G’day Drew,
Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to see you had a bad experience. We wanted to share our side of the journey as well, so here goes –
1. Update breaks functionality/core features – Whenever there are major version updates temporary issues can arise for a handful users as WordPress setup can be very wide, versatile and unique for each site owner. Our Support Cheer Squad is always around 24/7 via ticketing at https://www.wpsupportplus.com/support/
2. Also changed subscription model two times since we’ve started using – Indeed since we started 4 years ago, our team has grown bigger, our valuable clientele has grown and the requirements, ideas, features have grown. To keep the product growing like everything else we need to keep supporting our Engineers, because they need sustenance too. Right? In fact, when we started we were 4 Engineers and now with a growing team of 40+ spread across 4 nations, and providing support 24/7/365 tirelessly it is kind of necessary to ensure everyone is paid and stays motivated to keep doing their best. Money sure isn’t everything but every basic need of human life requires money, right?
3. Adding and Removing Features – When in Beta, all our features were available free to a huge percent of our users so they can share their feedback, experience and ideas and we kept these in beta for over 2 years. Again, as things grow, as beta was tested and released as final version, Core Plugin features never changed and remained the same. While add-ons have been moved to their intended premium plans. In fact, we aim to update both our Core Plugin and add-ons at least once a month as much as possible to keep features, safety, stability and compatibility with times and proactively. One wouldn’t want to use a plugin that is obsolete and is left vulnerable to cyber threats would one?
We are unlimited in true sense and do not have the truly expensive pricing model of per seat, per user, per year licensing. Instead you just pay for annual or lifetime license (depending on the plan) and as many agents, categories, statuses and so on as you like.
If our Engineers didn’t require food, clothes and shelter, it would have been easier to keep old subscription model. But then, we would not want our Engineers to feel stagnant in their career and I am sure neither would you want that for anyone working hard day in and day out. Right?
Once again, thank you for your feedback and we hope our somewhat delayed reply will help you understand and appreciate the real life necessities of a business.
