Potential New Customer With Concerns

[tatiang]

@cjb

Am I correct that the highest tier I can subscribe to on their site is the Pro plan, which is around $450 annually, and to gain access to higher-tiered plans so that I can have basic features that seem to have been arbitrarily tier-walled, like custom font uploads and not advertising for Thunkable on my paid-for app’s splash screen, means scheduling a call for a sales pitch?

I don’t work for Thunkable but I’d say you have that right.

@cjb

I love the polish and presentation of their product but I’m worried about what I perceive to be some semi-grimy sales tactics even before signing up and a sales-only focus for a product that would seem to require quite a bit of internal knowledge and support, not just salespeople.

Tech support is great if you can get it. Having a Pro or better license means that you have access to 1:1 chat with a staff member. The response time varies but I’ve always felt like the responses I get are professional and are based in strong knowledge of the product.

@cjb

I’d love to know what the paid experience is like in contrast to how it seems out here. Is it better on the inside? Is their tier-walled messaging support also subsidized to 3rd party call centers, with support largely left to the community?

Better on the inside? Yes. Subsidized support? No. See above. You’re getting access to people like @ioannis and @matt_conroy who are active on the forums. I just wish there were more of them!

I’ve been using the product intensively for a while and love it. But I’m also a very patient and forgiving person. Your mileage may vary. I’m very active on the forums and the feeling is that users provide more of the support here than staff. But staff are definitely present. You can read my recent concerns here: Download to iOS feature needed & Customer service feedback

I left a developer community like this a few years ago because they had:

1. A great product that needed some tweaks and bug fixes
2. Expert staff available to customers
3. A failure to communicate in a timely or transparent way with users

I do feel Thunkable is suffering from some of those aspects although they are much better than the community I left. I think there’s huge potential for this product – I’m also a teacher – but I’m not sure where the breakdown is. These people are talented and good communicators 1-on-1 but there is not currently enough communication or evidence of customer care on the forums and on GitHub. Would I recommend Thunkable? Yes… with caveats.

[Side note:] The company/community I left for Thunkable at one point realized #3 was an issue and hired someone whose sole responsibility was to respond to customers on the forums. It was a huge improvement in terms of how customers felt about the product and the company. That person lasted about a year and after they left the company, the community went back to being nearly silent and customers’ complaints increased steadily after that. A lot of veteran users started leaving. There’s a lesson to be learned there!