Total lack of Auran support, be warned

J

jaybee63

New member
We had purchased various Trainz products for our son, all very impressive,and as he is into simulators, and wanted the tank simulator, we bought this.

We have been unable toget the product to work on 2 differnet machines, and raised a support ticket on the 30 th November.
After no reply by the 16th December,we again wrote, and marked the ticket critacal, referencing the first ticket and its date.

No reply, whatso ever for a new product bought and downloaded which fails to work.

I expect this posting to be deleted by Auran, but feel that people should be aware of their non existant product support, and the fact that you are left with a purchased product which does not work, and no means of recourse.

What a pity as the trainz product is first class, but beware any product which fails to work.

Jaybee
 
jaybee63 said:
We had purchased various Trainz products for our son, all very impressive,and as he is into simulators, and wanted the tank simulator, we bought this.
Click to expand...

To be fair to Auran, well, N3V, they're only the publisher, they probably have very very limited abilities when it comes to technical support for a title that they had no hand in developing.

You may have better luck trying to contact Layernet GmbH as they appear to be the developers.

In fact, other than for support issues of the form 'where's my disk' or 'the disk is scratched, please send me another', it's probably very likely that all N3V can do is ask Layernet if they have any suggestions. As such, if you can get Layernet to deal with you, then you'll probably shave significant amounts of time off getting a response.

Sadly though, it's entirely within Layernet's rights to turn around and say 'you bought it from N3V, deal with them'. So don't be too surprised if they refuse to help directly.
 
Nikki

Thanks for your comments.

As said the Trainz products are first class, and as our son is into simulators, we bought the tank simualtor, and were going to purchase other titles from there online shop.

The product just does not work, and i've tried all manner of settings and different operating systems.

What I do find very disapointing is that they have never even replied or acknowledged the tickets raised. The ticket system all looks very professionaland would give the impression of good customer support. Sadly this is not the case.

John
 
jaybee63 said:
Nikki

Thanks for your comments.

As said the Trainz products are first class, and as our son is into simulators, we bought the tank simualtor, and were going to purchase other titles from there online shop.

The product just does not work, and i've tried all manner of settings and different operating systems.

What I do find very disapointing is that they have never even replied or acknowledged the tickets raised. The ticket system all looks very professionaland would give the impression of good customer support. Sadly this is not the case.

John
Click to expand...

You could just say what the problem is rather than it doesn't work. Generally speaking the forum has seen the problem before. Generally speaking the software should at least start. If you are having problems with the opening video there are ways round this.

I assume you are running a PC that meets the recommended specs?

Thanks

Cheerio John
 
What are your PC specs , OS , Processor speed

Many simple to fix things may be interfering, such as SP's, and canceling or interurpting SP installation.

Antivirus must be off during installation ... at least that is how installation 06 works.
 
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totally useless product digital download trainz 2010

bought and downloaded trainz 2010 on digital download but keep getting errors when trying to install have even tried to re-download but no luck very dissapointed as i have purchased trainz 2004 2006 and classics on cd :'(
 
peterleckie1 said:
bought and downloaded trainz 2010 on digital download but keep getting errors when trying to install have even tried to re-download but no luck very dissapointed as i have purchased trainz 2004 2006 and classics on cd :'(
Click to expand...

Use a download manager as recommended otherwise you end up with corrupt files. Large files from anywhere will invariably get corrupted if using IE to download.
 
johnwhelan said:
You could just say what the problem is rather than it doesn't work. Generally speaking the forum has seen the problem before. Generally speaking the software should at least start. If you are having problems with the opening video there are ways round this.

I assume you are running a PC that meets the recommended specs?

Thanks

Cheerio John
Click to expand...

Hi John

I appreciate your comments, but the point was that I had included all this information on the ticket I raised with Auran support and did not receive an answer.

However any help would be appreciated. I tried all the avaliable compatiability settings with both operating systems.

I am posting my request for support help below
I have downloaded and installed the game on a laptop running xp pro,but it only goes as far as the screen which displays the "insomnia" credit, which does not display correctly and then closes down. I have tried to uninstall, and reinstall the game, and tried loading the game with all the different configurations, also downloaded latest drivers etc. I enclose the crash file.....
General
Complete name : C:\Program Files\Tank Simulation\crashreport.dll
Format : MZ
Format profile : DLL / Intel i386
File size : 219 KiB
Encoded date : UTC 2009-11-27 12:08:37

I have also tried to install on a deskstation, which is not our preferred option, and this machine runs vista business, and whilst it loads and plays, there is no audio.

Please help

John
 
Helpdesk is understaffed and way behind with the tickets so generally speaking the forum can give you assistance in a more timely fashion.

