Our client recently bought Smile Media on Code Canyon for us to modify:
[https://codecanyon.net/item/smile-media-an-entertainment-viral-platform/12613909]
Turns out there’s no support from the author.
After overcoming a few issues to get this Laravel 5.0 app to run (such as having to downgrade to PHP 5.6), the online installer rejects the license key.
Apparently, this software is not only no longer supported, but the author no longer maintains whatever server he was using to verify licenses.
No surprise, attempts to contact the author have not received a response.
We already know of Envato’s author-centric policy, but should we not get a refund for software that we cannot even install? Should CodeCanyon still offer abandoned/broken software for sale?
Remove the license validation. Once you have downloaded your item, you are not eligible for refund
I realize we could remove the “phone home” code, but it’s twisted that we have to do that and then we may still have many other bugs to squash before we add our own code. If it was me, that software should not be offered on CodeCanyon, but hey, $31 is a small price to pay for that lesson!