Just DO NOT buy this overpriced junk!! Really please don't. I have many years experience as an administrator of online surveys - so in this at least I know what I'm talking about. I'm not a programmer so I need the product to work with the minimum of fuss. And I want it to do exactly what it says it will do. But:
1. There is no trial on this product and the demos on their site are rubbish. So when you see it does not work then you are too late. Money wasted - no refunds!
2. At around $90 it’s overpriced for a joomla commercial product
3. Ok it’s easy to install (like any other joomla component) but:
a. It’s very hard to edit questions;
b. It comes with a horrible, really rubbish default template that you cannot edit – you can create your own but can’t make it the default. And this default has poor English “Your survey has finished” and “Done” is its idea of a final page
c. It is extremely difficult to edit the code to get the front-end looking even half-good eg, the ‘Start’ button is in the wrong place, and it’s just text – not a good looking button at all
d. There’s no preview even though preview was an advertised feature
e. There is no ‘Back’ button so if a respondent wants to change a response then it’s too late!
f. The developers advertise it as having “beautiful front end” which is way, way wide of the truth. Even their own online demo looks cheap and ugly
g. Take a look at their forums and you’ll see similar things but although they do sometimes fix bugs they just don’t address the lack of functionality or the awful front-end look
4. They’ve known about these limitations for several months but have not written a new version – any complaints about the features, and requests for even he most basic of functions, are answered by “wait for the deluxe version”. This ‘deluxe’ version will be at extra cost and it will ONLY give what you would expect from any survey software. They’ve been promising this ‘deluxe’ version since last year but it’s not happening (and I wouldn’t buy it if it did). What they have sold as Surveyforce is just an expensive beta version of what survey software should do
5. It’s obviously been rushed to the joomla market because (then) there wasn’t anything that integrated into joomla. Its support is poor. See their own forum of unhappy customers and see how many of the problems go without answers or with a reply that says that they busy right now with [one of their other products] and it will be some time before they can deal with a particular bug.
6. One of the comments above (by j0nnnnn0) gives it a generous 4 stars but does say:
“There is still some rough edges but nothing dramatic
1. Missing the ability to use a WYSIWYG editor to customise the end user start and end screens for each survey (for instructions and thank you note)
2. A bit confusing when trying to delete User Survey data”
Nothing dramatic?! Sounds pretty important to me.
7. Another review (dimangondayao) also gives it 4 stars but says “Don't expect tech support unless you pay the $100 monthly support.” Why not expect tech support?
8. Elearningforce is a small outfit based in the Seychelles who may or may not do some good things. But Surveyforce isn’t one of them. They just don’t understand the commercial world of survey designers, nor what else is available. And they can’t look outside and see what else is available.
9. So I am using ijoomla surveys now: Easy to use, very easy to edit, preview function, loads of features, includes clear manual, looks great front-end, adding images is simple, and costs less than $50. AND it comes with a money-back guarantee - now there's confidence for you!
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