Is support still a thing?

    I have used the old forum for support a lot in the past and thought it was a great solution. I have gotten fast support from the helpful and friendly community, and expert advice and knowledge from Drew and Rachel. I appreciate that its open as I have been helped so many times from other people who have already asked and answered my question.


    The new forum and wording (from support to forum) makes me worried, is developer support no longer a thing? Was it ever supposed to be a thing? Installing a forum and then relying on your community to support your product really isn't support. While the documentation is good it isn't good enough to stand on its own.


    For an extra 50 dollars craft cms does everything perch does, has more documentation and more importantly developer support. The weakened commitment to support kills perch's offering as a professional cms, and it worries me a lot.

  • drewm

    Approved the thread.

    With Perch 3 we offer unlimited support for getting Perch installed and fixing problems you encounter getting up and running with it. We also offer free updates to the software for the life of that major version. This was the same with Perch 1 and 2 when they were active products.


    This is changing with the upcoming Perch 4 release, where support and updates will be limited to 12 months from purchase. After the 12 months you'll be able to renew to keep getting support and updates.


    https://grabaperch.com/blog/ar…-find-out-what-comes-next

    Hi Drew,


    Just on this note, when you say "updates" do you mean features or security updates?


    As an example, when Microsoft phase out products, they continue to supply security updates until an EOL date expires.


    I'm concerned whether or not Perch will become like WHMCS, whereby it seems they are nothing more than mere rent seekers.


    Best

    Quote from nascent

    Just on this note, when you say "updates" do you mean features or security updates?

    Yes, both features and security updates.


    Quote from nascent

    As an example, when Microsoft phase out products, they continue to supply security updates until an EOL date expires.

    Microsoft is a much bigger company, charging a lot more for its products and services than we do.


    Quote from nascent

    I'm concerned whether or not Perch will become like WHMCS, whereby it seems they are nothing more than mere rent seekers.

    I'm afraid I'm not familiar with WHMCS.

    walker I'm not trying to be a Perch apologist because I'm willing to call things out when I see them. I understand that you are willing to pay additional for support, but some of us aren't. In that same vein I don't expect Drew and Rachel to be on these forums every hour of every day responding to problems. Due to the price point I feel like the problem fixing is mostly on me. To me there is a trade-off, because it is impossible to develop software that is all things to all people. Drew and Rachel have both helped me quite a bit in the past and for that I appreciate their help, but I don't feel they were obligated to do it.


    I did a great deal of research about 3 years ago on which CMS I wanted to use, quality, speed, flexibility, control and price were all factors that lead me to Perch. I have been thrilled with the 30 some projects I've built with Perch and it has fully met my expectations including the support. Support is time consuming and expensive, therefore due to the price point I don't expect a ton of support. Just my .02 cents.

    > I did a great deal of research about 3 years ago on which CMS I wanted to use, quality, speed, flexibility, control and price were all factors that lead me to Perch.


    Me too but things change in 3 years and my loyalty is to my clients. Joomla extensions have a similar pricing / support model as perch 4 so I am fine with the new model. The old pricing / support model was better than Joomla now it's the same, thats fine but I find clients really don't like the Joomla support model, so I will have a harder time selling perch to clients, so I'm not going to sell as much perch, thats all i'm saying.

    Quote from walker

    The old pricing / support model was better than Joomla now it's the same, thats fine but I find clients really don't like the Joomla support model, so I will have a harder time selling perch to clients, so I'm not going to sell as much perch, thats all i'm saying.

    What will you sell instead?

    Quote from drewm

    What will you sell instead?

    Ill sell anything the client will buy thats not Wordpress. Wordpress is the only thing clients have heard of, they know they can edit the site themselves and can take it to another developer if they want, no lock in. I used to try and sell the client on Joomla but the plugin subscription model was hard for the client to stomach, a subscription makes it look like a service then they get scared of lock in.


    Since I ditched Joomla three years ago for perch its been great. They are worried it will be difficult to edit, I show them the backend of another clients website and they say "WOW thats a lot easier than Wordpress!". They are worried about lock in, I tell them its a one time price for an open source professional cms that they can then take to any developer and they are sold.


    I will still try and sell my clients on perch, as I think its the best option for them but if I fail they get what they want (most likely wordpress) and you don't get paid. I apologise if my tone comes across as critical, I'm fine with the new model, I am just trying to pass on my clients concerns as ultimately they are the ones paying for perch and making the decision to use it, not me.

    For us it's a fairly uncomplicated decision. The current model is not sustainable, so either you have no Perch, or Perch under a new model.


    To clarify, Perch 4 it's not a subscription. You can pay once. But if you want new things (updates, fixes, improvements) then you'll need to renew your license to get those. They will no longer be free because they cost time and money to produce that needs to be covered somehow.

    Not trying to be pushy Drew, but (


    Display Spoiler


    do you know when we will have an idea on pricing for Perch 4? I have 4-5 bids in the pipeline and most of the bids are with clients that will want to update every year to make sure everything stays current. So I'm getting questions on the pricing after year 1 license purchase.

    Apologies for changing subject, but will there be any further updates to V3?


    Not that I've had any issues, but I would like to have a feature complete version so I can make an informed decision going forward, i.e. to V4, rather than have to upgrade just to get fixes for things that were either promised or arose during the product cycle.


    I have experience with one company I am endeared to as well but they *always* leave things unfixed by the next whole version number and while it frustrates many; the choice is stark, e.g. use inferior software or purchase hardware as a service.


    Cheers perchers!

    Hi, I don't know if this is the right place for posting this, but I have sent many emails to support@grabaperch.com since last week without answer, all related to account problems, like unable to change production url or not able to buy new licenses, so, anyone knows where I can get support about this will be apreciated.