| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
fraser
Starting Member
Canada
37 Posts |
 Posted - January 16 2003 : 15:13:36
|
We have been stuggling uphill with VPASP for about a month now. The program is full of great features, but they are not as easy to implement as the site claims. After paying the amount of money that I did for Version 4.5 and the options package I am not yet satisfied.
I highly doubt a first time user is able to complete a basic site in a day. As the forum can attest many people find it difficult to change simple colors and font sizes. I spent days digging for some changes, although the website states these changes are easy. Gift Certifcates can be use, but the security of their use does not feel very comforting. Support is great to get back to you, however you will often get an answer for a question you didnt ask. If if you are specific it may take 3 or 4 emails back and forth to really get what you are looking for.
This company seems to really care, but at times may assume you know more than you do. I read the entire developers manual and it has helped me understand many of the issues, but their are still holes throughout and you really have dig through the forum and every asp file to find out what you are looking for.
I am a deans list graduate in information technology from the #1 ranking undergraduate university in Canada. Although I did not study ASP specifically, I was confident that my technical experience would be enough to create professional site at least equivilent to the lower end cart that I am trying to replace. Its been about a month so far and I am not there yet. There are still some basic features such as a newsletter submission on every page or a 'same billing and shipping information' checkbox that I can't get help with. To be fair, I will give this program another month before I can give an honest thumbs up or down.
|
|
|
support
Administrator
4679 Posts |
Posted - January 16 2003 : 17:27:00
|
I am sorry you are having a problems.
With about 300 configuration options we have tried to make VP-ASP flexible without the need to go in and modify our code. Both flexibility does involve some complexity.
We have done the shhiping for example without the need of a check box. The customer does not need to tell you if the shipping is different. We handle that automatically. Why do you want the customer to tell you something we already know and handle just because other carts have such a checkbox.
Sometimes we receive message where we do not understand the question (we get thousands per week) and it does take us a few e-mails sometimes to determine exactly what we are being asked.
Howard Kadetz
VP-ASP
|
 |
|
|
Superal
VP-CART Expert
Canada
542 Posts |
Posted - January 16 2003 : 20:06:39
|
I taught myself ASP after I got VPASP. Mostly cause I wanted to do some customizing without having to pay for it. As far as cost, I tried a few carts. 2 that were cheaper and 2 that were 2 and 4 times the cost. The cheap ones didn't give me the features or flexibility of VPASP. And the others, well I think I got better for 1/2 or 1/4 the cost.
To me, the backend has been the area I customized the most. I had to get the cart reporting what we needed and that means saving the info needed. The front end with colors and such is a breeze after that.
Things like expanding the affiliates part to include a payments due to them section including payments to date, full reporting on sales in what ever currency the sale was made in and the implementing of their being to get these reports online. Wholesale and retail differentation, with hiding and different pricing structures beyond what VPASP does. Dynamic page creation for search engines. Accting interface for Quickbooks Pro. Dynamic currency, language and country specifics. Country and district specfic tax structures with attention to gift certs, shipping and coupon discounts. Additions of java scripts in many pages. Anti-hacker programming. And it all has to work together.
It has taken me a year and have so many custimizations that implementing the next upgrade is going to be a weeks work. But VPASP is doing exactly what I want it to do now. No compromises. No wishes. No grips. Oh I grumbled in the beginning till I understood beyond a beginners understanding. Now I love my VPASP. If I lived downunder, I would approach VPASP for a job. This cart is great. Its easy to work with if you have the right tools and can get take hold of the programming.
But without this forum and especially without the VPASP support to help me thru those dead ends in my brain, I couldn't have done it.
This cart is cheap after I consider all that I got with it.
Your experience may have given you the fortitude to tackle VPASP but believe me, my 25 years in computer technology was nothing compared to the fun I've had the last year. And I would do it all over again, in a FLASH. By the way, my next learning curve. Flash and VPASP.
