DO NOT buy a Rip Roar Creation Station.
For Christmas, we bought my daughter Mira a Rip Roar Creation Station. Looks great right? A video camera for kids that does green screen video? Too bad it's crap.
I help her get going and do the software install. After a convoluted set of steps that required CD install, downloading from the internet, plugging and unplugging of the camera USB cable, and even a good old command line patch, the software won't run. Crashes everytime.
Undaunted, I uninstalled and reinstalled. Same problem again. It doesn't work.
My daughter is standing there ready to go, dressed for he video with the green cloth background ready. Utterly disappointed that her 'big' Christmas present doesn't work. Breaks a father's heart to see this.
I track down the customer service line for Rip Roar/Toyquest. Amazingly a real person answers. I speak to him for a bit, but he tells me that they can't support the Rip Roar Creation Station, that I need to use the 'Help' email address. I asked if there was a phone number to call, since solving software problems via email is usually useless. He said there was no phone number and that only the email address.
I expressed my concern that waiting for an email to resolve the problem for a Christmas problem was not good. He responded that the 'Help' email people should get back to me "in a few days". He also suggested that I could return the item to "my local retailer". Yes, I'll enjoy explaining that to my daughter.
All I want is for the camera & software to work. I guess that is too much to expect these days.
I started searching on the net for help, since none was forthcoming from Rip Roar. I'm not alone in having trouble. Read what the Amazon Reviews of this product say. I wish had read them before buying this.
Not one to give up easy, I tracked down the parent company, Toyquest. I gave them a call at (310) 231-7292, trying to track down help on the problem. Of course, Toyquest doesn't make it easy to find their number, it's nowhere on their website, but I found it anyways. No people there to help, just recordings that wanted me to email for help instead of speaking with a person.
I thought that the President of Toyquest, Brian Dubinsky, would want to know how his product was doing, so I left him an voicemail explaining my frustration with the product. I'm sure that Mr. Dubinsky is a nice man in person with his family and friends, but his business operations leave much to be desired.
So, my hope is that when others search for the Rip Roar Creation Station, they find this note and are warned off. My fear is that there are many parents in the same boat as me with disappointed children with non-functional gifts. My PageRank is pretty good, so this will likely float to the top, but any extra linkage would be helpful.
Posted by michael at December 26, 2007 09:53 AMI'm running into a similar problem with mine, except It won't let me download it to my computor. I tried to contact riproar via e-mail and still no response.
Posted by: W.Petro [] on December 27, 2007 11:10 AMI have that same problem, when i try it, it says "Creation Station has encountered a problem and needs to close" I installed it and this happened, so i uninstalled it, installed again, STILL WON'T WORK! Makes Me Mad
Posted by: Pew446 [] on December 27, 2007 6:28 PMBad Toy!
Bad Toy!
I found a phone number in small print in the terms of use section,1-800-434-6178. My sons tripod came broken! I'm giving them a call today. I hope this helps.
Posted by: Erika [] on December 28, 2007 10:22 AMWhat a complete load of RUBBISH!!
seeing my son break his heart and get so frustrated with this product is not what we expected on christmas day!!!
It crashed every time we tried to use it. It has gone back to the retailer never to be seen again!!!!
I have had the same problems. This a product that is sold knowing it does work. My son was cry for christmas. My son threw the box away and now they won't take it back. I think a good fashion law suite will be the trick.
Posted by: Tom [] on December 30, 2007 6:43 PMI GOT MY KIDS CAMERA TO WORK, IT JUST TAKES PATIENCE
Posted by: Connie R. Lenhert [] on December 30, 2007 11:23 PMthis makes me cry, my family got me this for christmas, and they were happy, and it's not working and i want it too work, we can't give it back and my mom spent a lot of money on this.
Posted by: Grace [http://fuzzyanime.webs.com] on December 31, 2007 1:16 PMI am having the same problems. I work on computers for a living and followed the directions to the T. It crashes every time I run the program. This is frustrating and I cannot return the product because the box was torn by my kids upon opening it up. This will definitely hurt this company if they do not fix this - I will be sure to post this all over.
Posted by: SF [] on December 31, 2007 10:35 PMFINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!READ...READ...READ
PLEASE READ
SOLUTION FOUND
OK I BOUGHT THIS YESTERDAY AND WAS I DISAPPOINTED...
BUT I FOUND A WAY
HERE IS HOW
1.HAVE EVERYTHING INSTALLED
2.RIGHT CLICK ON Creation Station 1.0 ICON
3. GO TO PROPERTIES
4. UP IN THE TOP THERE ARE TABS CLICK COMPATIBILITY
5.PUT A CHECK ON RUN THIS PROGRAM CAMPATIBILITY MODE FOR
6.CLICK ON THE DROP DOWN ARROW
7.CHOOSE WINDOWS 95
8.APPLY, DOWN AT THE BOTTOM
9.PLUG IN CAMARA
10.OPEN PROGRAM
11.HAVE FUN
STILL HAVE PROBLEMS EMAIL ME AT gchivas101@yahoo.com
CONS
-BAD VIDEO QUALITY
-SLOW
PRO
-AWESOME TOY
HAVE PATIENCE #1 THING
Did you download the software off the included disk? Or did you go to
the website and download it there? There is updated software on the
website called Installation Software 1.2
Please unplug the camera, fully uninstall both the Creation Station and
the Creation Station Camera from your PC. You can do this by going to
start, control panel, add/remove programs. Restart your computer.
