Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[agharta]

Unfortunately my initial experience with PA has pretty much gone as badly as you could expect. When I attempted to purchase a plugin with one of the voucher codes, I ended up getting no plug-in, no invoice but a charge of $329 on my card.

Hopefully you used a credit card and the refund hits your account before the next bill is issued so at least it will have no negative impact at all on you financially.
I use credit cards for online purchases for a number of reasons including this one.
It can be frustrating to have to chase up companies when issues arise, for sure.
I keep scrupulous notes for my own satisfaction and when quoted back to said companies it can help them to see the fuller context.
I suggest you do that before escalating things which tends to be even more time consuming.

[Rational]

@Paul Vicory
Apologies I didn't make time to post my good experience last night. I was finally contacted by PA on my ticket and they were very kind and apologized about the charge.

"Hi R,
thank you for contacting support and I am happy to help you.
I've just voided that order so the pending payment will be credited back to your account.
I am sorry for the inconvenience!
Best regards,
-Nikolai"

They also sent out a nice email to all subscribers yesterday saying:

"HERE IS SOME IMPORTANT INFO FOR ALL

Quite frankly the last promotion didn't run 100% smooth, mostly because of issues we had with external email servers and the voucher code system in our shop.

In some cases customers have been charged with list price for a plugin they ordered, as the system internally deleted valid voucher codes during the last step of the order. This should not have happened at all, and we apologize for it.

If this has happened to you, please let our ONLINE SALES SUPPORT know about it, and we will absolutely refund your order and work with you to make it right.

Please note that our customer support team is overwhelmed with tickets regarding the promotion, so we could take a few days longer to get back to everybody.

Thank you for being an awesome crowd, and we hope you enjoy your new toys and tools a lot!"


I have to give credit where credit is due. I think they are finally learning how to handle things correctly after mistakes are made unlike some other companies. Mistakes will happen. It's how a company handles it.

1. They realized the codes were impacting users, some being charged full price because of their system design. So they quickly unlocked all A codes to stop the error. Smart.
2. They sent out the above notification admitting it and apologizing. To me this is the right way to do business. Don't cover up errors. Don't ignore it. Don't fail to notify customers. So my faith is restored in them for finally beginning to step up and do what is right even when mistakes are made.

So... I bought 4 plugins yesterday right after this. To support them for their good behavior. And of course to take full advantage of the pricing I finally feel acurattely reflects their value. Which is $29 apiece.

My $299 is still not freed up from PayPal but it will be.

I will contact them next and take them up on their offer above and ask for another code to buy at least one more plugin since I couldn't yesterday with my last $300 tied up before the sale clock ran out.

Hope this helps.

Other companies: Learn from this. Mistakes happen. Try to prevent them. But when they inevitably do, admit it quickly, fix it and offer something in return for the error. That builds trust, loyalty and can actually strengthen your reputation as we all know you care and are trustworthy. I've had other companies tell me 'no' when I ask for them to fix their small print or errors and this tells me they don't truly care about me and their other customers -- so I stop buying from them (Looking at you Slate helpdesk. Still hoping you'll learn from this post and change your ways. Then I'll start buying again. 2 years and running. We'll see...). In PA's case I will now likely buy the last 8 plugins remaining that PA offers I don't yet own. To their credit.
R

[joe_b]

So, Softube FET for 65$ - 30%. Does it still hold up to time after 11 years? I'm also curious how it compares to U-He's Presswerk using their 1176 template.

[dna_studios]

So, Softube FET for 65$ - 30%. Does it still hold up to time after 11 years? I'm also curious how it compares to U-He's Presswerk using their 1176 template.

You might also want to check out the PSP FETpressor while the $20 one-day sale is on – see the Bargains thread.

[revvy]

Killer deal on upgrade of Izotope Music Production Suite at JRR, log in and pop it in the cart for the good news.

[Rational]

Killer deal on upgrade of Izotope Music Production Suite at JRR, log in and pop it in the cart for the good news.

You're right. $125 for me for it. I'm at MPS 2.1 right now.

But I was intentionally skipping it this year as I haven't even used my MPS2 or 2.1 yet. Thinking I'll be able to get MPS4 next BF for this same $125 price. Also why I skipped Arturia 7 this year. Going to wait until BF and get 8 for $99. Sometimes it's best to skip every other one if you're not using it during that year.

Will probably pull the trigger on Softube Vol 4 as I heard that will drop very soon.

[revvy]

Killer deal on upgrade of Izotope Music Production Suite at JRR, log in and pop it in the cart for the good news.

