Refund my forum sponsorship fee please? I am not able to access any of it anyway

Hello Mods

No doubt I will be told that this is the wrong section to post this. But since there is no obvious "forum support" forum that I could find I figured I'd try this anyway. Apologies in advance.

I paid yesterday for a Rosso subscription. However it turns out that none of the silver or Rosso subscriber sections are showing posts. The subscriber forums all show as having post counts but no posts are visible even when the filters are set to "from the beginning".

Nor am I able to create posts in these sections. It says I am not allowed even though I paid my dues.

I am also not allowed to post in the FerrariAds sections to which a moderator recently referred me for selling our old daily driver.


Please refund my forum donation asap since it seems many of the "perks" of a subscriber account are not real/not working.

Alternatively, if the forum is simply bugged then please let me know an ETA when these issues will be resolved. If that ETA > 1 month then please refund my donation dues and I'll revisit the donation once things are back up and running.

Thanks for your time

 

F-Chat did a server migration yesterday - perhaps that has something to do with it.

There are definitely some posts in the subscribed section.

Try clearing your cookies & see if that helps... if not, maybe PM Rob & let him know - I'm sure he'll try & help you figure out what's up.

 

I cleared history, cookies (mmm), and cache, and rebooted just to be safe (nine times out of ten...) But nuthin.

I see the post counts. I see the sections. And in the FerrariAds section I can even see and read posts. But I can't post in these areas. And I can't see any posts in the subscriber sections.

I can post everywhere else though so it's business as usual otherwise.

I thought maybe it was the migration as well but everything else seem to be peachy. And it seems like others would be experiencing the same issue. That's why I'm hoping it is just an authentication bug .

And my tag isn't reflecting subscriber status anyway. So that leads me further to believe some switch didn't get flipped.

 

I'm not a mod, but I'm sure one will be along soon.... In the meantime can't help but notice you're still showing as "unsubscribed". Till that changes to "Rossa subscribed" you're hosed.

Patience will pay off.....

Cheers,
Ian

 

I considered that, but every forum where I've ever fully subscribed I found everything to be fully automatic and near instant.

I didn't think someone would have to flip that switch manually. But maybe so.

 

This is what's happening. If your title/tags haven't changed then the subscription hasn't been enabled yet. Rob is the only one who does this, so he's the only one that knows exactly what happens, but I believe some parts can be automated, but sometimes it goes manual. I am forwarding this to Rob by PM as that is the best way to contact him.

 

Ok that is fine. It just seems odd because I wasn't able to see these sections before. I don't think I was able to, anyway. Maybe they were there all along. Anyway, it seemed like they appeared after I paid, so I thought the unlock was instant. Seemed like something was just hung up.

I'll give it a few days then. Thx guys

 

Fair enough. I was just going to point out that the subscription info says nothing about 48 hour delays for a Paypal transaction and in fact says activation will be immediate if a paypal transaction is used and that transaction does not need to clear. Mine did not need time to clear.

But since the dog biscuit thing came out let's do this more objectively. I'm not trying to ruffle feathers here Rob. Instead I just want to clearly indicate there may be an issue in the text on your paid subscription workflow.


So let's take a look at the process from the user's perspective.


User: I really like this forum and community. I think I'll donate and become a subscriber. I also understand I'll get access to "secret" forums. Ooooohhhh. That's cool. Here I go!!!

User: (scans forum page, eventually finds "Paid Subscriptions" link at top-right, clicks link)

System:

Silver
Silver Subscribed users currently get the following benefits over Non Subscribed users... 1) "Silver Subscribed" title under your rank. 2) Up to 200 Private Messages can be stored. 3) Access to the private Silver Subscribed Forum. 4) Profile picture. 5) Emailing other users. 6) No attachment limit. 7) Create new polls. 8) Personal avatar. 9) Post Ads in FerrariAds.com 10) No Google Ads in Posts.
Cost:
-------- US$15.00 £11.00 €12.00 US$55.00 £40.00 €43.00
Rossa
Rossa Subscribed users currently get the following benefits over Silver Subscribed users... 1) "Rossa Subscribed" title under your rank. 2) Up to 500 Private Messages can be stored. 3) Access to the private Rossa Subscribed Forum. 4) Approved Signature. 5) My Garage for Profile.
Cost:
-------- US$50.00 £37.00 €39.00 US$180.00 £132.00 €140.00

Validity periods marked * indicate that purchasing this subscription is recurring, this means after the period is complete it will automatically be renewed.


User: Ok, so I can choose silver or Rosso, and a subscription period. Cool! This seems easy.

User: (Makes selection, clicks "Order")

System:
Select Payment Method
To pay for your subscription, please click the order button next to your preferred payment method and follow the instructions on the following page.
Subscription: Rossa
Duration: 1 Year
Cost: US$50.00

Order Using PayPal
To pay for your subscription using PayPal click the button below and follow the onscreen instructions.
******Subscriptions will be activated immediately unless your payment has to "clear" through Paypal first.******

Order Using 2Checkout
To pay for your subscription via any major credit card through a secure online connection click the button below and follow the onscreen instructions. Subscriptions will be activated within 48 hours.

User: Hey cool, if I use Paypal then the activation is immediate because those transactions clear really fast! Awesome!

User: (Completes Paypal transaction, makes note that transaction and withdrawal occur within minutes of the order)

System: Welcome back to Ferrarichat.com Nothing has changed.

User: Hmm I can see the new forums but I can't see posts or make posts. It said activation was immediate. I'll let it sit overnight.

User: (sleeps)

User: Ok, it's a new day. Hey nothing has changed. I guess I should post for a refund if this thing is broken or at least to alert the mods of a bug that this isn't working.

Community: Give it more time

User: Ok

Mods: Here's a dog biscuit image for learning to read even though you did read information that was presented though it turned out to be inaccurate.





So looking at this objectively, where was the user's mistake in this scenario?

In any case the paid subscription workflow instruction currently states that "Subscriptions will be activated immediately unless your payment has to "clear" through Paypal first". My payment cleared within minutes.



Thanks for your time

 

Ouch!

A long weekend, Rob?......

Cheers,
Ian

 

Well if nothing else at least I can feel better knowing I CAN read.

I'm keeping the biscuit anyway. Might come in handy later.

 

I found a taco bell wrapper.....who got 5th meal with it before me?