Am I banned?

[mike10]

Hello guys, just to drop my 2 cents in the fray, I was given a 7 day ban on my VERY FIRST POST at the .org... Why? Because I asked if anyone knew where I could download G2XPL because there were no links to it in the G2XPL thread. Ain't that some shit? The .org will never see a penny from me and I will go to any lengths in making sure people I know do the same. I'm surprised that website has lasted this long granted the horrific customer service they provide. Does anyone know if Laminar Research has even granted them permission to use the "x-plane" domain name? Anyone might think .org is directly affiliated to .com and I wouldn't be surprised if tons of potential XP customers have been steered away due to their shitty attitudes. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

 

Good don't give them a single dime.  I was banned over there because they ignored my emails spaced several days apart asking for a tracking number so I could find out why my purchase was over a week and a half late.  I posted in the forum complaining and on avsim and the jerk that runs the site removed my post ( I don't blame him for that) and then sent me a message with a warning saying that sales support questions are not to be posted in the forum...

 

WELL...  If they ignore the emails where the hell else am I supposed to go???  

 

I sent this back as a response  " wow not even a sorry that happened I will have sales contact you and then I said I would go to my bank on the next business day"  After that I was banned and I only got my tracking number after emailing him again and still no apology for ignoring my earlier emails..

 

Horrible customer support, horrible store will never buy from  them and I strongly suggest that developers sell on multiple sites because I will not buy anything that is only sold on the .org and I am sure many others feel the same way.

Edited January 14, 2013 by mike10

[steven winslow]

It boggles my mind that some can have such amazingly crappy experiences and yet I have nothing but praise for the way every single one of my purchases has transpired. I bought all my Saitek gear from the org and got a screaming deal on them.  I e-mailed Nicolas and even spoke to him on the phone.  I bought 2 radio panels, the switch panel, the multi panel, yoke and throttle quadrant, rudder pedals and the TPM module all at the same time.  Over $1000 and not a hitch.  When one of the radio panels died within the warranty period I e-mailed Nicolas and he said to return it and he would replace it.  Took less than 10 days for the replacement to happen.  I have purchased numerous planes and sceneries and I truly can't understand why some of you have such horrible experiences.  I guess I'm just lucky.

[mike10]

It boggles my mind that some can have such amazingly crappy experiences and yet I have nothing but praise for the way every single one of my purchases has transpired. I bought all my Saitek gear from the org and got a screaming deal on them.  I e-mailed Nicolas and even spoke to him on the phone.  I bought 2 radio panels, the switch panel, the multi panel, yoke and throttle quadrant, rudder pedals and the TPM module all at the same time.  Over $1000 and not a hitch.  When one of the radio panels died within the warranty period I e-mailed Nicolas and he said to return it and he would replace it.  Took less than 10 days for the replacement to happen.  I have purchased numerous planes and sceneries and I truly can't understand why some of you have such horrible experiences.  I guess I'm just lucky.

 

 Yeah it is kind of odd, but if you want I will PM you the emails. 

 

 Nicolas seems to me like one of those guys that can not accept any fault or even acknowledge a upset customers concerns.  in my opinion he should hire somebody to handle dealing with the customers because sometimes in retail you can't be so pigheaded...  You need to be able to calm a customer down right or wrong. I was not asking for anything for free or a discount or anything other than a "hey sorry we did not get back to you and we will try and help track this down"  

 

I would have been happy with that and would have continued to purchase from his site.    Instead he chose to inflame the situation by ignoring my concern and flew off the handle and banned me.  

Edited January 14, 2013 by mike10

[Goran_M]

Steven

There are definitely isolated cases where transactions have gone awry for an unfortunate few.  For all intents and purposes, Nicolas, almost definitely handles the majority of transactions with some degree of professionalism.  It's the way he treats SOME of the customers whose transactions have not gone as smoothly as yours.  

If someone pays you to take photographs of their wedding, and they get their prints but they were unhappy with their prints (Not that that would EVER happen!), and they came into your office and started complaining about quality.  You would NOT immediately kick them out of your store and lock the door.  You would handle the situation with a certain degree of professionalism that would calm them down and you would come to some kind of resolution.  

Cameron does this on the odd occasion that an activation or transaction hasn't gone smoothly.

It's painfully obvious that Nicolas doesn't understand this...and it's giving new X-Plane users a very bitter taste.  

If it was someone with an agenda, then there may be underlying factors.  

But these are new x-plane users who wish to move on to a new and improving flight sim.  This is simply a hobby for many people who just want to have a bit of fun.  Nicolas is taking it way too seriously and just being rude and disrespectful.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Goran_M

[steven winslow]

Goran,

 

I'm not disagreeing at all with anything you said.  I'm just saying that it boggles my mine.  I'm grateful my experiences at the org and with Nicolas have been good.

