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JDJ: I run a site based on the GeoCore software. I've paid for support recently, put in support tickets and they've not been answered. I've also tried the contact forms, again with no response. I've got a current license and I find that sometimes I can post on the support forum at Geodesicsolutions.com and sometimes I can't. Does anybody have any idea what's going on? They're still taking money via Paypal but communication seems absent.
Jay: I used to run five websites on GeoCore software by GeoDesic Solutions. The last time I updated the software was at the end of 2017 (17.12.0). They put out an update in early 2018 (18.2.0). Towards the end of 2018, I began getting suspicious about them not offering updates anymore so I checked into the situation on their forum. I began reading posts from other members about how GeoDesic Solutions was out of business. I was horrified by this news because I had never even considered that this would happen. I contact GeoDesic directly by email through
support@geodesicsolutions.com and did receive a return email.
Here's what I wrote to them on September 20, 2018:
ME:
I was reading through the forum and noticed a few posts regarding support and updates, so I wanted to check in for myself. Is there an update on the horizon?
This is what I got back on September 20, 2018:
THEM: Sorry for the tardiness of our response as our spbas (support crm) was not working due to an odd issue....read at bottom if you like.
We are building a release to go out in the next few weeks. We have had a time recreating the Facebook login feature. We are rewriting to use the latest version of their api. There will a couple other features and a few "php v7 fixes" included.
We have an odd situation we never envisioned having. Let me explain...We have used a business automation software called SPBAS for over a decade for our shopping cart and support CRM needs. That software is licensed and whenever we as an admin log into the admin tool for it (to do various shopping cart manipulations and manage our support email queue) that software checks our license key against the main license management software/site for that software. That software is at spbas.com. Unfortunately, at the moment that site is down. We've never had issues with the software at all over our decade of using it but suddenly our license can't validate...and consequently, we cannot get into the admin tool for that software to process our support queue or make manual changes within our shopping cart. We've been forced to investigate why their site is down. Come to find out they are based in Wilmington, North Carolina who have seen over 30 inches of rain in the last several days. By many reports, Wilmington has had no power for several days and cutoff from the outside world literally for a few of those days which is coincidentally the same time we've had issues with our SPBAS software. SPBAS is a smaller private company like ours and hope nothing has permanently affected SPBAS or it's employees but understandably cannot get ahold of anyone to handle our licensing issues.
I have no idea why they decided to write this response to me. Apparently, their last programmer was laid off because the company ran out of money to pay him. You can read about this on their forum. As far as I know, there's no one at the company to do any programming right now and that's why there have been no updates. Someone on the forum also claimed that one of the owners is in jail or has been deployed in the military. I have no idea what's true. All I know is that I abandoned the software in early 2019 and switched over to something new. I highly recommend
XenForo. Yes, even for classifieds. I write about that a lot here in this forum and their support and community are excellent. Very vibrant life over there.
How long have you been running GeoCore? Have you tried emailing
support@geodesicsolutions.com directly? I hate to say this, but I think support is non-existent. If I were you, I wouldn't expect to get any. They haven't emailed people back in years.
I hope this helps.
JDJ: I've been running Geocore software since 2002 and yes, I've tried emailing
support@geodesicsolutions.com directly. What's very odd is that the geodesicsolutions.com site is still up and running (and using the SPBAS software), you can still pay for downloads or pay for support via Paypal and Paypal will take the money from your account. Somebody has posted on the forum recently to say that he purchased downloads, downloaded the software and got it to work. However, I've had a licence for years and nobody is answering any support tickets, even if you pay for support. I can only post on the forum some of the time for some reason, I've no idea why; some of the time I get a response from the forum saying I'm not a licensed customer but I've got a purchased licence, I've paid for support and I've recently paid to extend download access to see if that makes any difference. Nothing seems to make any difference.
Jay: Okay, gotcha. I was under the impression that you were a brand new buyer of the software. You've actually been a customer longer than I have. I've been with them since 2004.
