My brother and his girlfriend have asked me to help them create a targeted online auction website. I was happy to help and had remembered one of my ex-bandmates was also running a similar project. Since I didn’t want to build the software from scratch, (as that would have taken a very long time) I decided to look at my ex-bandmates website to see what software he was running. Low and behold, its PHPProBid.

I began investigating the software and saw a lot of very good reviews. I tried the demo online and noticed its more than just bidding software, but a fully functional CMS. I looked at some of the other options out there and they did not compare, in my opinion, to the PHPProBid software. The only knock on it was the price. ~$250. What happened to open source?

So, my brother finally decided to go forward with the purchase and this is where the fun begins.

Day 1 (Sat. May 31, 2008):

Log onto the phpprobid.com website to buy the software, the website is down. Ok, we’ll check back later.

Check back a few hours later, website it still down…. the website remained down all day. Weird, must be having server issues.

Day 2 (Sun. Jun 1, 2008):

Website still down… all day… must be doing weekend updates.

Day 3 (Mon. Jun 2, 2008):

Ok, it’s monday. The server should be up by now. I don’t think they want to be losing sales during the work week. Log on… still down. I searched on the forums and one person started complaining about the server being down. Turns out, this person actually has hosting through them as well. The PHPProBid packages include hosting and design. Looks like they’re hosting their clients with the same host as their main site. I would hate to have an auction site that was down ALL WEEKEND! No telling how many people were affected by this.

Later that night, the server is up! Ok, great! Well, my brother is unavailable to purchase it that night, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Day 4 (Tue. Jun 3, 2008):

Log on to website in the afternoon, it’s down again! Amazing that this is continuing at this point. Checked out the same forum post and now a lot more people are complaining.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?p=5144713

Logged on later that day, the site is up, my brother’s available! Excellent!

We finally begin the purchasing process. The process could be smoother. Everything is in GBP and there’s a message saying to select USD when you reach the final purchase page, though it appears no such option exists. The purchase is done through paypal and a message is sent asking us to allow 20 mins. before logging in for account activation.

20, 30, 90, 120 mins. later, no activation. We would be unable to login to the client area to download the software that day. The journey continues.

Day 5 (Wed. Jun 4, 2008):

The morning of the 4th, I try to login to the client area and I receive the same 20 min. activation message. Clearly something is going on over there. Probably putting out fires with the angry clients they are providing hosting for. I would be more sympathetic, but I’m wondering why the ordering process is not automated. Considering they created a very large online auction/CMS/ad serving system for their customers, why haven’t they devoted more resources to automating the money collection process for their customers AND themselves?

I try logging in again later that day and eureka! I’m able to log in to the client area. Here I find some icons guiding me to other services as well as a download area for the software itself. Once I access that area, I find 4 options. ionCube encoded zip or exe or Zend encoded zip or exe. Great, now they’re encoded! I wasn’t looking forward to trying to install the decoders needed for this on my server and I’m hoping they already exist. Not to mention, I was hoping the source would be available so I could customize the site if needed.

Once I download the Zend encoded version, I begin installing it on my localhost for development purposes. I reach the point of activation and I suspect they have a system in place to only allow for single activation per license. Since I’m only using this copy for development I figure it wouldn’t be a problem to activate it twice, if needed. So, I log in to the client area again to check the forums and see if this is allowed.

The forums, http://www.phpprobidforum.com, requires an account. So, I sign up and wait for the confirmation email. No such email arrives. I check for the rest of the day with no luck.

I decide to just install the software on my brother’s site and activate it there and figure the development part out later. The installation was pretty simple, so I was gaining confidence. I finish the install and go to the index page and I receive an error: “The file [...] has been encoded with the ionCube PHP Encoder and requires the free ionCube PHP Loader to be installed.” ionCube? I downloaded the Zend encoded version. The zip file said it was the Zend version, why is this the ionCube version? Just another hurdle in this insane process.

Ok, I check my server’s forums and it turns out getting ionCube installed is pretty straightforward. So, I finish that process and low and behold, we’re up and running!! Excellent!

Day 6 (Thurs. Jun. 5 2008):

At 8:12pm I receive an email from phpprobidforum telling me my membership requires activation. The activation email has FINALLY arrived!! I have used and developed websites that require user account activation to validate user emails and that system was automated as well. Why did it take 36 hours to receive this email? Is this system manual as well? Either way, I’m thrilled that I can finally find out whether or not I’m allowed to use the same license for development on my localhost!

I click the activation link, log into the system and then… the straw that broke the camels back and the deciding factor on the existence of this post. I am informed by the site that my activation is complete and I’ve been placed in a moderation queue before I can access the site. Enough is enough PHPProBid! Moderation queue? What is that? What kind of safe guarded secrets are being kept on the PHPProBid forums that do not allow their own validated clients get very basic, simple, needed information in due time? Are there nuclear weapon schematics being housed there? Maybe the PHPProBid founders medical records? I’m stunned!

At 11:41pm I receive a duplicate email asking me to activate my account. I try it again and I receive the same ridiculous message. I would remain in the “moderation queue” for the remainder of the night.

Day 7 (Fri. Jun. 6, 2008):

I am still unable to log in to the forums. Message is as follows:

[USERNAME], you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else’s post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

The journey continues.

Final Thoughts

I am shocked that in the Web 2.0 universe we now live in that this kind of disregard for basic customer relationship management has reached this level. I have never had such a hard time giving someone money and receiving resources for that money on the Internet, ever! Just because a website looks professional, it doesn’t mean it’s handled BY professionals. PHPProBid desperately needs some customer service people, other ways of receiving support, and automated systems to streamline the purchasing process.

I understand we are at the mercy of technology, but in this case, the security measures to protect their software and resources has gone above and beyond the initial problems with their web server being down.

I will report later on the success of the software and whether or not I’m actually given permission to view the PHPProBid forum.

What kind of world do we live in when a 78 year-old man gets hit by a car during a hit and run and it takes almost 2 mins. for anyone to come to the man’s aid? Sadly, it took a cop who was responding to another call to drive by, see the injured man, and dispatch an ambulance to the scene. You mean to tell me that in the world of mass communications, cell phones, internet, satellites, all people could do is just stand around and watch this guy die right in front of them? I weep for the future.