Thread: 15 days, no updates.

Register A Complaint To Light A Fire

Dave,

I think what he means is that the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) may be interested to know that the timeline for this project has been pushed off repeatedly over the past 2 years - initial release information regarding Vantage came out in the summer of 2010. This latest push seems to be a drive to bait those of us that have been patiently awaiting the release of Vantage. What I mean by 'bait' is that they are announcing that the theme will only be available for those that sign up for the club membership - those of us that don't want to spend the $250 to become a full member and only want the Vantage theme are SOL and will just have to wait. This truly isn't good business practice. Whether the FTC can really do anything about it is beyond my level of knowledge of what they do - but I am sure that an investigation into the business practices of AppThemes isn't something they really want - those of you that feel there may be something fishy going on here that would like to report the poor business practices of AppThemes you can use this link: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

Nicely done AppThemes - releasing a 2 year wait to only those that are willing to drop $250 is just as bad as pushing the release day off again and again.

Get your **** together - release the damn theme, get people off your backs and start making money. You have to know that this theme is going to be a huge boost to your income. With the other crap that's available on the web for directory themes even if your theme has bugs it will probably been way better than what's already available.

"The FTC's principal mission is the promotion of consumer protection and the elimination and prevention of what regulators perceive to be harmfully anti-competitive business practices"

I'm sure "encouraging" people to purchase a club membership in anticipation of a product launch, especially when the company has been doing it (and taking payments on the strength of that) for a year and a half, wouldn't be seen as appropriate under the consumer protection act.

I haven't asked them, yet, but I'm sure that's correct.

-Paul

Absolutely correct ;-)

I guess in the end we cannot FORCE them to release a theme. But, the upsetting part here is that they volunteered to produce this theme and have kept us on edge for a very long time.

I was close to buying the club membership because their social media accounts implied it was available. However, I didn't go ahead with it because I figured there would be a fair few people with club membership - yet none of them were talking about the BETA in the forum. So I knew that it hadn't gone ahead.

Had I known it was going to take them so long, I would have paid and got a directory theme made myself.

I hear and appreciate what everyone has been saying. While we have made incorrect estimates in the past for delivery of Vantage, they have been only estimates. This is not an estimate. This is a release date. Vantage beta will be released on March 5. It will be available to all Club members and a select few beta testers. Thanks everyone.

Well could you please advise how we can get on the Beta list as we have never been informed about this.

Also, any chance of getting a full list of the features please as this has never been given two us over the last 2 years as far as I am aware!

That's all fine, Shannon. But what about the hundreds of people who haven't got the club membership, like me?

I have also been waiting for this theme to be released, but you will only release it to club members and beta testers.

Sounds to me like we still have to wait before we can get our hands on it.

Sounds to me like you are letting your club members who paid in advance be beta testers... which is ridiculous.

You guys could learn a thing or 2 (or 100) from WooThemes.

So, when will you release the theme for non club members? And why was there never a notice or blog post or anything to sign up for the beta program???

If i knew this was going to happen, I promise you I never would have bought Classipress (a theme I don't even use now). Like a lot of others, I bought on the strength that Vantage was going to come "soon."

If I new "soon" was the same thing as expecting Harry Potter 15, then I surely would have saved my money.

In fact, I think everyone who has bought a theme in the last two years should be entitled to a 50% off code just to show how much they appreciate us waiting. But if I held my breath I might just die waiting on that to come true too huh?

WOW, seems like a lot of disappointed customers! Appthemes needs work on their customer service.

Dear Shannon,

How do we get onto the BETA list, other than buying club membership - or is the only way to get in on BETA via club membership?

If not getting in via BETA, how long should we wait (estimate) before we can just buy the theme outright? Is it just possible to buy the theme for it's regular price, to get access to BETA?