Not a current customer huh...?

[awilliams]

We've been running Invision Powerboard now for a little over a year now... We've been very happy with it and recommended it to several business associates, and many of them have implemented it into their sites. Up until this point we thought the support was very nice and documentation was complete. Well, this past weekend we had a hot thread that racked up over 50 pages of posts :thumbsup: . So this morning the forum is running very slow, and people are getting error pages. So I decide I'll come on over to the Invision SUPPORT forums and see what the community had to say about this. Well as it turns out.... I'm no longer a 'Current' customer, so I can't see or access the forums.

So, What? Do I have to buy something new to become current again?

If by chance there's anybody who would give some guidance to a 'non-current' customer I would be very grateful. Do I need to split the 50page thread? Other maintenance? I've looked in the moderation and admin control panel on thread splitting tools, I'm not seeing anything. Am I just missing something?


We are running 2.3.4


IPB, you should really consider opening up your support forums to 'non-current' customers. I understand that it's been almost two whole years since we purchased your product (which was more expensive than other solutions), and we're not asking for extra support or features, just access to the community forums to help us better our community. And someday when we are ready to become 'Current' customers again it would really be nice to be able to come back to IPB.

Thanks,

[CharlesC]

Submit a ticket and make sure your email here is the same as your customer account and they should be able to solve it for you. :) Since IPSBeyond is no more, changes have come along and tons of people have had the same problem with the transfer.

[bfarber]

CharlesC, I gather that his support is truly expired, not that this is some sort of mix-p.

@rustybucket - I'm afraid at this time you must have a current support contract in order to access the customer support forums. The cost varies depending on your license type, but if it's a perpetual license, it's $30 annually, and for a standard license it's $25 every 6 months.

We have added customer support forums for customers holding a current support contract as a value-added bonus. Previously we had no support-based forums on here at forums.invisionpower.com, but instead requested all support requests be submitted via a ticket (which also requires a current support contract).

Now, there are third party sites that allow posting and such without any sort of support contract in place, however unfortunately access to our forums is limited.

If you do indeed have a current support contract, or own a true Lifetime license from back when they were originally sold, please do submit a ticket so we can sort out your account. Otherwise I'm afraid the only way to access the peer support forums is by renewing your support contract (which our sales department would be happy to assist with should you be interested). :)

[awilliams]

(which our sales department would be happy to assist with should you be interested). :)

I'm sure they would.

You are correct, my support contract has expired, I guess I didn't realize at the time of purchase that this meant that I would no longer be a member of the Invision Community, and not be allowed to even read the posts in the forum, much less participate. I assumed that it just meant that I could no longer submit support tickets and contact the company directly for support. Which would have been understandable.

Guess it's my fault for not reading the fine print in the contract when I purchased the license. Guess I shouldn't have assumed that by spending several hundred $$ on a FORUM that I would at least be allowed to be a member of that companies forum. <_<

No wonder people switch from IPB to vBulliten.

[bfarber]

You are indeed a member here. :)

When we decided to open customer support forums (which were not part of your original agreement, so were not included or involved in any way) we did it as a value-added bonus for those users who continue to support the company to this day. It was not done out of spite or with any intention of alienating users who have previously purchased our software, but rather as a way to show our appreciation to those who continue to renew their support contracts with us.

There are plenty of free communities for assistance (i.e. invisionize.com, a very popular IPB assistance community) should you not wish to renew your support. :)

(As an FYI, from what I understand, VBulletin requires a current support/license contract to access their peer-to-peer support forums too by the way - though I'm not overly familiar with their operations and could be wrong, just addressing that specific point).

[Digi]

Good luck with that argument. It costs much more to maintain free community support on vB.org :) (while they let anyone join, access to things such as code, mods,adn the support forms are restricted)

[CharlesC]

CharlesC, I gather that his support is truly expired, not that this is some sort of mix-p.

Oh ok. :P I didn't know how it fully worked, where expired members would be placed like before.

[bpn]

We have a lifetime license, but I agree with rustybucket. The peer-to-peer forums should be open to everyone. It will benefit IPS since it will reduce the load on the ticket system.
And paying customers since they will have a greater chance of support if their forum crash at Friday evening.. :)

It's better to have it all here at the IPS forum, than spread around at various free communities.

That said I find the yearly support fee very reasonable and the support people really do an outstanding job. (We have a perpetual license too..)

[Digi]

We have a lifetime license, but I agree with rustybucket. The peer-to-peer forums should be open to everyone. It will benefit IPS since it will reduce the load on the ticket system.

And paying customers since they will have a greater chance of support if their forum crash at Friday evening.. :)

Paying customers have access, so they do have a place to go on a friday evening :)

It's better to have it all here at the IPS forum, than spread around at various free communities.

It is, for those that are current customers. Failing to continue to support the product does not make you a current customer. Find me one huge product that works like this Ok, bad request... :P The overwhelming majority of products (both software and other things) don't work like this. ;)

That said I find the yearly support fee very reasonable and the support people really do an outstanding job. (We have a perpetual license too..)

As do most people that keep their status current :D So, for the majority, there isn't a problem here :P