Here is my email to their customer service. Screw them and anymore purchases from this company

"As a previous owner of both FD2 and 3 I'm pretty upset that I have to pay to get this update. Why can't you allow us registered owners to just download the update for 2004 with out getting the new plane.

Some of us just purchased FD3 to help Rich Hogen with his Carrier Application which he sold his right to Abacus. I already had the freeware version prior and have been really disapointed in FD3. The airfiles are piss poor, many people have complained about the FM's and other errors. When I first emailed in I was told there were going to be patches for these errors but have never seen anything.

Rey Lopez did pass on 2 files for me but it only helped 2 of the AC in FD3. Now, after purchasing both FD2 & 3 I have to pay for shipping on a CD where I should be be able to download the file as a previous "registered owner".

With all my other payware purchases for both FS2002 and FS2004 I was always able to just download the update Free of Charge. Lago, FSGenesis, Alpha Sims as well as FSNav all were free updates.

This was strike 3 for me on Abacus and I will post this complaint to the 3-4 major flightsim boards to make sure others do the same.

Pisspoor Customer service in my eyes.
take care,
Dave O'Brien"

they want us previous owners to pay shipping on an update which should be made a download in my eyes. If you bought FD3 after a certain date you have to pay for this update plus shipping:flip:

Users who purchased Flight Deck 3 on or after July 1, 2003* can order the upgrade on CD-ROM for a small shipping charge.

Users who purchased Flight Deck 3 before July 1, 2003 can order the upgrade on CD-ROM for only $15 plus a small shipping charge.

https://www.abacuspub.com/order/fd3_fs2004upgrade.htm

there utilities are good. . .generally there planes are . . . . . .well not

after posting my displeasure with Abacus for charging for a 2004 update I feel I need to post their reply.

Hi Dave,
Thank you for the email concerning your thoughts on the upgrade policy and price for Flight Deck 3. We've been evaluating how to best utilize our upgrade policies. We constantly monitor our customer's comments and try to make sure we don't lose sight of it all.

Your comments were constructive and we will take them.

On a side note, I can understand your point of view completely. If the update we are simple matter of making the planes work in FS2004, it would most likely be free. The problem is there was much more involved in making everything work in FS2004 - to summarize these updates there is a new FSUIPC.DLL that is no longer freeware so we had to purchase a license for using the new DLL file. ArrCab had to be updated to work with the new DLL file as well. All of the Flight Dynamic files had to be updated to work correctly in FS2004. Instrument panels were updated to be more accurate and include all required high-tech instrumentation - which means the Virtual Cockpits also had to be updated. Textures and MDL files were also updated. Along with these updates, we are also including a new Fresnel Lens system to add more realism to the carrier operations and the S-3 Viking. The decision to charge for an update is based on the amount of work involved to develop the update. The FD3 packages was a good 4 months in development starting December 2002, plus another 2 months to be accurately FS2004 compatible.

Thank you for your comments.

Regards,

Adam Howe
Abacus Software
adam@abacuspub.com

It's only fair to post thier reply, if the mods feel they need to lock this to than feel free. I just wanted both sides view to be posted. They replied back in 3 days which I think is pretty fast considering I emailed the wrong person.

Just wanted to give their side as well....

I am beginning to feel the same, I have FSDS2 and I love it but I also have several of their other programs and I have yet to see a patch for them, and if they do... I am sure they will charge.  If they do, piss on them! someone then needs to crack their crap and start distributing as freeware.  Once, they see the loss in their pocketbooks... their tune will more than likely change!

#$%^ing @$$holes

You are right because if we really think about, a lot of payware companies do it... LAGO, Flight1, etc.  But, their products are usually worth pay the little upgrade fee.  Most of Abacus's stuff, is really nothing more than them changing the directory(s)/folder(s) in which their product needs to access, why not... ALLOW THE USER TO SELECT THE DIRECTORY(s)/FOLDER(s) in which their product needs to access? I know it can be done... you see it all the time.

Agreed everyone.  I downloaded a few 10-day trial versions of some aircraft from "The Premier Collection." They were a complete joke.  I have gotten better freeware of the same aircraft.

Developer

Yep. XP.
I only recently got winxp, so, as you all probably know, the cfg. file isn't in FS9 at all, but is at C\Documents and Settings\(user)\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9.

Quote:



Not really - From what I see, Abacus serves as a marketing arm for these models.  Their reply implies that "ownership" of the model remains with the designer, unless other arrangements are made.

One thing to remember on the "Premier Collection" and other offerings by Abacus, or for that matter, ANY payware or freeware developer.  The models are valid for the flightsim version they were made for.  Obviously, you cannot ask an AF99 model to work in FS2004, nor an FSDS1 model in FS2004 - correctly.

Have they had customer support problems?  Yes.  and the response you received, and in all fairness, shared, shows that they're trying.

Abacus, and any other payware company, has a constantly changing playing field.  They are competing with each other, of course, but also with the freeware developers/groups.

From what I've seen - it hasn't been a good year for payware.