URGENT READ THIS - WILCO A380

Pro Member Captain
David (The-GPS-Kid) Captain

I feel it is essential to warn you all NOT to buy the Wilco Fleet A380 product from www.wilcopub.com or www.simw.com.

I am not urging this in criticism of the product, I am stating this because the product simply does not function. The Autopilot is inoperable and I am not referring to a misunderstanding of how to operate it I mean that it simply does not work.

More concerningly, the Wilco Support Forum that I used to visit regularly appears to have disappeared from the Internet.

Finally, under the SUPPORT section of the www.wilcopub.com site, the A380 product is not even featured.

I would seriously warn anyone from spending 24 Euros like I just have for a product which does not work, and for which a SUPPORT function has not even been provided.

I simply have no point of referral for getting help or a patch to get the product working, other than Wilco's "Info" email address which is not looking promising.

WILCO - If you are reading, please PROVE ME WRONG and direct users of this forum to your support area that explains how to get the Autopilot and Autothrust systems to work on your new "Product".

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Pro Member Captain
Jon Van Duyn (JVD) Captain

I'm sorry about your mistake and I'm especially sorry if I gave you a bit of a urge [from my Wilco A380 topic] to buy the product.What a shame Crying or Very sad

THANKS FOR THE WARNING 😀



Last edited by Jon Van Duyn (JVD) on Thu May 12, 2005 8:55 pm, edited 2 times in total
Pro Member Captain
David (The-GPS-Kid) Captain

So it was not me going mad.

I have researched the Internet and found lot's of angry people who have spend money on this "product" only to find it does not work.

I am truly surprised and disgusted at Wilco, who have deleted forums and help areas due to this product, yet ARE CONTINUING TO SELL IT.

Don't take my work for it - check out these posts... and I havent' even added my comments to them yet !

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=121&topic_id=252785

Some FS developers are utterly shameless people to take money from people and give them this disgraceful useful rubbish.

Pro Member First Officer
Greg (FL050) First Officer

I have heard very bad things about Wilco customer service. But my friend bought that A380 and his AP works fine.

He doesn't recommend buying the craft though just because it isn't very finishyed and the CS with Wilco is horrible.

Wilco also rushes out all their products without ever finishing them. I could have told you not to buy from Wilco 😛

Guest

I haven't purchased this product, and have no intention of doing so. However, if so many people are unhappy, and if Wilco's description of the product doesn't match what you receive, why not get consumer protection involved? I am not sure how e-comerce consumer protection works, but certainly someone must have the jurisdiction to stop these folks from taking advantage of people.

Pro Member Chief Captain
Alex (Fire_Emblem_Master) Chief Captain

That's one of the many reason's i've NEVER bought any add-on planes! 😎

Thanks for the warning, GPS-Kid

Pro Member Captain
David (The-GPS-Kid) Captain

JVD - No apology necessary at all.

(I had already downloaded when you placed your post 😂 ).

Yes, it turns out there is something of an UPROAR on the Internet about this release as it really is just not release quality.

I mean it's fair enough that some add-ons are released and some bugs are still evident for a while (and subsequently fixed), but this thing was unbelievable.

The Internet states that Wilco had a forum for the A380 on AVSIM and ahem, removed it in a hurry when all of the comments about it started coming in.

What angers me is that even with all this uproar going on, it's still up for sale on their site - and on www.simw.com , a very respectable Belgian site where I buy all of my add-ons.

To be fair, the other Wilco products I have are excellent, CRJ and ERJ145 are add-ons I love and use a lot..... but both are boxed versions.

Wilco 380 has been postponed 6 times from full CD release, so there is obviously acknowledgement of the problems but they're happy to keep selling it.

- AutoPilot Lateral Modes do not work (no NAV or HDG modes).
- AutoThrust System does not operate (Climb mode does not seek or maintain airspeeds).
- Batteries cannot be switched on from Dark & Cold. You need to CTRL+E then cut the engines to get the batteries on.
- About 5% of MCDU (FMS) functionality works.
- Over 50% of overhead buttons (including many real BASICS!) are not operable. (ie... Batteries, etc).

Basically, unless you want to start the plane using CTRL+E (not my style) and then just hand fly it around (like they did in Toulouse right? 😉 ), then it's useless.

I mean have you ever heard anything so crazy - Hand flying only of the worlds most advanced and automated Aircraft! ! ! Twisted Evil

Anyway, money written off - I will not ever buy a Wilco published product again.

It's a shame not all developers / publishers can bless us with the amazing products we get from PMDG, Flight 1, PSS and Level D.

