I will frequently buy airplanes, sceneries, utilities when I know I probably won’t use them. I spend money in two areas, flight sim and photography. I am fortunate to have the money, and I see it as a way of giving back to the community. I mention this only as a preface to my story.

One of these extraneous purchases was the SUKHOI SU-26 from Alabeo.  I flew it once, maybe twice and forgot about it. When I moved over to PD3 V4 I didn’t even bother to see if it would work. Then I get an email from PCAviator, from whom I had purchased the SU-26, telling me I had a free upgrade to PD3 V4.

I followed the link, but the coupon code didn’t work. I went on PCAviator's support system and sent them a notice of the coupon not working. A week went by and I had heard nothing from PCAviator. I tried the coupon again, still no joy. I once again emailed them explaining the non-functioning code and how I could not download the airplane for free.  Another week with no response. I then opened a support ticket to Alabeo telling them of the situation.

It took a couple back and froths. However, in the end Alabeo send me a link for a free download along with a new serial number. We often gripe and complain about poor customer service. Sometimes, our complaints are valid. All too often, it seems that customer support is only a marketing term.

In this case, Alabeo, to use a local phrase, bellied up to the bar. They provided what they had promised. I thank them for doing so.

It IS nice to hear of a bouquet when they're handed out. It does get a bit wearing hearing brickbats all the time. 

Nice one.

PC Aviator is as good as dead to me. They can't care less for the emails I sent to them regarding VERY low speed downloads. They are very fast to inform of new versions of the software I purchased, especially upon switching to V4. Never mind, I cannot download them at all and no response from them.

 

Glad you could solve the issue, and congrats to Alabeo for the top notch attitude. 

I had a similar experience with PC Aviator recently not responding to a support ticket I sent via their website. No response whatsoever. Sad, but getting to be typical.

The fact that you had good service from another vendor, and the developer on top of that, is a great thing to hear. It's rare, so it deserves to be celebrated.

Stuff like this, and the complaints over updates at these resellers is going to drive people away once and for all. They should really keep things like that in mind, especially since most products can be bought direct these days.

Should mention when reffering to PC Aviatoor, that it is the USA shop that has the bad service. I found the Aussie one very good, and have delt with them for years.

To the casual reader, it may tarnish the OZ shop.

ok,this was a positive thread about a positive experience. Let's keep it that way. If we're going to turn this into a gripe session, I'll close it down..

 

Vic

Look out! It's the fuzz!

46 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

ok,this was a positive thread about a positive experience. Let's keep it that way. If we're going to turn this into a gripe session, I'll close it down..

 

Vic

 

Another nice thing, they seem to be releasing updates too. No to mention updating for P3Dv4.

Good on them and Carenado.

That's sort of strange to have a coupon code from PC Aviator on a updated aircraft model.  The updates I've gotten from from PC Aviator was to just login and go to my orders page and re-download.  Just my experiences.  

I have noticed that on some of the aircraft updates, there is sometimes a delay when the updated model gets released from the developer and when it actually gets uploaded to the reseller stores and is available.  I had this experience as well and had to wait a day or two before the reseller had the updated model ready for download.  I think this happens with the smaller resellers sometimes when their shop may be only part time and do not have the resources to make updates and customer service responses as timely as their fully staffed competitors.

im not trying to make excuses for a bad experience, just sharing some of my experiences.  I would have more of an issue getting bad customer service from one of the big resellers vs a smaller one because I have run a small business and sometimes the struggle is real when it comes to balancing the business responsibilities, family and my main day job.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

RobertP a.k.a. SmokeDiddy

I've been having the same non-response issues with PC Aviator e-mails and since I buy quite a lot from them, it has been aggravating. They seem to respond faster if it is a MegaScenery issue. I do know that some of the V4 aircraft from Alabeo and Carenado relate to airplanes that originally did not require a serial number to install if purchased from PC Aviator, but the P3D V4 updated ones do require a serial number. The coupons from PC Aviator allow you to "purchase" the V4 version at no cost and then you get the serial number when you make the purchase. They generally have been pretty quick getting the Alabeo and Carenado versions out but I have been waiting for some time for the coupon for the Cessna 337 and two requests have been ignored. I also received "defective" coupons for the Beech Staggerwing and Piper Thomahawk and requested those be resent but no response. Even a quick "we have a problem and are working on it" e-mail would be appreciated rather than just being ignored. PC Aviator, are you listening? You need to respond to your customers or lose business.

And so it goes........