Hi

I have been trying to use whoiscart for the past month - so far its been a waste of time and effort.

I needed a system to reliably bill customers - something this software claims.

we purchased the program

NO DOCUMENTATION OF ANY KIND IS SUPPLIED:mad:

so we had a struggle getting it installed spending time going through the forums finding answers

THEN WE HAVE TO CUSTOMISE TO GET IT TO WORK

which means we get no support from whoiscart as they do not support customising the progrm :confused: except you have to, to get it to work.

We have just come to the end of the month with the program and some customers (select few we allowed to use it) have started to renew but after clicking renew - nothing happens.

It gives notice to us saying renewed but thats it, we expected it to send an email invoice like when people order but it doesn't so you rely on them paying via paypal but the recurring option doesn't work properly :angry:

The print invoice is also a pointless feature because you have to go in via FTP to get the damn invoice! Except it also doesn't work!

So we had 20 accounts renew but didn't get paid:eek:

I would not recommend this software

It only works with a few APIs so if you don't use them then its good luck your on your own.

I used Clientexec before - but its even more useless for billing

Modernbill looks way to scary and complex

is there anything else to consider?

Anyway just my experience

Regards ~ David

I use drams plus and it isn't hard to set up. I like it and it suits my needs. But of course, it's my first billing/domain/user account systems so I can't really compare with other billing software out there.

http://www.dramsystem.com/index.php

They give you support but don't expect them to reply in minutes. They also have support forums and you get a lot of help there.

Hi David,

I find your comments unfair at best. I see no support tickets asking for help from your address. Consider the following:

NO DOCUMENTATION OF ANY KIND IS SUPPLIED
http://saeven.net/sware/whois/manual
And each RAPI / HAPI has specific PDF instructions on how to set them up (packaged with each module individually).

which means we get no support from whoiscart as they do not support customising the progrm except you have to, to get it to work.
This is false, it will work out of the box. What we don't support are visual customizations, or development of any extra modules, like custom payment processors, or custom registrar interfaces etc.

We have just come to the end of the month with the program and some customers (select few we allowed to use it) have started to renew but after clicking renew - nothing happens.
Which payment method are you using? Did you connect your payment portal to whois.cart? Example, You must activate Paypal IPN for instance etc... These are things that whois.cart has no control over - you must often set these things manually at your payment portal.

The print invoice is also a pointless feature because you have to go in via FTP to get the damn invoice! Except it also doesn't work!
Print invoice, is for clients who select print/invoice method and want it snail mailed. It's not there for your clients to access directly, it's for admins who want to print them, and snail mail them. This feature was added by popular request. You don't need FTP, you can access them in your browser though.

So we had 20 accounts renew but didn't get paid
This is just the result of not having set things up properly. We have staff on standby to help with these things - why didn't you ask for help? There is a helpdesk at your disposal, http://auracle.whoiscart.net which will connect you to real people that built the software!

It gives notice to us saying renewed but thats it, we expected it to send an email invoice like when people order but it doesn't so you rely on them paying via paypal but the recurring option doesn't work properly
Might be related with my last reply - please contact the support staff to get this ironed out. Recurrences work great, we have customers that send over 500 bills monthly with this system and no problems.

It only works with a few APIs so if you don't use them then its good luck your on your own.
We currently implement 23 payment portal APIs, eNom, OpenSRS, CentralNIC, BulkRegister, DirectI, Toeki Enterprises (.ws registry), CPanel and DA. What you call a few, is in fact, more than most. You can't fault us for not implementing an API we don't advertise however. We always queue suggestions though, if there's an API you want that we don't advertise, you can send it to wish at saeven.net.

In any case, I'm definitely not going to fight with you, but posting this kind of stuff here when you don't even ask for help with these things via support desk is not really fair is it. Please do ask, my staff are on standby, and I think you'll find it was just a minor thing or two to get going full steam. We're real people on this end ourselves - and take our creation to heart.