Then go to http://riproarmedia.com/CShtmlSite/index.html and download
the software again. You can find the software under the second tab
labeled download and install it following the on-screen instructions.
Please make sure at the end of the installation to follow the on-screen
instruction carefully.
There are also helpful troubleshooting tips at www.riproarmedia.com
If you don't have success with this I will forward your email to my
tech
team. Can you please provide me with a little more information first?
I will need you to please "capture" a screen shot of these and email it
to me. The way to "capture" your computer screen image, is to click the
button on your keyboard (usually on the top right) that says "print
screen." Then click your start menu, click "All Programs," click
"Accessories," and choose the "Paint" program. Then hold down the
"control" button and press the "V" button on your keyboard. Save these
file and attach it in your return email.
1) Please right-click on the "my computer" icon on your desktop, you
may
find this under your start menu also, and then click "properties" - it
should show you all of the specifications of your PC under the general
tab.
2) Also please Right-click on "my computer" from your desktop or start
menu and choose "Properties". Next click on tab that is labeled
"Hardware" and then click on Device Manager. Click the + sign next to
"Imaging Devices" and the + sign next to "Sound, Video, and Game
Controllers". You need to have the software installed and the camera
plugged in for this screen shot.
3) Also please include a screen shot of the error message you are
prompted with at the point you are having issues. If this applies to
you.
Thank you,
Thomas
Include me in the PODWDCC group of people ("Pissed Off Dad with Disappointed Child Category").
I will be watching this closely with hopes that there maybe someway to fix this!
Oh.... and Thomas.
Where would you like us to email all this info that you are going to present to your tech team?
Or do you want us to post this info here?
i just wanted to thank you for the "how to wash a ball cap" entry. (and i thought the last bit was quite awesome too).
Posted by: Regina [] on January 14, 2008 7:28 PMwaste of money, I too had a disappointed child at xmas. tried all sorts of things. my email (with screenshots) was supposedly forwarded to tech team 2 weeks ago, still no reply. This company is RIP OFF not riproar !!!!
taken product back for full refund, DO NOT BUY
Posted by: kevin wells [] on January 15, 2008 3:03 AMYou may think I'm crazy......but I have to give it a shot. I saw on another part of your blog about handkerchiefs and saw the photo of the ones you buy. Could you tell me where you purchase them? I can't find anything but the fancy thin ones that hold NOTHING. If you could help I would be most appreciative.
Thanks so much!!!!
Posted by: Jill [] on January 16, 2008 9:30 AMI brought the camera Creation at BJ store thinking it was a great present for my grandaughter but I have been having alot of problems and plan to return this item. Every time I try to work with the program it stops and does nothing and lets me to unplug the camera. It does really nothing so I have wasted alot of time trying. I thought it was a great gift but it
turned out is not. The package says great things
to do but it does not work. What should I do?
Hi, Oh boy! Trying to settle my anger!! My son has had this toy on his wish list for the past year, so at Christmas I bought it at £79.99 (not peanuts for a family such as ours). Having installed the software all seemed well until I pressed the record button...It freezes up then go to a black screen. My son is very unhappy and i'm totally pissed off!!
Any suggestions? Or perhaps a software that is compatible with a fuji digital camera that does the same thing, green screen etc?
Thanks.
Bought one from Walmart.com for Christmas. Came with a broken tripod (never even got to the install). Tried to exchange it one week after Christmas only to find that Walmart doesn't carry it anymore. What does that say about the product???
Posted by: Bill [] on January 28, 2008 9:40 AMI got a riproar creation station for Christmas, and it can't find "the nessacary software" to download. I've tried four times and it still can't find the software! It "needs to find the software on the internet!" the only part that won't work is the camera which is kind of a big part! I was expecting a great toy, one I could make a movie with. The camera won't even stay on the stand, and it's back in the box.
Posted by: disapointed kid [] on February 1, 2008 6:32 AMCan someone out there who knows how to get this rip off riproar creation station to work. Please let me in on the joke. Please. Thank You.
I saw the commercial,
bought rip roar,
ran the install,
it wanted the internet,
it installed a program from the web,
ran that,
got program icons,
it said it installed the drivers,
it said finished,
clicked on icon,
checked usb, checked camera, ect...
Uninstall, Repeat, Repeat,
Not Working
Went to Rip Roars web sight. - Its being updated.
My Opinion.... Rip Roar Rip Off
1- no support BAD
2- program not on CD, only a program to load a program from web BAD
3- installing program from Web BAD
4- need for camera to be plugged in to usb BAD
5- no support, BAD Repeat BAD
Same I have been tring to install on windows vista home premium. With limited sucess. I can get the program to open and see video with some help from this site. but I can't keep it running it keeps closing on me. Right now it keeps giving me the ERROR " XvidCodec not installed properly" however I saw another video codec on riproar website I am going to try installing it tomorrow....later today.
this did help...but I was having to "run as administrater" to get the program t open at all.
1.HAVE EVERYTHING INSTALLED
2.RIGHT CLICK ON Creation Station 1.0 ICON
3. GO TO PROPERTIES
4. UP IN THE TOP THERE ARE TABS CLICK COMPATIBILITY
5.PUT A CHECK ON RUN THIS PROGRAM CAMPATIBILITY MODE FOR
6.CLICK ON THE DROP DOWN ARROW
7.CHOOSE WINDOWS 95
8.APPLY, DOWN AT THE BOTTOM
9.PLUG IN CAMARA
10.OPEN PROGRAM
11.HAVE FUN
matt