A while ago, I read on their forum that they were hacked or something or had some hard drive problems which were screwing with their payment processing systems. That's all been taken care of and now they can take people's money again, obviously. I guess that doesn't mean that anyone is there to answer support tickets.
I was just reading this message from Matt, their previous programmer:
Hey Guys,
There's not much of a delicate way to put this, so I'll just toss it out there: owning to a lack of funds with which to pay my salary, my position as Lead Developer of Geodesic Solutions no longer exists, effective immediately.
It's been a great 10+ years with the company, over which time it has been my honor to serve you all as best I could, but it's now time for me to move on.
I've pushed out a maintenance release (18.02.0) that closes up a couple of outstanding issues, and left James and Rob with the tools they need to continue making adjustments as they can.
Thanks for a good run -- best of luck in wherever life takes you all!
What a shame. Such good software while it was supported. I'm not sure what to tell you. I think they gave up on support and are merely selling the software itself as well as upgrades (up until 18.2.0). I honestly don't think anyone is going to answer.
JDJ: "....merely selling the software itself"?....perhaps they are. But the website advertises support with the software. And if you purchase support and don't get it, that's breach of contract. I'm UK based and if you did that in the UK you'd probably be prosecuted.
Jay: I 100% agree with you. They are taking money from people and are not giving the people the product they paid for. I suspect most long-time customers have abandoned GeoDesic for this reason. There is no use in continuing to contribute to a company that doesn't give you what you pay for. Plus, they may decide to turn the lights out one day. What then? A bunch of people are going to have licenses they can do nothing with.
JDJ: Sorry, that was a mistake earlier...I've been with them since 2012. I have a purchased licence.
I'm not obsessed with software being free. But if you pay for support you expect to get it; it's explicit on the website you buy Premium Support. It's even listed on the Paypal invoice.
I've just submitted a charge-back request to the Paypal Resolution centre to get back the money for the support I didn't get. I've also sent an email to the
contact@geodesicsolutions.com email address (which is the one the Paypal funds go to). We'll see if the request for a chargeback gets any kind of response. If they're still taking money then there must be a human being on the end of the Paypal account.
I wouldn't really mind if somebody came back and said "...sorry, we are having a problem but we're doing our best". But no communication at all is bizarre.
Jay: I completely agree with you. I think you made the right decision. If you're not going to get what you paid for, then try to get the money back. And we know someone is at the other end of these emails, so I'm guessing you won't get much of an argument. That's pretty bad that they took your money and then offer no support.
Have you heard anything back yet? I'm wondering if they gave you a hassle about giving your money back or at least replied to your email.
JDJ: I've heard nothing at all. You have to wait a certain amount of time before you can escalate things to Paypal so I don't know whether I'll get my money back yet but I've heard nothing at all from Geodesic. No answer to the support tickets, no answer from the Geodesic Paypal email address, no answers from any of the Geodesic contact forms. The reason I paid for (1) support and then (2) downloads was because I asssumed that there might be some kind of automated block preventing my support tickets from being flagged up if I didn't have a current subscription (not that I should have to pay for downloads because I'm already on the latest version and have a lifetime license). However, renewing both made no difference and not only that, often when I logged in and put in a ticket I would get an automated message flag up saying "failed to validate" even though the site was telling me that my subscription was current. So it's really bizarre. It's like they've left the site there running but with no people behind it...it's like the Marie Celeste.
Jay: I feel for you. This type of situation is maddening. There's got to be someone receiving those emails because they've had the site fixed when it was hacked a little while ago. They also hired back one of their previous programmers (Jonyo) to do some work a few months ago. So they really are getting the emails, but choosing to ignore them. What a horrible experience. I honestly have no idea why anyone would continue to take money from people like this. That's pretty gutsy.
