Download availability
I've lost count of the number of times I've had to either re-enable downloads for a customer or even email them files directly when the download link provided by Plimus either doesn't work or stops working.
1. why can we not test this part of the buying process when we do a test purchase? It's the one part that goes wrong, I want to be able to test and see what the customer sees with different browsers etc. The test purchase can provide a registration key so why not a download link?
2. How many chances to do the download does the customer get? I can see no reference to this anywhere. Is there a limit? What is it? Can we change it?
3. Is there a time limit on the download link? I've had many complaints that the download times out. Today's case was just 12 hours. How many customers buy software on a Friday afternoon ready to be downloaded by another employee for use first thing on Monday morning. Fail. Can you imagine how bad that is for a customer, especially when the customer is in a time zone many hours in advance of your own. So, is there a limit? What is it? Can we change it?
4. I think there might also be a need for the customer to elect to have their purchased software sent via email instead of a download link, maybe make both available.
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confirmed
I got so frustrated with the same problems that I created my own download request form. The best part of serving the downloads myself? Less reliance on the Plimus platform...
The last straw was when I came across a bug where the "re-activate download" button was not even available in the customer's orderref page. I don't know if they've fixed this as I no longer use their re-activation.
I have emailed Plimus many times on this topic to no avail. Otrs claims they've all been "closed successfully" so case closed.
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Plimus response:
Hi Paul,
My apologies as I seem to failed to post our Support team's reply to you on this last month :(
Anyhow, belatedly here's that response:
1. To test this full process you need to create a live purchase of your own product, one that includes a file and a download link in the order E-mail. (You can use the sandbox for this as well)
2. A customer has 3 attempts to download, it is mentioned in the contract settings (download warranty options), and they can request us to extend it.
3. There is a 48 hours limit to reduce piracy, and you can request Vendor Support to extend it as well should you see fit.
4. We'd love to be able to send files via email but there's a practical problem sending large files via email. Anything over a 2MB usually will not get through.
We cannot assure total redundancy on file downloads but usually if the file has been correctly uploaded there should not be connection problems. If you are experiencing anything more than a sporadic problem you should get support involved via your control panel support link giving details of the problematic downloads and attenpts at access.
I either of you have old tickets on this issue our support head will happily review those cases and the support responses if you can send them over to me via Personal Message.
Thanks,
Derek, Plimus
Paul's response
Thanks Derek.
1. To use this sandbox I've got to set up my various products again ... hmmmm.
2a. 3 attempts, ok, not too bad, at least we now know about it.
2b. Contract Settings -> Download Warranty Settings? Can't find any menu like that.
2c. Right, so they can ask who to extend it? If they have a problem with the download (this seems to happen with a monotonous regularity) I get an irate email saying they can't get their software, usually by opening a dispute. This is what I want to avoid, a, the opening of a dispute, b, having to placate customers, find order information (customers never seem to give their order number) and then reenable their download.
2d. Buying dept. purchase the software, test the download, pass the information back to the manager, he tests it, passes it to the employee, now only have 1 chance to download it. Now imagine they've bought 3 licences for 3 employees. Fail.
3. 48 hours, certainly not enough, how many people order software on a Friday afternoon ready for work on Monday morning, even for another employee to use on Monday morning. Fail. 72 hours minimum.
4. 2MB is nothing these days. At least make it an option, the person making the purchase will know what they can deal with. Besides, sending an email containing a download link address often doesn't get through AV and firewall software.
I haven't kept any of the problem report emails I've received of course! They're certainly more than sporadic.
Download Warranty Settings
These are included in the contract information/set up page. See screenshot.
Let's cut to the chase on this. You can have Vendor Support increase download time as you see fit. Please issue a support ticket with this request and they will apply it to all your contracts.
The email limit is not set by Plimus. It's just the real world limit on what is likely to get through to a mail address these days.
Thanks,
Derek, Plimus
I agree with Derek on the
I agree with Derek on the email thing -- there are just as many, if not more, servers (ie. GMail) that would reject the email attachment as there are servers that will redirect the non-attachment email to the spam folder. It's a no-win situation, but at least most people will get the email as it is now, even if they have to check their spam folder to get it, which isn't the case if the server rejects an email attachment.
And I'll say it again -- put in the effort to create your own product request webpage. I put in all the same safeguards that Plimus uses: limited time, limited downloads, limited number of activations, etc. But if you haven't been saving the IPN data to a local database then you're in for a lot more trouble. Plimus doesn't make it easy to recover this data, but it's still worth it.