Why is it that when us Plex Pass members have issues with Plex there is no support from Plex other than the fourms? where all I get from others is same here, hope they fix it soon. Can you guys at Plex at least notify us there is a problem so we are not spending hours trying to resolve it. I’ll understand.
It’s the little things that count!!
6 Likes
It is mostly because the same questions come up a thousand times over. Your issues most likely aren’t unique to you and can be solved with a couple of links. Unless you have found a software bug, it is most likely something only you can resolve yourself. Bad WIFI routers cause many streaming issues for example. That can’t be resolved by Plex staff, but the first culprit suspected is Plex itself.
I have to agree with you @clynz
I pay for plex and find the lack of direct support really frustrating at times! I am pretty tech-savvy and don’t rely on wifi for our main devices like our Fire TV which replaced our aging home theatre system and generally most issues I have managed to resolve (their haven’t been many to be honest); however when you find a fault and you know it’s a plex issue, posting it on a forum and hoping someone will be able to help or Plex will take notice, just poor technical support!
4 Likes
You do not pay for Plex. Plex is free. You pay for a Plex Pass.
Plex Pass gives you certain “benefits” over those that do not pay for a Plex Pass.
None of those “benefits” is a support desk. One of those “benefits” is a special section where you can ask for help and get a little better response from more experienced users. (However, the regular forums have “ninjas” patrolling there also.) The “forum support” model is what Plex has used since before I have been around.
As @plxplz states, most issues are the same ones, over and over. When a real bug comes up, a ninja (very experienced, knowledgeable user, not everyone can be one) can usually confirm and pass it along. Plenty of examples of this can be found in the forums.
It has also been the Plex model to not discuss timelines for releases. I do remember once when they did, quite a while ago. They missed and were raked over the coals. Why put up with that?
One other thing I thought of. Look at the vast, and I mean VAST, majority of issues that are posted. I see things like this all the time - “I just upgraded to the latest version (not server or client or even veersion number) and now ‘xxxxxxx’ feature is broken. Come on devs, FIX THIS!!!” Then 20 more posts of “Me too!” or “+1” or “Happens to me too, glad I’m not alone.” or (my favorite) “FIX THIS NOW DEVS!! This is the ONLY reason I use Plex!”
No one bothers to report it correctly, no one bothers to do research to see if it is reported already and how to fix it or understand that it is a known bug (I am horrible at searching but I at least attempt to search before posting). Kind of tough to give technical support based on posts like that. Then when someone posts a link to the solution (after several posts to get more details) they get berated by the new users “Why not just tell us how to fix it? You’re not very helpful.” or “Hey stupid, I don’t need a link I need to know how to fix it!” In other words, don’t make me do any work to figure this out. There have been plenty of us that stopped giving advice after being hammered like that once too many times.
No one bothers to report it correctly
That is because there is no proper bug reporting & tracking facility available just a free form forum that may or may not get a response.
If there were a proper structured way of reporting issues rather than a rant or ramble in the forum surely it would be more useful for the developers?
4 Likes
@rsava said:
One other thing I thought of. Look at the vast, and I mean VAST, majority of issues that are posted. I see things like this all the time - “I just upgraded to the latest version (not server or client or even veersion number) and now ‘xxxxxxx’ feature is broken. Come on devs, FIX THIS!!!” Then 20 more posts of “Me too!” or “+1” or “Happens to me too, glad I’m not alone.” or (my favorite) “FIX THIS NOW DEVS!! This is the ONLY reason I use Plex!”
You forgot “I was going to pay for Plex Pass but I’m now waiting until this is fixed!!!” 
@nigelpb said:
No one bothers to report it correctly
That is because there is no proper bug reporting & tracking facility available just a free form forum that may or may not get a response.
If there were a proper structured way of reporting issues rather than a rant or ramble in the forum surely it would be more useful for the developers?
No, if there was such structure people as described by @rsava would just go there and misuse the platform, flooding the devs (and not forum users or ninjas that now act as buffer to the devs) with junk. Or they’d think the platform is too “stupid” and hard to use (like how many times people start complaining and then they don’t even provide logs?) and would just go back to the forums to rant and rave.
Dear Plex (Specifically for the attention of PR/Customer relations),
I
write to you today with hopes of putting strait some queries you may
have regarding why you haemorrhage subscribers worse than World of
Warcraft;
Firstly may I be the (probably umpteenth) person to inform
you that basing any program on the shoddy IE technology was a huge
mistake, clearly done to save time coding by using already created
pieces from IE rather than writing from scratch. You are the only server
software that I have ever used that without IE will simply not work.