Good on yer guys. 😉

Pro Member Captain
John Hodges (originalgrunge) Captain

Remind me never to get on your bad side Gps-Kid... 😀

Pro Member Captain
Jon Van Duyn (JVD) Captain

After all this comotion I'm sure that wilco will release an update. All I can say now is that I hope Fs Passengers won't be as dissapointing.Anyway I'm still on the happy side because I've just been made Chief Captain 😀 .

Pro Member Captain
Zach (ranald) Captain

Thanks for the tip GPS-Kid!Not all Wilko add-ons are bad though the CRJ 2004 has had very good reviews.

Pro Member Captain
David (The-GPS-Kid) Captain

Definately agree Ranald - The Wilco ERJ is even better !

But to be clear, all the good Wilco products are actually developed by a wonderful guy called Victor, at a company called FeelThere (check out www.feelthere.com ).

Most FeelThere products are published by Wilco, not actually developed by them.

The other products developed in-house by Wilco are things like A320 Pilot In Command (mmm another highly dubious add-on where there were loads on problems with the Joystick interaction, and where NO 2D panels were included!).

JVD - CONGRATULATIONS ! You've not been around that long but already you have contributed a lot to this site, and it's great to have you here. 😉

OriginalGrunge - Hey, I'd never aim my armoury or evil at anyone on here, I reserve it only for the unscrupulous and greedy people who want to take money from people without giving them what they are promising!

Anyhoo - Some wonderful flying around the Canary Islands in the amazing Flight 1 ATR72 is calling me this evening.... That is such a good plane, and it is so easy to land, even without an ILS... 😉

Have a great weekend y'all !

😉

Pro Member Captain
Zach (ranald) Captain

Umm... The flight 1 ATR72 I'm cosidering that.Can you give me your expert opinion ❓

Pro Member First Officer
twistedsucker First Officer

Thanks for warning me! 🙂

Pro Member Captain
David (The-GPS-Kid) Captain

Ranald - The Flight 1 ATR72 is the best and most realistic Turboprob for FS ......period.

Can't say better than that !

There is a SUPERB config editor that let's you change lot's to get the best out of your system and the plane.

Wonderful Flight Model, gorgeous exterior model, great systems.

Flying it a lot at the moment....

Don't let the 481 page manual put you off - it's just that they give you every bit of info and charts that you could ever need, thats why its 481 pages. 😉

Pro Member Captain
Zach (ranald) Captain

481 pages!! it sounds great I am defintly considering it or the 727 its a hard choice.

Pro Member Chief Captain
Chris102 Chief Captain

Thanks for the warning. I almost purchased it today Embarassed

Pro Member Captain
Jared Captain

that is why i only buy add-ons from PMDG cause they have excellent products and the support forum and support team is one of the best(now that i found what i was doing wrong while installing my 737-800/900)

PTP Guest

Damn, where the hell have you guys been? Apparently you didnt buy the A320 PIC, If you did Wilco would have been on your shit list a long time ago!

PTP B737NG Pilot

Pro Member Captain
David (The-GPS-Kid) Captain

Actually I did buy A320PIC and yes it was utter dross but you're theory that everything with the Wilco label on is crap is wrong...... ERJ 145 is probably one of the best add-ons around at the moment and that's published by Wilco.

Thing is, Wilco are primarily a publisher (although they do have their own development arm - would love to have a chat with those guys Evil or Very Mad ).

But back on the publishing side, Wilco publish all of the stuff from feelthere.com who produce amazing add-ons.

So as much as I agree that A320 PIC and Wilco A380 are utter muck from the shoe, I wouldn't blacklist all Wilco products as some are great 😉

UPS866 Guest

Just a side note guys, Wilco did release a patch
correcting most of the problems & mine works fine
now but, that still does not explain the lack of
support all this time & why all the problems got
through the so called beta testers..?

I was also about to throw in the towel, or should
I say anger!! Obviously all the mad customers
venting on other sites must of woke someone up
at Wilco.. I thank them for that..

Still, the excitement of the release of the largest
plane to date is something to behold, even Seattle
had to take note.... 🙂

UPS866
Chief Pilot
Chicago Hub
Level-D & A380F

Pro Member Chief Captain
CrashGordon Chief Captain

Fire_Emblem_Master wrote:

That's one of the many reason's i've NEVER bought any add-on planes! 😎

Thanks for the warning, GPS-Kid

I've never found the need to use payware addons, either. I am certain there are good payware packages out there, but I am content with the fleet I have.

I think GPS-Kid's complaint about not getting support for a purchased product is one I can relate to. I recently purchased a top-rated CD/DVD burning package only to discover that one component of the package didn't "see" my DVD burnert, while all the others did. It is now 4 days since I contacted their support people. Mad

Pro Member Trainee
Nevada Trainee

Easily the worst addon I have spent money on!

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