You're right. $125 for me for it. I'm at MPS 2.1 right now.

But I was intentionally skipping it this year as I haven't even used my MPS2 or 2.1 yet. Thinking I'll be able to get MPS4 next BF for this same $125 price. Also why I skipped Arturia 7 this year. Going to wait until BF and get 8 for $99. Sometimes it's best to skip every other one if you're not using it during that year.

Will probably pull the trigger on Softube Vol 4 as I heard that will drop very soon.

I like the look of the new stuff and it comes with a year at Groove 3 too which is cool as I'm currently learning bass that they also feature videos on that. Now is the time for me.

[Rational]

FYI. My PP charge was just reversed in the last hour. So all is good now.

Also, PA sent out a survey asking for input. More good management seems to be taking place. Nice to see.
I'll take a few and fill it out for their benefit (and mine )

I also asked them to hook me up like they said they would:

"In some cases customers have been charged with list price for a plugin they ordered, as the system internally deleted valid voucher codes during the last step of the order. This should not have happened at all, and we apologize for it.

If this has happened to you, please let our ONLINE SALES SUPPORT know about it, and we will absolutely refund your order and work with you to make it right."

We'll see... If they do I have at least 1 I'm ready to buy:

Can't wait to buy Bx Oberhausen. That plugin is one of the few soft synths I've heard that sounds truly analog to my ear. 99% of soft synths sound flat/fake to me still although they are getting better over the years. But this one...? Wow. Finally some organic/analog reality coming through. Love it. Listen in from 00:22-01:30. Turn it up.

How do I turn off the preview. I think inline videos are not encouraged anymore, right?

Also, if anyone hasn't heard the new free L12X amp sim from audiority, you should grab it. One of the best emulated distortion sounds yet. And I own most every amp sim on the market. Can't believe it's free. I'd have paid for this. I also owned a red Marshall Lead 12 micro stack back in 1986 and they did an incredible emulation of it with some added features. Wonderful stuff. This sounds better than the real thing as the micro cabs 10 inch speakers just can't sound like 12" greenbacks or V30s. Nor a 4x12 cab. Head was great though for SS. Watch the video on their sales page. Love that distortion sound. Truly impressed finally by the quality of plugins being released now these days. https://www.audiority.com/shop/l12x-sol ... amplifier/

[Uncle E]

Also, PA sent out a survey asking for input. More good management seems to be taking place. Nice to see.
I'll take a few and fill it out for their benefit (and mine )

If the benefit you're referring to is the voucher, you're welcome to have mine.

Can't wait to buy Bx Oberhausen. That plugin is one of the few soft synths I've heard that sounds truly analog to my ear. 99% of soft synths sound flat/fake to me still although they are getting better over the years. But this one...? Wow. Finally some organic/analog reality coming through. Love it. Listen in from 00:22-01:30. Turn it up.

That portion of the video sounds like a good hardware virtual analog. If I was looking for an aggressive sound, I would choose that over the Waldorf Kyra and maybe over the JP8000. The recent Behringer analogs (Wasp, K-2, Pro 1, Odyssey, etc.) are a lot fatter and smoother than that. Of course, only the Poly D will be able to do those unison and supersaw type sounds.

How do I turn off the preview. I think inline videos are not encouraged anymore, right?

I believe if you paste the link as an https and not an http (or vice versa), it won't auto preview but will still work as a link. Anyway, videos are allowed in this thread, it's only the No Chat thread where they and other media are against the rules.

[mladi]

If the benefit you're referring to is the voucher, you're welcome to have mine.

Everybody who finish the survey get the same voucher code. Sure you can leak it in public it's your decision but it isn't a "bad" survey for us customers imo so..

[Uncle E]

Oh, I was just trying to share which I thought they encouraged these days. I have now deleted my post that had the code.

[mladi]

Oh, I was just trying to share which I thought they encouraged these days. I have now deleted my post that had the code.

We all know that you only had the best intentions to doing so Uncle no prob really. I only wanted to encourage one ore two to doing the survey anyway!

[WasteLand]

has the PA website gone bonkers, it takes $50 voucher and calculates it as 50%.

[escalona]

has the PA website gone bonkers, it takes $50 voucher and calculates it as 50%.

I added $2800 in plugins and it calculated it to zero... go figure. In a few days we will get the notification saying "your purchase was canceled". What a clusterfuck.

[dzilizzi]

Sometimes when you try to fix coding, you majorly screw the rest of it up.