The Ongoing Wix Support Saga

This has been my feelings towards Wix since May 2019.

While I was attending the Wix Web Developer's Convention in New Orleans, May 2019 - Wix rolled out a bunch of new changes.

My client websites were down. Server errors everwhere. But it's all good, right? Things like that happen. Growing pains, if you will... right?

2 weeks later in June 2019, the new Partner program began giving off hints it was to be more than a name change or prestigious upgrades of our titles. I was nervous. My internal red flags were going off, bail, bail, bail!

By August 2019, all of our sites ratings were dropping on Google.

I noticed Wix was injecting their Metacode (SEO) into our websites before our own. Thus raising their Google ranking but not ours. Imagine the onslaught of messages Google received from those millions of gaudy unfinished free websites... all linking back to Wix with their very own SEO in the code. Wow...

Features were being separated from regular hosting and suddenly everything was insanely expensive, oh but that was just the beginning... Disaster SEO and constant bugs, like these reviews on WixSEOHaters below.

I was out. I know when to jump ship, I scrambled to pull my site and gave my clients the option to go with me.

Hundreds of shocked Partners posted one after the other regarding the disasters that were happening.

Still Wix was chipper and upbeat, "It's all good news y'all! We're going places we've never been! We're making things better for our Partners!"

Meanwhile, Google Lighthouse ratings for Wix websites continued to plummet. Forget 80 out of 100. Now each site was averaging 2-8 out of 100 for server response and speed. SEO was receiving high ratings, but not for the website owner - FOR WIX. Remember Wix was inserting their metacode? Yeah..

The new partner program was as I expected, PAID. You have to pay Wix to play. I don't pay to play unless it's a freakin' good game.

They added a new feature, agency hosting. The cost was $500 a month. Fast forward a few months, the agency plan never really took off as a lot of Partners couldn't or wouldn't afford it because who pays to receive clients? MLMs are the only ones I know of. So Wix now requires all Wix Partners (who bring them a lot of business) to maintain a minimum of 20 Premium hosting plans a month. Which is... calculate with me... about $500. a month.

In the Partners group there are over 4,000 members. Think about how much money those partners are bringing Wix by developing websites for customers. And then THINK about how much money Wix wants off those partners on TOP of the premium plans and add-on apps their customers are already paying. Basically, Wix wanted an extra piece of pie and they figured out how to get it. By giving developers what seemed like an achievement title, then charging them to participate.

Additionally, Partners weren't receiving the same plan pricing as other clients. You'd think we'd get a special discount right? No.

Professional Web developer's hosting rates were 3 times higher for Partners than they were for a client with one website. Partners were slowly surprised to discover that while our rates had been steadily climbing, small one-website users were still given the same low rate of $5 to $7. per month. So Wix was already charging their Partners (previously titled Experts) more than they were their non-professional customers. I had friends who's websites were $4 to 7. a month, whereas my least expensive, bottom of the line hosting in 2019 was $23. per month. The more clients I had on my Wix dashboard, the higher my monthly hosting. It was senseless. Many Wix clients had previously attempted to build their own website because, the ads said they could of course so why not! And they had been charged $7.50 a month only to realize they could not build their own site because they are not a web developer so they hire a Partner / Expert and were outraged at the monthly hosting cost. Partners were reporting that clients were accusing them of thievery from the hosting fees. But what the client didn't know was that Wix was charging Partners more...

The more sites you had on Wix (like my 79 sites), the higher the rate for each website. Essentially punishing the loyal achiever who brought Wix more business. At the time I stopped building new sites for Wix, my personal, customized special rate from Wix was $27. per month PER SITE. And now it's even higher and it blows my mind...

On top of poor server performance and high prices, all of our clients experienced glitch after glitch. Like this random one affecting my client after Wix rolled out a gallery update:

None of these glitchers were resolved on their own with a software update... no. Each time something broke which was weekly - we all had to go back to our editors and repair the sites. When you're a developer and you have sites on multiple platforms but the majority on Wix due to your client's lure of free and easy... well, you're finding yourself fixing Wix websites over and over and over again rather than bringing in new business. None of my other platforms had become high maintenance or were losing me or my clients money. Just Wix. And something had to give.

So I first moved my site. Then I slowly moved all of my annually hosted and maintained clients. And they were happy to move. Their sites went from toilet ranking on Google to speedy loading with better visitor retention.

