What ever happened to customer support?

[Guest wathomas777]

Since I started this thread, I thought it only fair to give an update, which by the way, ended quite happily for me.I sent SimMarket a trouble ticket telling them that they seemed to be selling obsolete product, as I mentioned in the first thread.I also kindly asked them to make the 2.1.0 version available.Within 24 hours, I was given an email with a link to the 2.1.0 version.They also updated their link on their website so that they were no longer selling the 2.0.1 version.Anyway. SimMarket did for me, what 3 weeks of talking to a brick wall in Italy did not. And despite that I have the newest version now, it still does not change the fact that the publisher of the software refuses to provide any support for anyone who did not buy direct from them. Pretty pathetic business practice if you ask me.I work in technical support, and I am not allowed to support "non-branded" product that we manufacture for someone else...IE, Dell must provide tech support for Dell branded product, Compaq, for Compaq branded. It is not pleasant to tell a person you can't help them, but I do understand OEM rules, and the fact that many times the specification of a product differs from the "branded" product I support. But OEM rules do not apply here, as this is not marketed as SimMarket's Honolulu. Since Lago still brands this product, they should provide the support.Anyway, I got my upgrade, and version 2.1.0 is INDEED, an updated version of 2.0.1.Since I am very vocal when I feel slighted, it's only fair that I be equally generous in praise when it is warranted.SimMarket earns high marks for great customer service and response, and along with great companies like Flight 1, and FSGenesis, helps restore my faith in the system.There are bad apples out there, but we can also enjoy the good ones as well.Merry Christmas (or appropriate Holiday season) everyone.

[Sonar5 3]

Glad you got it worked out, will.

[Guest]

>I don't think some of your responces to my post are fair.>Have you been bitten by one of the developers of addons? Been>told that the $35 you just spent have been flushed and there>is nothing you can do about it? I have been bitten more thanSeveral times. It's called life.I move on, maybe tell people that that SPECIFIC product or even company (if it involved more than one product) is not to be trusted.I'm not going to (like you are attempting) try to convince people that no company is to be trusted at all by making blanket statements to the extent that noone cares about customers.>I'm not trying to say the whole fs addon developer world is>bad, just that some companies don't open their eyes to what is>going on. At the risk of being black-listed from this forum if>not the site I will name 1 WILCO - I spent good money on their>A320 - it looks good from the inside VC, caben but it flys>like a heap and there is NO SUPPORT at all! Look at their>forum for god's sake. I sent them tonnes of mail and never got>a reply! This was just one example. Look at the ones just>above and you will have many examples read the posts... Things>don't work like they were supposed to FMC's, flight models>etc. Was it so hard to name specifics? I've not used the Wilco 320 but I've heard those stories and seen the product demoed and based on that I decided to not purchase it.That's an informed decision, what you have up to now achieved is people maybe becoming convinced that there are no good commercial addons at all and that noone will listen to their problems and try to help, something which is decidedly untrue.>"1) if true, inexcusable. But mostly it's not "thousands of>people" but only a very few who scream very loudly and tell>everyone that there's "thousands of people" having trouble>even before there's a thousand units told.">>There is one forum on the site where a particular fix that I>have asked for and have been refused (I was told I was the>only one) has been requested by no less than 35 users directly>and another 70 over the past year.>Companies have to weigh the impact of an effort against the benefits.They also have to decide if the "fix" will not make matters worse. I've seen people (1 started and soon others chimed in, many of them not even legal users) demand changes to a product that would have made it worse, in one case someone decided he didn't like the flight dynamics of an aircraft that was somewhat difficult to fly and screamed it should be "patched" to make it easier. In another someone asked for a feature to be added to an addon that he'd once seen on a single aircraft of the type. On doing a bit of research the manufacturer found out that this was an aftermarket modification that had been fitted to a few dozen (out of thousands) aircraft of the type, the person asking for it insisted it was fitted to every single one and on being told the manufacturer personally flew the aircraft modelled changed that to "most". PSS got screaming demands to make the FDE of the 747-400 "more realistic". Hundreds of punters insisted that it was way too agile, that an aircraft that large must handle sluggish and make wide turns.Never mind that the FDE had been signed off on by 747 pilot instructors.That's just a few examples of why a company will ignore or deny a request for change.Far more often it will be because the cost of development will be too large for the results yielded or cause problems elsewhere (for example, a model change that will require several days of work to make a single edge in the model tilt a fraction of a degree more or less, that too has happened).>>"3) completely bogus argument on your part I'm afraid. Every>time a company tells they'll create a new product but you will>have to pay for it again, existing users included, there's a>storm of protest from self-righteous users who think they've a>right to eternal free upgrades. >They're actually expecting to get a completely new product for>free because they bought something 4 years ago.">>You say that people won't pay for another product that is>re-developed. I don't know about this one. If people are>asking for you to put the features in they must have the>common sense to realise that it won't be for free. I develop>software for a living and most of our clients pay us for the>upgrades... What you are saying is not true in another sense,>MS developed FS2004 right so what do we all expect to get 2006>for free? My argument here is that it's still simulator right>so why pay for it:>For some reason people flock to a new simulator version all the time but demand free upgrades to addons into eternity.Take PSS for example. When they announced the 747 and 777 would not be upgraded for FS2004 (at least not for free) there was a firestorm of resentment. Lots of people screamed PSS was the devil and they wanted nothing more to do with them, forever.Something similar happened when Dreamfleet announced there would be no upgrade for their 737.Lago got slagged when they announced the MadDog would see no FS2002 version (at the time they were still one of the best companies, this was before Mathijs left).In all cases more than a few people demanded free upgrades.There've been claims here when FS2004 was announced (and similarly at release of FS2002) that ALL addon companies were obliged to provide free upgrades (even if those involve a complete remake of the product) to all customers, forever.And with FS itself it happens too on a smaller scale. There's quite a few people using pirated versions that use exactly that argument to justify their piracy. They claim it's "really only an upgrade and those should be free"...Never mind that the cost of creating that upgrade is often a significant portion of the original cost of development.Outside the FS industry most people do not expect a free upgrade and are often surprised to get one.

[Guest oyvindhansen]

Not saying that I find "new" LAGO all that great, but why didn't you complain to Simmarket in the first place if that's where you bought the product? If you are dissatisfied with your car, for instance, you'd ususally complain to the dealership, not the factory. LAGO makes less money off products sold by Simmarket, so they are probably not too keen on providing support for those and their agreement with Simmarket probably states that Simmarket is responsible for support, just like when Justflight provides support for "World Airports" or "British Airports", even though those same airports are also sold directly by Simflyers and Gary Summons respectively.-