Why not drop us a line instead?

Hope to hear from you.
Alexandre

Alexandre

You find my comments unfair - thats a shame - its my experience and opinion whether you agree or not - I don't care!

I have asked for help several times - and my questions go unanswered as do many other people who have similar problems with your software - and its still unanswered!

funny how you respond here and not to your own forum

your product didn't work out the box

there were not any PDFs anywhere after downloading

you don't support people who need to customise features to get it to work and I don't mean the graphics you know everyone has to alter the templates for there own business thats what I mean and you know it!

You also point out things you assume we would know - which is difficult when as I said no instructions or guides - don't assume I have hours to trawl your forums either or days to wait for support.

Print invoices - right so we have to give customers long addresses in the browser to type in ?? not very secure for customers unless its on a secure server then!

I have used the help desk - after 2 posts the formatting went 'out the window' making it impossible to read responses.

If there was a guide to setting it up in the first place I'm sure it could be done quickly and easily but as there isn't one. . . . .

Anyway removed it form my server and gone back to old accounts method whilst I try out other solutions

David

Hello David,

mentioning again that the above was just an offer of help, and not an invitation to an argument, I've responded to every possible post in our forums, I respond here, in fact - I respond everywhere I can. It's important to me.

I did not invite you to "trawl through our forums" but instead to ask the support staff for help. I understand you've had enough for now, but you didn't go through the proper channels. If you change your mind, and decide to ask the official medium, our support desk, for help - then I'm sure things will make sense and work well for you. The forums are not an official medium. I just spend time there to help those that I can. It's also a good source for those that do like to search for help on their own (and to share solutions with others). Fact remains the support desk is the primary means, and the only official means for support. Your account is perpetual as promised - so you are always welcome to return for help on a clean slate.

There is a guide to setting things up quickly though, there's even a movie you can download from the client section (wmv) called "Whois.Cart() in 5 minutes" which guides you visually through basic installation in under 5 minutes.


Print invoices - right so we have to give customers long addresses in the browser to type in ??
I think there's a misunderstanding again. The client doesn't interact with Whois.Cart() when they're on the print invoices method. This method is for administrators who want to snail mail invoices. When invoices appear for a client, the admin is to print and mail it. The client never sees the URL.

I have asked for help several times - and my questions go unanswered as do many other people who have similar problems with your software - and its still unanswered!

If you asked for help with supported things, there's not one single unresponded post in the tech section. If you asked for help with customization then yes, it is possible that I didn't have time to get to it. Our development fees are $185 USD/hour minimum - consider those if you want our customization services. Otherwise, the forum is there as a free provision to those that want to use it. When I have time, I answer those 'unsupported topics' for which we'd normally work on a contractual basis as best I can. If you wanted some type of RAPI or HAPI we don't support, and asked for someone to develop it for you - or needed help with something completely unrelated like HTML or CSS then again, these are unsupported things I might not have gotten to. The forum agreement and guidelines in these unsupported topic categories are clear - and forewarn your insinuations that posts 'unattended to' are in fact in categories not moderated at all. The support postulate is clear in this respect also - we can't begin to edit the templates to everyone's liking.

In any case, the invitation to write the support staff stands. It's the one means for support that is official, and the only means you didn't attempt.

Best regards.
Alexandre

I will say this once

I did request support officially and through the forums - I didn't get any!

I think you missed the point of my post entirely

PS Online Manual Not yet complete - says it all right there!

Thanx for your time

David, Saeven has just stated clearly that the forum is not an official means of support, I suggest you email there support desk as this is the only official support method available to you.

Davidkm

When you download the whoiscart files you can also download install documentation. As scripts go it is not a lot more difficult to install than many others. Maybe you are not happy with whois.cart, but if that is the case you might wish to remember how much you paid for it.
If you have an issue with it take it up directly with saeven. He's posted here twice in this thread already.

Makes me laugh the amount of so-called web hosting 'experts' on here that are unable to install and configure simple scripts , then come crying on forums about documentation and support .

