I have multiple active licenses with vB. I was very unhappy with both how vB4 as a product is, and with how they launched it. I have been voicing my criticisms for the past few days. They made bannable any post that "distorts" their product for new customers... aka anything that doesn't say anything positive. Well... after they locked a thread that was completely constructive, I made a decision that I would no longer be purchasing anything from vBulletin. I sat down, took about an hour, and took a lot of care laying out all of the reasons that they had lost me as a customer. I started this by saying that they "had already lost me as a customer, and I won't be coming back." Not said in a way to start drama, but rather to give my post some context. Most of the post was about how I thought vBulletin should fix the disaster that happened. It was a very serious suggestion on how I would like to see them handle it. Mainly, apologizing, rolling 4.0 back into 3.9, reverting back to old license structure and selling CMS as separate product, (without my explanations those might seem crazy, but I have very well thought out reasons) very real suggestions. I also said that I thought their support staff needed to be retrained because a lot of stuff they were posting was very unprofessional, and vBulletin shouldn't allow that. (I had a staff member blatantly insult my intelligence, when I complained, it was that staff member who handled the ticket. I tried to go above him, his superior gave me a non-apology of "Sorry if you misinterpreted anything that was said." I did not say any of this in an inflammatory way, it was purely informational and meant to encourage actual change. Well.. the staff member that I mentioned deleted the thread and banned my account after seeing it. The ban reason should communicate just how bad things have gotten: "You have been banned for the following reason: We are taking you at your word: You've already lost me as a customer, and I won't be coming back" That's right, they banned me because I said I was not going to be spending any more money on their software. They also banned me from vb.org which effectively ends my license, as I cannot receive updates, plugins, support (oh, did I mention since they banned me they won't reply to support tickets?)... basically, I am going to be forced to switch to another software despite having an active license that is fully paid. To be honest, I am in disbelief. I don't really even know what to say about it. The staff over there are melting down or something. Anyways, I haven't had to purchase another forum license yet, but IPB will be all I use from here on out. I've been looking at staff responses there and there is nothing but classiness. Thought this might be useful information for those wondering which software to choose.
This is really informing for me... But I like to see a copy of the text that you have write to them... Something that for you seems polite for them perhaps is not... (I write that not because I don't believe you, but when we are on stress we are not always as polite as we think... Just to be clear) But that they banned you and make your license's end, it really unproffesional...
Unfortunately, not only did they remove the thread, but I have been banned and it was in the licensed customer forum which isn't public. I was very, very careful not to say anything inflammatory because I didn't want there to be any excuses for deleting the thread. I am just finding out that many others are in the same position. IB/vBulletin does not own vb.org and so they cannot ban people from there. What they've actually done is written into their system a blocking mechanism that allows them to ban people on vbulletin by making it appear as if they are unlicensed, even if the license is still active. This is pretty aggressive behavior towards a customer given that the only reason they could have for wanting to limit access to vb.org is to purposefully disrupt the customer's site.
Shocking to hear this i too am a member at thier main forum seems many people are complaining and they dont want to listen to anyone. They are acting like communist now.. lets see if they listen to anyones suggestion at the end.. They know they are wrong they dont wanna accept it
I ban people too from my forums who choose to break the guidelines that they agree to when they join.
Guess I won't be spending any money over there either. Posted in a members only thread they should not have deleted or banned you for it IMO.
same here. I don't want to buy a product if I don't have the right to criticize it..... if a business expects to be big, it has to learn to absorb criticism.
Criticism is a way to build a good customer friendly business. I would welcome suggestions from my customers provided they were useful to help provide them better service. I can understand banning someone for being immature about how they handle a situation. Feedback is something that you just can't take someones word for, you have to research it and deal with it properly.
It's true. Ray Morgan is a money hungry GM. He doesn't care about the customer, but only about money. He lied to all the vB customers and then put them all in a big hole forcing them to PAY extra now. I hope you rot in hell Ray Morgan!