OK let's go through the steps. First we need to double check that you have downloaded the download correctly. Please humour me and download the files yet again this time using Firefox. The internet is not as reliable as you might think and you need something better than IE for downloading large files. There are other software that can do the download but Firefox is mainstream and it works.

Neither a laptop or a desktop running Vista are ideal. XP or Win 7 on the desktop would be better but let's work with what we have.

What antivirus software are you running? Currently I prefer the Microsoft free one. www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/?mkt=en-us

The most common reason for dodgy installations is the antivirus software prevents the install happening as it should. Disable the antivirus software before installing. With the Microsoft product this is in settings and called real time protection. You can enable it again afterwards.

I suggest you try those two steps first. The video needs an odd codec that might not be on your machine but we can handle that when we get to it.

Cheerio John
 
To add a bit more to what John is saying, make sure you install and run the application with Administrator rights. This will ensure that the program has the capabilities of writing to its folders properly.

This has solved this kind of problem many times.

To install as administrator:

- Right mouse-button click on on the Setup.exe.

- Choose Run as Administrator.

A pop-up will come up confirming this.

- Click on Yes or OK (can't remember which at the moment - brain fart)

The program will run and install.

- Follow the wizard as it goes along.

When it comes time to run the installed program:

- Right mouse-button click on the short-cut and choose properties...

- Go to the compatibility tab and choose Run as Administrator

- Check box at the bottom.

This will ensure that the program always runs with administrator priviledges. You will get the confirmation that is it okay to run the program every time you start.

Hope this helps,

John
 
I love Vista and Windows7

I myself have the UAC turned off ... but I do not reccommend you turning it off ... Are you really sure, that you are sure, that you want to surley turn it off ... for sure ?

Bing Toolbar should be uninstalled as it causes problems in Trainz, such as it is disabling the keyboard function of Ctrl+M Mini Map
 
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johnwhelan said:
Neither a laptop or a desktop running Vista are ideal. XP or Win 7 on the desktop would be better but let's work with what we have.
Click to expand...

Actually, since Jaybee's complaint is not about trainz, but instead about 'Military Life: Tank Simulator', the vista/laptop problem shouldn't be so severe, since the video hardware requirements for 'Military Life: Tank Simulator' are a bit 1990s (minimum of an original Radeon with 128MB of ram)
 
paulhobbs said:
Makes me wonder why he is bitching about it here.

Paul
Click to expand...

Because N3V are a (one among many) distributor for it, and he bought it from them - presumably from some sense of loyalty - and didn't get any response from the helpdesk.

I can see why he thinks that these forums are 'fair game' since N3V don't appear to have other forums for their shop purchases... Of course, trying to make auran look bad because of lack of 'support' by N3V isn't going to help get the software working for his son.

Unfortunately, experience shows that once you start shouting down the company such as in the thread title, or calling 'fraud' as in the other current thread about the DLS, your chances of getting unfettered helpful support rather than the legally required minimum and a brush off with any possible legal loophole, go waaay down. I don't really know what such people expect to achieve by burning bridges.

And there probably isn't really much N3V/Auran can actually do, it sounds like it 'works' to some degree on the desktop computer. One could argue that it is 'unfit for use' and thus a refund is in order, even though the media supplied clearly works (well enough to install on jaybee's desktop computer), and that is pretty much the extent of N3V's support obligations.

From a purely legal standpoint of gaining satisfaction, you are always better going with a local vendor over an international vendor, and N3V are by no means the sole vendor for Tank Simulator, Layernet have several UK partners that sell the software, who would probably be in a much better position to start talking about 'unfit for use' laws with.

I tried to 'help' earlier by suggesting he contact layernet, who are in a much better position to give technical support. Not much else you can advise, other than to say 'in future when buying layernet products, buy from a british vendor, your support options will be better, and if they fail to help, you have a legal fallback'
 
Thanks for the advice tips with a view to getting the product working. I had installed with admin rights, tried installing various codec packs etc, and have a good working knowledge of computer i.t.

In answer tosome of the comments, I would have rather have dealt through normal channels with Auran, but the only way to contact them that I colud see was through there non existant suppoprt tickets. I tried toobtain a direct contact email, but couldn't so rightly or wrongly posted here as a last resort.

I know it is near impossible to make a piece of software work in every setup/enviroment, but spent time trying the fixs that I knew might help, and in the end needed support. I am in business, and it just seems so wrong to be able to advertise and supply a product via download, with no support or any means to recourse if the product will not work. Although it will run on Vista, there is no audio, I have all the latest drivers installed etc. On xpit just wont run, no matter what setup/compatibility is tried.

My son is 6 nearly 7,and has always been into simulators, especially trains. His wish for Christmas was just for simulators, any sort and Auran have many in their online store.

At the end of the day, it was not an expensive purchase, and I willput it down to expierience, but I had been planning to purchase other simulator product from Auran.

Jaybee
 
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