For 35 bucks you get the basics , it's up to you to build around it .

Davidm,

That is not true. I admit it was a little daunting to install the program at first but when you get past that hurdle, everything works!

Alexandre is very helpful. I even had personal help when develping a module for their software! Talking about customer support. ;-)
I would expect the installation to be overwhelming for some webhosts but it does not justify putting this product down in public forums. And there are people in their forums who offer installation service. And they do installation for a small fee too!

I have 2 installs of whoiscart, one with over 1500 customers in it and it works great for me. Saeven even helped out folks moving away from Paysystems with a handy dandy importation tool to allow us to import all our Paysystems customers in one big dump, I haven't seen other billing software companies jump on that yet (granted I haven't looked hard so don't smack me too bad if someone did do it).

Whoiscart is $35 you gotta expect it to be at least partly DIY.

Whoiscart need to improve their customer support.....I sent a couple of e-mails and I haven't received an answer....(I even requested and installation--which I paid for--and I got nothing)

You need to register into auracle.whoiscart.net and validate your account before support can respond to your emails - otherwise they will bounce back with a 'please register' email. Spam blocker on your end blocking those bouncebacks?

I see no registered user with anything close to 'relajo' though - must be registration step. No need to bash a company over these types of things you know... it's just small details that are overlooked.

Candidly though - installations take 48 business hours. You need to heed the times we exact relajo - you filled out the form Sunday at 5:27PM EST on Sunday - therefore those 48 business hours have not yet expired. We don't ask for much of your money, but we do ask that users comply to our operational rules. I can guarantee that the installation will fall within the allotted window. They always do.

Remember to log into Auracle, and to register and fill out a ticket there. My staff is always on standby to assist.

Originally posted by Roy@ENHOST

I would expect the installation to be overwhelming for some webhosts..

If you can't install something like whoiscart you shouldn't call yourself a "webhost". A more appropriate term would be "reseller".

I'm not going to defend saeven and say they are "wonderful" etc., but I will say that their product does work and is not "hard" to install. If you can't understand what the various functions like invoices are meant to do, then maybe you should bite the bullet and get something like ModernBill.

I ordered the installation because I did not have the time to do it myself...just didn't wanna deal with that (I ended up doing it myself, anyway)

I didn't mean to bash the company, I like whoiscart..as a matter of fact I'll be ordering another license....but sometimes it is frustrating not to hear from vendors when you try to contact them...

I did not get any bounced e-mail saying I had to register and spam blocker on my server is off for that particular e-mail add.

I'm now registered into auracle.whoiscart.net(confirmed e-mail).

By the way I AM a reseller.

I am glad I didn't have this experience with whois, I found the docs and got some responses to requests, wasn't always smooth - welcome to the real world. I guess I would attribute my success with the program the fact that I am a friggin genius, actually still have some mods to make to the program, just waiting for the swelling to go down. Also not entirely over joyed with the program but for 35.00 what do you expect.

Relajo,

As long as you are happy and registered and in active contact with the staff, that's all that matters.

Concreteman,

Don't hesitate to do the same as Relajo - don't rely on the forums - the support desk is the primary outlet - and it's always best to get direct support from there.

I think you know I am happy with the software - I have the iq of a treefrog and manaaged to get it installed, I used the forums at whois and the support at the site also, My point was that the sofware works and as mentioned in other posts ALL the other packages have their own quirks and whois seems to me to be one of the easier ones to get installed and working. I am waiting for the next realease before I pour hours into a redesign and do like the fact that I can tweak certain aspects of the program to suit my needs.

Thanks for the kind comments...

I think the biggest difficulty was our documentation, but we're documenting as we build with Silverstar - I hope it will please you when it is released :) At the pace at which we developed Whois.Cart(), we'd have needed a separate staff just to take care of model documentation etc. We chose to release often and add much, instead of penciling everything and slowing down development.

