Inflexible system with lots of limitations

Hi Cheryl!

We’re sorry to hear that MembershipWorks does not have the features you are looking for, sometimes there may be specific features a customer is looking for where we may not be the right fit/solution for their needs.

Ultimately the list of things our system (or any system for that matter) cannot do is infinite; our system has thousands of features but it may not matter if we do not have the few specific features a customer needs. So we encourage potential customers to schedule a (free) demo with us so they can determine if we are a good fit before signing up. In addition we do provide a 30-day money back guarantee if you signup for a paid plan, so if you find that we are not the right solution you can cancel within that time and receive a full refund.

The reason the documentation is only available after the install is because some of the documentation is dynamically customized to the account. For example the shortcodes would be different depending on your membership levels, or event categories, etc.

We also wish to address the following for others reading this:

2) Our directory/event/form shortcodes all are designed to take up an entire page and are not meant to be used as widgets. For example from the directory a user can click to a directory profile, and that directory profile is a separate URL – ie. the pages are dynamic and store state in the URL. That allows direct links to a directory profile or an event with a unique URL. But since there is only 1 URL state it is not possible to have multiple things on the same page (eg. a directory AND a calendar). We do have widgets that display a member sideshow or upcoming event list and those can be used multiple times per page.

3) The directory list uses dynamic loading when a user scrolls, which we feel is better suited to today’s mobile devices than pagination. However we understand some customers prefer pagination, and that is not an option we offer at this time.

5) The cards by default allow the display of an image/logo, name and a short description. In addition you can customize what loads on the membership cards – its is documented under Help > Customization > Directory List Template

6) You can re-arrange event categories by drag & drop.

I’m mature enough to admit my mistakes, and I’m perceptive enough to recognize a cop-out when I see one.

5) Customizing the cards: Perhaps. There is limited documentation on this. So if I’m wrong here, I apologize.

6) Rearranging event categories: My apologies here. Yes, drag-and-drop is possible.

But let’s face it – most of your reply was a cop-out of your ill-conceived design:

2) Our directory/event/form shortcodes all are designed to take up an entire page…
I don’t think “used as a widget” is applicable. All I wanted to do was put events in a tabbed container. And as for that “store state in the URL” … even WordPress core can populate a page and have more than one populated list on a page. And what’s so wrong about including a feature in a widget? Maybe I want to feature a particular event in the sidebar? It’s a design flaw, plan-and-simple.

3) The directory list uses dynamic loading when a user scrolls, which we feel is better suited to today’s mobile devices than pagination.
Granted, around 50% of web traffic comes from mobile devices – but that means the other 50% is NOT. A good designer will design for more than 50% of their audience. The choice to exclude pagination is a limitation of your system.

And the biggest cop-out of all:
“Ultimately the list of things our system (or any system for that matter) cannot do is infinite…”
Are you kidding me? The features I listed aren’t unreasonable or far-fetched. Their logical uses of the system. And as I stated before, if you don’t want to provide these features, at least prepare the API so people can customize to their needs. If you don’t want to do that, then accept that people will find that your system lacks necessary features.