'Keep TRS22 Forever' hoax.

Another promotional effort that doesn't exist, just like the 'free' DLC for signing up to the newsletter, or the wallpaper that was supposed to be provided to KickStarter supporters.

This time it's a little more subtle - turn off the payments system for those trying to upgrade a membership to Plus, remove the 'Submit' option for helpdesk tickets for any category other than those that are going to be ignored, and then trim back technical support so the payment system cannot be reactivated before the eligible time for the offer expires. Why am I not surprised?

Why the negativity Dan?
For a measly 69$ you get a great Simulator that gives you hours of fun daily
with more content than you can ever hope to use in the rest of your life.
I don't need TRS22 personally, full happy with my TRS19 build 100240
Yet, I support the people that made it and gave me this great Sim.

G.M. said:

Why the negativity Dan?
For a measly 69$ you get a great Simulator that gives you hours of fun daily

Click to expand...

No you can't. The payments system has been turned off. It pretends to take your money and create your membership, but it doesn't. Nothing happens. No payment, no TRS22, no 'forever'. The offer has now expired and no sign of the system being fixed.

I wondered if they had realized that the offer was costing them too much money, so they had to stop it, but that would suggest no-one had thought it through before making the offer, and surely that would not have happened, would it?

It's not a scam, existing plus members don't have to do anything other than renew before December to get to keep TRS22 irrespective of if they continue to subscribe or not.

THE KS TANE wallpapers are bottom left My Trainz here https://www.auran.com/planetauran/DownloadTANEWallpapers.php

Helpdesk: Just select General Other then Other which gets you to get to Submit a Support Ticket.

To the OP
If you have a genuine issue with something why don't you investigate and talk to N3V before you accuse them of perpetrating a hoax? I run a web store and I love when we are accused of something like this only to learn that the issue was with the user's cookies, cache, or security settings in a web browser, or any number of other things. Or maybe the payment system is down (most are 3rd party add-ons to websites) and no one has even told them. Your rush to judgment is not reasonable.

SailorDan said:

turn off the payments system for those trying to upgrade a membership to Plus

Click to expand...

I just paid for a year of Trainz Plus at 8pm local time (1pm UTC) 31 Jan, with a credit card.
It was perfectly straightforward, and the TRS22 beta download links show up in MyTrainz immediately.
My forum timeline is not updated yet but I'll give it a day or two to update since it isn't important.

nicky9499 said:

I just paid for a year of Trainz Plus at 8pm local time (1pm UTC) 31 Jan, with a credit card.
It was perfectly straightforward, and the TRS22 beta download links show up in MyTrainz immediately.
My forum timeline is not updated yet but I'll give it a day or two to update since it isn't important.

Click to expand...

Welcome to TRS22, Nicky.

You might need to log out and log back in to force the account change. I had to do that once in the past.

If you already have an annual membership any new membership won't start until it expires. The payment won't be taken while you still have an active membership. That is why the offer expires in December for those annual subscription members whose membership is still active until after the 1st February.

stagecoach said:

... That is why the offer expires in December for those annual subscription members whose membership is still active until after the 1st February.

Click to expand...

I fall into that category since my membership is renewed in late September when I'll will be curious to see what happens. Most likely I will have forgotten about it.

When TANE was finally released in boxed (DVD) format, I also got DVD copies of the other versions (North America and Europe/UK?). I never understood why and never used them either.

clam1952 said:

It's not a scam, existing plus members don't have to do anything other than renew before December to get to keep TRS22 irrespective of if they continue to subscribe or not.

Click to expand...

That's fine for existing members. Its new or re-activating members who are locked out.

clam1952 said:

HE KS TANE wallpapers are bottom left My Trainz here https://www.auran.com/planetauran/DownloadTANEWallpapers.php

Click to expand...

Many months after the release date, and only after some very pointed threats about referrals to consumer action and KickStarter, yes they did eventually appear. It should not require this effort to make them do what they promise.

clam1952 said:

Helpdesk: Just select General Other then Other which gets you to get to Submit a Support Ticket.

Click to expand...

'Other' tickets are ignored, as the comment on that page makes quite clear.

IMHO, generally speaking, the commercial policy of N3V Games is too much complicated and this is not a client-oriented behaviour.

Can I ask - why would we lock you out? Makes no sense.

To clarify:
1. There is no scam. Businesses that rely on repeat customers would not last over 20 years if they ran a scam.
2. We get dozens of help desk tickets a day, so it can't be that hard.
3. The payments system is working. You haven't mentioned why you think it's turned off, but I suspect something as simple as an expired card being entered or your bank not allowing foreign transactions.
4. New and existing customers can click on "Create Membership" > then choose annual Trainz Plus or Gold Class options. Returning customers will then get a "Confirm Update Membership" button.

If that isn't working, try the "Update Payment Method" option then retry the steps.

Please let us know how you get on.

1611mac said:

To the OP
If you have a genuine issue with something why don't you investigate and talk to N3V before you accuse them of perpetrating a hoax?

Click to expand...