Secondly;
Your installer. Most companies improve, upgrade and replace their
installers, especially when their communities are begging for fixes…
not plex; you seem to be using the same shoddy installer from back in
the Alpha days and a couple of new buttons didn’t fix this. Every time
an update is released; the safest bet is still to uninstall-delete crap
files then and only the re-install the updated server… I mean your
.exe doesn’t even remove all of the files properly!
Thirdly; How on
earth can you release a program in 2016 which IS causing numerous BSODs
on numerous different systems? I’ve heard everything from it being
caused by dodgy downloads of the server itself, to IE being the culprit,
to people just like me who have no bloody idea what the issue is
(because we’ve already tried all of the solutions posted by fellow users
on the forums and support is non-existent) though at least daily our
systems will BSOD on us when we launch Plex Media Server and ONLY plex
media server…
Fourth and finally; Your sheer lack of communication
and seeming lack of any form of compassion/care for your customers.
Over the course of 3 years, I have sent in numerous help tickets, posts
on forums, tweets, FB messages etc. To date I have yet to receive a
response from ANY of them! This from any sort of business standpoint is
unacceptable, and surely you can see that?! How can you just ignore the
tens-of-thousands of forum posts every month pleading for help to get a
program that they paid for to work? Honestly you’re very lucky that you
have such a friendly and helpful community (through no fault of your own
I might add) and that for the last few YEARS they have basically done
part of your job for you. It must be nice to have an entire support Dept
that you don’t pay for!
I
would like to hear back from someone in Public Relations asap to
explain these points to me as, at this point in time; I’m struggling t
remember why I installed this trash on my gorgeous rig instead of just
whacking Windows Media Centre on (see difference between you and
Microsoft is that they actually respond 
)
Yours rather indignantly
Calum Luke Colburn
Their reply?
Unfortunately, we can’t provide general support via email, so we handle those requests through our support forums (at https://forums.plex.tv/),
which allow for in-depth investigation into issues by both our staff
and helpful community members. Please post details about your issue
there for assistance.
If you personally have made a post that has gone unanswered please provide me with a URL and I will ask someone to take a look
My response:
As if to prove my point about you NOT LISTENING TO CUSTOMERS… you have singularly failed to READ WHAT’S IN FRONT OF YOU!!!
Bravo, I do believe that my 2 year old son could do a better customer service job that you fools!
I want someone in management o contact me ASAP (NOW!) so that I may explain just how shoddily I’ve been treated!
I
don’t want technical help from you bafoons; you wouldn’t know a Hard
disk from a frigging SATA port if it bit you in the ■■■■! What I want is
an apology for this kind of lack of customer care and an explanation
over why Plex management believe that this is an acceptable was to do
business!?
And just so you’re aware, I will be twitter
stalking Plex until I get a reply… and all correspondence go to all
those PC/Online review sites you’re trying soooo hard to keep on
side…
And here I am
1 Like
@rsava said:
You do not pay for Plex. Plex is free. You pay for a Plex Pass.
Plex Pass gives you certain “benefits” over those that do not pay for a Plex Pass.
None of those “benefits” is a support desk. One of those “benefits” is a special section where you can ask for help and get a little better response from more experienced users. (However, the regular forums have “ninjas” patrolling there also.) The “forum support” model is what Plex has used since before I have been around.As @plxplz states, most issues are the same ones, over and over. When a real bug comes up, a ninja (very experienced, knowledgeable user, not everyone can be one) can usually confirm and pass it along. Plenty of examples of this can be found in the forums.
It has also been the Plex model to not discuss timelines for releases. I do remember once when they did, quite a while ago. They missed and were raked over the coals. Why put up with that?
One other thing I thought of. Look at the vast, and I mean VAST, majority of issues that are posted. I see things like this all the time - “I just upgraded to the latest version (not server or client or even veersion number) and now ‘xxxxxxx’ feature is broken. Come on devs, FIX THIS!!!” Then 20 more posts of “Me too!” or “+1” or “Happens to me too, glad I’m not alone.” or (my favorite) “FIX THIS NOW DEVS!! This is the ONLY reason I use Plex!”
No one bothers to report it correctly, no one bothers to do research to see if it is reported already and how to fix it or understand that it is a known bug (I am horrible at searching but I at least attempt to search before posting). Kind of tough to give technical support based on posts like that. Then when someone posts a link to the solution (after several posts to get more details) they get berated by the new users “Why not just tell us how to fix it? You’re not very helpful.” or “Hey stupid, I don’t need a link I need to know how to fix it!” In other words, don’t make me do any work to figure this out. There have been plenty of us that stopped giving advice after being hammered like that once too many times.
try talking to people like yourself, people who hav absolutly nothing to do with the day to day running of plex for 2+ years trying to sort problems and lets see if you don’t get a little salty too!