 

You're right about how I deal with my clients.  It is rare that we have someone disappointed, but it does happen once or twice a year.  We take care of their issues and make sure they are happy when we are done.  However, there have been times that we have had to "divorce" a client and not do business with them.  I've been in business 22 1/2 years and I've reached a point (long ago) that I can dictate for whom I will do work.  I'm thankful for my clients and I will do whatever it takes to make them happy.  I wish Nicolas could do the same.

Edited January 14, 2013 by steven winslow

[Goran_M]

 I wish Nicolas could do the same.

We all do.

It's a well known fact that Nicolas runs the org with his emotions.  After everything that has been going on recently, he's made it quite obvious.

[Andyrooc]

The org is in Googles bad books again. Browsers are blocking it, and yesterday it's DB was down.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Andyrooc

[steven winslow]

I've been on and off the org all evening and haven't noticed any issues.  Just downloaded a scenery file to check and there were no issues.

[Andyrooc]

yeh...seems to have been a fleeting thing...

[Andyrooc]

Nope, it blocked again...

[BimmerCop]

What boggles my mind is how ONE PERSON and ONE WEBSITE can have such an influence on a product like XP especially when that website is not "officially affiliated" with Laminar Research. This is why competition is good and I really wish we had many more vendors available, like for the FSX market. Seems like .org is running a monopoly and as such, he assumes the I'm the only player in town so you put up with me or your banned attitude. Really sucks having to endure such narcissistic attitudes when dealing with a commercial entity.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[greggerm]

Nope, it blocked again...

 

Check the "Reasons why" when the warning pops up - see what the date of Google's last scan was versus the last time malware last detected. Their first run-in was back on December 21st or so. It might be a leftover warning from that issue... I've received it more than a few times using Firefox since the actual issue, but not over the past week or so.

 

I think I finally cleared the issue out by fully blowing out my Firefox installation and refreshing it completely (backing up my favs and whatnots ahead of time). I was experimenting with Chrome anyway, so it was no extra work for me.

[mike10]

What boggles my mind is how ONE PERSON and ONE WEBSITE can have such an influence on a product like XP especially when that website is not "officially affiliated" with Laminar Research. This is why competition is good and I really wish we had many more vendors available, like for the FSX market. Seems like .org is running a monopoly and as such, he assumes the I'm the only player in town so you put up with me or your banned attitude. Really sucks having to endure such narcissistic attitudes when dealing with a commercial entity. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

At somepoint his site will collapse around him

[steven winslow]

At somepoint his site will collapse around him

 

Doubtful.  It's a numbers game.  A dozen or so disgruntled ex-members vs. 224,445 current members......

[mike10]

Doubtful.  It's a numbers game.  A dozen or so disgruntled ex-members vs. 224,445 current members......

 

 

Not exverybody who is disgruntled posts here I am sure there is many more..   plus out of those 224k members most of them are inactive.  I  was a admin of a message forum with over 100k members and with a forum that age and sizze your lucky if 5-10 percent are active posters 

[Cameron]

Doubtful. It's a numbers game. A dozen or so disgruntled ex-members vs. 224,445 current members......

Not exverybody who is disgruntled posts here I am sure there is many more.. plus out of those 224k members most of them are inactive. I was a admin of a message forum with over 100k members and with a forum that age and sizze your lucky if 5-10 percent are active posters

Lucky if that. Actual active is about 2%...and that's being near generous. Many people come and go since 13 years.

[mike10]

Lucky if that. Actual active is about 2%...and that's being near generous. Many people come and go since 13 years.

 

 

Yeah you are right..   I was being very generous.  The older the site and the lower the percentage that are really active. 

[steven winslow]

Actual active is about 2%...and that's being near generous.

 

Still, that's nearly 4500.  I haven't taken the time to count the actual number of individual posters who have reported their trials and tribulations with the org in the X-Pilot forums (I guesstimate somewhere around a dozen) but let's go ahead and say two dozen.  That's still about .005% (half a percent) that have reported problems.  To suggest that the org is ultimately going to implode because of poor customer service is not plausible.  I don't agree with the org management doing some of the things that have been reported .  Nicolas could certainly use some people skills training and a couple of the mods there could use a few lessons in manners, but I don't see the org going away any time soon.  Even with all their warts, the org provides a useful resource.

 

X-Pilot is different.  I won't quantify the difference by saying "better," but it is a different experience here.  Much closer interaction with developers and, aside from the org bashers, a nice place to visit.  For the most part, a more helpful place.

Edited January 15, 2013 by steven winslow

[Cameron]

Easily more than a dozen, Mr. Winslow.

No one said anything about a "now" implosion. The collapse of countries do not happen in a day. It starts with one, and word of mouth goes a long way. Flight sim forums all around have been riddled with complaints about Nicolas' antics for a while now, and by people new to me each and every time.

