Stay away from Invision Power Services and their products – it's a shady and greedy company

[simonweb]

Update 3/1-18: See this post


Okay, this is going to be a long rant about Invision Community, aslo known as IPS or Invision Power Services, Inc. and Invision Power Board (IPB). If you don't want to read it all, the tl;dr is that Invision Power Services is a shady and greedy company that you should not do business with.

Alright, so earlier today I purchased the official Blog add-on from their website invisioncommunity.com so I could add it to my community. I already have the Forum, Gallery and Pages (which is their CMS-system) add-ons which I've purchased and added to my community in the past.

Once I've finished the check-out process and had paid $75 for the offical Blog add-on I went to my Client Area to download the files for the new, and to be honest rather overpriced add-on. And to my surprise I was greeted by a message that said that I first need to renew my license in order to access the new add-on which I had just purchased.

And incidentally, since I purchased the new add-on (which I am not allowed to download!) my renewal fee had increased with $10 and will now cost me $60. That's $60 for only 6 months of access to files which you have paid for.

In the past, my license has been automatically renewed when I've purchased new add-ons for my different websites. My license for this site expired on December 24th, only nine days ago. So it's not like I haven't been an "active customer" for Invision Power Services (IPS).

Obviously I just thought that this was some temporary glitch in their system or something, so I sent their support team a message asking for help to download the new add-on which I had just purchased. I explained that I've purchased add-ons before from Invision Power Services (IPS) and that I've never had to pay for a renewal as well. Earlier, my license have been renewed for another 6 months when I've purchased a new add-on.

Jim Morrissey from the Invision Power Services (IPS) support team said this in a reply to my question:

Sorry, in order to download our core application files you must have an active license. It seems that adding the new application has canceled your pending invoice for your license renewal. I have regenerated this invoice for the current renewal of your license.

Thanks,
Jim M.
Invision Power Services, Inc.

So I replied back and basically said that in the past my license had been automatically renewed when I've purchased new add-ons for my suits. I also asked for clarification if this was not the case anymore. It's worth noting that none of the pages during the check-out process or inside the Client Area had explained that I also had to pay a license renewal fee to access the files I was about to purchase.

Jim answered my new support question with this comment:

Sorry but applications can no longer be renewed at different points and the renewal has been placed on the whole license. With your license currently in expiration at time of purchase of Blog, you are not being charged any extra, the invoices are just being delivered separately.

Thanks,
Jim M.
Invision Power Services, Inc.

And wow. This is really greedy.

This new change in the license policy was not explained anywhere during the check-out process. Invision Power Services (IPS) even allowed me to purchase a new add-on despite my license not being active!

So I've just paid $75 on a new add-on which I don't have access to until I renew my licence, which just happened to INCREASE with $10 after I purchased the new add-on (that I am not allowed to download). So I've just wasted $75 on NOTHING.

I thought I only had to pay $75 do get a new add-on for my Invision Community. But with this hidden cost I have to pay $135 to access my new add-on.

Only shady companies use hidden fees like this. I used to think Invision Power Services (IPS) was a honest company that you could trust, but I guess I was wrong!

Invision Power Services (IPS) shouldn’t let you add new add-ons if your license isn’t active. The system should force you to renew first and then you can purchase additional add-ons. This way just feels like a shady and greedy business practice which I frankly hadn't expected from Invision Power Services (IPS).

I have created a topic about this on their official forums, it's located here if you want to check out the conversation: https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/topic/442852-cannot-download-my-newly-purchased-blog-add-on/

To be continued!

Update 3/1-18: See this post

 

[mav3n]

I would post it to their social media pages as well. The best way to get a companies attention is to hit them where it hurts, their bottom line.

 

[Page]

And to my surprise I was greeted by a message that said that I first need to renew my license in order to access the new add-on

That's an error! huh? seems abit off and mess up, You paid for an app however you do pay the license separate to able to run it. What needs to be done that you have to spend $10 for the blog license. That's what I had to do, but already generated.

my renewal fee had increased with $10 and will now cost me $60. That's $60 for only 6 months of access to files which you have paid for.