JDJ: I totally understand why Geodesic don't answer emails; I get way too many. What I don't get is that they don't answer emails, support tickets or their contact form from people that have actually bought and given them *money*. And I also don't get why when you have updated your subscriptions, checked that the system recognises that you are a paying customer and has updated that field, but your support tickets fail to validate. And they don't reply to any form of contact.
I'll see what happens with Paypal.
Jay: Well, if you wouldn't mind keeping me updated here, I'd be curious to see how this all plays out, as would others who are in the same position, I'm assuming. Good luck.
Alex: Hello all. I have bought a Geodesic Solutions software. And that has save error. Support from company geodesic solutions unfortunately does not answer. I used to use the old version and ran a parr years . But now the new version has an error in it. Please who knows how to help me?
Thanks,
Alex
Jay: Hi - what kind of error are you getting? When did you purchase this license of Geo?
Alex: Hello - I bought 15 days ago. When you click on sell, the page is not accessible. When new user registered after login the page shows only logo. Thanks, Alex
In admin area, the item manager is not available.
Jay: I wonder if you are having some sort of template issue. Have you modified the templates at all? Also, I wouldn't expect any support from Geodesic Solutions. They haven't offered support for years, yet they continue to take money from people for that service. I would advise you to contact Paypal or whomever you purchased the additional support through to get your money back.
Alex: I have switched on Paypal get my money back. Used to have very good software.
Jay: I would personally get my money back and switch to another software provider. It's not worth the risk to continue use of Geodesic Solutions classifieds and auction software. I believe their most recent update was in early 2018. Eventually, it won't work anymore and you'll have no support. Unless you're a PHP and MySQL programmer and database admin and you can do the work yourself, go with something else.
Alex: Can you recommend other software?
Jay: For classifieds, many people are now using forum software. They just customize it for classifieds. Try out XenForo. They're one of the best and not too expensive.
https://xenforo.com/
Alex: Hello. Thanks a lot., I have looked at XenForo software. It is very good. Do you know this company?
https://axisitp.com/de/price-comparison-script.php
I am also looking for price comparison software. Thanks.
Jay: Hi - I have never heard of the company you referenced. I haven't ever used price comparison software before. I have used XenForo though and I like it a lot. You are using it right now.
Vicos: As of today, their domain has expired and most admin main pages are probably being polluted with a mess of HTML code.
There used to be a guy in their forums who wrote mods for the software who said to contact him in the event this ever happened as he new the way to ensure the software kept running. I never got his contact info and the forums are gone. Any ideas?
Jay: His username was "Jonyo" and his name is Jonathan Foote. Their most recent developer was named Matt Nelson. I tried to look Matt up, but couldn't find anything on him. He's out there though. Here's some information on Jonathan:
https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.r.foote
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanrfoote/
Let me know what happens.
Vicos: Did anyone ever get the promised master software key that Rob --- the owner --- promised licensees would get if the day ever came that they closed up shop?
Are you still running the code?
My problem is that I am stuck on an old version and need to upgrade.
Jay: If I had to guess, no one got the key. I'm not even sure who was running the company or server for the past few years. For all anyone knows, someone could have bought them up, ran things into the ground, and then closed shop. It's a mystery. There was absolutely no support, Geo was taking customers' money for premium support and then not giving them anything, and the software upgrades stopped. It was nearly impossible to track down who was keeping the server on too. It really is mind boggling. At the very least, they could have offered the code to the users and let them keep it going. To just shut down like this is very dishonorable.
To answer your question, no, I haven't used Geo since 2019. Let me know what you find out if you do any digging.
