Support Section for Past Customers?

[Schot]

So it's been a while since last I was here. Plenty of things have changed around here but what shocked me about 20 mins ago was the most effective and lightning quick use of the "close topic" function, lol. Granted I didn't realize at the time that the section I was posting in was not the proper place for me to be posting. Where then I ask do I pose my desperate plea for help if not at the location where I bought my forum? I gotta say that I nearly fell off my chair when my topic was closed. I spent nearly an hour putting that concise help me topic together. Making sure all my facts were in order so as to best inform any who might be able to help. I pretty much dropped my jaw at [url=" response. Wit's end... Michael, might want to work on his interpersonal skills when behind the "closed PM door" btw.

The last time I was here there was plenty of places, as a Member, to post and talk to others in order to get help. Why now is it required to be a Customer in order to recieve help from Peers? On that note it seems as though IPS is charging for the serices of the general public. Let's call it cashing in for the sake of drama. Am I missing something here? Disposable customers?

To be specific and to the point of this sections purpose. Feedback. I'm very disappointed that there appears absolutely no way to find interactive help via posts within the company forum for which I bought it's product. I get the fact that IPS doesn't want to provide eternal technical support by their own staff. That makes sense. But charging for the support of the public? That's much too bold. I notice that there are forums at the bottom for Members and that they can create topics and posts. So long as they "do not post topics about IPS or its products and services here". And on top of aaaaall of this I guess my previous years as a "Customer" now amounts to the equivalent of someone who just registered to the forum, a Member.


I'm very dissatisfied and not at all inspired to become a Customer once again... It's dirt cheap at $50/year support but to exact control over support so tightly like this is not good business sense at all. Very distasteful in my opinion. I'd like a forum on the company site where customers, I mean past customers, can post about the product they bought from you. It seems like a bit of an insult to provide a forum to members where they are not even allowed to talk about the very reason they are here. :huh:

To sum it up I believe there should be a section provided by IPS for Past Customers to speak freely about the IP product they bought and ask for help from others of the same group status. Why would IPS not provide this?


Thank you

P.s.
The product I bought from this company can be found in my signature.

[A Walk in Faith]

Granted I am a noobie here, but I will give you my take on it.

I understand they close off certain sections of the site for support and only allow paying/active customers to use those resources and for me that's ok. There are so many people downloading scripts from Warez sites that they have to do something to protect their selves.

The cost of being a active customer is so cheap, and the products are inexpensive but the biggest thing for me is the simple fact that they allow you to run the software long after your support/active status has ended. They don't force you to pay for the new version ($149) in order to get support on an older version. They only require you to pay $25 for six months of support.

In your case you could pay $25 and have access to the support forums again as an active customer for 6 months, handle any issues you have with your site and then after that support ends... continue to run your site forever. I went to your site (nice site btw) and you had 217 active users there today. That breaks down to .11 each for them to help you raise $25.

I came from vbulletin, where their license style is different. I know there are pros and cons of both, but from where I sit I like this approach much better. I understand your point, I just don't agree with it.

Jamie

[Collin1000]

I understand where you are coming from. Personally, I think we treat alot of people in the "Members" group as people who are unlicensed and asking for help.

Although a "Expired Customers" group might be a great feature to add, I dont see it happening anytime soon. IPS wants people to renew their support contracts, and personally, I want people to renew as well to stay updated on the goings on.

I understand that you feel mistreated - and I agree, I think we tend to lump all the non-customers together, but at the same time, I do not see IPS handing out any extra benefit to expired customers.

[Matt]

Hello there,

I don't think Michael meant to be rude, or indeed was rude. The notice at the top of the forum states that it is not a technical support forum. If your license has expired, you can simply renew it for $25 to receive support. You can contact us on sales -at- invisionpower.com and we'll gladly get that set up.

