• There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

Does Alphasim actually WANT to sell aircraft?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I only buy CD products, don't know why not all vendors offer their products on CD. I don't even have CC and stopped using Papal after some trouble 2 years ago.

It must be possible to be able to install a product from a CD only! This would reduce piracy - I believe (without knowing anything about the actual problems involved) that the move to online sales has greatly increased piracy!
 
Sheesh guys, what can I say, count your blessings. The fact alone that you all (me included) can talk about a small issue like this is one of those blessings.

Oh and it's an online shop, no face to face checks, there has to be some security rules.
 
Given problems like this and problems ( perceived or actual level of ) with piracy and their hints at other avenues of revenue, closure of forums and steady move to GA, I would think the on line shop with direct downloads will be a thing of the past in the future.

There are three ways to deal with free email accounts ( and many places like Alphasim don't allow them either ), let them exist to all customers, stop them to all customers, remove the product to an area that doesn't need email accounts.

You don't have to be Shirlock Holmes to see that Alphasim is going through a massive reorganisation from top to bottom, tightening the belts, closing ranks and loop holes, areas ( forums ) and subject matter ( off the beaten track models ) that generate little or no revenue. Models used to arrive three or four a month, now its one every two or three months, the quality has changed, the focus of the product and whats there in has changed too.

One other point, how many times have we seen vociferous posts like this in the past ?, more than I care to stomach TBH, how many have actually achieved something ?, very very few, in fact I think the last one was the Sabre nose, maybe a few FDE ones, but generally Alphasim just close more blast doors and go deeper underground.

Every body has their likes, whims and dislikes and you just cant please all the people all the time, I'm afraid to say someone somewhere is going to be displeased.

This in not an official response in any way shape or form, just comments based on past observation and closely following forums and threads there in.

Best

Michael
 
Ah, but they have changed things!! A serious complaint against a developer doesn't serve to change the developer, it serves to let people know who and what they're dealing with. There are lurkers and posters here who have no desire to deal with companies they can't agree with. It doesn't matter how bad I want a MSFS product, I want more than just it for my 30-50 dollars. I want honest dealings and to not be treated like a criminal.

Yes, these threads leave a bad taste in our mouths, but they are neccessary. It's not like the MSFS world is as negative as some say it is. For every negative thread here, there are a jillion praise threads. You can't argue with that math.
 
Ah, but they have changed things!! A serious complaint against a developer doesn't serve to change the developer, it serves to let people know who and what they're dealing with. There are lurkers and posters here who have no desire to deal with companies they can't agree with. It doesn't matter how bad I want a MSFS product, I want more than just it for my 30-50 dollars. I want honest dealings and to not be treated like a criminal.

Yes, these threads leave a bad taste in our mouths, but they are neccessary. It's not like the MSFS is as negative as some say it is. For every negative thread here, there are a jillion praise threads. You can't argue with that math.

Not arguing with the math, just observations from a long time associate from the other side of the fence thats all :).

I didn't say Alphasim are all good, far from it, they have their faults and I've championed a few crusades myself from without and within in an attempt to get a result, sometimes successful, sometimes not.

There are threads and points that will probably be fixed, there are threads that are just going to drive them away, from bitter experience this one is going to do the latter and it doesn't matter how vocal people get and argue, the point is nothing is going to change, all thats going to happen is that people are going to get more and more upset and drag in others and then we have the usual bi monthly Alphasim slash and bash thread.

The lack of free email accounts for business is what Alphasim have decided, like it or not.

After nine years I've yet to work out how or why Alphasim got this almost fanatical picking over the bones criticism for everything they do ?. Its not as though they're a rogue trader, they don't steal peoples money, the product is average and the customer care is average, yet if an innocent read all these threads about Alphasim you'd think they were the brethren of Satan ?.

I heard a whisper pre Xmas the Alphasim might jack it all in, I have to hand it to Phil, I wouldn't have stuck it this long, for all his faults he has belief in that what he is doing is right and you cannot knock a man for his beliefs, disagree tactfully, yes, but knock down ?, not where I come from you don't.

Best

Michael
 
...
What on Earth do they need another then my free mailadress fore??? Like an ISP provided mail adress is only even 1% more secure from hacking, spam, piracy acts and other forms of criminal behaviour....well, think again
...

Ummm... how are you here at SOH? Is your email grandfathered?

Many of the same arguments that you make apply to all websites that require a non-free email address. I've frequented sites where members have trouble registering even with an email account that isn't free (eg. Yahoo's premium).

Your recourse with AS is to not purchase - the only recourse with sites that require non-free email is to not donate.
 
Respectfully Michael, you are somewhat wrong about what AlphaSim is doing and what direction they are headed in.

As it was said on the old unofficial forum, things will be returning back to how they used to be, at least somewhat. Meaning potentially more military models, less detailed projects, but more of them.

Many of the decisions being made and conversations taking place within the company are leading to my departure from the beta team after the islander project.