As fo the forums being used since “the stoneage” people also would drain blood from ill people to make them better during the middle ages… that was done for centuries… was that an acceptable form of support? Just because “it’s always been done that way” doesn’t mean that it is the correct way to be done!
2 Likes
@gh057ofsin said:
write to you today with hopes of putting strait some queries you may
have regarding why you haemorrhage subscribers worse than World of
Warcraft;
Is this haemorrhage of subscriber a fact you can prove with some data, or just your “feeling”?
Firstly may I be the (probably umpteenth) person to inform
you that basing any program on the shoddy IE technology was a huge
mistake,
Clearly you know much better than them, good way to start an email to a service provider, smug them and act like you know everything and they are s*it…
Your installer.
[…]
a program in 2016 which IS causing numerous BSODs
[…]
on numerous different systems?
[…]
I’ve heard everything from it being
caused by dodgy downloads of the server itself, to IE being the culprit,
First I’m so sorry that you are using Windows for PMS 
Other than that, you report your misfortunes with PMS as they were some universal plague, which is not true of course.
would like to hear back from someone in Public Relations asap
Why not ask for the CEO to come to your home and have a cup of tea with you? And bring you a pony.
And just so you’re aware, I will be twitter
stalking Plex until I get a reply… and all correspondence go to all
those PC/Online review sites you’re trying soooo hard to keep on
side…
Wow, are you 13? If not, then you’re good at impersonating one
Kidding apart, their answer IS the correct answer. Plex doesn’t provide direct customer support, Plex support channel is the forums, the community, the ninjas and ultimately the devs.
@gh057ofsin said:
@rsava said:
You do not pay for Plex. Plex is free. You pay for a Plex Pass.
Plex Pass gives you certain “benefits” over those that do not pay for a Plex Pass.
None of those “benefits” is a support desk. One of those “benefits” is a special section where you can ask for help and get a little better response from more experienced users. (However, the regular forums have “ninjas” patrolling there also.) The “forum support” model is what Plex has used since before I have been around.As @plxplz states, most issues are the same ones, over and over. When a real bug comes up, a ninja (very experienced, knowledgeable user, not everyone can be one) can usually confirm and pass it along. Plenty of examples of this can be found in the forums.
It has also been the Plex model to not discuss timelines for releases. I do remember once when they did, quite a while ago. They missed and were raked over the coals. Why put up with that?
One other thing I thought of. Look at the vast, and I mean VAST, majority of issues that are posted. I see things like this all the time - “I just upgraded to the latest version (not server or client or even veersion number) and now ‘xxxxxxx’ feature is broken. Come on devs, FIX THIS!!!” Then 20 more posts of “Me too!” or “+1” or “Happens to me too, glad I’m not alone.” or (my favorite) “FIX THIS NOW DEVS!! This is the ONLY reason I use Plex!”
No one bothers to report it correctly, no one bothers to do research to see if it is reported already and how to fix it or understand that it is a known bug (I am horrible at searching but I at least attempt to search before posting). Kind of tough to give technical support based on posts like that. Then when someone posts a link to the solution (after several posts to get more details) they get berated by the new users “Why not just tell us how to fix it? You’re not very helpful.” or “Hey stupid, I don’t need a link I need to know how to fix it!” In other words, don’t make me do any work to figure this out. There have been plenty of us that stopped giving advice after being hammered like that once too many times.try talking to people like yourself, people who hav absolutly nothing to do with the day to day running of plex for 2+ years trying to sort problems and lets see if you don’t get a little salty too!
i was once a new user, one who occasionally (more than occasionally, actually) had issues. I wouldn’t use a attitude like yours when posting. I came asking for help and I received help. I listened to those that tried to help me. I learned. I did my own research. Most importantly, I was willing to accept that maybe -JUST MAYBE!!! - it was my fault, and not Plex’s fault. Many times I would get responses from people I tried to help like “I’m in IT and I KNOW my (network/system/setup) is perfect!!” That kind of reply proves the person is not in IT. I am in IT and the first thing I will do if I hav an issue is go back to basics and start with my own stuff and admit that my system is far from perfect. You always go back to the basics, known good, basic troubleshooting steps, etc.
I learned form those willing to share (like I used to be willing to do) and then came back and posted exactly what they asked for to help me. I never needed to get “salty” because a) I used the system like it was intended to be used - AND IT WORKS!; and b) I actually used the advice given to educate myself so I didn’t need to constantly come back and ask the same questions over and over and I could offer to help the newer users with basic stuff. The more I educated myself the more I could help.
As fo the forums being used since “the stoneage” people also would drain blood from ill people to make them better during the middle ages… that was done for centuries… was that an acceptable form of support? Just because “it’s always been done that way” doesn’t mean that it is the correct way to be done!
