Worst experience I´ve ever made as a customer buying flight sim software

[Guest Mik75]

Not receiving updates isn't right at all, what if you contacted the developer directly by email and explained the situation and gave your purchase info?

You have that right IMO

+1

 

Thats why I won't delete my account at their store! Even though that is exactly what I'd like to do, I've never seen such a poorly run business...

Luckily, some developers are selling their products directly through their own websites. But I wish that there were more vendors to choose from, just like we have it with MSFS add ons. (simmarket, just flight, Aerosoft, Flightsimstore, etc.)

[ohsirus 241]

Guess I'm the minority as I've never had an issue and I routinely purchase products there, only contacted them once for an issue and someone quickly helped me out. I will say the OP did get a refund fairly easy and I doubt many companies would have been so gracious.

I do understand why the OP would want a refund as the 748 seems to be more of a WIP and should currently be considered a lite 747, but all the reviews seem to leave out a few things. The devs though seem passionate to fix and learn along the way.

[jcomm 5,890]

Yes, I think the team behind the 748 is passionate and willing to do their best to turn this aircraft into a very good add-on.

 

Mike, did you use their latest update released last week?

 

Unfortunately, none of the tubeliners I owned for X-Plane 10 could be considered a finished, self-contained product like the best add-ons of the type I had for FSX.

X-Plane rides well behind FSX in this area, but it is slowly approaching.

 

I didn't buy the FF 757, because the 777 was far behind my expectations specially given how much I payed for it, but have read the best about their 757, and of course the iXEG 737 appears to be the highest quality among all available so far ( in that class ).

 

I also heard the best about the FJSim 727.

 

The bar for X-Plane add-ons was still too high...

[Blaze 102]

Not receiving updates isn't right at all, what if you contacted the developer directly by email and explained the situation and gave your purchase info?

You have that right IMO

I did exactly that, right after they released the 64 bit update. They (developer) said they would help but were knee deep in beta testing their latest and it would need to be the following week.  I waited about 10 business days and nothing occurred so I asked again (these were direct email to the developer) Despite my request to avoid the .org they (probably pressed for time) sent the email string straight to good ole Nicolas where it promptly disappeared.

 

Needless to say I didn't buy their release when it came out of Beta which wasn't because I had anything against the developers (they acted like they wanted to help) but simply because it was sold exclusively at the .org. Perhaps I shouldn't have deleted my account but the whole incident left me infuriated as a paying customer and the fact that his store continued to spam the hell out of my inbox with advertisements after he insulted me and told me I wasn't welcome pushed me over my limit.

[mikea76 184]

That store pays people to write positive reviews and the guy that runs the place is not at all interested in producing quality add-ons.

 

All he cares about is a potential customer not buying that add-on because of your comments and for that reason you needed to be removed, 

[ohsirus 241]

Some of the comments IMO seem kinda harsh, I mean they host a ton of files for free and give you something like 100 re-downloads of your paid products. I also notice routine sales at their store. Not sure how long they have been around but they seem to have stayed the course with helping X-plane and its 3PD reach a bigger audience. My forum posts have always been met with a polite,honest answer from a few mods. Once again I have never dealt with the owner or had an issue that wasn't quickly resolved. Have I bought a few items I wish I wouldn't have, yeah, but that's just from personal taste.

[GoranM 3,762]

Vincent

Not everyone has a bad experience at the org.  There are obviously people, like yourself, who have had a trouble free "existence" at their store and forums and you should consider yourself fortunate. 

There are far too many people who HAVE had a bad experience and this cannot be ignored.  This screams that there is a problem with their customer service.  There are ways to deal with criticisms.  Insulting the customer is not the way to do it.  

[s0cks 116]

Forgive me if it has been mentioned, but I've read the thread and I cannot see what store is being discussed here? As someone new to X-Plane it would be good to know which stores to be weary of. And if you had such a bad experience why are you protecting them by suppressing their name?

 

We aren't living in some totalitarian state are we? Opinions of retail experiences are allowed (or perhaps they aren't on avsim).

EDIT: And as I type the above I see Goran has replied and finally mentioned which store it is

[Blaze 102]

We aren't living in some totalitarian state are we? Opinions of retail experiences are allowed (or perhaps they aren't on avsim).

Avsim is great in this respect they allow for a healthy discussion of customer experience both good and bad so no need to worry about that here. 

 

The same cannot be said about the .org.  It's not unheard of to be banned there for saying something negative about them on another forum. Seeing how XP is largely dependent on freeware plug in's, utilities, scenery etc. and that the .ORG has a large library of it available,  many users will just sit tight lipped versus running the risk of a reprisal for saying anything negative about the place here or elsewhere.

[Guest Mik75]

Now I start to see and feel the downside of the whole story:

I wanted to buy a livery expansion pack for the B752 and contacted the developer through their homepage.

Unfortunately, I got no answer. So, as it looks, there won´t be any future updates for me on the T7 and the 757, software I paid 140$ for... 

I really looked forward to fly the new Bell 407 in XPX, until I found out, that the only vendor for it is the store I got banned from.

I contacted the developer of it through their homepage and asked, if there might be any other way of purchasing the Bell 407, and unfortunately, now answer yet.

:(

[Robert McDonald 167]

Purchasing software on the web is always problematic, particularly if there is no 'free trial period'.  This is particularly the case in the simulation hobby- where the end-user's satisfaction (and expectations) are variable from one pilot to the next.

 

Most of us have made a purchase of an add-on that didn't meet expectations.  To be fair, I have had only very good experiences with the store mentioned in this post, and find their site to be of great value to my X-Plane flight operations.  I am comfortable dealing with them.

 

I have purchased products through the site's store as well as downloaded a great number of free items from their download area. The fact that a full refund was promptly given to the OP seems like a terrific and quite fair outcome. 

[Guest Mik75]

Thank you for sharing your experience, Robert.

Unfortunately, things went a bit differently for me...

Anyways, the sad thing I´d like to point out, is, that having trouble with that one store leads to the fact, that I´ll miss future releases for X-Plane, as well as updates for products I´ve already bought.

Lets assume one has a problem with a certain vendor of a FSX addon. In most cases, there is more than one alternative that you can go for to purchase your addon of choice.

Not so for me. I can´t buy, lets say, the Bell 407 for X-Plane because of the things that happened.  

[Pascal_LSGC 298]

Yes you can:

http://en.shop.aerosoft.com/eshop.php?action=article_detail&s_supplier_aid=13056&s_design=DEFAULT&shopfilter_category=Flight%20Simulation&s_language=english

[Guest Mik75]

Yes you can:

http://en.shop.aerosoft.com/eshop.php?action=article_detail&s_supplier_aid=13056&s_design=DEFAULT&shopfilter_category=Flight%20Simulation&s_language=english

Wow, thanks a lot!

Thats good news!

[Robert McDonald 167]

Thank you for sharing your experience, Robert.

Unfortunately, things went a bit differently for me...

Anyways, the sad thing I´d like to point out, is, that having trouble with that one store leads to the fact, that I´ll miss future releases for X-Plane, as well as updates for products I´ve already bought.

Lets assume one has a problem with a certain vendor of a FSX addon. In most cases, there is more than one alternative that you can go for to purchase your addon of choice.

Not so for me. I can´t buy, lets say, the Bell 407 for X-Plane because of the things that happened.  

 

It might not hurt to extend an inquiry to the store manager about support for things you have bought there.  Possibly your "account" could still remain accessible, regardless of the forum posting ban (?)  I would certainly suggest reaching out and asking...

 

Best of luck.