer


or 



Zakeke


If you could send me some files the admin produces so I can see what quality they produce I would be grateful.


Regards Andy T


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## ukracer (Feb 11, 2010)

prteez said:


> I am alive



Any reason you not replying by skype mate. Hope you are well though.


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## robchef (Jul 29, 2021)

so is openshirts dead now then no more working been done ????


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## ukracer (Feb 11, 2010)

robchef said:


> so is openshirts dead now then no more working been done ????


Dead as a dodo...


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