Status Update
Production
After wasting 2 weeks pre-release and 6 weeks post-release and your team providing numerous bug fixes - production still does not work.
Staging 3 - yet another ASPDNSF debug/staging site running on our server
[George] "A new store is currently in the IIKSTAGING application pool under the “iik” website. The files can be found in D:\Websites\iik and the database is “iik”. The host login is the same as the live site (host/1nvest1n) Best of luck to you in getting this up and running."
We're still not having any "luck" with your application. We have already found bugs in the "new" version that you have set up for us (that has no third party modules). For one, you cannot register from a Vancouver address or a Montral address. Try this:
2180 Avenue Belgrave
Montréal, QC
H4A 2L8, Canada
Not only does QC get set to AB when you post, but you also get this error:
You have selected an invalid state/province and country shipping address combination, or no shipping methods were found for your shipping address destination. Please contact us for assistance!
We can't purchase via PayPal, etc, etc.
[George - ASPDNSF Support] "We’ve worked on your site endlessly with almost no cooperation from you or your team"
We've spent at least 100 hours setting up and debugging this application during pre-launch. We've spent well over 100 unscheduled hours after launch. The suggestion that our staff did not bend over backwards to help you debug your product is laughable.
[George - ASPDNSF Support] "We asked for third party modules to be uninstalled so we could determine what issues there may have been in our part."
On 4 March we had offered to disable the URL rewriter from the site (it was already excluded from all eCommerce pages). None of the dozen or more bugs in the ASPDNSF code you've found over the last two months had anything to do with other modules.
[George - ASPDNSF Support] "we cannot devote any more resources to the issues that you are having because of environmental or 3rd party factors"
OK. Got it. Production doesn't work and you can't set up a functioning "new/clean" version of your product and you're not going to try any longer.
We want our money back. How do we proceed?
[George - ASPDNSF Support] - no reply so far
*************************************************************************
So, there you have it:
- Two months of wasted blood, sweat and tears
- still no eCommerce
- a very disappointed clients
- 200 logged hours and nothing to show for it
- ASPDNSF support is mad at us!
- no refund
- a crappy product still installed on production that does not uninstall itself
That's our experience with ASPDNSF.
I think it is a disservice for DotNetNuke.com to advertise and condone the ASPDNSF product.
We're now setting up CataLook. It may be a bit clunky but its mature and stable.
*************************************************************************
I appreciate that George's team put some effort into fixing their software. At least they got a lot of free user testing out of this ordeal. I'm not certain exactly how many bugs they found and fixed - my guess is around a dozen. But they are working with a pile of spaghetti that was a very sloppy port from the stand alone product. It needs to be completely refactored but I don't think they're going to do this.
If you go with ASPDNSF I would follow ASPDNSF support's advice and do a clean install. Do not set up any other third party modules. George informed me that if they ever did find a conflict with a third party module (which they never did) and IF they could show that the problem was the fault of the third party module, then we would have to pay for all their support hours. Fortunately this is no longer a concern.
Chris