take it back!!!

[navin johnson]

have you ever bought payware you were dissatisfied with and wish you could take back? for obvious reasons i'm not asking anyone to name any - i'm just curious.
i recently purchased something i don't think much of. there is another company that makes the same model only more to my liking. i just wish i could give it back and get the one o thought i was getting in the first place.

[WarHorse47]

Yes. Several times. Did purchase one just recently that I regretted as it just wasn't the quality I expected. I have freeware that was better in quality than what I purchased.

As I remember from some of my classes in business law, there is a fine line between customer and seller. The transaction is not complete until the customer "accepts" the item purchased, and that means it meets the customer's expectations. In the world of payware simulations, I don't think that would apply - especially when there are those unscrupulous individuals that set up those torrent sites.

Saying that, there have been a few payware purchases that just didn't work out and I was able to acquire a refund. I politely contacted the seller and explained my situation. In two cases that purchase just did not install correctly or did not work well with my FSX setup. In one recent payware purchase the seller offered another aircraft which I accepted in exchange for the original purchase.

And yes, there are some purchases that I just "bit the bullet" and kept - but seldom fly, or completely uninstalled for another day..

[ST0RM]

Yes. Several of the latest products are less than desired and support lacking.

[gman5250]

Only one stands out in my memory. It was touted as a high end FSX model, but was really a port over with a bit of lipstick and good marketing. I chalked it up to experience, never flew it and waited as the same company began to market their update of the same plane, which was truly magnificent.

The rub came when I waited and waited for the company to offer previous purchasers a reasonable discount, which they never did. After a few months I finally bit the bullet and popped almost fifty bucks for the new model. The following week it went on sale!!!

That said...I fly the new plane regularly.

The flip side is that I've found some real gems on sales so...things always work out in the end.

[ColoKent]

Why yes...I've had it happen a number of times....most recently this past weekend. It's a bummer.

K

[JimmyRFR]

I've had experiences that go either direction, and a few that sit square in the middle.

Generally, I'm easy to please. I don't worry about things being rivet-perfect in a model, nor do I get bent out of shape if the flight model isn't precise to exacting standards. As long as it's close, I'm all good. Textures? I'm pretty easy to please there as well, although I might be getting a bit spoiled with some of the releases these days.

Where I get the most upset is half-baked functionality. If yer going to take the time to model and animate a switch, then at least try to make it do what it's supposed to. Especially if that switch is now integral to the 'start-up' of the aircraft... I'd rather have an aircraft (or helicopter) that can be started via CTRL+E, then one that has some half-arsed start-up routine that's become absolutely mandatory by the developer. Either make the aircraft (or helicopter) follow the manual perfectly, or give me the ability to CTRL+E it!!

And that's just one example. I don't mind complexity in my aircraft, but half implemented and incorrect complexity is a far stretch worse than no complexity at all.

[dvj]

yes indeed. Fortunately the appearance of great freeware compensates for the lost $$$ on payware that does not live up to expectations.

[heywooood]

it goes both ways - sometimes I have been mildly disappointed, and other times pleasantly surprised.

I figure it all comes out in the wash, but I have developed a short list of developers I am wary of (for those releases I wait to see how many of our forum folk acquire one of those and what they say about it before I really consider the purchase)
and I have a short list of developers I expect to be well satisfied with....

its tough to judge because folks rightly dont want to say too much that's negative (usually) about someone else's hard work...

it tends to work out but as I say - there are always surprises

[T6flyer]

it goes both ways - sometimes I have been mildly disappointed, and other times pleasantly surprised.

Just what I think. Always try to read the reviews even if the reviewer has no experience on type and then decide. Sometimes its the company that sways my decision and then sometimes the aeroplane itself. I have bought aircraft that I have flown only once (and don't laugh never finish it there and then, have to land it before deleting. Do that everytime!).

Heard some not so good reviews about one aeroplane, but was really interested in the design and duly purchased it and now have more hours in it than anything else. We are all different, some like somethings and others well something different. At times I have thought 'Umm shouldn't have bought that' but its just one of those things we have to put up with. My interest in the sim is somewhat waning now, so will be very hesitant to purchase items in the future. But rest assured I will come to the same conclusion again, somewhere down the line.

