Support should be for (X) number of tickets, NOT FOR 6 MONTHS

I have bought many Themes on themeforest. Many minimal bugs I fix them by myself. But sometimes, when there is an update and something stops working or there is a new bug on my project, the theme’s support refuse to help if “support period has expired”. Even if I have never asked for help during the 6 MONTHS of support I paid for. This way the support period is more expensive than the theme I bought, and maybe I’ll needed 1 or two times. So… Is not more LOGICAL that this SUPPORT I pay for could cover a certain amount of interactions / Tickets? Instead of 6 month of nothing.

Now I’m facing an issue caused by the theme’s plugins, and I would need to pay almost $60 for them to fix it. This make me thing that authors are putting intentional bugs to make people buy another 6 months of support, for 1 fix.

This would be impossible to track. Some authors use their own dedicated forums, some use item comments here on ThemeForest. Authors can be also contacted via PMs which is then turned into a direct mail to mail conversation Envato do not have any power over. No solution is perfect, but limiting the support to a certain time makes the most practical sense.

That said, have you tried to contact the author? Some authors may be willing to help you even if you are outside of support period.

The theory about intentionally putting the bug in items makes no sense. This would affect also people with active support, creating lots of new support tickets for the author.
Themes are very complex piece of software, and as with any software, bugs are inevitable. Bug-free software doesn’t exist.
Also, even though you no longer have support, you still have access to the latest item updates.

1 Like
  1. The same thing that calculate the 6 month for my support could calculate if I’ve used 1 from 10 tickets available.

  2. I contacted the authors, no support until I pay $55. That is why I post this topic, this support system is against users, making me pay for something the theme update broke.

  3. No sense? Think about 1 minute solution for this “bug”, How much $55 payments could be collected? I’m not saying that is the case, but is a possibility. I know there is no such thing as bug-free software.

  4. What is the good part of having “access to latest item updates”, if they will brake my site, and I would have to pay again for them to fix their own stuff?

That is why I think a support system based on tickets used would be more practical.

It really all depends. As I can empathise with you on this, I always provide support even after the 6 month period has expired, especially if a happy customer before finds bug now, oh boy! As fast as lightning.

However, with that being said, setting a limit would be bad for both sides.

I sometimes get customers that have a hard time with the English language, and that’s okay, eventually we do get on the same page and I’m able to assist them. Limiting the number of tickets would limit the number of interactions I could have with such customers, and this could easily be abused by authors who say “oh, you already asked xx questions, sorry”. It can have negative impacts on both sides. Again, a win-win / lose - lose scenario. As imperfect as the current one.

On the other hand, I’ve dealt with customers that sent over 500 messages ( and I’m not even kidding ) claiming they have purchased the support extension with no intent of being rude at all, it can really drive an author crazy.

This is a knife with 2 edges, it cuts both ways. Usually major authors do provide support far beyond the line of duty and allotted time, but there are some factors to take into consideration. Some authors have been abused and no longer accept any deviation from the support terms, some authors only provide free lifetime support for small issues, and issues that take much longer they ask for extensions and some authors gladly answer questions long after support has expired. I

It’s not a perfect system. This is very subjective by nature, the terms exist to protect both worlds, yet there’s no 100% objective and perfect way to put support into proper terms to cover the needs of everyone.

However, in your case, you’re best friend is Envato Market Help and Support. If you state there is a bug and the author holds a ransom for a fix, that’s absolutely unprofessional and will be frowned upon heavily. I suggest dropping them a ticket to see what the best course of action for you is in this case.

PS: No offence intended. I can see these things from all sides, being the oldest Moderator here and I can say I’ve seen them all. It’s really a tricky situation, and there is no perfect “fit all” solution for this.

Cheers and all the best! :fist_right:t2: :fist_left:t2:

Thanks for sharing your point of view, and to @LSVRthemes too. Don’t worry, I’m not offended, and not trying to offend any particular developer here. I know how hard work it is.

1 Like

Haha! Imagine the way it was before this 6 months period… LIFETIME :joy:

Cheers mate! :fist_right:t2::fist_left:t2:

this is the best practice, but some author will simply asking you to extend the support subscription for your bug reports or for your suggestion for making their software better. :upside_down_face: I think they should be thankful

1 Like