In Spring 2020, Wix announced they would start, "allowing" Partners to take on the role of Wix Support. Free support.... tech support for broken things Wix needs to fix. Not websites for our own clients but anyone and everyone. In other words? Wix was cutting tech support and trying to replace it with the knowledge and expertise of the developers who bring THEM business, all while charging these same developers triple everyone else and.. that wonderful Arena / Marketplace where Wix Developers used to find business? In order to be part of it, Wix also announced at that same time that the new requirement was 20 Premium (not basic plans but premium) hosting plans PER month. I won't do that to my clients. Server errors, downtime, poor rankings, poor speed, poor ratings, crippled SEO... no, I won't sell my Wix price-bloated under-performing hosting to my clients, they deserve better.

Here's the absolutely nutty and frustrating transcript of my last Wix Support ticket, (for all I know I received free help from a bunch of web developer's who don't actually know how to fix anything on the backend of Wix).

I requested Wix Support change my email address since their system did not automatically apply the changes across all services. But they couldn't even change an email address. This should be an EASY doable process, as a database admin, you open the account and change or reset the email address...

It took them one month of nonsense responses to do a complete 360 with zero results. Keep in mind, email changes on the backend of an account profile have been a capability since the 90's... the NINETIES.

Hi,

First, I should mention I am able to login to my dashboard using my new email address. I have zero issues with it. So the login email can be changed for the dashboard.

The only problem I am having is not being able to access the forum. At this point:

· I am not receiving any Leads any more, I was receiving at least 5 a day.

· I've been in communication with Support over this since early March.

· And I have too many client sites that are at risk if anything should go wrong from here.

I did as you requested - "resetting your Wix.com password for ***** and see if you can use that password to login to the forum using the ***** email."

It did not work.

And I am now giving up. I do not want any more help with this as I feel it is obviously outside of Wix's scope of abilities.

I have client's websites that need to be maintained and accessed.

Please CLOSE this ticket.

Thanks.

On Thu, Apr 9, 2020 at 3:54 PM Wix Support <notifications@wixanswers.com> wrote:

---Please reply above this line---

Cookie (Wix Support)

April 9, 2020 4:54 PM (UTC-04:00)

Hi,

I am Cookie from the Quality Assurance department at Wix.com. I am currently investigating the issue you are experiencing with logging into the Partner Forum.

I do see both accounts in the backend.

The original under the email ***** and the new one under the email *****.

You are, in fact, expected to log in to the ***** one for the original account. I do understand that you attempted to reset the password for it and it still did not function. I need you to try resetting your Wix.com password for ***** and see if you can use that password to login to the forum using the ***** email. I want to confirm that we are not having a syncing issue with your identity as a Wix account and a forum member.

Please let us know the results of the above.

Best,

Cookie
QA at Wix

Conversation history

Joseph (Wix Support)

April 7, 2020 9:32 AM (UTC-04:00)

Hello Erin,

Thank you for contacting Wix Support! We appreciate the time taken to share your experience with us.

To better assist you with the Partners Forum, I will share your experience to the relevant department. That way, they can further investigate the issue regarding the login.

Once we have more information, we will contact you via email to share an update and guidance on the matter.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Should you have additional questions, feel free to reply to this message. We're here to help!

Stay Safe and Best Wishes,

Joseph | Wix Support

TNW Creations

April 6, 2020 11:54 AM (UTC-04:00)

That was a bad idea.

I just tried logging in with Google like you asked, but all it did was create a new profile for me. Like I suspected it would.

So now I have two profiles on the forum. And none of the history, videos, posts, etc are associated to my account.

Here is my old account profile on the forum that I have been trying to get Wix to change the email address (just the email address) for over a month.

https://community.wix.com/partners/profile/c6147d25-ddb0-48c3-b387-0b2b2d9ad545/profile

And here is the brand new profile that was auto-created by using Google to login:

https://community.wix.com/partners/profile/creationstnw/profile

Would you explain, is it not possible to change an email address on an account? This boggles my mind. This simple process was even possible back in the 90's.

Frustrated.

Erin Q. | CEO & Lead Web Developer

TNW Creations, LLC. Media Publishing
Austin, Texas 78741

Website:

Facebook:

Instagram:

HOURS:

www.tnwcreations.com
https://www.facebook.com/tnwhome
https://instagram.com/tnwcreations
M, W, F 9AM-5PM, Closed between 11AM-12PM
T & TR 2PM-5PM

February 2020 TNW Creations was featured on MotoCMS Web Software

Professional Web Developer & Clean Energy Web Host – development, maintenance,

Advanced SEO, app installation, mobile optimization, technical support, and more.
** Attention Clients: All updates must be allowed a 3 business day notice.