Best wishes,

Martin

[Naismith]

From my experience, for hardware at any rate, Amazon refund no questions asked and quickly too. NCIX are excellent also with replacements of faulty product, not so sure re refunds though as I have never asked (touch wood) yet.

One problem with internet shopping is you can never "feel" the quality like you could in the good old days when we had stores.

Software? I tend to swallow it if it doesn't come up to spec, but that has only happened once and it was cheap in the first place and I deemed it not worthy of my time and patience.

[PHo17]

Last year I bought from a large US flightsim Internet store some airplanes. Not untill having downloaded them I found out that I already had one of the planes. Yes I am the stupid one and due to my high age also have bad memory (it was long time since I had flied that airplane in FSX and completely forgotten it).

Because the very same airplane was bought from the same store a couple of years before I did send them an EMail where I requested my money back (worth that plane) or alternetively that I could use that money buying something else from there.

I waited a couple of days. No response. I mailed two more Emails to two different addresses I found from the seller's web page. No response - complete silence.

I felt myself humiliated. The least I expected was even an answer "No". I would have satisfied to that because originally it was my own fault. I don't know US law but seems that a foreign customer has no rights there. But when they won't even answer - that is rude.

Well, that store lost one customer.

Pekka

[dhasdell]

When the AH/JF Chipmunk came out I had a problem which they couldn't replicate, and I was offered a full refund straight away even though I hadn't asked for it. That's good service.

[Dumonceau]

When the AH/JF Chipmunk came out I had a problem which they couldn't replicate, and I was offered a full refund straight away even though I hadn't asked for it. that's good service.

Same experience with JF, but with another plane. Stellar service!

There are other vendors of course...

Johan

[StormILM]

I have spent money on some aircraft models wich at some point I felt the price for what I got was simply too high for what I received but I still got good use of them. The only item I bought that I ended up not being able to use(or get a refund on) was a 3-D light product which with a particular scenery area & addons within that area, the FPS hit was horrible and I ended up sidelining it. Fortunately the item did not cost much and another company developed a similar light program which I understand was designed to work with my other addon scenery for that area. I only wish I had waited and investigated the products a bit more but again, I didn't get hit with too bad of a loss.

[Sieggie]

Last year I bought from a large US flightsim Internet store some airplanes. Not untill having downloaded them I found out that I already had one of the planes. Yes I am the stupid one and due to my high age also have bad memory (it was long time since I had flied that airplane in FSX and completely forgotten it).

Because the very same airplane was bought from the same store a couple of years before I did send them an EMail where I requested my money back (worth that plane) or alternetively that I could use that money buying something else from there.

I waited a couple of days. No response. I mailed two more Emails to two different addresses I found from the seller's web page. No response - complete silence.

I felt myself humiliated. The least I expected was even an answer "No". I would have satisfied to that because originally it was my own fault. I don't know US law but seems that a foreign customer has no rights there. But when they won't even answer - that is rude.

Well, that store lost one customer.

Pekka

It is possible that the emails never made it to them or theirs to you. If you can find a support forum run by them, you can try posting and see if any response comes from that. Also most have facebook presence that will sometimes get you a response when email does not.

Dave

[Francois]

Most developers (and more importantly: resellers) clearly state they will not refund software unless it is clearly faulty. I think that stems from the good old days when flightsimming was still popular and people would try all sorts of things to get products cheap or free....... even cheat. Like buying and then retracting their credit card or paypal payment, or asking for a refund. Of course the software would never be destroyed. ;-)

In today's world however I think the only folks still buying flightsim software are the ones that are REALLY interested, and for 99% honest.

For that reason I almost never make an issue out of refunding an unhappy, unlucky or mistaken customer. I think most of the larger FS developers and distributors act the same way nowadays.

