PHPLD price change - You need to pay $20 every 6 months

Brian, at this point, this is somewhat of a "soft" rule as I mentioned above. If you need something, let us know over at phpLD. As I mentioned in my last post, we will be releasing a number of scripts this year, and the new programming is part of that implementation, but you should always have access to what you purchased. Unfortunately, there may be exceptions to getting updates for people who purchased years ago, but right now we are not heavily enforcing such rules, so feel free to ask on our forums or through our support.

 

I see your promises to be pure BS.

I don't find a proper announcement post or FAQ which clearly explains about the new policy. Further despite having xx no.of license, I find my account inactive for downloads.

Next despite 2 pm's to you at the phpld forums, I get no reply.

What are you trying to do here? You make us sound like fools who have been associated with your script from the very first version to date and have invested $$$$ behind your script.

I don't give a daam to what you charge but do you even bother to make a proper information page? What do you expect I should keep scrolling the entire phpld site and every post for tiny bit updates? Leave all my work and sit there and see ok what I need to do to pay 20$ to phpld? What are the conditions? Any renewal? Time Period?

---- What the hell!!

 

I don't think I am a fan of these changes after all you shouldn't be stopped from access

 

Hi Sunny, sorry for missing your recent message, but if possible please use one of our 5 methods of contacting us. I've extended your account, and added a free license for troubles as well. Sometimes accounts can get temporarily blocked from logins from multiple IP addresses, but regardless, sorry about what happened. You will also be able to trade the free license I gave you for one of our new scripts due to be released in our products section and viewable in our demo quite soon (will be announced shortly, several new scripts coming). With the number of licenses you purchased, you would never have an expiration of support or downloads (or it would be MANY years from now mathematically).

 

I see ZERO downloads available

 

It has been more than 180 days since your last purchase. You no longer have access to the Downloads Area and to our Supporter's Forum. In order to regain these rights please click below to get a renewal. It will cost you $20.

Give me access to the downloads I paid for or a refund

 

What a crock. PHPLD customers, I am infuriated by this poor lack of love for the customer. Down south, we have a motto "The customer is always right". I might be in Boston now, but I am a southern boy.... accent and all.

I will convert any PHPLD customer to my directory and include the software and same lifetime support I always offer for $40. This includes free install, conversion, backup service and tempalting since you cannot even easily template PHPLD without a master's degree.

You know what? Let's make it $20, because this is just bull*** that they are doing.

Checkout my post and see how much PHPLD costs you in just one year's time!
http://crackfeed.com/article/phpld-sucks-the-life-out-of-customers

 

Fortunately, we do not have nearly the level of problems that it might appear by reading this forum.

Returning phpLD Customer
And then finally there are the many thank you notes we receive. (and even more)
I know there will always be a few situation where someone has a bad experience, and all too often we do what it takes to make it right. It is only when someone is repeatedly rude (or mean) and not even willing to receive help that, more often than not, they choose to leave us. As you see in the example above, we also have returning customers, and customers who leave other scripts because they feel we are the best.

Now of someone feels your script is the best for them, I support them in choosing what they feel is best for them, but I will not put down your script, as I know you worked very hard to make, just as the 8 phpLD staff members work hard each and every week.

Honestly, the supposed "bad press" here on Digital Point has been a boost for business, as we get lots of traffic and sales as people realize truth. If we were so terrible our business would surely suffer. We had one of the best months ever last month. You can go on putting us down, but I will say that we always get a nice bump in traffic thanks to threads like this, and we sell more licenses. I almost would want to say "thank you".

Regardless of that, we are definitely not perfect, and we try our best just like everyone else, and we have LOTS of happy customers (see links above), and the many more we work with each and every day. If anyone has trouble accessing their account or what they purchased, this would be the place to get help. You can also PM me here if for some reason we missed you (though it may not be as fast).

 

If people want to pay ~ $230 for the first year alone and it is worth that recurring cost for keeping their site stable and secure, then more power to them.

I respect any programmer. But I also have been overcharged in this manner before and I am on their side on this one.

Just be straight up, offer an unlimited license like our other competitor, PowerSeek.

 

Believe it or not, we have a program where you can get phpLD 4.1 for free, and then actually get paid shortly thereafter. We are testing this in a beta program now for existing customers. If anyone is interested in a free license, just inquire in our presales area. (existing customers only please)

So if you have an account in good standing, really the "new phpLD pricing change" is not even an issue in this new program. You can get virtually unlimited support, licenses, and downloads through your participation. You even earn money. I look forward to getting this out of beta, but again, feel free to inquire in the pre-sales area and we will get back with you within 24 hours.

Best wishes to all!