1kiwi1: Hi all. Firstly, good work@ JGaulard on keeping your forum first page at Google for Geodesic Solutions info. I'm not sure I've met you on the Geo forum - maybe I have. I'm 1kiwi1 on there, a third party developer in New Zealand for Geo software, however I've put the tools down for now given other pursuits. I have successfully bypassed the license server on a development script but cannot release that as yet. Anyway a number of members (Lui, Snappy, firstads, etc) are on the forum over at forum.geolancer.net. If any want to catch up, share info or ask script questions on there they can. We've constructed it like the old Geodesic forum. Geo may have renewed their domain, but at this stage it doesn't look promising. Just to answer some of your questions around the software licensing server and access. Yes Jonyo did say to get hold of him in the unlikely event Geo's licensing server went down. He may have access to either a special key or a decoded developers script. Jonyo's available at liloconsulting.com. I'm also friends with Matt Nelson on Facebook, however I don't think he'd be doing much given his move away from Geo way-back. There's also blufyremedia.com, geomodules.com and a few others who are still developing. I've heard different feedback as to how responsive they are at the moment.Thanks.
Jay: Hi there! Yes, I do recall seeing you on the Geo forums. I never contributed much, but I was a long time user of their software. Since 2004/2005, as a matter of fact. I wish I was able to offer more in the way of coding and all that, but I'm not sure I was ever good enough to consider myself an authority. Anyway, thank you for the resources - I'm sure others will appreciate them while trying to navigate this mess.
705jas: With the Geodesic domain going west, what implications does this have for sites currently running this software? Will they continue to function....? Thanks.
Jay: Not quite sure as I don't run the software anymore. Would be nice to get some input from those who have sites currently up and running. Are they still up? Any errors?
705jas: Currently, my site (3k + members) is working as normal but of course, links to any documentation is gone! Does anyone have a way of accessing doco? Ironically I went to Geodesic 6 years ago after my previous software supplier disappeared without a trace......
1kiwi1: Hi, yes a number of us have reached out to the Geocore founders in various ways to no avail. We have a thread up at forum.geolancer.net which basically paves a way forward. I've installed a development geosite on php7.4, doesn't use ioncube or the license server (which is now defunct). The internal proprietary files could now be considered legacy code serving no purpose, yet still hinder customers using their own parts of the software. Suggestion is to keep ioncube to obfuscate our investment in a limited way while reworking proprietary parts to work for us. We've accomplished most of that already. Thanks.
James2020: Hi Alex, can i have the copy you have? I’m unable to contact Geo. Their domain is expired. I cannot access to client panel to download. BTW If I can fix the error, I will let you know. Thanks.
705jas: Hi All, Flynax can import all my accounts and adverts etc and do a "live" change over. I cant wait any longer just hoping my GeoCore site won't die. I'm outta here! Good luck to all.
cheers....Allan
Jay: That's very good news and a wise decision.
Codemiles: Any updates please on this? Is a script for this migration between the two software?
Graham: It would be great to have a little more info on what is involved to build a new site on Flynax and move the Geodesic database / adverts / registrations / passwords etc over.
My website motorsportauctions.com has 6,500 registered users and at any one time about 3,000 live adverts.
Graham
1kiwi1: Just an FYI. We at forum.geolancer.net and geolancer.net (3rd Party Developer) have nearly completed updating the geodesicsolutions script for compatibity with php7.4 to php8 which is more dependent on Smarty bringing their latest versions up to php8 compatibility. Changelog includes latest Smarty, Adodb libraries etc. We have eliminated the licensing server and ioncube dependency. If people still want ioncube it may be run encrypted. Thanks.
Codemiles: Are you saying "No Encrypted code anymore or dependency on license validation?"
1kiwi1: Licensee's can use their site with or without ioncube, that has always been an option. Because Geo's server went "MIA", there are now a few unlock options provided by a handful of developers. The important take away is that geocore will run on php8, and from there we will expand features. Thanks.
Jay: The folks at Flynax sent this into us:
Hello Guys,
We were really surprised to learn that the Geodesic Company no longer provides supports to their customers and that their classifieds website is gone. This is really frustrating. Of course, nothing lasts forever. We believe they could have let their customers know about their decision to go out of the business, just out of courtesy.
