Pro is Not Solving My Problems

I have emailed Jason several times now to explain that Pro did not solve the two problems I purchased it to solve. I was perfectly willing to pay for the benefits of Pro, if they were indeed benefits. However, becuase they do not work, I feel like I am paying for broken promises. I spent hours trying and re-trying the suggestions that were given in the support forum, and it didn’t work. I can’t get that time back, but I do feel that I should get my money back. The site I am working on is for a Non-Profit, our Boy Scout Troop. How can I ask them to pay for something that doesn’t do anything morn than the free version does?

This is my last email to Jason:

I have tried everything that has been suggested (here: http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/free-memberships/) to get the Pro version to help me with the two issues for which I purchased it (offer only free memberships and perform bulk user imports) but to no avail; the shortcode will not work.

I understood there was a no refund policy when I purchased, but I thought it was understood that the “no refund” policy was a “you can’t change your mind arbitrarily and request a refund” policy, not a “you bought it, if it doesn’t work, too bad” policy.

I was happy with the way S2M was working prior to the upgrade, but I upgraded because the feature comparison promised me these two elements:

Supports unlimited paid Membership Levels with s2Member® Pro. *Note: the s2Member® Framework (i.e. the free version) is limited to a maximum of 4 paid Membership Levels.

Supports User/Member importation via comma-separated value files (CSV).

I have no problem paying for features, if they work. But since these two features will not work for me, and I have no need for the other Pro features, I’d like to disable the pro version and get my money back.

I did this site on a volunteer basis for the Boy Scouts, please don’t make me pay for it out of my own pocket as well. I can’t charge them for my time, or for a plugin that doesn’t work. Please, please, please, may we have a refund?

I have not had a response. Please get back to me…

Sincerely,
Debbie

Hi Debbie.

to get the Pro version to help me with the two issues for which I purchased it (offer only free memberships and perform bulk user imports) but to no avail; the shortcode will not work.

About the shortcode not being parsed, that’s not something I’ve seen in any other site, so it’s not a problem in s2Member as distributed, but a local problem in your installation only.

If the shortcode isn’t being parsed, the only thing I can guess is that the files that adds that shortcode is missing from your installation, which is why I suggested reuploading the s2Member Pro files, in case you had an incomplete upload before, but I didn’t get a reply to that. http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/free-memberships/#post-26682

I was happy with the way S2M was working prior to the upgrade, but I upgraded because the feature comparison promised me these two elements:

Supports unlimited paid Membership Levels with s2Member® Pro. *Note: the s2Member® Framework (i.e. the free version) is limited to a maximum of 4 paid Membership Levels.

Supports User/Member importation via comma-separated value files (CSV).

I don’t remember you mentioning the extra levels problem, but that works fine in every other installation I’ve seen it used in, as long as the code line is added properly to your configuration file as explained in the documentation: [hilite path]Dashboard -› s2Member® -› General Options -› Membership Levels/Labels[/hilite]

About user importation, Jason replied to your thread with a possible solution. http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/free-memberships/#post-27391

About adding users to MailChiimp on import, you’d need to do that from MailChimp and the users would have to confirm the subscription. Be sure to read their rules about this, they’re very strict to avoid complaints from people.

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After not hearing back from you then, I thought you had solved the problem and just not posted an update.

Please try the above. I hope they help. :)

Debbie said:

So, now I can’t post in the Customer Support Forum because my membership level has been changed to a “Free Subscriber (No Purchase Yet)” Does this mean I’m getting my money back? Because if it doesn’t, I respectfully request that you grant me my posting privileges back.

To answer your questions:

I tried both of your suggestions to get the shortcode to work. Reloading the s2M plugin did not work, and the other plugin you suggested (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/trueedit/) not only didn’t work, it caused other problems, so I had to get rid of it.

Without the shortcode, offering only free memberships to my users will not work, so I am stuck with using only level 0. It’s entirely possible that the problem is being caused by my theme, but I have spent a lot of time designing the site with my theme, I love the functionality of the theme, I paid for the theme, and I’m not willing to start from scratch because your plugin is incompatible with it.

Jason’s suggestion to use a Mass email tool was unnecessary because I had already been using Mailchimp with great success. I wanted S2M Pro for the import feature, but when I found out that it wouldn’t email members their passwords upon import, that feature became useless to me too. How would I let 125 people know what their passwords were? And he also says “handle the transition from your old site/system…” There is no old system. This list is members that we used to communicate with via old fashioned email. They don’t have usernames and passwords. We need to create them.

Finally, the reason I didn’t respond to your suggestions was certainly NOT because the problem was solved, but because I was too busy trying to find other plugins that would do for me what S2M could not. Now that I finally have the site functioning somewhat, I’ve come back to re-submit my request. As I said before; I have tried all of your suggestions. They didn’t work. I do not need Pro. Please refund my money. (Especially now that I’m not listed as a paying customer!)

http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/pro-is-not-solving-my-problems/
http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/free-memberships/#post-27391

Reloading the s2M plugin did not work

You mean re-uploading all the s2member-pro folder? Okay, didn’t know you tried that.

Without the shortcode, offering only free memberships to my users will not work, so I am stuck with using only level 0. It’s entirely possible that the problem is being caused by my theme, but I have spent a lot of time designing the site with my theme, I love the functionality of the theme, I paid for the theme, and I’m not willing to start from scratch because your plugin is incompatible with it.

