Hi,I may not be popular for starting a new Ariane Thread (did the old one not make it back over? :( ) .... but I just need some simple help;I decided that my need for a 737 in FSX (yes, I have Wilco PIC but wanted better/more) was greater than my need for key commands, and my nervousness about Ariane's attitude and effort towards customer service, so I ordered the 737-800 X2 for FSX.Now, whether I will wait 29 weeks for activation is yet to be seen, but for now by query is far simpler;The Ariane activation box in FSX, and the Ariane FAQs both quote different email addresses to send new activation requests to;[email protected]and [email protected]....could someone please tell me the best / correct email address to send my new activation request to ?I also remember from the long threads that some people had a different email address (Ed in Ariane?) that was getting better responses, could anyone please post that up?).Thanks in advance - it's been a couple of hours so I ain't complaining yet, but let's see how this one goes!Regards,David RogersAVSIM Staff Reviewer

l always used: [email protected] make sure to use ATT: Ed in the subject line and you will probably get a quick reply.

Address I used is [email protected]. I just recently activated mine. It took over 2.5 days to get a reply back.From the e-mail I received:We apologise for the delay in answering.The delay is mainly due to the unexpected numbers but is also dueto the support following the extremely popular release(and unprecedented demand) of the new McPhat AIRLINE section. Thank you for your understanding.PatB :(

Thanks guys, appreciate the help.Well, it's 5 hours in and nothing yet, so clearly it's not going to be one of the activations that can take "2 minutes" according to the Ariane FAQs :( ...... but I guess to early to moan yet. :( I just find it so bizarre that a company wouldn't be able to jump on setting up new customers as a priority, especially when the request was made in normal working hours (UK), like mine.Wouldn't you think they would want the relationship and customer's perception to be good at the outset ?Anyway, Ariane my quirky friends, I'm not whinging yet ........... not YET ! :(

Thanks guys, appreciate the help.Well, it's 5 hours in and nothing yet, so clearly it's not going to be one of the activations that can take "2 minutes" according to the Ariane FAQs :( ...... but I guess to early to moan yet. :( I just find it so bizarre that a company wouldn't be able to jump on setting up new customers as a priority, especially when the request was made in normal working hours (UK), like mine.Wouldn't you think they would want the relationship and customer's perception to be good at the outset ?Anyway, Ariane my quirky friends, I'm not whinging yet ........... not YET ! :(

My sugestion is what exactly I did... Before I purchased, I sent an email explaining that I will only purchase if the product will be activated in an hour after I pay for it. I got a email reply in minutes and from the time I sent the first pre-purchase email to actually flying the addon was within an hour...Seems they are in a rush to get paid, so I used that to my advantage.JB

My sugestion is what exactly I did... Before I purchased, I sent an email explaining that I will only purchase if the product will be activated in an hour after I pay for it. I got a email reply in minutes and from the time I sent the first pre-purchase email to actually flying the addon was within an hour...Seems they are in a rush to get paid, so I used that to my advantage.JB

With the benefit of hindsight, yep, good idea. But my order is placed, my activation request sent, and my wait goes oooooooooooonnnnnnn. :( I sent an email for attn. Ed asking if he could push my activation through, as I am an existing customer (bought the -800 for FS9 a couple of years ago).......... still nothing yet.I think if I was dealing with any other vendor, I'd expect activation within a couple of hours, for a request made in office hours, like mine was. But because this is Ariane, I guess 24 hours is more along the lines of their version of looking after a new customer.Beyond 24 hours is just not acceptable to me - I'd bet that's what I'm looking at. I'd hoped that by sending my request this morning on a working day, I'd get in within the weekend. But no doubt I'll get nothing at the weekend now.I deserve no pity, I knew what I was doing ....... and who I was dealing with. :(

With the benefit of hindsight, yep, good idea. But my order is placed, my activation request sent, and my wait goes oooooooooooonnnnnnn. :( I sent an email for attn. Ed asking if he could push my activation through, as I am an existing customer (bought the -800 for FS9 a couple of years ago).......... still nothing yet.I think if I was dealing with any other vendor, I'd expect activation within a couple of hours, for a request made in office hours, like mine was. But because this is Ariane, I guess 24 hours is more along the lines of their version of looking after a new customer.Beyond 24 hours is just not acceptable to me - I'd bet that's what I'm looking at. I'd hoped that by sending my request this morning on a working day, I'd get in within the weekend. But no doubt I'll get nothing at the weekend now.I deserve no pity, I knew what I was doing ....... and who I was dealing with. :(

Do your home work next time they don't work in the weekends so my guess is Monday that simple :(

Do your home work next time they don't work in the weekends so my guess is Monday that simple :(

Mmm, think you need to do your homework buddy:-a ). It's not the weekend yet.b ). There's a big sign on the website saying they do NEW activations over weekends.c ). THEY JUST ACTIVATED MY REQUEST, SO HEY HO !Didn't have you down as a wind-up merchant Anrdre. :( SO......... activation took 10 hours, not bad.Thing is, I think I only got it because I send an "Attn Ed." second email, asking for a fast activation today if at all possible as I'm away after tonight at my sister's wedding in Wales, through til Tuesday. (True).Anyway, all's well that ends well. :(

activations that can take "2 minutes"

So your activation did take just two minutes. Unfortunately, they were not consecutive. Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

Mmm, think you need to do your homework buddy:-a ). It's not the weekend yet.b ). There's a big sign on the website saying they do NEW activations over weekends.c ). THEY JUST ACTIVATED MY REQUEST, SO HEY HO !Didn't have you down as a wind-up merchant Anrdre. :( SO......... activation took 10 hours, not bad.Thing is, I think I only got it because I send an "Attn Ed." second email, asking for a fast activation today if at all possible as I'm away after tonight at my sister's wedding in Wales, through til Tuesday. (True).Anyway, all's well that ends well. :(