I've used whoiscart for more than a year. I've got 3 installations of it, on linux and windows. Whoiscart works. Whoiscart cart runs straight out of the box. If you want to customize whoiscart to get you coffee in the morning, you're gonna to dig through it, change some code, learn some php, and modify it! Through others on the support forum I was able to do quite a bit of customizing, and overall I love the software. The Support Forums are great, there are regular users of whoiscart who provide great support when they're online, as well as Saeven who usually comes in at the end of the day, and answers what seems like every question, that was answered already, and those that weren't.

Whoiscart makes it quite clear all over their site, their policies, what the cart can and can't do, and they even offer a trial to make sure you'll enjoy it.

I think people just don't take the time to really read through things before they jump in. It's a great system. The next version is gonna be an even better system. Oh yea, Saeven is the one who makes whoiscart what it is, he's fair, knowledgable, and works with you.

I've seen a couple people who had a few issues with whoiscart before (one was his ISP's fault), and they flamed the entire program. These folks need to calm down, get some latte, and READ THE INSTRUCTIONS, then proceed.

just my $.02

-Marrell

Well the only complain I got so far is the user interface.
The top frame and bottom frame take up so much monitor real estate, approximately half the screen.
I pity those on 640X480 monitor resolution.
On the other hand, the new version of the product took care of this problem so I rest my case.

Although I am awaiting a license key because of a directory change at the moment (*Ahem* saeven), I really like the software. I did have a few questions, and contacted about them. They were answered in a timely manner (about 45 minutes). I give the script a top score concidering the price vs what you get.

Lol, David :eek: , I really do not know what your thinking. I've had many questions about how to get it working at first and even half way through it. I listed some of the most stupid questions, where if I would have looked would have been abled to been answer by reading the manual, but all my questions were answered within 3 hours of each question on the forum. With whoiscart you don't even need to ask the designated support team, other members are even nice enough to help you on the forums! I believe your post was just an uninformed and aggravated one, is it really Saeven's fault that you do not read the instructions? and is it his duty to help you when you don't ask? Just sharing my opinion...


-- Manuel @ Host-er

The only issue I really have with Whois.Cart is the upgrades, if SQL changes are required you have to run them manually, that's a minor gripe, but still something I think should be done better.

I believe in this case, you will terribly enjoy what's coming with Silverstar :)

But hey it is not everyday that we have to update the SQL.
I for one will not complain, new SQL means new features. New features means new toys. New toys means happiness.
Besides updating SQL takes like what, 1 minute.

Originally posted by mhalbrook
The only issue I really have with Whois.Cart is the upgrades, if SQL changes are required you have to run them manually, that's a minor gripe, but still something I think should be done better.

Agreed, the update threads are actually public, as you can see, this has only happened a very few select times with current version.

http://whoiscart.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1560

and

http://whoiscart.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2483

I am happy with whoiscart.. although i haven't touched it yet after i installed it for about 3 days now.

BTW, saeven, do we get a free upgrade to the silverstar or a discount?

i haven';t seen it though but sure would want to have the latest hehehe...

Update to the Silverstar system will be free to current clients as promised. :)

wwoohoo i can't wait....

but for now i think i need to download the documentation and get my whois cart running

anyway that's great...

Thanks saeven

I find it very sad that people do not read documentation.
As soon as you unzip ANY file theres always a pdf.
Aswell as there is many postings about everything and anything tech wise on the forum... Just search you'll find your answer.
I was stupid when I first got the software, never read docs and I still got an answer back from support with the answers to all my questions within a timely manner.
There is absolutly no reason to critisize this software without getting your facts strait first... I believe nothing that you have said is true in this argument.
READ FIRST!!!
I even installed it without reading it was configuring it where I ran into problems which in turn all got solved by reading up and posting on the forums.

Originally posted by Saeven
I believe in this case, you will terribly enjoy what's coming with Silverstar :)

Once my provider decideds that PHP 5 is safe to upgrade to.