[Peg o my heart]

Yes. Airsimmer! Promises they are not able to deliver until today. Too bad, it could be the best bus for fs9

[Spad54]

Most developers (and more importantly: resellers) clearly state they will not refund software unless it is clearly faulty. I think that stems from the good old days when flightsimming was still popular and people would try all sorts of things to get products cheap or free....... even cheat. Like buying and then retracting their credit card or paypal payment, or asking for a refund. Of course the software would never be destroyed. ;-)

In today's world however I think the only folks still buying flightsim software are the ones that are REALLY interested, and for 99% honest.

For that reason I almost never make an issue out of refunding an unhappy, unlucky or mistaken customer. I think most of the larger FS developers and distributors act the same way nowadays.

That has always been our approach. Even if the customer is not satisfied with our product, we want them to be satisfied with our service. Also I don't believe that we've ever refused a request to re-download a model if asked.

[Obie311]

Since I'm naturally cautious and frugal, I look to a basic consistency in forum opinions and (mostly) unbiased reviews as a guide in purchasing. I have learned to stick with Developers that have a sterling reputation and have not been disappointed. This philosophy has worked pretty well and as a result, I've not been disappointed in my purchases enough to seek a return.

[txnetcop]

Since I'm naturally cautious and frugal, I look to a basic consistency in forum opinions and (mostly) unbiased reviews as a guide in purchasing. I have learned to stick with Developers that have a sterling reputation and have not been disappointed. This philosophy has worked pretty well and, as a result, I've not been disappointed in my purchases enough to seek a return.

Ditto this post! Early in FSX I made a couple of bad purchases by listening to the marketing hype and not doing enough background search and questioning. SOH has been pretty good about helping flight simmers discover the best products! Our developers in here account for themselves very well.
Ted

By the way, we can thank our freeware and shareware developers for raising the bar for FSX aircraft, skins, and sceneries!

[huub vink]

Isn't it just as in real life. Over the years I have bought quite some things which did not meet my expectations.

Food which tasted not as good as I expected, clothes which didn't look as good in me as they did in the shop, a car which lasted much shorter than expected. But I also went to cheap restaurants which served delicious food, found my favourite coat in a sale and bought the best car I ever owned.
For me payware models are no exception, some didn't meet my expectations and some were much better than I had ever imagined.

And to be honest I never had any real bad experience with the service provided by payware developers. But I have a reasonable back-up system, due to which I never had to ask for a re-download.

Cheers,
Huub

[Dumonceau]

By the way, we can thank our freeware and shareware developers for raising the bar for FSX aircraft, skins, and sceneries!

Yes indeed!!! Piglet, Rob, Dutchcheeseblend, Full and quite a few others come to mind!

Beers to all of them!

Johan

[Blackbird686]

Several times this has happened, not very often tho, and as stated before... I just bite the bullet and keep the model. As several have been less than satisfactory, I will add mods, change effects, add new or revised textures and get the model up to snuff, i.e. acceptable visual and performance standards. It was worth it to learn how to convert textures and re-write FDE's.

BB686

[TuFun]

Same experience with JF, but with another plane. Stellar service!

There are other vendors of course...

Johan

I agree, stellar service with the JF Chipmunk issues I had and finally getting it in the air!

Another one is A2A. Just recently purchase the C182, and blown away how real it flies and feel (simulated ), in the air. Toss it sideways and here the wind rush over the fuselage. Anytime I start P3Dv2, this is the one I tour in.

I only purchase the ones I really, really, really, like! Use to buy everything, but now maybe one or two aircraft a year on sale. I have to many hangar queens.
I seemed to fly more freeware stuff than payware... Manfred's stuff!

[navin johnson]

the model i got, i looked at 2 different "brands". i decided on what i wanted, but waited a couple of days before purchasing. i wrote down the wrong one, so, not really their fault. i tricked my own self
i will say on the plus side, i bought a model a few weeks ago, and had this weird artifact, and couldn't make it go away. i wrote to them asking what i should do, thinking it was something i could fix if i knew how. they said they couldn't explain it, and offered me a free download of my choice. i wasn't seeking anything like that, but it was very nice of them to volunteer it, so i took them up on it. cool huh?