Massive Amember bug that users should be aware of

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by dezco, May 16, 2010.

  1. dezco

    dezco New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2007
    Messages:
    11
    There is a huge bug that affects everyones amember installations that I have been trying to get help on and I've had no success.

    An amember subscription does not account for time when you setup the duration for a product/subscription.

    What this means it that anytime you set your duration to 1 day, 1 week, 1 month or any number of days, weeks or months the actual subscription time is practically never the amount of time that you are advertising to your customers.

    The pain of this bug is felt more the shorter your subscription time.

    If you are selling a 1 day subscription and someone signs up 5 minutes before midnight then the person will have paid for 5 minutes of access and their subscription will be expired!!!

    As you can tell this is a horrifying scenario to any site that has many users.

    The same case applies if you have (a more likely scenario) a three day subscription that you are using to get someone to sign up for a full month subscription. If the person signs up with only minutes or a few hours in that day they will only get 2 days plus whatever time is left on the first day.

    Meaning someone in that scenario can have only 2 days and 1 minute of access.

    The main issue with this is that this gives ANY customer grounds to ask for a refund on your subscription. Once this bug gets out anyone knows that they can e-mail any amember installation and say, "Hey I didn't get the full time that you advertised and I want a refund."

    This is a HUGE bug and it has been made aware on the forums and has not yet been fixed. The simple solution is to add hours to the duration field on the products table. I have an e-mail in to support@cgi-central.net but I have heard nothing back yet. I will keep everyone posted on the progress.

    -Dezco
  2. jackgordon

    jackgordon aMember Pro Customer

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2009
    Messages:
    269
    I would not call this a massive bug. While I agree shorter subscriptions could be useful, there are ways around the lack of this feature.

    First, simply communicate in the signup process how the timing works, so anybody signing up understands exactly when their subscription will expire.

    Second, you could just add one day to the subscription time without telling people, so they actually get a little more time than a little less time, and you are overdelivering. In other words, sell a 3-day subscription but actually make it 4 days.

    Third, anyone who would actually complain could be given a free extra day, which should satisfy 99% of the complainers.
  3. skippybosco

    skippybosco CGI-Central Partner Staff Member

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2006
    Messages:
    2,526
    I would not classify this as a bug, but rather working differently than you would like. aMember calculates based on calendar, whereas you would like it calculated on time.

    Given (if I recall correctly) your desire for even smaller calculations of time (ie. access for 'x' hours).. your needs are certainly different than what the typical aMember admin requires. if you would like this customization for your site it can certainly be achieved, but no need for the sensationalistic headlines.
  4. alexander

    alexander Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2003
    Messages:
    6,279
    my 5 cents here:
    In this situation user will receive 1 day and 5 minutes of access.
    If product period will 1 day and user will signup for example at May 19 23:55 aMember will set expire date of user's payment to May 20 so payment will be active until May 20 23:59:59
  5. skippybosco

    skippybosco CGI-Central Partner Staff Member

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2006
    Messages:
    2,526
    and to confirm (before anyone else asks the question)

    If a user signs up at 12:01am on May 19 for a 1 day access, they will get access until May 20 23:59:59 (essentially 2 days)..

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