I have a question. I purchased a wordpress theme, and although I’m happy with the theme and have used it for my main website, they do not respond to ANYTHING. I will drop the authors name if asked. Is this really right to do to someone who has paid to use their theme? I have never encountered this from any other author on Themeforest and I’m just literally ready to pull my hair out. No replies to posts in comments, does not reply to email - nothing. Their theme has specific issues where support is most DEFINITELY needed, yet I can’t get any support whatsoever. When I purchased the theme, I do not recall their “does not offer support” statement, but how is that even fair? To not support your own product? I see that they provided support previously, now all of a sudden nothing? They are still selling the theme, should they not support their paying customers? If I thought I’d get absolutely no help with this theme, I would have second guessed purchasing it, it’s unfair and to me, lowers the quality of the Themeforest experience completely.
It totally depends on the file (don’t call it out here please).
If they choose not to support it then that is their prerogative.
However it needs to state this in their support tab (look on th item page at the top above the preview image and click ‘support’).
If it says they do support it and you purchased the theme within the past 6 months then under envato’s new policy you are entitled to support (assuming the issues fall under the policy).
If they author refuses to reply then you can contact envato to check this.
Likewise if the theme is genuinely bugged or does not perform the way it does in the demo and you purchased it within a reasonable time frame then you may be entitled to a refund in which case you again need to contact envato.
I appreciate the reply, honestly I don’t feel it is as much of “their” prerogative as it is mine - seeing how I purchased the theme to use. I mean, what are they out? When I originally purchased the theme, they were supporting it, and I see up until just recently, they are not replying to support questions and have a message saying they do not offer support… which I just find to be tacky seeing how they are still selling it. Like I said, it lowers the quality of the envanto marketplace. If I wanted a fly by night theme where I was thrown to the wolves after purchasing it, I could have bought my theme elsewhere - or used a free theme for that matter. Their documentation is old and outdated and they keep saying to use an old outdated version of NGG for their gallery and so you would think they would offer some sort of support when it doesn’t work properly. I’m just really disgusted, too bad one author has to ruin envanto for me. I’ve been a customer for literally years here, and if envanto allows authors to ignore their customers like this, then it’s time for me to move on and bring my business elsewhere. Thanks.
The support thing has to be their choice because the file belongs to them not envato - envato can make certain requirements to sell on their marketplace but, too many and they simply won’t sell their themes which will do more damage long term for everyone.
For what it is worth envato took a big and brave step by introducing the new 6 month support package which guaranteed buyers protection from a lack of support or worse still the file being removed completely in this initial period. I guess part of the decision o do that was exactly to prevent…
Without knowing the file, the issues being faced etc. etc. it is hard to judge but if you purchased the files less than 6 months ago then I would suggest you emailing support to see what they can do to help.
Good luck
As an author, I can say that there may be several valid reasons for them not to provide support anymore. The cost of providing support is quite high, and it’s a recurring cost. Often, the sale of a product (which does not bring recurring income) doesn’t cover that cost (the price of additional support packages is ridiculously low). Besides, Envato takes a high share of the sale, reducing income even further.
If the author decided not to support their product anymore, they are allowed to do so by the marketplace rules (support has always been optional, and it was up to the authors to provide it or not). This is not something “disgusting”, it has always been part of the terms and conditions of sale. It’s annoying, that’s for sure, but allowed.
If the product is no longer up to scratch, I’m afraid that the only solution is to use another one, or get someone to fix it (although that could turn out to be more expensive than changing the theme).
this is true what u said . INdeed , people have to get to know everything about the situation before being able to tell anything … . The fact of the matter is that most of the guys normally provide help / further assistance when they are asked and most of the time freely so this is not really normal to say “authors” in the title of this thread , when it seems that was an isolated case in the end … . In addition, even if sometimes u help customers on some things that they are not legitimately supposed to give, customers do not even feel like rewarding with leaving a cool rating, which is a bit sad in my view … . Anyway the great deal of us love what we do and do our best to make things fair for customers , also as we wish that they are satisfied and buy again obviously … .
Actually , u can never know about what is the situation of a guy not answering, i will give a really extreme case, but a guy that we used to know and who was a big seller in GR has died a short while ago, try to imagine if a guy ever contacts him for one of his items that he has for sale here , what’s going to happen? i guess that the guy will not be able to answer if u know what i mean. To a more common extent, sometimes u do not know if a guys has had an accident or something and is injured or whatever , which is more likely to happen . What i mean by all that is there are a good variety of reasons why a guy may not answer , not only because he’s not willing to help … . I also will end up this message with mentioning that it would be cool if people could be confronted with lower fees on each sale as regard to the fact that we may have to help in the outside and that in the first place, all of us work hard for a money that is far form being huge to say the least …