[BimmerCop]

For every basher, there is a cheerleader to counterpunch. I guess at the end of the day, it all evens out.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Edited January 15, 2013 by BimmerCop

[tkyler]

Nicolas antics won't be the downfall of the org...it may not downfall at all.  The org was built by the community sharing free stuff and users wanting that free stuff.  There is, was and always will be a desire on the part of flight sim users to seek out free stuff of the highest quality.  The two biggest flight sim sites are also the biggest repositories of free add-ons.  Until someone provides more than the org does,  it will survive.  Only time will tell how long it will thrive though depending on whether or not the market gets tired of it, but its probably safe to say its got a whole lot of years left.     The attraction of the free stuff fuels the membership and we all know where there are lots of people there is marketing opportunity and money to be made and that is Nicolas interest....he's a business man.  Everything comes with a price of some type though.   To get all that goodness, one usually has to subject themselves to various things, be it Nicolas behavior...forum marketing, newsletters, crowded forums, fiesty mods, mediocre sales support, too many topics or the whole "needle in a haystack" when looking for good free stuff.  The org is a volume-based, 'low-cost' economy....and for those of you familiar with Wal-Mart, you know that there is always a large following for it.  I shop at Wal-Mart for some stuff, but they do not always have the product I am looking for when a certain level of quality is desired.  I rather like having an alternative and right now there really isn't one so for a lot of folks its the only game in town.    Now I have friends who have become reasonably wealthy because they have a product on the Wal-Mart shelves and that appeals to lots of folks and is why the org will always draw the most developers as they all have $ in their eyes and volume means $.  Getting a product on the super-store shelves is very appealing to folks, but you never know what you're going to get.  I never thought I'd see a marching dinosaur for sale at a flight sim store. 

 

Nicolas has his hands full over there given the org size and a part of me says he's doing what any other business man would do in his shoes, but the other part of me says, 'you went there , you made your bed, you fed the monster so deal with it'   Right now his best defense is the ban button.  When given a choice between giving good customer service or working on the next newsletter that will result in more sales by new flight simmers, take a guess what path he'll choose.  Remember, this is a  renewable market and in his volume based approach he honestly doesn't need repeat customers, a new crop of them are born every year!   If one person balks out of Wal-Mart upset they got a bad deal, Wal-Mart ain't goin' down.

 

The org is a good resource, but to me it's like that Wal-Mart resource.  Yea it's got just about everything....but you might not get catered to very well, not always easy to find help, some of the employes are rude and not interested and a lot of the stuff is cheap but low cost (free) is the market.  You know what you get when you walk in.  I am interested in a new type of place myself.

 

TomK

Edited January 15, 2013 by tkyler

[mike10]

Still, that's nearly 4500.  I haven't taken the time to count the actual number of individual posters who have reported their trials and tribulations with the org in the X-Pilot forums (I guesstimate somewhere around a dozen) but let's go ahead and say two dozen.  That's still about .005% (half a percent) that have reported problems.  To suggest that the org is ultimately going to implode because of poor customer service is not plausible.  I don't agree with the org management doing some of the things that have been reported .  Nicolas could certainly use some people skills training and a couple of the mods there could use a few lessons in manners, but I don't see the org going away any time soon.  Even with all their warts, the org provides a useful resource.

 

X-Pilot is different.  I won't quantify the difference by saying "better," but it is a different experience here.  Much closer interaction with developers and, aside from the org bashers, a nice place to visit.  For the most part, a more helpful place.

 

 

I bet only a small percentage of people that have been banned at the org or are unhappy with their customer service post here.  

 

I work in the auto service buisness and we have lots of pissed off customers for various reasons, we do what we can but sometimes it's out of your control. If you look us up on any rating website only a handful of people have complained...  

 

we had one guy get arrested a few weeks back because he was so pissed he threatened to  go get his gun and shoot the whole place up,  but he has not posted online anywhere about his anger so does that mean he is another happy customer because he for whatever reason has not posted anywhere about it?

[Andyrooc]

It's an interesting thing - the 'free' bit. People are free to come, and go. People are free to add content to the site, or remove it. ie: there is nothing that  'locks' people in. So long as people find something about it useful, they will continue to use it. For a store, the passing traffic is a nice benefit - like having a store in a mall. MySpace used to be very popular. Then Facebook turned up. If an alternative to Facebook turned up, there is nothing to stop people jumping ship for the Next Big Thing. Its quite a fragile existence really if your next pay depends on it.

[steven winslow]

Brilliant, Tom.  Well said!  Thoughtful and respectful.

[Sgt R Lee Ermey]

Looks like I found myself a new home.  I grew tired of the disrepect the common man was given over there on a daily basis by the nazi power mongering moderators.  It is such a shame too because their own arrogance and ignorance has offloaded a whole lot of business and contributions from a lot of good people. I had earmarked a good $1000 this year to spend on x-plane products.  So their arrogance anda mental disability has cost them money.  So in a way I'm glad I found this place.  All my contribution in scenery and aircraft development will go here instead free of charge as well as any purchases if I find any I like. 

 

Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency.

 

Probably best to avoid the place. 

 

That being off my chest it is time to move on from that cesspool of tyranny.