P.S. - you can also receive a free conversion from another script in addition to the free license, support, and download. But again, to qualify, you have to be an existing customer (at this time) and you have to start by inquiring in the Pre-Sales area, and we will contact you with more details.

 

Yes, you can get it free now and pay later, multiple times a month from now and then every year after. It is a beta version, meaning not made 100% stable yet. So, download it free now, build your site and you are stuck with it and the fees later unless you pay to convert the database to something else later. Then someone at PHPLD yells "gotcha sucka!"

People are not that stupid. If they are, perhaps they deserve the extra fees and lack of access. These are hard times for regular joes, let's not make that worse for those trying to make it in life.

Then again, $99 gets you unlimited support, not from a forum but the coder..."me" via email, Windows Live Messenger and GTalk. I also give you 20K human reviewed links to start in over 3000 categories and I perform all updates and upgrades free and remind you to get the free upgrades when the time comes, which I do for you.

http://turnkeyphp5.com/P/CrackLinks-php-links-directory-script/

I keep my overhead low, so you pay less.

 

Sorry. Not correct. Its phpld 4.1 for free and see the post above on how to do it.
People are smart. You are too. You seem like a good programmer. Sincer wishes for your success.

 

Ok, so you are giving the beta away for free and after it is out of beta the users that got it free will get a free upgrade to the stable release and virtually unlimited support, licenses, and downloads through their participation? 8 months from now, they do not have to purchase the software? " you can get phpLD 4.1 for free, and then actually get paid shortly thereafter." No, this says it is not free, you pay later, meaning that after the beta test you are either paying for a stable release license or you are SOL and running beta software.

What about after the beta, will new customers still be paying out of the rear end for simple patches and the like?

I am asking these questions because these are questions that customers need to know.

But incorrect, not everyone is smart and not everyone is saavy to the lingo and the way companies word things to sound like a jewel but really it sounds nicer than it is. Again, the purpose of the questions is to help people see a clear picture and even for you to see what kinds of questions the customer is thinking. A customer with an IQ of 80, needs these things spelled out in order to not be taken advantage of, not everyone is smart, no matter how nice we want to be on the topic of public relations. Heck, I have a lot of clients that admit that they are computer illiterate and need something so easy a grandmother could use it, to those people we just make things simpler and more automated but they still are not savvy.

Not everyone, for example, has any clue what a beta version is. Someone thinks, "hey this is a steal, I am taking advantage of it", but the thing that needs to be said along with the free offer is "Do not use in a production environment, aka live website... it could crash."

I am the developer and server admin of one of the web's top 15 links directories. The owner would beat the living crap out of me and then beat me a second time if I even mentioned putting beta software on her site, no matter how sweet it is worded, one crash and she loses everything and has to possibly restore a backup and hope she got it before customers noticed the issue.

 

Wow some real haters here.. eg "an0n's sig.."

I don't mind the price to renew and I'm actually surprised this is just now being implemented.
I've ran a few phpld directories and and sold them off, all which I did very little work and sold them for 300-500$

If 20 or 40$ to renew a product is to much for you, maybe you should try making another kind of site because directories might not be your "thing".

I've been a fan of David and the team behind phpld for years, I started off on the free 2.0 version and according to that link in annons sig, it was pre-2005..
It's a quality product and the price to renew is a drop in the bucket for what you get.

 

That is a good point. You will have software priced one way and software priced another way. I guess you just have to look at your options.

Personally, PHPLD is too heavy in my opinion, but some people might not care. If you want something that you just put up and run, it is ok. But if you want custom and I mean layout and widgets, not a few tiny changes real fast, it might not be the best option.

However, all should stay away from PSeek at all costs... now that's a crappy backend.

 

I'm selling my phpLD licenses because of this change
My directory sites are not so much wellknown so it's too hard to pay more to renew them.

p/s: who interested in these lics please pm me.

 

True that, communication with customers need to be better and your site simplified, if I may chuck that opinion in there.

 

I have about 9 license and when logged I get this message...

That really suck and very disappointed by the new change pricing policy. What I believe:

- Old license shouldn't be reflected by this except for new version
- Old license should always be accessible whenever it is needed (the way it was).
- It's okay to charge for new updates as I understand the cost of developing the script.

180 days, then I have to shell-out another $20? What has this become of, a subscription???

This could be the death of phpld.

 

We are not removing the ability to download what you purchased, though accounts can be temporarily blocked for other reasons. If you are not able to download, just contact us. Also, if you want a free license, see the post above by me.

 

He doesn't want free licence, just the one he paid for.

Personally, I don't care about this, but I can't believe that you are still trying to justify this 100% dishonest move of yours - plus bragging about best month thanks to this tread.

This bump is on me, enjoy it.