She's safe :)

Originally posted by Saeven
She's safe :)
Maybe for your own site, but I would really not like to put that theory to the test with several hundred client sites :D

It would probably help in fact...Zend Engine 2 is crazy efficient. We've bombarded them and we'll release the differences. We used xprobe - good software!

Originally posted by Saeven
We used xprobe - good software!
What's that?
Have you deployed it on shared servers??

Heh, I'll let you know how it goes when I upgrade one of my servers to PHP 5. I will be doing that very soon,

Cpanel + PHP5. auraclesupport.com, whoiscart.net are both on the same cpanel machine, no problems.

XDebug (sorry) is a profiling software. It's what we use to gather statistical data when we beat the snot out of systems during our asymptotical analysis before we release software/new features etc. We're tight on keeping stuff O(n) but sometimes we need to look deeper to O(lgn) to get sub-second loading times. It's PECL and is added to php.ini as a zend_extension, it's here:

http://www.xdebug.org/

I have probe in my head from having used JProbe to profile Auracle all day..

Cheers.
Alex

Alex

Has cpanel added official support for php5?
We're using DirectAdmin, so I wouldn't know :D

Cpanel doesn't rely on PHP to run, so it's tertiary either way. The Cpanel easyapache script is brutal either way, and I always recommend that people avoid using it. Learning to compile PHP is a must-have skill for any webhost either way.

DA does run on PHP though I believe. You might want to check with Mark before attempting anything.

Alex

It's not the kind of thing I'd like to experiment with on a live machine, which is why I appreciate Mark's help with giving us test licenses to break things on :D

the current whois.cart() can be ran on php5 or no? I'm having problems with php5 and whois.cart() so i downgraded again :-\

whois.cart cant run on php 5 since the ixed loaders have not been released yet

there are quite of other scripts as well that will break if you upgrade to php 5

Sorry I have to disagree with you, Alex.
Business skill is a must, PHP compilation skill is recommended, UNIX knowledge and integrity are optional.
OK I was kidding about the integrity part.:D
Thats only my 2 cents though.

Originally posted by Saeven
Learning to compile PHP is a must-have skill for any webhost either way.

WHOiscart runs on Ioncube and Zend.
Didn't know an ixed version exists.

Originally posted by OCXBIOS
whois.cart cant run on php 5 since the ixed loaders have not been released yet

there are quite of other scripts as well that will break if you upgrade to php 5

Originally posted by Roy@ENHOST
Sorry I have to disagree with you, Alex.
Business skill is a must, PHP compilation skill is recommended, UNIX knowledge and integrity are optional.
OK I was kidding about the integrity part.:D
Thats only my 2 cents though.



WHOiscart runs on Ioncube and Zend.
Didn't know an ixed version exists.

thats what i get for posting on forums when being up 24hours lol

you right it dont use loaders.. but at the same time. anything that uses these loaders..hasnt been released for php 5.x.x

Look at how much support Saeven's getting here... I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon, I've worked with Whois.Cart()™ for over a year now. Not just my own one but their clients ones too. I offer a customization service, so you'd probably imagine that I've been the person that's annoy'd their support staff the most. I've not got one single bad word to say about them at all! If you follow their support instructions, as someone has already pointed out, you can mail them for best response, or post on the forums which could be missed due to their large client base posting regularly. You choose to use the forum, therefore you take the risk of it being missed. It's very rare that they do miss posts, but hey, get over it, it happens. I emailed Microsoft last year, I'm still waiting for a reply.

HEHE, All this is CRAZZY like, i am the 79th person to join whoiscart.net forums. This was back when i had my own hosting company, and then sold it, but didnt sell the name. And i have carried my experince to a much larger company and i brought WHOIS.CART() With me and bought a new lic for them, and we love it. . I have used way back when there was no DOC's., And we got it installed. We have been using it has a domain registration script over many others. A+++

Just my 5.687999999 Cents
Michael