Thanks Howard,
Al
|
|
|
|
Andy
VP-CART New User
Canada
85 Posts |
Posted - January 18 2003 : 07:57:25
|
VPASP has been great! Nothing much more that I can say. This forum has also been very supportive and if fraser had used it to solve his problems rather than just a forum to tell us that he was a "deans list graduate in information technology from the #1 ranking undergraduate university in Canada" he would get a lot more out of the experience. I hope he sees the light.
Edited by - Andy on January 18 2003 07:58:09 |
|
|
|
fraser
Starting Member
Canada
37 Posts |
Posted - January 21 2003 : 15:24:20
|
I am sorry if I offended you Andy. I see the comments section as a opportunity to express my opinion about my experiences with VPASP at any point in time - good and bad. I save my technical questions for other areas of the forum.
I made objective statements which I hope would be of benefit to other beginners and future software updates. Support (especially Howard) has been very helpful since that posting. Contrary to what you wrote Andy, this forum has been very supportive for me - thanks to everyone who shares their discovers so openly and in such depth! There is great sense of community in here and that most defintely had an influence on my purchasing decision.
Regards
|
|
|
|
Andy
VP-CART New User
Canada
85 Posts |
Posted - January 22 2003 : 09:00:35
|
Fraser,
No offence taken. The support from Howard et al has been nothing short of extraordinary and if the learning curve is relatively shallow for us non-ASP programmers then for the pros it has to be manageable. I hope you get to enjoy the VPASP experience as we have. I also hope that today is a warmr day in your part of Canada than ours (-40 Celcius).
Best
Andy
ScottishCentral.com
Your virtual Scottish Shop |
|
|
|
Troy
Starting Member
15 Posts |
Posted - February 08 2003 : 12:38:46
|
I've been using VPASP and now YourVirtualStore for nearly three years now. I have to say that the support from both teams has been very prompt and sincere. You guys are obviously trying very hard to take care of your customers and I can’t thank you enough - Howard, Gavin, and especially Cam who has had to deal with my frustration many times.
However, I must agree with fraser. There are many holes in the documentation that need to be filled and support replies often assume that we know what they know.
I am sure these guys work their butts off and must deal with a large volume of support requests. I know detailed step-by-step instructions are time consuming but I have often had to request more specific answers before resolving a problem. My point here is that it may save time in the long run to be more detailed in the first response.
The documentation should be expanded to show more examples. Again, we need step-by-step instructions. Unfortunately, that may require an entire book to cover everything. Maybe some VPASP customer out there will take on the challenge. I know I would be willing to pay $50 or more for better documentation.
I hope I don’t offend anyone with these suggestions. They are only meant to help. I remain a strong supporter of VPASP and YVS.
Thanks guys
Troy
|
|
|
|
rodney
VP-CART New User
USA
75 Posts |
Posted - February 09 2003 : 19:05:01
|
I would be willing to help you. Give me an email at [email protected] to discuss I have been doing vpasp since 2.5
-Rodney |
|
|
|
Juzzy
Starting Member
5 Posts |
Posted - February 18 2003 : 20:37:58
|
Hi Fraser,
I knew nothing about ASP when I first bought VPASP, but within a month I had built the perfect online store that I envisioned with featues I never thought I'd ever need.
With anything, the more features and flexibility you need, the more complex it will be understand. Saying this I am still amazed just how many features VPASP has, and how easy it is to use.
If you want one of those crappy, expensive, inflexible software packages that have zero features but are easy to set up, then VPASP isn't for you. It takes a little extra effort to learn, but the advantages of VPASP are mind boggling.
VPASP has everything you could possibly want in an E-commerce package.
it just takes a little time, but it's well worth it. Like I said before, I only knew HTML before, but as long as you have your manuals and http://www.vpasp.com/sales/shopcustcontact.asp , you'll be right.
|
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
All Forums
Full of features, but truly frustrating experience
New Topic
Printer Friendly
TrustGuard - PCI Security Scanner