We know that it is not that easy to move to another script especially if you run a classified site with a custom design and functionality. Anyway, Flynax Company offers to all Geodesic customers to switch over to our classified script, which offers the same functionality and even more. Actually, we're quite experienced in importing Geodesic DBs to Flynax. So if you take interest in Flynax as a Geodesic alternative then email us at
sales@flynax.com and we'll see what we can do for you.
Vicos: I just conversed with one of the prior devs on FB the other day. He confirmed that you can not upgrade from an old version to a newer one w/o the license server working (my situation). He also advised that he had an unlocked version of the code that he wants to release to users. However, he won't do so w/o the owner's permission; in case they sell the product to someone else. Problem is, the owner(s) stopped responding to anyone some time ago.
I told him that if he would give me the owners name and town of residence, I would be happy to send him a nice registered letter asking him to please help his customers (registered only as proof of receipt). Anyway, at this point the dev ghosted me.
I'll take @1kiwi1 lead and check over there for further assistance.
So happy this thread exists as a rallying point.
P.S. Is this the company?:
https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/bedford/profile/computer-hardware/geodesic-solutions-llc-0825-235965903
I remember them being in Texas, but not sure if that was the town.
Jay: Here, I pulled this off the WayBackMachine for you. It's Geo's about page from March of 2016.
Vicos: Yes, I remember that page and those names. Rob was the one who posted in the forums that they weren't going anywhere and if they did, they had plans to release the "key" to users. The name on the BBB site is completely different. Hmmm.
Abcdweb: Hello - I am having issue with the Geocore Max. All of the information I provided is accurate from the invoice, but the license key still didn't activate.
Jay: That might be because their website is dead. It's been offline for a while now (months). FYI - I actually just noticed that the domain is now pointing to some random website. My keen observation leads me to suspect someone bought it. The domain, that is.
Abcdweb: So there is no solution? I checked the WHOIS for the domain attached. Regarding activation, I could hire some developers to crack the software online activation.
Jay: If you read through some of the previous posts in this thread, I think you'll find some information on what to do in your situation. There are developers you can hire as well as other options.
Abcdweb:
https://www.whoxy.com/geodesicsolutions.com#history
I did read. I couldn't find freelancer - even the geomodules website is not working (the developer who had some plugins for the software). How can I fix the server activation?
1kiwi1: Visit
forum.geolancer.net. As one of the original geocore 3rd party developers, we can fix this problem.
Abcdweb: I did register in the forum a long time ago, but not approved. The last time was 3 days ago, but still no response.
1kiwi1: Hi all, just a brief update. The Geodesicsolutions software was originally sold with licensing restrictions in place. In 2021 the company officially closed, confirmed via one of the owners. That owner also gave permission to use the software since the company was closed. Since there was still interest in the software, a community was formed to maintain and bring the software forward.
https://geodesicsolutions.org/ was created to maintain and open source the version of software. That site is run by a former employee and developer by the community name Jonyo. You can now find the wiki for the software at
https://geodesicsolutions.org/wiki/, the open source script at
https://github.com/geodesicsolutions-community/geocore-community/, the main forum for the community at
http://forum.geolancer.net/. In summary the script is now open sourced under MIT, there are no license server dependencies, no ioncube encryption. The script will initially be made compatible for php7.2.24, with updated dependent libraries. If you need more info, would like to help out or use the script for free, please visit the links herein.
Abcdweb: Kiwi - thank you very much!!!
1kiwi1: You're welcome. Slight correction above; it is updated to php7.4.24, thanks!
Vicos: Wow! you guys are awesome. Thank you very much!
There is a new Facebook Page for the GeoCore Community Edition (CE):
https://www.facebook.com/GeoCoreCE
Trying to get the word out to all current users of the software so they are aware that there is a solution to their problem.
UPDATE:
Geolancer.net abruptly shut down his forum, taking lots of good data with it. In any case, the place for conversations related to the new GeoCore Community Edition (CE) is now at the official Github discussion area:
https://github.com/geodesicsolutions-community/geocore-community/discussions
Announcements will also be posted to the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/GeoCoreCE
