After reading the review of the Ariane 737 I was very tempted until I looked under the Admin section on the Ariane website and read about the Re-activation Ticket for FSX. Am I correct in thinking that if I re-install Windows and FSX the Ariane will charge me

You

Not impressed with that. Earlier this year I updated my graphics card and last week I installed a new hard drive, that would have been

Not impressed with that. Earlier this year I updated my graphics card and last week I installed a new hard drive, that would have been

Don

I bought a new PC a year ago and payed the reinstallation fee for their BBJ. I was surprised at the poor gauge performance on my new machine but kept the add-on anyway. FS9 got corrupted to a point it wouldn't load so I had to step by step troubleshoot the problem only to find it was a corrupt scenery texture file. A few days after that I discovered the Ariane 737 wouldn't load (the only plane that had a problem). I contacted Ariane and found the only way to get it working again was to pay a fee for reactivation. You guys can just about guess my reaction to that...For the record I no longer use this add-on... I may take a look if ever I get around to using FSX.

Ariane DID NOT charge for reactivation,

Oh yes they do. unless the recently decided to be reasonable.

Oh yes they do. unless the recently decided to be reasonable.

As much as I have resisted posting this, I can no longer restrain myself!I just tried re-installing both their 737-700Ng and BBJ products for FS9 on my new system the other day... I was never able to get them installed and activated on my old system when I bought them 2 years ago. I sent Ariane the necessary activation e-mails with all of my information and their response was... get ready for this:"Your license is out-of-date... we cannot issue you a key.. we only provide keys to users who upgrade to newer products or who are continuing purchasers"!When they asked why I never contacted them regarding the inability to activate the products when I bought them 2 years ago, I told them the simple truth... that they NEVER responded to any of my e-mails requesting assistance! I tried e-mailing them EIGHT (8) times during that period. All e-mails went unaswered!They then told me that I should purchase their FSX products and abandon the FS9 products! They then went on to say that I should "Support the community by purchasing newer products!"That statement REALLY ticked me off! I spend well over $1000 a year on FS add-ons and through supporting both freeware developers and organizations like AVSIM and Flightsim.com. I have accounts with Flight 1, Simmarket, and Aerosoft that go back almost 10 years... The nerve they had to insinuate that I "don't support the community" because I won't purchase their newer FSX products has infuriated me beyond words! :( So.. in a nutshell, I have TWO of their products - totalling over $100 - that are completely useless and have been since the day that I bought them and they have the audacity to suggest that I just forget about that and purchase newer products from them!I am usually a very patient person! I've resisted the urge to comment on their business practices in the past, choosing, instead, to give them the benefit of the doubt.. but NO LONGER!!They are THE WORST company I have EVER dealt with and they will NEVER EVER see another dime from me! Furthermore, I will no longer hesitate to warn other potential buyers of their SHADY and UNETHICAL business practices!So.. BUYERS BEWARE! - Bonk

Wow, that's some attitude on their part. But now there is at least a conversation going on and they see people are responding favorably to their actual products (when given a chance). Perhaps they'll improve their customer service. But I can hardly stomach their forum, when you see stuff like "while on certain other simtoys you may have done it this way, you're going to have to learn how it really works now."For a routine activation, mine was fine (41 hours, though) and this is settling in as a favorite airplane of mine. Maybe partly because I'm contrary, but, no, I think that just makes it more fun LOLI'm really sorry about your experience under the circumstances you describe. Getting a lecture just adds insult to injury.

@Bonkster: Thanks for sharing. I was about ready to get one of their 737s after reading the Avsim review, but this kind of "customer service" is unacceptable.

Unbelievable... I don't know how it is handled in the US, but in Europe you'll find a quiet tough consumer protection. A judge would set this kind of company policy straight, no doubt (ask Microsoft).

What's sad is that it's this type of company atitude that prompts people to hack the installer and bypass the activation, just out of spite and frustration. Some pirates hack to cheat the vendor but some hack as an "in your face" response to these types of attitudes.Simple options - don 't buy from them or, if you do, don't complain about their policy - it's been this was as long as I can remember.Vic

I have only one experience of re-installing an Ariane product. That was the 900ER I reviewed for AVSIM that I reinstalled into FSX after having to reinstall FSX to get the Captain Sim 757 working. The serial number I was sent from Ariane to originally install the 900ER worked a second time (I was thinking it probably would not given what I have heard about this aspect of Ariane, but to my surprise it did).I've heard conflicting versions of Ariane's policy on this matter, with some claiming they do not charge, others claiming they do, so I am going to attempt to find out what is what on that score myself, just out of curiosity. I'll get back with anything I can find out.Anyway, I'll see what I can find out on the Ariane score.Al

What is the purpose of a reactivation fee? The only thing I can think of is to discourage casual cheaters. I cannot imagine that there is that degree of overhead on the process unless their activation scheme is so complicated it takes THEM 48 hours to handle it lol

After reading the review of the Ariane 737 I was very tempted until I looked under the Admin section on the Ariane website and read about the Re-activation Ticket for FSX. Am I correct in thinking that if I re-install Windows and FSX the Ariane will charge me