Avoid

  • gorish

    (@gorish)


    5 years ago

    The (free) Astra theme is not bad.

    But when you buy a subscription for the pro features, you will get locked into an expensive subscription plan.

    I needed to make some critical minor tweaks to the theme and so I bought the multi-site version of Astra Pro for $60.

    It’s a difficult theme to customize – many layouts just don’t work – but with the help from technical support, I managed to figure out what to do in the end.

    But a year later, I found that I had to install and reactivate the theme. The license key isn’t emailed to you, you have to log in to your account page and it’s hidden away in the licenses section.

    My subscription had expired and, even though I was still using the version that I had originally purchased, I got a message saying that the license key was invalid.

    When I contacted support, I was told that I have to renew my subscription for a further $60 to be able to use the Pro features. I’m happy enough with what I bought. It does the job that I paid for. I don’t need to upgrade to any newer features. I don’t need to pay yet another $60 (and then have the same problem in a year’s time when I want to install the theme on my other websites). I don’t want to fork out $60 indefinitely because I would rather buy some kind of lifetime agency package for $100-$200 that does everything else I want.

    Avoid this product and all the other products by Brainstorm Force (ConvertPlug, Ultimate Addons for BB and VC, etc.) unless you’re happy to just use their basic free products.

    DO NOT BUY A SUBSCRIPTION because you will be empty-handed after a year, or be locked in to renewing your subscription indefinitely.

    ??

    • This topic was modified 5 years ago by Jan Dembowski. Reason: Removed personal attack in title
Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • Theme Author Brainstorm Force

    (@brainstormforce)

    Hi @gorish

    On our pricing page, we VERY clearly show annual as well as lifetime plans. Should you want access to Astra Pro without a subscription, you can buy the lifetime plan, which costs only $249 for unlimited websites for life. It comes with access to all future updates and unlimited support.

    However, should you purchase the annual plan, which costs $59 / year and do not access to updates or support for the next year, you can cancel the subscription and continue using the Astra Pro that you bought.

    Also, just to let you know, we’re a team of 40 people, and we have families. We will be able to continue developing amazing software and help our users build incredible websites only if we remain in the business, and for that — we must to remain in the business.

    I’m sorry you felt us deceitful and fraudulent, but that is not intention at all. If you were charged for renewal anytime in the last 14 days, just ask our support team for a refund and we will refund you immediately.

    Moderator Jan Dembowski

    (@jdembowski)

    Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

    OK, that’s enough.

    A review of the “pro” version is allowed. The author upsells so they invite that. A reply was allowed from the author but this conversation is over now.

    For pro or commercial product support please contact the author directly on their site. This includes any pre-sales or refund topics as well.

    As the author is aware, commercial products are not supported in these forums. I am sure they will have no problem supporting you there.

    @gorish I have archived your reply and flagged your account temporarily. That just means that your post will need to be approved and @ notifications from you will not work.

    I get that you want to reply but a) that’s not for here and b) name calling isn’t allowed on this site.

    If you need to contact the moderators about this then you can do so via the Slack #forums channel.

    To use that channel you need a Slack account. You can obtain one via these instructions.

    https://make.www.ads-software.com/chat/

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • The topic ‘Avoid’ is closed to new replies.