Should I leave Invision after 14 years for Xenforo?

[MediaDiGi]

To keep things short.... I've been using the Invision community software since 2008 or so, but lately, things have turned for the worst. 

They are bumping the cloud version, leaving the self-hosted clients in the dark. Even If I hold 5 licenses with them (2 active), I don't have email support (which is a basic requirement if you ask me for paid clients), leaving me the only option to post in forums, bump threads HOPING someone will see my thread and answer to me.

Folks. Invision is not open source with community support. You charge me $100 every 6 months for each active license.

It's been a week, and nothing except me talking to the walls.

So I don't hide it. I'm thinking of switching to XenForo even though I literally purchased 57 paid addons in the marketplace and hold 5 IPS licenses.

Respect your customers for god sake! 

Edited April 2, 2023 by MediaDiGi

[Greek76]

Xenforo is just as bad when it comes to support. Been there done that. They're slow here yes but you end up getting help at least.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Greek76

[Randy Calvert]

Im not sure why you’re asking if you should leave. Do you really expect someone here to say you should?

Regarding support via the forums… as a customer, I’ve found replies faster… I’ve found that other non-staff have been able to answer my questions with even more info than sometimes can be provided by staff AND I’ve found a ton of data from searching to help myself self-service. 

What I actually find most amusing is that you are complaining about not having email support but that case IS in an email now. You’re apparently not getting IPS emails.  So I’m not sure how this being in an email would have helped as it’s already there. 

Regarding Xenforo… As already pointed out, the grass is not always greener on the other side. In addition to support issues there, I also see a TON of people there complaining about the lack of updates.  It’s slowly turning into vaporware. 

Only you can decide what is right for you and your community but personally I don’t find Xenforo to be any sort of “upgrade”. 

[MediaDiGi]

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Im not sure why you’re asking if you should leave. Do you really expect someone here to say you should?

Well, my main goal is to trigger an alarm about the decline in the support offered by IPS and wonder if any other members have the same issues.

If I, who stayed with IPS for 14 years, get ignored, I can't imagine what would happen to new members. Or maybe only we, the old members, or me, get ignored. Who knows.

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Regarding support via the forums… as a customer, I’ve found replies faster… I’ve found that other non-staff have been able to answer my questions with even more info than sometimes can be provided by staff AND I’ve found a ton of data from searching to help myself self-service. 

Mate. I've seen your replies to other topics. You primarily offer advanced support here in the topics rather than asking questions. Sorry but the truth is that we are not in the same boat here.

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What I actually find most amusing is that you are complaining about not having email support but that case IS in an email now. You’re apparently not getting IPS emails.  So I’m not sure how this being in an email would have helped as it’s already there. 

Glad to find this situation amusing you. Most probably because you're not in my shoes. What I find not funny is that IPS staff said that I do not receive emails, and that's it; case closed, leaving me hanging. 

But I receive emails with invoices that need to be paid.

Anyway. I've raised the alarm now the ball is in the IPS yard. If they continue to ignore the situation again, I will get my answer and act accordingly.

[Matt]

Hi there,

I've taken a look at your account, and you are right, there has been no ticket created. I'm not sure why, but I do apologise.

I've created a ticket from your other topic and I will investigate it now for you.

I'm sorry that there seems to have been some kind of mix-up with this issue, and it falls short of our normal support standards.

[Matt]

I have resolved the issue with the Queue, and I also resolved the issue with your store.

We did reply to your issue regarding the store on March 28th but did not receive a reply.

Edit: The ticket was for another customer with the same issue, not you - this seems to be the source of the confusion!

[MediaDiGi]

@Matt glad to see the issue has been resolved.

I appreciate your support, and I appreciate you taking measures so that this will not happen again, systematically speaking.

It would have been a pain for me to leave, but, in all honesty, I would have done it to take care of my community because I believe the community members are above us, community managers.

This being said. This thread can be closed/deleted.

Edited April 3, 2023 by MediaDiGi

[Matt]

My apologies again from dropping the ball with this issue. It really isn't our normal level of service and we're reviewing processes to ensure it doesn't happen again.

[The Old Man]

Love it when you see people take ownership in an organisation. The difference between an organisation that has colleagues who quickly take ownership of an issue and work to resolve it, even when it may not be within their remit and an organisation that doesn't, is like night and day. Better for everyone.

[Brian Garcia]

I wouldn't jump ship just yet, Invision has a lot of cool things they are working on. XenForo is like an old Prius, it was cool when it first came out, but now it lost the appeal but still serves a purpose. You need to think long term for your community. Invision has remained the most consistent community platform provider out there.

[Jim M]

7 hours ago, Brian Garcia said:

old Prius, it was cool when it first came out

Now were Priuses ever "cool"? C'mon, Brian... 😄 

[Brian Garcia]

15 minutes ago, Jim M said:

Now were Priuses ever "cool"? C'mon, Brian... 😄 

Haha. True, that! I was trying to be nice. I never really thought Xenforo was cool either!