That's nothing! I pay $90 renew fee for ever 6 months. If you read this page https://invisioncommunity.com/buy/self-hosted It tells you how much it cost and for each apps it also tells you the renew fee. Still cheaper option to self host then to spend $130 a month for 200 traffic

You mention that it expired nine days ago, Well then why you haven't renewed it? the blog licence is added and once paid you get the full pack to download. But I kick the blogs out of the box and stuff it in the ass... Just use the pages app and make that into blogs!!!!

There are so much plugins in the marketplace that most are just using what is been sold on the marketplace! cheaper to and do the same job.

I do agree that buying separate apps, like what you do is an crazy silly system..

 

[Jordan]

1) Most other forum software will still allow you to download the files of their core software AND addons even if your license is inactive. Simply because you paid for the software for life. The renewal costs are there for support and updates if you want them. Not to mention, the renewals are only once a year So Fuck IPB

2) Since they don't do it that way and are such a cash-grabbing company, they should at least make it so you have to renew your license before you can buy other add-ons. This case you know you have to have an active license to even use the addons your about to purchase. Then again, how would they be taking as much cash as they could from you if they did that? 😛

I use to work a lot with IPB for clients. I just always had an unpleasant experience with them.

You mention that it expired nine days ago, Well then why you haven't renewed it?

Should only have to renew your license if there are updates to the software you are looking to implement, or are looking for support.

 

[simonweb]

That's nothing! I pay $90 renew fee for ever 6 months.

Yeah, I know that the license fee increases when you add more official add-ons to your community, as I mentioned in my post I've purchased add-ons from from them many times before without experiencing anything like this. The problem here is not that the license fee increased but that it did so for something I wasn't able to use. I have no problems with the license fee increasing to $60 AFTER I've started using the new add-on.

You mention that it expired nine days ago, Well then why you haven't renewed it?

It expired on Christmas Eve mate, I was busy with other things during the Holidays. 😛

Just use the pages app and make that into blogs!!!!

That works if I want to make more of a standalone blog, but I want my members to be able to easily start their own blogs. And Pages doesn't work with the new Club feature you know.

I do agree that buying separate apps, like what you do is an crazy silly system..

I actually like that system, it makes it easy to scale up and add new things for you members as your community grows. You can also just purchase the Core and Pages or some other combination - it's actually great. But it's greedy that your license isn't automatically renewed when you buy new add-ons.

1) Most other forum software will still allow you to download the files of their core software AND addons even if your license is inactive. Simply because you paid for the software for life. The renewal costs are there for support and updates if you want them. Not to mention, the renewals are only once a year So Fuck IPB

2) Since they don't do it that way and are such a cash-grabbing company, they should at least make it so you have to renew your license before you can buy other add-ons.

Agreed, these are some good points!

 

[Page]

I actually like that system, it makes it easy to scale up and add new things for you members as your community grows. You can also just purchase the Core and Pages or some other combination - it's actually great. But it's greedy that your license isn't automatically renewed when you buy new add-ons.

I got the full apps, apart from the blogs. As I mention you can do allot of cool things with the page app. You can look on the marketplace or an idea maybe code it yourself or request it. Keep in mind that it's not always free. I had to spend $90 for an plugin for the download app that I wanted.

https://invisioncommunity.com/files/file/8328-a-different-article-styles/
https://invisioncommunity.com/files/file/8387-pages-supergrid/

Should only have to renew your license if there are updates to the software you are looking to implement, or are looking for support.

I renew mine all the time, and yes that's right 🙂 But end of the day I had like 3 or max of 4 times of support this year!

they should at least make it so you have to renew your license before you can buy other add-ons.

