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ORBX addon software (Read 4374 times)
Cappy
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Moar fuel please

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ORBX addon software
Mar 28th, 2011 at 1:59pm
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Just a friendly warning to anyone thinking of purchasing this software.

I had purchased many of their products in the past and I went to the Flightsim store today and noticed to my surprise that there is an update to YMML airport. I had purchased the original version 1 but it was very buggy and the performance was frankly appalling. So they updated the software to V2 to now give reasonable performance. They were selling it at the same price as the original ($32.50) which is  fair except for the fact that if you own the original you are now paying $65 for one working airport. I purchased FSX gold for $50 as a comparison.

So I sent an email to the flightsim store asking if there was a discount for V1 owners, I was told there wasn't but to contanct John Venema of ORBX to see what he could do.

He proceeded to tell me that exisiting customers were sent emails offering the upgrade for $8.99 IIRC but I wouldn't get that discount and had to pay full price because I chose to IGNORE the emails in his words.

Pardon me, but I didn't choose to ignore anything as I didn't receive any emails from him or anyone else to ignore.
I had also informed him that I was a loyal customer who had purchased a few hudred dollars worth of his addons. Unfortunately that was met with an I don't care attitude.

So any ORBX buyers please beware, once they have your money they don't care.

I know Captainsim wouldn't treat us that way, if they have an update or patch it's free to download as always.
I for one won't buy ORBX products any longer, there are alternatives.
I don't like it when pirates like this take advantage of our goodwill as a community.
They produce unusable software and expect us to pay twice to fix THEIR mistakes, it's not on!

I gave him the chance to respond and make things right but he flatly refused and even worse was very condescending in his reply.
Hence this thread.
Money is not the issue here, I have plenty it's the way he treats his once loyal customers with contempt.
  

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Vlado
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Re: ORBX addon software
Reply #1 - Mar 28th, 2011 at 2:57pm
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I agree with you Cappy!
Its not really about the money, its the principal...
Thanks for the heads up!
  

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Markoz
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Re: ORBX addon software
Reply #2 - Mar 28th, 2011 at 3:32pm
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Sorry to hear you never received the email Cappy. I got mine and bought the YMML v2 for $8.99. BUT.... I don't think that there should be an expiry date for the discount to those who, like yourself, are entitled to it. It should still be available for you.

I bought AU YMML v1.0 for $53.96 when it was first released. Because of a price reduction, to $35.96, I am supposed to have a discount voucher (that never expires) to be used on any Orbx product. I've never seen it, nor used it.

Mark
  

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Cappy
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Re: ORBX addon software
Reply #3 - Mar 28th, 2011 at 5:10pm
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Thanks for the support guys. It means a lot, I must say I was taken aback by his strange behaviour.
It's sad when a company gets like that, first John Venema begged for our support to keep the company going and I get this in return. They are too big for their boots now and think they are the only addon company worth a crumpet.  Cry

Mark is V2 any better performance wise? I get ~15fps (short final/landing) with My Traffic X and that wonderful aircraft the CS767
Most other areas I get anywhere between 40 and 80 with graphics settings pretty much maxed.
  

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gandy
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Re: ORBX addon software
Reply #4 - Mar 28th, 2011 at 7:44pm
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They should really do an upgrade version to help people like Cappy who have V1 but tend to spend time working and flying instead of reading emails.

Plus if i remember correctly email notifications of updates is an option on flight sim store that is disabled by default. I could be wrong on that as it might be another online shop.
  

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CoolP
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Re: ORBX addon software
Reply #5 - Mar 28th, 2011 at 10:34pm
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Guys, I have to jump in here since I really believe that this story is a typical "one thing leads to another" thing, in the way of "one word at the right time and the right tone will get you further, while the wrong tone might stop you instantly".

Lets see if you can catch my drift.

Now, first of all, Orbx runs a business which is lead by John, he's the CEO, but also a dev there. So he will always have to achieve a fine trimmed balance of money coming in and customers being happy about not too high prices and great service.
Sounds like a normal description, huh? Well, it certainly is, but, as we all know, not all companies around achieve this goal. Orbx, in my eyes, does. CS too, if anyone is asking.  Smiley

Back then, I was wondering about the limited time for V1 buyers to upgrade very, very inexpensively to V2 too. You can bet I wasn't smiling about this business aspect, but I recognized the emails, the forum announcements and the large banners at e. g. flight sim store (FSS) and the Orbx forums which clearly showed all terms and conditions, so I was ok.
I would speak about a very "loud" advertisement of the whole thing, so my assumption is that you've really missed some information there. Sometimes, this happens of course.

When you look at their current update and upgrade policy, you'll see that they are back to more customer friendly ways, offering patches for free, which not only fix problems but enhance a large range of their famous airports.
Check their site for details and enjoy e. g. all the new poepleflow stuff, it's great and free!

Last issue. I spoke about "tone" in the first paragraph. What I assumed there was that you might not have caught the right one to convince John.
As said, he's a business man, for sure, but he's also a guy which takes support very serious. First of all, he surely is a human being, so maybe the attempt to demand a discount instead of politely asking for it drove him to the decision that he can't help you.
The company defines the time limits there, not the customer, that's our world today. No one has to like this, but at least be aware of it.

Orbx is the only company I know so far which even warns people about their own products. They have a thread running, concerning the version 1 of the airport, which clearly stresses the need for a decent system.
Now, while V1 wasn't charming on every hardware around, the V2 really is a new product in case of the looks and especially the performance, so the 2.0 sign is well earned there.
Personally, I'd even accepted a nearly full new price there and, personally too, I think that, from a closer look, nobody will see Orbx as a company to warn other guys about.

As said, I think that the attempt from the FSS guy (could have been Jay, he's also active in the Orbx forums) to forward you to John showed this customer friendly way of operation. They didn't reject you instantly, but forwarded you to the CEO.
Now, starting a thread about one dev in another dev's forums might explain my thinking about the wrong tone and approach from your side when "asking" for an out of the rule discount.  Huh
This is just a very personal viewpoint of mine and I don't have the slightest idea what was spoken between both sides of course.

I don't know John or Jay personally and I'm in no way related to Orbx. I'm just around their forums too (catching some tone, so to say), bought tons of their products and already had some support issues running which all went fine and weren't always of an easy nature.
So I might be biased in a way.
I could warn you about some companies in the business, but I wouldn't do this in another dev's forums and I also would be aware that things happening between me and the company will not always, if ever, align with the experiences of other people. As an outcome, I don't warn people about any (so far).
  
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audiohavoc
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Re: ORBX addon software
Reply #6 - Mar 31st, 2011 at 6:36pm
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FlightSim Store is having a one week $19 AUD sale on ORBX Pacific North West products.  This is a huge discount and now is a great time to grab FTX NA Blue.  I bought it even though I don't have the disk space right now to install it (I only have 2GB remaining on my FSX drive Undecided).

http://www.flightsimstore.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=orbx+na&x=46&y...
  

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audiohavoc
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Re: ORBX addon software
Reply #7 - Apr 7th, 2011 at 4:27pm
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Bumping this because I think it is the last day of the $19 sale today.
  

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