I can understand the work that can go into a theme and why you’d prefer to keep it.

I wanted S2M Pro for the import feature, but when I found out that it wouldn’t email members their passwords upon import, that feature became useless to me too. How would I let 125 people know what their passwords were? And he also says “handle the transition from your old site/system…” There is no old system. This list is members that we used to communicate with via old fashioned email. They don’t have usernames and passwords. We need to create them.

They wouldn’t be emailed on import normally, but Jason did point in his reply to a hack that may allow the emails to happen on import. http://www.primothemes.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16843#p61284

Also, if you already had them in MailChimp, it’d have been easy for you to email them how to access their new accounts. A simple way would have been to leave the password field empty on import and then ask the user to enter his email address into the “lost password” tool to have WordPress generate and email them a new one. /wp-login.php?action=lostpassword

Another thing to try would have been installing the Reset User Passwords plugin which, after import, could be used to email everyone and email them a link to reset their password. Similar to the “lost password” tool, but without using that interface. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/reset-all-user-passwords/

I have tried all of your suggestions. They didn’t work.

But that didn’t mean we didn’t have anything else to suggest or try. Once you had reported how it went with the suggestions we already gave you, we could have kept trying new things to help you. :/

Closing this thread, in favor of this discussion in another thread:
http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/pro-is-not-solving-my-problems-2/#post-29752

@ Debbie
Your account was demoted temporarily (and automatically) due to a dispute that you filed against us regarding your purchase of s2Member Pro.

While we work to resolve your dispute, your account has been restored to customer status so that we may continue a dialogue with you. Should the dispute be resolved in our favor, your account will remain in a paid customer status.

Refund Request:
Please see our NO REFUND policy as it pertains to digital non-tangible items. In order to receive a refund, you MUST show us the software failed to perform as advertised. Based on your claims thus far, and on your dispute filed yesterday, I see no evidence to suggest a failure on the part of s2Member Pro at this time. If you can show us the software failed to perform as advertised, and that the issue is indeed caused by a failure on the part of s2Member Pro, we’ll be happy to issue a refund immediately.

Without the shortcode, offering only free memberships to my users will not work, so I am stuck with using only level 0. It’s entirely possible that the problem is being caused by my theme, but I have spent a lot of time designing the site with my theme, I love the functionality of the theme, I paid for the theme, and I’m not willing to start from scratch because your plugin is incompatible with it.

This is NOT a valid claim against our product. If you suspect the shortcode issue is related to theme compatibility, you will need to (a) chose a different theme; or (b) work to resolve the issue with compatibility (either with our help, or on your own – perhaps with the assistance of your theme designer).

We (and other customers) have all confirmed that shortcode processing against s2Member’s WordPress shortcodes DOES work flawlessly against a default WordPress installation. In addition, we are not aware (and we in fact know first hand), that s2Member’s shortcodes are parsed properly 99.9% of the time, regardless of which other plugins and/or themes are in use. The fact that you’re having a problem with shortcodes, suggests there is a deeper issue that needs to be resolved on your installation. If you suspect your theme, please disable your theme temporarily, reverting back to the default WP theme. If the issue is resolved, please contact your theme developer for assistance, or consult the documentation for your theme.

Please see: http://www.s2member.com/terms/#s2-terms-warranty

WARRANTY / GUARANTEE; LIABILITY LIMITATION

s2Member® does not warranty or guarantee its Products in any manner. We cannot guarantee our Products will function with all 3rd party components, plugins or web browsers. s2Member® is not responsible for any 3rd party plugin compatibility conflicts that may occur. It is our policy to support all s2Member® Products as best we can. However, we will only provide support for 3rd party plugin conflicts, at our own discretion; as time allows. Please report any known conflicts in our Customer Support Forum for review. We may offer suggestions or alternatives.

s2Member® is not responsible for any data loss that may occur as a result of installing, running, and/or uninstalling any s2Member® Product. Please remember to backup your files & database before installing, running, upgrading, and/or uninstalling any s2Member® Product. If data loss does occur, please report to our Customer Support Forum for review. We may offer helpful advice.

I wanted S2M Pro for the import feature, but when I found out that it wouldn’t email members their passwords upon import, that feature became useless to me too. How would I let 125 people know what their passwords were?

This is also NOT a valid claim. While I understand your desire to have the ability to email your customers immediately upon import, this is NOT a feature that is offered with s2Member Pro, nor is it advertised as a feature provided by s2Member Pro. Our list of features at s2Member.com states only the following.

Thus, emailing members their password, in whatever way you choose to accomplish this, will need to be made possible through custom coding, or perhaps with another plugin. I believe we’ve already made some recommendations/suggestions for you regarding this issue. In the mean time, we’ve accepted this as a feature request, to be considered in a future release of s2Member Pro.

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Additional Info:

The dispute that you filed against us, also included an argument that you posted about your inability to use “Unlimited Levels” with s2Member Pro? This is a key feature provided by s2Member Pro, so I’m not sure where this argument comes from exactly.

If you’re having a problem with “Unlimited Levels”, please read the details that follow.

With s2Member Pro installed, please see this section of your Dashboard for full instructions about how to configure the number of Membership Levels you’d like to use:
Dashboard -› s2Member® -› General Options -› Membership Levels/Labels