Do you really think I didn't try? It is not possible to submit a support ticket under any category then 'Other', and according to the information clearly highlighted on the page that category will be ignored. I couldn't find any other contact details on the site. I have tried to purchase using two different accounts, on two different machines. I have cleared cookies and cache. I have tested the payment system on another site that appears to use the same protocol, and it worked. I have confirmed my status with the payment system provider. I have tried to reconfirm my payment details as recorded here (although AFAIK nothing has changed) and that function is also disabled. If you have any real suggestions I am happy to listen, but as the eligibility time has now expired it is a moot point.

Tony_Hilliam said:

Can I ask - why would we lock you out? Makes no sense.

To clarify:
1. There is no scam. Businesses that rely on repeat customers would not last over 20 years if they ran a scam.
2. We get dozens of help desk tickets a day, so it can't be that hard.
3. The payments system is working. You haven't mentioned why you think it's turned off, but I suspect something as simple as an expired card being entered or your bank not allowing foreign transactions.
4. New and existing customers can click on "Create Membership" > then choose annual Trainz Plus or Gold Class options. Returning customers will then get a "Confirm Update Membership" button.

If that isn't working, try the "Update Payment Method" option then retry the steps.

Please let us know how you get on.

Click to expand...

Mine is a Silver Class and I pay monthly. Why is there no Silver Class in TRS22? It's also easier for me to pay monthly than one big lump sum at some point during the year.

Tony_Hilliam said:

Can I ask - why would we lock you out? Makes no sense.

Click to expand...

I am not so vain as to assume I was singled out for special attention. The whole offer has been removed, presumably becasue you realized that it was costing you too much money.

Tony_Hilliam said:

2. We get dozens of help desk tickets a day, so it can't be that hard.

Click to expand...

I am sure you do, but they are all ignored because they can only be submitted as 'Other'. If it was easy, there would be a 'Submit' option for those categories you actually accept. Where is it?


And Yes, I was logged in.

Tony_Hilliam said:

3. The payments system is working. You haven't mentioned why you think it's turned off ...

Click to expand...

Because the option appears, it can be clicked, it reports success, and then it does nothing. There is no error message (as there would be if the system was actually trying to process the order). That indicates that the process has simply been shortcircuited in a very primitive manner.

Tony_Hilliam said:

3. ... but I suspect something as simple as an expired card being entered or your bank not allowing foreign transactions.

Click to expand...

I am not using a card, so it can't expire. This is PayPal - a facility that processes millions of transactions every day, and which can be easily tested through any number of other sites using exactly the same protocol. It was tested and is working OK for other sites.

Tony_Hilliam said:

4. New and existing customers can click on "Create Membership" > then choose annual Trainz Plus or Gold Class options. Returning customers will then get a "Confirm Update Membership" button.

Click to expand...

That part works. I even get the mesage telling me that the membership has been updated. It's the payment processing part and actual update that never happens.

Tony_Hilliam said:

If that isn't working, try the "Update Payment Method" option then retry the steps.

Click to expand...

That option is also disabled - it just sits there and does nothing. It doesn't even say that it updated successfully. That indicates that the whole system has been disconnected.

This sounds like a browser issue. You have something that's being blocked which is preventing PayPal from accessing the transaction for processing.

What browser are you using and are you using any extensions such as U-Block and or Privacy Badger, for example?

Both of these can cause this behavior and in the past on other websites including the one for my mortgage payment required me to turn that off in order for the site to work properly.

My payment from PayPal was accepted without any problem in the last week

SailorDan said:

I am not using a card, so it can't expire. This is PayPal - a facility that processes millions of transactions every day, and which can be easily tested through any number of other sites using exactly the same protocol. It was tested and is working OK for other sites.

Click to expand...

I paid the annual membership using PayPal without any problems.

That part works. I even get the mesage telling me that the membership has been updated. It's the payment processing part and actual update that never happens.


That option is also disabled - it just sits there and does nothing. It doesn't even say that it updated successfully. That indicates that the whole system has been disconnected.

Click to expand...

I had that issue on another site using PayPal. I switched to a different web browser and it worked. Later that same site worked perfectly using PayPal on the first browser. Was it the browser, was it PayPal, was it the web site? I have no idea but I now keep a second browser on "standby" when using PayPal. I have also learnt to have my Password Manager up and running before I click any link to pay using PayPal.

JCitron said:

This sounds like a browser issue.

Click to expand...

I believe I have eliminated that. If it was a browser issue then either (1) the transaction would fail because I don't complete it, and I wouldn't get the 'update successful' message, or (2) the transaction would succeed but I wouldn't know that until I looked at the account later and saw the charge listed. Neither of these things happens. Also there is no problem doing what I think is exactly the same type of transaction at other sites. I have used two different machines which likely have different browser settings (one would be completely standard) and the response is the same. This is Edge as supplied with the OS and there are no add-on privacy or security extensions.

Reports of earlier success are not relevant because I believe the feature was disabled only recently. I am now thinking that of the several dates for the end of the offer (January 15th, January 30th and February 1st) it was the earlier date that has been implemented (although that is inconsistent with the latest email).