I'm glad everything went well. 10 hours is very reasonable. There is some disadvantages to manually activating each individual's purchase in that it does take a little longer to complete the process, but there are also advantages to it too in that if you make a small mistake in the process from your end, a human on the other end is more likely to accept it if everything else looks good, where a fully automated system would just kick it out.Bob

Glad you got it sorted.I do think the Ariane activation system leaves a bit to be desired, but I have seen a fair bit of evidence that it is improving. I guess as you get a bit older you tend to be less 'I want it now', so maybe that is why I don't personally regard a bit of a wait as a major setback, and God knows both Ariane products I've bought certainly were not activated in two minutes, or even two days come to think of it. :( Let us know what you think of it, either here or on the Ariane forums (if you think AVSIM couldn't bear another ten pager thread), which you presumably also now have access to. Hopefully my submitted review of it for AVSIM will not be too long in coming now that we're back, but whilst we await it, any opinions (good or bad) on the thing can only be helpful to potential buyers/not buyers.Al

Glad you got it sorted.I do think the Ariane activation system leaves a bit to be desired, but I have seen a fair bit of evidence that it is improving. I guess as you get a bit older you tend to be less 'I want it now', so maybe that is why I don't personally regard a bit of a wait as a major setback, and God knows both Ariane products I've bought certainly were not activated in two minutes, or even two days come to think of it. :( Let us know what you think of it, either here or on the Ariane forums (if you think AVSIM couldn't bear another ten pager thread), which you presumably also now have access to. Hopefully my submitted review of it for AVSIM will not be too long in coming now that we're back, but whilst we await it, any opinions (good or bad) on the thing can only be helpful to potential buyers/not buyers.Al

Hello Al,I did find out from Ed that they are putting on some extra people soon just for improving activation, so that should help also.I just purchased FS FlyingSchool upgrade and they seem to have a similar manual activation system. I made a mistake and tried to use my old version key, thinking that was what I was supposed to do, and wrote to their support when it wouldn't work. They wrote back and said that I need to give them 24 hours, but they did send me the activation at the same time, probably because they thought I was complaining, which I wasn't. I could have waited. I wrote back to them and thanked them.I am also looking forward to reading your review. I know you worked very hard with this one. I'm glad to see things are working here again.Bob

Mmm, think you need to do your homework buddy:-a ). It's not the weekend yet.b ). There's a big sign on the website saying they do NEW activations over weekends.c ). THEY JUST ACTIVATED MY REQUEST, SO HEY HO !Didn't have you down as a wind-up merchant Anrdre. :( SO......... activation took 10 hours, not bad.Thing is, I think I only got it because I send an "Attn Ed." second email, asking for a fast activation today if at all possible as I'm away after tonight at my sister's wedding in Wales, through til Tuesday. (True).Anyway, all's well that ends well. B)

Lol David I should have :( Glad you received it though :(

I'm glad everything went well. 10 hours is very reasonable. There is some disadvantages to manually activating each individual's purchase in that it does take a little longer to complete the process, but there are also advantages to it too in that if you make a small mistake in the process from your end, a human on the other end is more likely to accept it if everything else looks good, where a fully automated system would just kick it out.Bob

In my book it isnt very resonable at all! Isnt that the whole point of the internet and downloadable software or buying online. The fact that you dont have to wait days for delivery or drive out to the shops to colllect.An Automated system is far better, if as you say it goes wrong due to user error, then you can contact someone then, and yes may have to wait for a response, but for all those that dont have a problem isntant activation is what they get, not days of waiting to use something that they have paid for.I can see no benefit to ariane in using a manual system to activate people, it just creates work for them, costs in staffing to man this, takes time away from answering support questions or working on updates and provides no greater method of security at all. And in fact probably encourages piracy more. A pirated version could be downloaded and installed in miniutes...or wait hours...days, months,(delete based on your own experience) to get a personally activated one. I dont advocate piracy in anyway, and hate seeing the effect it has on companies losing money, which obvioulsy effects us the customer, in either higher prices, or no new products coming to the market. The are plenty of secure online commerce systems, that allow for activations that can be security checked against the purchasers credit card and email, that would encourage more people to click and buy there and then and have it up and running(and I imagine would work out cheaper to use such system than pay someones time to maunaly activate each purchase)RegardsJames

I agree that it is not the best approach, and I wouldn't describe a ten hour wait as reasonable either. Then again I wouldn't start tearing my hair out at ten hours; for a start there's about a 50/50 chance you might be asleep for many of them. The delay in Ariane's activation process is well known, and you kind of make a tacit agreement about that when you buy the thing if you are aware of the possibility of that delay, as I'm sure most people are.Like PMDG's FS9 MD-11, the Ariane 737NG range for FS9 has been heavily pirated, so on the one hand it demonstrates that the security does not work (and clearly neither does PMDGs). On the other hand, you can understand developers wanting to be fairly obsessive about security, given that an entire range of Ariane's 737NGs, from the 600 through to the 900 and the BBJ have all done the rounds in torrents for those unscrupulous enough to indulge in that kind of scumbag activity, and the PMDG MD-11 too, which was what? 5 years to develop? So we're talking about a lot of theft.I think I might be similarly disposed to be obsessive about security if loads of my work was nicked (which it has been on occasion) and I thought being so might prevent it from happening again. We've seen what poor security did to AVSIM in recent weeks, so we know what a pain in the &@($* it is even for us forum users; imagine how you'd feel if your livelihood was subjected to that kind of criminal activity and you can more easily put yourself in the shoes of a commercial developer with a desire for security.I don't like waiting for activations, but I can well understand why they are inclined to go with that system, in spite of me not liking it.Al