Your comment about the “stoneage” is another example of perhaps why you have a hard time. Let me guess, you’re 20 and anyone over 40 is from the “stoneage”?
If you don’t like the way support is handled start your own company that offers a product like Plex and run the support any way you want.
Note, though, that I never said it was “correct” or “the way it should be done”. I merely pointed out that that is the way it is.
Perhaps that is your biggest issue - reading comprehension.
(BTW, we still use bloodletting, it is called donating blood. Medical science has proven that regular blood donations are actually good for the body, especially men (women have their own way of regulating blood flow before menopause). The American Journal of Epidemiology found that regular blood donors are 88% less likely to suffer a heart attack. It also helps regulate the level of iron in the blood, high levels of iron have been linked to cancer. Maybe those crazy “stoneage” people were on to something??? And they didn’t do blood letting in the “stoneage”, bloodletting was first performed in ancient Egypt around 1000 BC. Maybe that’s part of your problem, too.)
Have a great day! Even if it is “salty”.
@nigelpb said:
No one bothers to report it correctly
That is because there is no proper bug reporting & tracking facility available just a free form forum that may or may not get a response.
If there were a proper structured way of reporting issues rather than a rant or ramble in the forum surely it would be more useful for the developers?
There is a Help page describing how to report an issue in a helpful way.
@zpaolo11x said:
First I’m so sorry that you are using Windows for PMS
Hey…I resemble that remark!
BSOD the DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION I assume your talking about is caused by various driver issues ( and yes brand new computers can have driver issues, as they sit on shelves for a while before bought and updates can be released)
if you search DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION on the internet you will find many examples of it.
something like Plex that may need the driver exposes the issue with the driver itself. many folks run PMS on Windows 10 including many folks in this thread without issue. if it was an issue with plex it would happen to almost everyone running windows.
if windows is crashing have you looked at the crash logs of windows itself?
Ok let’s all take a deep breath and let the waters cool a bit here. I would like to kindly remind everyone that we have a set of guidelines for our community forums to help keep the peace and make this a productive environment for everyone. Please resist the urge to burn each other
Thanks @BigWheel for providing some technical background. As you all can see, Ninjas and employees are here to help. Sometimes that requires a bit of patience or follow-up so everyone is on the same page regarding the issue.
Avoiding repeating what has been said, I’ll bring some clarification to this thread. Because there are so many different ways someone can setup and configure Plex using a huge variety of 3rd-party hardware (and even additional software), you can imagine there are many, many different moving parts. Utilizing the far reaches and wide experiences of a dedicated community in a forum such as this brings people together who have used or are familiar with the multitude of hardware options. Plex Ninjas are highly experienced across many platforms and are available to assist. Plex employees also contribute in the forums, as well as on other social networking platforms. More common issues and typical configuration instructions and options can be found in our Knowledge Base, which covers every platform we release on. It is a huge searchable repository of step-by-step instructions and information.
Regarding communicating existing or known problems to users in the forums… we have been working on improving in that area, however it is not always feasible to provide specific details. Where it makes sense to do so, we will. We work closely with the Ninjas and this certainly helps not only in diagnosing and replicating issues, but also in helping to support the community. Engineers have also been known to peruse the forums to gain knowledge on issues.
I appreciate your response, but the OP makes a point that needs to be addressed by Plex. If the forums are to be the sole source of interactive support, as opposed to the KB (which is by no means comprehensive, BTW), then support needs to be far more consistent than it has been over the past three years of my participation. I have seen many, many requests for help posted, and not just my own, only to languish for weeks or months with no response, even if the member asking for help repeatedly asks for it.
I don’t hold other forum users, or Ninjas, responsible for this. It is Plex’s responsibility, if you’re going to offer support at all, to provide consistent support, which means making sure that every request for help gets a response. If a Ninja or other participant provides an answer, great. But every request deserves a response.
2 Likes
@beckfield, I hear you and the OP loud and clear and this is a specific area we are working on improving. Our aim is to have as many questions answered or addressed as possible by Ninjas, members, or employees. An answer does not always exist, though we are working on increasing communication where appropriate. We’re also working on new ways for community members to engage with the Plex team and you’ll hear more about that soon.
An answer to the issue may not exist, but a response can say so. A response that says “We don’t know how to fix this now, but we’ll investigate” is perfectly acceptable (as long as you follow up).
I look forward to hearing about your new plans.
@beckfield said:
An answer to the issue may not exist, but a response can say so. A response that says “We don’t know how to fix this now, but we’ll investigate” is perfectly acceptable.
Totally! This is exactly what we are working on getting better at. Last quarter we piloted something with the Ninjas… we’ll refer to it as “engagement” for now hehe (love surprises here), and I’m happy to report it went well and will be rolling it out this quarter. Stay tuned!