Harvey (Wix Support)

April 6, 2020 9:19 AM (UTC-04:00)

Hi Erin,

Again thank you for your patience, Have you tried logging in with google ?

Best,

Harvey

Wix Support

TNW Creations

April 3, 2020 10:40 AM (UTC-04:00)

Hey guys,

I just tried the forum again. This time I was able to reset my password for the old email address but couldn't login. Same issue.

I received your update from 10 days ago (wow, time goes fast in quarantine!). And I hadn't heard back.

How are we as far as resolution? Any update?

Are you unable to edit my profile to use the new email address (the one I'm sending from now)?

Are you able to create a new profile and transfer my posts, profile edits to it?

Thanks for the help. I see Brett (Haralson) posting and I'd love to participate.

Erin

Harvey (Wix Support)

March 24, 2020 11:12 AM (UTC-04:00)

Hi Erin. We are still investigating.

Harvey (Wix Support)

March 23, 2020 8:48 AM (UTC-04:00)

Hello Erin. Thank you for your patience on this issue. Thank you for providing the video. I will follow up shortly.

TNW Creations

March 20, 2020 5:03 PM (UTC-04:00)

Here's a screen capture, it will be easier to see what is happening.

In the video you will see me:

1. Show you I'm using your link,

2. Try my new email address but the database rejects it.

3. Try to reset the password for my new email address but receive the error the email address is not found.

4. Try the old email and password. No bueno.

5. Reset the password for the old email address successfully - HOWEVER,

The new password never works. I've tried multiple times.

It's obvious, the forum database is separate from the Wix editor user database. And the forum still has the old email address under my forum profile.

So it needs to be updated to the new email address.

Here is what I need from support -

Please just change my email address on my forum account, it should be:

*****

At that point, I should be able to reset my password and login.

Thanks in advance, hope things are less crazy where you are. It's nuts here. No groceries or supplies in the State Capital. :(

Erin Q. | CEO & Lead Web Developer

TNW Creations, LLC. Media Publishing
Austin, Texas 78741

Website:

Facebook:

Instagram:

HOURS:

www.tnwcreations.com
https://www.facebook.com/tnwhome
https://instagram.com/tnwcreations
M, W, F 9AM-5PM, Closed between 11AM-12PM
T & TR 2PM-5PM

February 2020 TNW Creations was featured on MotoCMS Web Software

Professional Web Developer & Clean Energy Web Host – development, maintenance,

Advanced SEO, app installation, mobile optimization, technical support, and more.
** Attention Clients: All updates must be allowed a 3 business day notice.

Harvey (Wix Support)

March 20, 2020 4:29 PM (UTC-04:00)

Good Afternoon,

Can you take a screenshot of what happens after signing in to this link HERE.

Cory (Wix Support)

March 18, 2020 4:36 PM (UTC-04:00)

Hi,

We have forwarded the information to the relevant department, and they are investigating this matter.

We will contact you once we have feedback.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Feel free to reach out if you need any further assistance

Have a good day!

Cory, Wix Guru

TNW Creations

March 18, 2020 4:12 PM (UTC-04:00)

Account & Site Settings - Unable to log in

WixBot Conversation Log:

Bot: Hi For support, please choose a topic or type an issue description below.

User: Account & Site Settings

Bot: Got it, please choose a topic to continue.

User: Unable to log in

Bot: I can help get you logged in. Can you tell me a little more about the issue?

User: It's something else

Bot: I'll connect you with a support agent to get the issue solved. I'll connect you with a Customer Care Expert. What would you like to do? Request a callback - We'll call you in about 3 minute(s) Submit a ticket - We'll send a solution via email

User: Submit a ticket

Bot: I'll send the issue description to support. Here's what I have: "Account & Site Settings" Do you want to add more details or submit your ticket?

User: Add details

Bot: Tell me a bit more about the issue. You can add a screenshot using the attachment icon below.

User: I recently changed my email address. My login credentials are working perfectly under my user account, however, I am unable to login to the Partners forum. It appears to use a separate database. I tried the new email address I changed on my Wix account and the old email address - neither worked. I can still see my profile on the partners forum. So I just need support to update my old Partners Forum profile email address with the new address. The new address is: *****

For more information go to Wix Help Center

500 Terry A Francois Blvd San Francisco, CA 94158

My Ongoing Wix Saga

www.tnwcreations.com