Off to bigger and better things... :friday:
 
I too have seen these kinds of posts in the past. I have found them interesting, and informative. I judge the post on whether everone is jumping on the bandwagon or not. If people defend the company or not. I have purchased items and seen these posts and if I have had a positive experience I post. Serves the public interest. If the companies involved cares to comment and defend it self all the better. If they ignore it, it is to their shame. I see no problem with "heaping" bad press on a company that wants to go their own way against customer convience. I always try to use companies that have good relations with their customers via customer service. It is my money and I want value and a way to "easily" resolve problems. I have purchased from Alphasim in the past, had a good experience with them. But reading these posts I would reconsider a future purchase if I personally find these problems evident.
 
Respectfully Michael, you are somewhat wrong about what AlphaSim is doing and what direction they are headed in.

As it was said on the old unofficial forum, things will be returning back to how they used to be, at least somewhat. Meaning potentially more military models, less detailed projects, but more of them.

Many of the decisions being made and conversations taking place within the company are leading to my departure from the beta team after the islander project.

Off to bigger and better things... :friday:

Well I dont work for Alphasim so I have no detailed inside track as such, just based my views on what I've read and heard over the last few months ( said that in one of my above posts I think ?, if not I'll say it here ) , things do change so we'll all have to see where it all goes, I'm certainly not going to get into a row or loose sleep over it, those days are long gone LOL.

Be good where ever you go.

Kindest

Michael
 
I agree with NickC.
And what I really don't understand is why some folks find it extremely "bothersome" to use an email address provided by their commercial ISP???
 
I agree with NickC.
And what I really don't understand is why some folks find it extremely "bothersome" to use an email address provided by their commercial ISP???

Depends on what ISP you have. And as mentioned in the beginning: i only use one single free mailaccount for professional reasons. :wave:
 
My commercial ISP mail actually now goes through Google's mail. A few months ago they farmed it out to the google crew. Email addy is still the same, but it's actually facilitated through google.
 
i feel your pain man. A while ago i wanted to buy a plane from Alphasim and then ir ealized that they don't accept free emails. I had to call my isp and request a new email and then wait for them to approve it and finally it worked and i must say it was worth it. You can use Paypal but that is a big hassle just because you have to email them and then wait and type in a username and password and all that. I prefer just getting the payed email and using that but i understand if you don't want another email floating around.
 
This whole AS bashing has been brought about because an individual doesn't want to abide by a companies rules for doing business. While your criticism of the redirect not working is valid the rest of this is IMO just sour grapes.

Reminds me of when I 1st got out of the Army. I briefly sold cars. Well I had this .... "gentleman" come in that wanted to pay cash for a brand new car. He plunked down 30K cash on my desk & expected to be able to conduct the transaction.
Sorry.... Because of concerns over money laundering & a whole host of other legal concerns that is not allowed. I kindly suggested to the gentleman to go deposit the money & bring back a cashiers check so that he could purchase it. Well said gentleman got really bent out of shape & started a tirade.

Long story short I told him to leave or he would be soliciting the services of a proctologist to recover his money.

IMO if you are unwilling to do business as prescribed then pick up your toys & go home. Dont stand on the sidelines bashing others because they are unwilling to do things your way.
 
Thanks for the suggestion mate, but i dont want a Paypal transaction. I just want to go to the site and purchase a bird with the good old CC, like you can on plenty of other professional payware selling site's (and like i was able to with AS as well untill now!). Just an uncomplicated transaction, using an e-mail adress I desire, that's all. :hand:

If they can't meet these simple and normal requirements, then...No Sale! :kilroy:

I am with your 100% Warrant.

Message to Developers:

Make it easy and simple for me to buy. If you don't I may just walk away.
 
I don't use my ISP-given e-mail address - because it gets over 100 spam a day and I have NEVER given it out or even used it. People just spam [everything]@ispname knowing that they'll get some hits.

I use the e-mail addresses from my wife and my webspaces. No-one has complained yet.

Ian P.
 
What the heck has happened to "the customer is king" ("the customer is god" if you are in Japan)?!?


I can buy rail and airline tickets online with my freemail address. I've signed up at an electricity company with it and did other official, highly personal stuff like sending applications via that account.
All of this is way more important and much riskier than buying one single aircraft online.

If I were you, Warrant, I would do that purchase the good old-fashioned way. An envelope, the order on paper, three sheets of white paper against curious mailmen and cash.
Just out of protest.



P.S: The guy who bought my old mainboard off EBay actually sent the payment via mail (hence the suggestion above). I was so impressed by that that I put a hand-written short letter into the packet congratulating him for his courage.
 
Free email addys?
here they are not allowed for auto registration
i know our system will not allow yahoo etc
often i get emails for registration and get a message saying
i pay for yahoo
its a tough decision, i probably spend about 2 hours a day
checking and responding
i do understand some people using free email
i use one myself quite often
but it is time consuming to check
and hard to find out who you are really dealing with
the other end
so i completely understand
H
 
Well....
The love/hate relationship soap opera with AlphaSim continues....

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode...:)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top