6 replies to this topic

[Dimitrios Inglezos]

I was very dissapointed to realise that my payment for the Builder theme, only lasts for a year and then there are no more updates or support.

What genius thought of that? Builder is a good tool, but if I have to pay every year for support and updates, I may as well use other themes that can do the job just as well, and don't have time limitations. Gantry and Catalyst come to mind.

I have used builder once and have been happy with it and wanted to use it for another client, but there is no way in hell I will pay for it again.

Obviously you are more interested in selling magazine subscriptions than growing your Builder community.

[Ronald]

Hi,

sorry you feel that way.

What we're interested in is providing our community with continuously improving products, adding cool features, providing premium and outstanding support. Which is what we charge the annual subscription fee for.

But you do not HAVE to purchase. You can still use Builder, and all the childthemes, and
bonus plugins included with Builder, and the SEO and Stylemanager plugin for as long as you
want, and on as many sites as you want. No restrictions, no limitations. And we hope you will be able to enjoy using Builder on client projects, and make a business.

Should you however be interested in additional support, or do you want to receive the latest and greatest Builder child themes, new plugins, new Builder features, we do require a subscription.

Ronald

[singertalk]

I have to agree with that. I did not read in large print that the Professional Theme I bought was only for a one year license. It was never clearly indicated on the payment form, the advertising, or anywhere really.

I would not have bought it had I have known.

Secondly, there is no updates to the theme given through a direct update through Wordpress admin.

I have not been notified that there were newer versions through WP or even an email.

All the emails I get are to buy Builder, buy new themes.

The Customer needs ot have faith in the product- before they buy more, simply I have not been happy with the Professional theme due to bugs in it. The lack of support is also a big factor in whether I would continue with this company.

I moderate a forum myself, for four years with thousands of members, I also have 25 years of experience in dealing with customers, both in person, on the phone and internet. The forum must provide clear, concise instructions, not refer a person to another Forum because they got the topic wrong. Sorry, that doesn't make nice.

I also Private Message and email customers with issues if I have to help them more.

I am not going to renew my license for these reasons, and I guess I lost my money with you unfortunately -but not surprisingly there are no Refunds!!

The theme was buggy from the start, and I can't say I would recommend it to anyone.

Thanks but you can stop sending me emails - to buy more themes.

[Ronald]

@singertalk,

on licensing: you have purchased the theme, and included with that was one year of support and updates. The theme is yours to keep, no limitations, no restrictions, for as long as you want, on as many sites as you want.

This was also clearly explained to you in your pre-sales question (http://ithemes.com/forum/index.php?/topic/11303-question-on-licenses/#p54381) where you explicitely asked for clarification so I don't understand the confusion.

On "buggy" and lack of support: I'm not sure what happened between your earlier testimonial

"I have had the Profession iTheme for a few weeks now and am amazed at
the improvements on my sites speed, how it responds to changes and how
Google loves it too. My ratings shot up and so did traffic. I was using a
free theme that was basically garbage and very little of the theme
worked well. What a difference when you use a theme that really works
well, is easy to understandd and helms me work smarter. Thanks itheme
this is a great product I recommend highly."

(http://ithemes.com/forum/index.php?/topic/12023-surprisingly-great/#p56278) and now, but we have not received many specific support requests regarding issues that you may have encountered.The requests we DID receive were replied to by our moderators but we have had little feedback on those (e.g. http://ithemes.com/forum/index.php?/topic/12082-categories-not-clickable-page-not-found/).

And yes, we like to keep the forum tidy, and move topics in the relevant forums. This makes the forum, as a resource to others using the same theme and that may run into similar issues much more useful. Flexx users are more likely to search the Flexx forum for answers to their questions. Either way, after moving the topic, notifying you, and adding the link to the new forum, and, we then ALSO provide answers (http://ithemes.com/forum/index.php?/topic/11611-itheme-settings/),

We are all open to suggestions and improvements, and we welcome feedback, but I really don't see what we could have done otherwise to satisfy your needs.

Finally, we offer discounts to renewing customers through our customer loyalty program, so you can purchase another year of permium support and upgrades at a much lower price (also note that prices for the Flexx theme has dropped earlier this month). Regardless, you can still continue to use the theme for as long as you want.

Regards,
Ronald

[Nina East (Nina!)]

Hi @singertalk,

I saw in your post you do not want to receive any more emails from us, so I have unsubscribed you from all the mailing lists. You should not receive any more email notifications from us. If for some reason one slips by, please simply unsubscribe using the link at the end of the email.

Thanks,

Nina East
Marketing/Affiliate Director
iThemes | PluginBuddy | WebDesign.com

[thirry]

This topic is difficult, as I think a lot of people would see both sides. Maybe adding a support only option would help? A lot of folks are done with their site building after a year, but might need tweaking. A one price lower tier for basic support could be an answer...

[Ronald]

Hi Thirry,

thanks for your comment, and it is appreciated!

Given the scope of our support, we almost go beyond that on every support request. And we take pride (and joy) in being able to help out our community with the extra service we provide. We call that "Making lives Awesome". That is the support team we've been building here at iThemes over the past couple of years, and that is the team and attitude that we will maintain. If we were to do support strictly "according to guidelines", one part-time, or perhaps full-time moderator could do the job. Not many requests would be honoured though. We currently employ 4.5 full time moderators (from all over the world). And whether we like it or not, each of those need to pay their bills. And so do the developers, designers and all the office and sales staff here at iThemes (including PluginBuddy and Webdesign.com). If you compare that to, say the price of an annual single theme subscription ($57) it's less than $5 per month for a year of premium support and theme updates. That is of course targeting the single theme customer. Those that purchase the All Access Pass most likely(!) are commercial users, charging their customers for their services, using iThemes themes. AAP @ $387 boils down to just over $30/month. That is (when I do custom work) less than 30 minutes of my hourly rate.

There are other models of providing tech support, for instance incident based, I think most start with $25, just to listen to you, and then add the same for each 15 mins. That'll give you one or two requests probably per year. In some cases, we spend an hour, or more, trying to resolve a css issue that really is not within aforementioned "scope". We're not complaining though, and the support team is and will be glad to provide that little bit extra. It is where iThemes stands out, and where we have managed to create a loyal community, and a growing community.

We have considered "support only" options, but sofar we have not been able to figure out how we could do so in a way that would benefit (and be affordable for) both our community, and our company. Suggestions are more than welcome though!

Ronald