BUYING SIM STUFF ONLINE

[beana51]

Had two awful experiences today..With reputable dealers. One ,and after a "KABUCKI" Dance Paper work,integration worst than applying for a Mortgage,I got the Down load Via the Net..Opened and ready to install..Now it requires a NUMBERS..serial,key,unlock, Numbers..Worst than opening the safe at Ft. Knox! I cut and paste the numbers ,and it gets rejected I Got Rejected with their numbers!ed..E-Mailed for help? None!.. So I call my bank and canceled..

Found the Item at another supplier,The same Runaround..Now its not That this is new or I have not bought hundreds of dollars of stuff over the years..But this just ticked me off..They get the money in a mini sec,and we get the business in that automated ,Plastic world of No People To talk to....Like standing on long lines,or waiting on a phone and hanging like a chandler,I WILL NOT do it.

The art of customer service is almost gone,These guys want business? And fail to find the way to Take the Money,Deliver The Product Quickly ,accurately ,and with no MUMBO JUMBO....I now my daughter calls me an OLE CURMUDGEON,but she too agreed with me .This after hanging on the Phone with that Non Person droning on and on,With that Insane elevator music blasting yer head off,.After 15min,of that I recall,and The non person says they are closed..???WHAT?? I could have hung all day ,waiting for no one...In Cyber Limbo?..After that a Glass of OJ with YUKON JACK that did the trick..Will not be a prisoner beholding to incompetent Idiots...HAVING FUN N IN LAA LAA LAND on the Sim..Cheers Men!...Vin

[Skyhawk_310R]

I think it depends upon whom you purchase from. Nearly all of these sites are run by individuals personally accountable for the business they own. I'd think you'd be surprised just how small and low profit most of these simulator oriented companies truly are. I have found that an email normally rectifies the situation, either to the satisfied use of the product, or to the tune of a full refund. Ultimately, anything ordered with a credit card can, as you did, be placed under dispute with your bank and they can work with the credit card company to temporarily credit your purchase price back to you pending outcome of an investigation.

If the company is not reputable, then they rarely dispute the claim and your credit becomes permanent.

The larger companies, most of them selling through traditional "brick and mortar" establishments, are required to provide the customer support for their products and many of them hired foreign-based customer support services to save a lot of money. But, many of these are staffed by people working for very low wages in sweat shop like conditions. They speak English a lot better than I speak their languages, so I have always tried to patiently work through the language barriers. Still, sometimes it has been a hassle, and so I refuse to purchase those companies' products. I'm not alone as many of these companies have seen the error affecting their bottom lines amid customer surveys repeatedly expressed frustration with the foreign-based service companies. Many have since hired dedicated support staffs like they used to have, people actually knowledgeable of the product vice reading a menu from a monitor.

My point in pointing that out is to say that I have actually found the level of customer service in the simulator sales market superior to what I encounter in other business types. These owners don't give out their phone numbers because those numbers actually ring their homes or cell phones! But, an email has always taken care of the occasional issues I have faced. Keep in mind that most of the issues customers have are rooted in two things beyond the control of these owners: piracy and customized setups on PC's. Pirates are thieves who's activities have forced the hand of sim companies to try to keep the damage reduced. PC's are so different that it is impossible to anticipate every possible issue that may materialize. It's not as consistent as buying a drill and either plugging it into the power socket or snapping the battery pack in.

And when you consider the insane hours these people work and how little money they actually make, well it's a wonder any want to keep doing it. I left that industry and the prime reason is I got tired of working for about 30 cents an hour! So, I do hope folks can cut them a bit of tolerance and patience when issues do arise.

Cheers,

Ken

[Daveroo]

one thing i noticed is the copy/paste of the serial number to unlock to item...ive had alot of trouble myself with this from several venders....i bet had you writen it down and typed it in,it would have worked....something about copy/paste allowing people to cheat by sending emails to others....but it makes no sense to me as one could just as easy send a guy a coyp of a paid for plane and his code and that guy type it in?...so it must have to do with the IP address reading it?...god i dont know...but i do know ive been upset a few times with the copy/paste not working,only to hand type it and have it work fine.

[beana51]

I did in this instance type the numbers in..NO GO then I did cut and paste!.hey errors happen both sides of purchase.I E-Mailed them,No reply, now to the "NEED HELP CALL" so one calls,no indication of store hours....My experience in calling as indicated ,was their answering service was not functioning correctly..First call indicated I had a three minute wait.The robot said WAIT!!.after 15 minutes.I called again and got an other response.THE ROBOT SAID.WE ARE CLOSED LEAV>>>..Whats that?....like its labor Day week end..I know that,..In any event they lost a sale,and a customer ..Spent an hour in this....as far as the people we do get,on rare occasion,Those service People!..The Smart Bright Kids??yes Most are Great.No quarrel with them...But these Remote Bosses,??......may want to know this..a Satisfied Customer Is A Good customer..Its Over Now..Next!.....Thanx guys Vin!!

[TARPSBird]

It's not a question of Labor Day weekend, it is just plain weekend clear across the planet and you're not likely to get any "live human" assistance from a flight sim website. Like Daveroo mentioned, I no longer use copy/paste if a payware download has an unlock/license key, I copy it down on paper and type it in manually. Yeah you shouldn't have to do that but it's less likely to cause a glitch.