I think that won't work! So you pay (lets say) $50 to renew, then once that has been completed, then you go ahead and buy the blog app of $55, then you going to have that problem still as the blog licence is $10 and that not going to be added till you get the blog and then from there no idea if you pay the $10 or wait 6 months and pay $60

It expired on Christmas Eve mate, I was busy with other things during the Holidays. 😛

gotta be extra hard! Christmas time the most busy and most money spent time of the year, I wait a month or two then renew it! so that way when you renew it again it won't be on Christmas day lol

IPB does cost allot, I spent on IPB alone, around $790 that's without other paid plugins from the marketplace

 

[simonweb]

Here's an update for you guys! Lindy from their management team sent me this message today:

I'm very sorry for the confusion and frustration here. With Invision Community 4, the applications are much more tightly integrated and as a result, it's really not possible to operate them independently of each other as was possible in past versions. The ability to update one application without updating the entire suite was causing significant outages and damages to client sites, so coupled with confusion on renewals, we streamlined the process a couple of years ago. Now all applications need to be renewed, upgraded and maintained in full.

With that said, the confusion here is simply due to a bug on our end. You should not have been permitted to purchase any additional applications without first renewing your license. Unfortunately, because the license expired so recently, the system did not "catch" this and properly warn you. For that, I'm very sorry. Our development team will be correcting this issue shortly to prevent any future mishaps and frustration.

This was not an intentional act - you should not have been able to purchase Blog, because as you've correctly noted, you wouldn't be able to download it unless the parent license is active.

If you would like to proceed with a refund for Blog, I will certainly do that. Alternatively, I can remove Blog from the renewal and once you reactivate the suite license, everything will be available to you. Please let me know how you'd like to proceed.

Once again, my apologies for the confusion.

Regards,

Lindy Throgmartin
Management Team
Invision Power Services, Inc.

I am happy to hear that Invision Power Services (IPS) are taking this seriously and that they are looking into ways to ensure that this does not happen again to other customers - because it really looked like some shady business practice and a cheap money grab. And it restores some of my faith in IPS, to be honest. But with that said, I will seriously look for alternatives to IPS for future projects.

 

[Page]

Good to hear! very good to hear 🙂

 

[Lord Saru]

But I should definitely tell you that their response and resolution time was very good.

 

[simonweb]

But I should definitely tell you that their response and resolution time was very good.

Yes, and it probably did help a little that I posted about it publicly on their official forums. 😉

 

[Page]

Yes, and it probably did help a little that I posted about it publicly on their official forums. 😉

deferentially does make them think better regards to, Darn it's been out public we don't want to make our-self look bad

 

[Jason76]

@Empire is a huge IPB fan.

 

[Page]

@Empire is a huge IPB fan.

Fan? maybe, But Am I?

 

[KnownSyntax]

Each forum has different rules regarding their licenses and not, to prevent from other sharing them or their data getting leaked etc. I think Invision has just taken a bigger stance and made people who want to run it pay a higher premium. You can always just hold off awhile and jump ship, or sadly just pay whenever you need something new for the whole community again (in a sense).

That's pretty much the reason why I like smaller companies who don't have those huge rights or wants yet. Once they make their software a certain why, it tends to be a pain to do much with it until everything is upgraded and paid for on a yearly (or major release) basis.

 

[Page]

You paid for an app however you do pay the license separate to able to run it. What needs to be done that you have to spend $10 for the blog license

It has already been mention and if you read above it was also an error on there side.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

I really liked versions 2.x and 3.x of IPB, but it felt like going heavily backwards from 4.x on.
I'm currently hosting an IPB 4.x-based forum that's owned by a friend of mine, and despite nobody even touching the codebase nor any admin settings, it breaks more by the day.
First the theme got destroyed after a major release, then all things that heavily depend on jQuery started to crumble, and now they are unable to even send a private message.

We're currently developing a new forum system to replace that with.
We already developed another forum system before, but that one was too old fashioned and too irrelevant for their needs (that one was originally created for a specific community, that's why).