Pls research the developers before you buy a product

[Anxu00 176]

During this time and soon Christmas many of us are buying products that are on sale.  Given what just happened to me at the x-plane.org forum about the RWDesigns Mustang post questioning why the x-plane.org store is still selling this product when its developer did not respond to any question for more than a year.  This is the time when you appreciate the AVSim forum as having no commercial interest, because my post was taken down, and I was given a penalty by asking the x-plane.org store to be clear on its product page about non supported product and to clearly label them as "as is" so buyer is aware.  As buyer of sim product we are entitled to some degree of support and fair treatment.  My biggest regrets were to have bought this RWDesigns Mustang and the MilViz 310R.  I should have checked the forum for sign of active support, as both of these product received no updates since XP 11.50, nor did the developer posted any clear msg as to future support.  My post for support at MilViz.com forum was ignored since Oct 23, 2020.  It is obvious that the developer behind RWDesigns does not care about reputation, and he probably have sold the business or was already out of business.  However, the fact that the store is still selling the product without the proper label of "as is", to me is unethical business practice.  My biggest surprise was MilViz, it after all a reputable shop.  So the bottom line is that before buying anything, check on how well the developer support the product, and stick with reputable ones.  I didn't and I paid for it.

[Pegaso 53]

Thanks for your heads up, Vu, as I thought about buying there,too. 

[Janov 2,383]

Keep in mind that pretty much ALL add-on software for all flightsimulators are sold "as is" - without a support contract or legally binding commitment to further development.

It is nice that devs nowadays provide support and updates, but technically they are not required to do so.

So I support your message of "research before you buy" - this extends to all things in life - but there is no need to put a "bought as seen" tag on any product on any online store...because this goes without saying.

If continued support is an important aspect to you then I encourage you to visit the support forums before you buy, check out the activity there and maybe even ask a question to the devs and check the response time. But don´t blame the store because you didn´t do your homework.

Jan

 

[mSparks 2,086]

3 hours ago, Janov said:

But don´t blame the store because you didn´t do your homework.

OTOH, they are one angry enough Aussy/Brit/European away from a $3million fine

https://www.cnet.com/news/valve-to-pay-3-million-fine-for-misleading-australian-gamers/

Only difference is, I think it will bankrupt them. Actually wouldn't surprise me if that ball is already rolling.

Edited November 30, 2020 by mSparks

[Anxu00 176]

3 hours ago, Janov said:

Keep in mind that pretty much ALL add-on software for all flightsimulators are sold "as is" - without a support contract or legally binding commitment to further development.

It is nice that devs nowadays provide support and updates, but technically they are not required to do so.

So I support your message of "research before you buy" - this extends to all things in life - but there is no need to put a "bought as seen" tag on any product on any online store...because this goes without saying.

If continued support is an important aspect to you then I encourage you to visit the support forums before you buy, check out the activity there and maybe even ask a question to the devs and check the response time. But don´t blame the store because you didn´t do your homework.

Jan

 

That's interesting that you pointed out that all of these add-ons are sold "as is".  I would imagine the like of reputable shop like PMDG, Aerosoft started to use that implied policy and thumb their nose at paying customers.  Yeah, I should have visited the forum for response time or even active support for the RWDesigns Mustang, so I learned my lesson.  The flightsim market is small, now it also litters with these kind of developers.  The biggest surprise I learned was that MilViz is also in this category.  Sure they dipped their toes into XP11 and then quickly pulled out, sold off assets to other developer (their otter), and figures that those who bought the C310R are small enough, and are so used to the abuse that they simply moved on.  I could have done the same thing as well, but I had good experience with this shop in the past, so I can't just let it go.  Despite the current enthusiasm with MSFS 2020, I suspect it will die out in a few years, the greying out of simmers will continue and the market for add-ons continue to shrink, and we will continue to have developers who, after invested so much realized that there is not a whole lot of money and will just drop support and leaving unfinished products to the unsuspecting customers.

[Paul Deluca 164]

A hard situation Vu.I feel bad for people with virtual airlines, and developers keeping up with current aircraft trends.We know how expensive it is to develop, and  sell.I'm not giving up on X Plane!!!

[Anxu00 176]

9 hours ago, Paul Deluca said:

A hard situation Vu.I feel bad for people with virtual airlines, and developers keeping up with current aircraft trends.We know how expensive it is to develop, and  sell.I'm not giving up on X Plane!!!

hi Paul, I certainly did not give up on Xplane.  Far from it, just picked up a few high quality planes today from Aerobask, vFlyteAir, ASDG.

[Paul Deluca 164]

Good  to see that Vu. Gets better like your favorite beverage.

[Bjoern 1,157]

As tempting as any discount or the price or the add-on itself may be, I still do some research. My first item to check is the update history in the store. If the last update was way more than a year ago, I generally pass. If not, I dive into the support forums to read some user feedback. Complaints about lack of updates or communication or long standing bugs will usually be at the top and are a red flag. This takes ten minutes tops, but will saved me a lot of grief so far.

[Randall 82]

On 12/1/2020 at 3:01 PM, Bjoern said:

As tempting as any discount or the price or the add-on itself may be, I still do some research. My first item to check is the update history in the store. If the last update was way more than a year ago, I generally pass. If not, I dive into the support forums to read some user feedback. Complaints about lack of updates or communication or long standing bugs will usually be at the top and are a red flag. This takes ten minutes tops, but will saved me a lot of grief so far.

I do exactly the same thing. My understanding is that the developer at RWDesigns has had serious health issues.  Milviz of course pulled out of developing for Xplane.