We don't have any areas where non active customers can receive support. I think that's only fair given that you are on the company forums of the product itself. There are plenty of other IP.Board centric sites that would probably assist. :)

[Michael]

My apologies if I came off as rude, it wasn't my intention. I just was trying to explain where you needed to go for support, and where to go if anything I said was confusing. Yes, your topic did get closed quickly after it was posted, that was just because you posted your topic soon after I logged on last evening to start helping folks, and your topic was one of the first ones on the today's Active Topics list for me. :)

[Wolfie]

The last time I was here there was plenty of places, as a Member, to post and talk to others in order to get help. Why now is it required to be a Customer in order to recieve help from Peers? On that note it seems as though IPS is charging for the serices of the general public.

I know for a fact that since at LEAST the year 2005, peer-to-peer support for IPB was limited to customer-only forums. Your forum account is dated as 2006, so there weren't places as a member that you could post and receive support from others.

I'm very dissatisfied and not at all inspired to become a Customer once again... It's dirt cheap at $50/year support but to exact control over support so tightly like this is not good business sense at all. Very distasteful in my opinion. I'd like a forum on the company site where customers, I mean past customers, can post about the product they bought from you. It seems like a bit of an insult to provide a forum to members where they are not even allowed to talk about the very reason they are here. :huh:

They're not exacting control over support. With support at $25/6 months (which is optional and can be paid at any time without penalty to lateness), you could actually pay $25/year and not only get 6 months of support but also the latest version of IP.Board as well. You also need to consider something else. The Peer-to-Peer support areas are for those who are active customers. If someone comes along and asks for support and isn't listed as an active customer, then how do we other customers know that they are running a legitimate copy of the software? There actually are people out there who will download a pirated copy of the board, install it and then when they have a problem, will sign up here and ask for support, very conveniently leaving out the fact that they didn't pay for the product. If they are able to browse the customer areas, then it would defeat the purpose. As for 'past customers', what's to stop someone from being a customer, their license expires, then they too start using pirated versions of the product, coming on here to seek free support? Would appear rather suspicious if they are asking for support on the latest version of the product when their last license expired a couple of years before. Also, it would start getting confusing if people are asking for support for v1.3.x and v2.0.x and those trying to help are going based on the latest version (or even on v2.3.x) only to find out that the help is for a version so old that very few people are still using it. Keep in mind that v1.3.1 was the last free (stable) version.

To sum it up I believe there should be a section provided by IPS for Past Customers to speak freely about the IP product they bought and ask for help from others of the same group status. Why would IPS not provide this?

As mentioned above, it would create a lot of confusion if someone is asking for help for one version and someone was offering help for another version. That and knowing who is running their actual latest legit version -vs- having an expired license but still downloading and running the latest versions.


Initially your idea sounds great, but when you consider the amount of piracy that goes on, it's actually a smart move by IPS to limit customer areas to those with active licenses. The only benefit I could see to a "Past Customers" group would be in knowing who really did own a copy of IPB, so if they mention that their license expired, we active customers will know it's legit and not someone just claiming it.

I own a Lifetime license so I'll always technically be an active customer. I also have a license that I pay $25/6 months for (and have let it lapse a couple of times, only to renew without penalty). I started using IPB when it was in the 1.3.x series and didn't pay for it (it was free at that time) but started paying when it was no longer free. I certainly respect the point of view of "Past Customer", but aside from a member group to reflect it for the sake of proper respect to those who have previously purchased IPB, I can't see any reason to do it. No offense, but I don't want a non-active customer to be browsing the help areas, especially if they are looking for help on the latest version when they shouldn't be running it.

[Mark]

Wolfie, I know you mean well, but I let's not start an argument :)

Schot, if you require technical support, then you need to renew your license, we make this quite clear and it has always been this way.
The peer-to-peer support forums here are provided, along with the modifications, skins, articles, etc. to those who choose to renew their license as our way of saying thank you to those who continuously support us - they never used to be here at all. If you choose not to renew, that is of course your prerogative, but the resources are only available to those who do.

Hope that clears everything up - if you have any further questions or concerns, please open a ticket with account assistance :)