Constant Problems

*disclaimer, I’m new to this site building stuff, but I’m a master at finding crap plugins for noobs!

IDK where to begin other than to say, I just gave up on this plugin (& it’s paid version) as a recent update broke one of the two features that actually worked and “support” is useless to fix it.

I’ve posted about my problems with this particular plugin before but I’ve tried to been nice not identify it, but today I’ve had my fill & I’m going to warn you all to stay away from WP Symposium (& Pro)

Let me give you the basics, Problems, Problems & nothing BUT PROBLEMS! As of today 1 out of the three main features I paid for is working, it used to be two. But last week they put up an new update that screwed up what was once a previously working directory & now after almost a week of back & forth BS (with questions such as what version of WordPress are you using? in response to my writing I had the “latest version” when he knows full well (from other recent tickets & no new releases as well as backend access) I still have the problem.

But Robert the one man show (continues to insist that the problem is with my user roles (which wasn’t a problem before the update, and they aren’t a problem for any of my other plugins)). What’s worse is that he sends me “proof” that only PROVES WHAT I’M SAYING! I had to say are you checking your work? cause this page has a conditional cod to ONLY show members X and a simple check of a the user names would show you that it’s showing users X,Y & Z…

To back that up, i added another directory option & told it to only show members X & guess what… IT DID JUST THAT. So then to add more support to get through to him that the problem was on his end so he could stop fighting with me & actually FIX IT, I removed the conditionals & told the directory to display ALL members, and guess what… IT DIDN’T, but ironically enough this didn’t stop him from attempting to show me the plugin WAS working by doing the same thing! Again, only 45% of my sites users were visible in the directory which lead me to again ask if he was checking his work.

I’ve now given up. I’m angry because my users will have to reenter extensive profile data & this guy is clueless, my guess was he didn’t double check his work with the update & thats where the problem originated.

The worst part is, even after the update, my attempt to restore the plugin to the previous day (which caused me to loose new content) did not fix the problem as it clearly caused some corruption somewhere. I’ve had 3 different developers look at this and all agreed the issue is with wp symposium.

I should also mention that this volley of BS has happened with this same developer in the past, it appears that his first response is always to blame every problem on other plugins. In the past when I’ve had to have other developers help me fix HIS plugin they would say, its symposium pro & here’s why, I would forward that on to him, you would think after the first three times he would be less apt to deny, deny, deny… But that’s been the case the whole time.

Anyway, All that said, I’m really frustrated, I feel taken advantage of, I’m unhappy that the constant problems leave my site looking “unprofessional” and that this guy seems to have fun playing stupid games with what he calls “support” & yes, I do have copies of the discussions in the event anyone wants to confirm my post here. Lastly I find it unconscionable that this plugin is being advertised as “very comparable”.

One last note, before I gave up, I asked SEVERAL times to work with someone else, like hey Where’s SIMON? I’ve seen his responses, he seems reasonable, can I talk to him, but I was told no… All information goes through Robert (hence the one man show) because I don’t believe there is any others involved with this plugin anymore.

All I wanted was for him to fix the problem HE CREATED with his update, you would expect a developer would say “oh yea, we modded x & y, Maybe that interfered & caused a problem” and then try to fix it, but he didn’t, his FIRST response was to tell me I screwed up “Some of the parameters” or messed up the code on the page, when I told him, the code is the same code HE provided to me, he denied this, when I posted the code he was like “oh yea, I did”. But alas even after this revelation and my repeated reminders that this problem surfaced with HIS plugin only, just after HIS update… He STILL wouldn’t budge. Today I requested a refund & have decided to give up all together after more than 2 months.

Needless to say, not only do I not recommend the paid version, but I would say the free one isn’t worth the hassles, use buddy press because there’s allot more support options out there when things go wrong.

Sigh… Its over ??