I am unable to update a theme I purchased. When it updates i get a fatal error. I know my 6 months of support is up, but when the theme does not work, what recourse do I have? If the support period expires, does that mean I am out of luck finding a fix for a product that has totally failed?
The theme is OsTende. I cannot find any way to contact the authors. I did not understand the initial agreement to be that I could never upgrade the theme unless I paid every six months. I just assumed I would not be able to request assistance or support. Can someone please enlighten?
You can definitely upgrade without needing to have the active support. Make sure to read the complete changelog which you can find at the bottom of the item description page.
You can try to contact the author even without active support, it is up to them if they will be willing to help you under these circumstances (but they are not entitled to of course).
You should also activate the WP Debug mode to get the details of the error because general “fatal error” is not enough for anyone to help you with this. Maybe if you can provide the author quickly with the more details, they will be more willing to help you if it is just something minor.