Did you know...

[Roger]

FlightSim Pilot Shop charge $4.95 to reactivate a link? My Alabeo Pitts saved zip file was corrupt so I searched my e-mail client for the download vendor and then discovered I had to pay to reactivate my download link. The purchase date was December 2011 so it's not as if it was back in the dark ages.
I've paid but I am only caught once in this sort of trap.

[fallenphoenix1986]

Yup, which is why I refuse to make use of their services.

Craig

[Skyhawk_310R]

FlightSim Pilot Shop charge $4.95 to reactivate a link? My Alabeo Pitts saved zip file was corrupt so I searched my e-mail client for the download vendor and then discovered I had to pay to reactivate my download link. The purchase date was December 2011 so it's not as if it was back in the dark ages.
I've paid but I am only caught once in this sort of trap.

I agree that is bad customer service and for me would be sufficient to ensure I never patronized them again. This is another case of something that truly costs nothing being turned into a profit opportunity. First, reactivating a link is a result of a policy carried out by the company to deactivate the link. Regardless of the reasoning for doing that, if a legitimate customer comes to you he should not have to pay twice.

I see some would argue that if something breaks and you buy a replacement you pay twice for two products. But, software should not be seen as the same. Software is inherently portable and therefore only expires because other software chooses to make it so. The real analogy would be for General Motors or Ford to send out notices making it illegal to drive a well maintained vehicle older than 1975 model, and requiring their customers to purchase a new one! One can only imagine how that would go down!

Ken

[Roger]

Yup, which is why I refuse to make use of their services.

Craig

While installing aircraft and scenery on my new pc this is the only example of this sort of "activity" I have come across.

[Roger]

I agree that is bad customer service and for me would be sufficient to ensure I never patronized them again. This is another case of something that truly costs nothing being turned into a profit opportunity. First, reactivating a link is a result of a policy carried out by the company to deactivate the link. Regardless of the reasoning for doing that, if a legitimate customer comes to you he should not have to pay twice.

I see some would argue that if something breaks and you buy a replacement you pay twice for two products. But, software should not be seen as the same. Software is inherently portable and therefore only expires because other software chooses to make it so. The real analogy would be for General Motors or Ford to send out notices making it illegal to drive a well maintained vehicle older than 1975 model, and requiring their customers to purchase a new one! One can only imagine how that would go down!

Ken

Agreed...I was very surprised.

[ryanbatc]

2 yrs... Maybe a little excessive to recharge for 2 years old. However, consider server cost and server maintenance. Also it's really simple to back stuff up nowadays.

[ryanbatc]

Won't let me edit... I saw your zip was corrupted. Odd usually files don't just become corrupted. Tried extracting the zip and running as admin?

[P38man]

2 yrs... Maybe a little excessive to recharge for 2 years old. However, consider server cost and server maintenance. Also it's really simple to back stuff up nowadays.

I respectfully disagree.

This would happen 1 for every zillion downloads (as has never happened to me). Server cost and maintenance like all expenses would therefore be factored into the price of the "goods" anyway.

If you consider there is something to be gained by treating your customers slightly better then you don't do this eg extra sales from loyalty, I have paid slightly more (and still do) to purchase from my favourite stores that have given me good customer service and features (eg can download when I want). I have also supported some of the smaller companies by buying direct from them if I feel they are special even if slightly more expensive.

I see it as slightly cheeky and I am unaware of any other company doing this and I shop with most of them in flightsim and a bunch of "others".

If they want to treat us in a more transactional way and not as a customer I have no problem with the fee but I won't buy from them either (I think I have only a single purchase from them!). So I have voted with my feet.

If you are a real good backer-upper and the discount price was much better there than elsewhere (real transactional only shopper - nothing wrong with that, I am like that with some stores but not others, the flightsim community is small I feel so I behave different with them than a major chain) then you would probably use them.

There also is a pharmacy near us in which the advice has been very caring and informative so we also support them (we are paying for the advice though so not the same comparison) even though there is a cheaper store nearby. 99% of the time we don't do this.

I have waffled a bit but Roger deserves thanks for letting the community know to decide which type of customer they wish to be with that shop and at the very least not be surprised.

Thanks Roger.

[heywooood]

I agree with Roger - no other vendor I'm aware of has this fee...

there's really only one way to let them know its not ok...

I buy from Alabeo and Carenado directly for the simple reason that it has never been a problem to get a new download

I do not buy from FS Pilot shop anymore.

to charge someone who has managed to keep their serial numbers and or transaction info is nonsensical - maybe the service of recovering those things for someone and then replacing the file merits a service fee...

[MCDesigns]

Simmarket used to have a fee to re-d/l product awhile back (2005) but there was an uproar and they stopped doing it. I agree that is shouldn't be that way which is why I don't purchase from any site that does charge anymore either.

[William Njurmi]

I started a thread about this matter at avsim. It caused an uproar as well, and as I understood it, most were standing behind the shop shouting at me. Anyway, I have stayed out of that shop ever since.

[Francois]

The Flightsim market always was relatively small and is even smaller now. It is also a 'hobby market'. The majority of users are hobby-ists and so are the majority of developers. There are only a few people around that see it as purely commercial (some larger distributors like simMarket, Aerosoft, and publishers like Orbx c.s., and the likes). In such a market the only thing that keeps it going is customer interest and loyalty and BOTH are the responsibility of the market's suppliers. Apart from the few larger companies we - the small developers/publishers- KNOW we are not making a profit, let alone a living from this, but if we'd all behave like the example above pretty soon there would be NO market at all anymore I am sure. I don't think many will follow suit therefore :icon_lol:

[Roger]

Won't let me edit... I saw your zip was corrupted. Odd usually files don't just become corrupted. Tried extracting the zip and running as admin?

I back everything up including e-mails with serials etc. The archive resides on a dedicated hd on pc #2 and also on an external drive. I found several of my hundreds of baks were corrupted and wondered if the issue was transferring them to new pc#1 so I tried unzipping them on pc#2 with the same problem.

[Chris Sykes]

Thats why i deal with The Flightsim Store, you can pay a little extra for a DVD and instant download. Infact i just checked and i can download an order from 2009!

Us IT guys always say have two forms of back up!
I myself copy my downloads to my HomeServer and my PC is also backed up by the said HomeServer. And the HomeServer even has redundancy in duplicated files...

[papab]

Yep,found that out last year and I stay away now.........
Rick