My host is inmotion. I don’t even understand what they should be looking for in order to explain it to them.
Do not want checkout options
They should be checking for caching that they might have set up (Varnish, Cachewall, Memcached, Redis, etc) and security stuff. Point them in the direction of the Pinterest and Twitter issues. They shouldn’t fob you off if you mention those.
InMotion have taken another look and have changed the permisions after I told them all the errors i can see. That has done nothing. They say i will have to foward it through to support. The problem is that this is taking too long, my website is online and active. I really need this to be fixed as an urgent as there are more errors with this plugin to be fixed.
But there is nothing wrong with the plugin. The fact that you have other errors on your site that you can’t eradicate but which aren’t anything to do with s2Member makes that clear.
If there’s a more fundamental problem with your host, there’s nothing that s2Member can do about it.
the other issue is with s2Member. My registration forms have tax profile fields although i have tax set at 0.
The paypal buttom doesn’t work.
The billing method button doesnt work.
My hosting stand by that they have nothing to do with this. Their higher support wrote this…
I will be glad to assist you with this issue today. I apologize for any inconvenience it has caused you so far. Upon reviewing this issue in depth with my higher tier, we have found no server side reasons for why this plugin is not working. As such, you will want to consult S2 member directly or their forums for why this form is not working.
But, whatever you might think, s2Member is not causing those issues. In fact, they are symptomatic of a deeper problem which is causing s2Member not to work.
In fact, I think I’ve found the problem now. I was distracted by the fact you’d said you had changed themes and disabled all plugins, yet still had the problem. And I suspect you won’t like the answer.
I think you’re using Visual Composer. I don’t know whether you are using it as a free-standing plugin or whether it’s built-in to your theme, but I suspect that’s it.
VC is never going to work with s2Member because it prevents the storage of posts and pages in the regular WordPress database tables. For that reason, VC is incompatible with a huge number of plugins. So, if you want to use s2Member, you will need to disable VC.
That sounds like a break through… I have just deactivated VC, cleared the cache and tested the sign-up page and the checkout options are still there. See attached image. Visual composser is a must on my website however so I could not use s2member if that is the case.
Then I wouldn’t try to pursue this any further because there is absolutely zero chance that s2Member will work with Visual Composer. Even if you delete VC, s2Member won’t work immediately anyway (as you’ve discovered), because you’d essentially have to start from scratch with it over shortcodes and various other things.
Just be aware, though, that you will find that many (obviously not all) other plugins will have similar problems in trying to work with VC, and that if you do experience further problems on your site, VC would be the first place to look to identify the culprit.
This is the reply I have received from sales -
Clearly not help on how to fix the problem, just letting me know that there is no staff support in their forums and that they will clearly not be helping and will be avoiding a refund! Nice work WP Sharks!
Hi Rebecca! 
Visual Composer for WordPress supports native shortcodes for WordPress, along with any shortcodes added by other plugins such as s2Member. Please see: https://wpbakery.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VC/pages/524334/Can+I+insert+3rd+party+shortcodes
Note: There’s no need for s2Member to ‘be compatible’ with Visual Composer, as s2Member is not using anything out of the ordinary with respect to shortcodes. Shortcodes are a WordPress core standard, and therefore all plugins for WordPress should be designed around this core concept. For example, if you’re using the VC you can insert any default built-in shortcode that comes with WordPress core already. If you install other plugins that add additional shortcodes to WordPress, you can add those in also.
If you find there are problems specifically with shortcodes and VC, I’d suggest writing to the VC team to report that issue, as correcting problems with VC and shortcode compatibility would be outside the scope of s2Member. Having said that, if you find there’s and issue specifically with s2Member, we welcome any report that identifies that problem. I’m just not seeing that’s the case in this instance. We have many site owners running s2Member with a variety of other plugins, and in many instances, VC is one of those, as it is very popular plugin for WordPress just like s2Member is.
I did take a peek at your community forum discussion. Please note that you did not have an exchange with a member of our staff in that forum thread you referenced. Our community forum is about users helping other users, and the discussion that you had in that particular thread was with another user.
Why would you expect them to provide a refund? s2Member is working entirely as it should. Visual Composer isn’t.
The fact you like what VC does is nice for you. But the fact remains that it does not work with WordPress properly. In fact, it prevents post and page content from being stored in the appropriate WordPress database table.
The VC developers know this, and they won’t change (despite being asked to do so over several years), because it means that you are locked into their plugin’s eco-system, so that the only other plugins that can be sure to work with VC are ones they make (and charge for) themselves.
In other words, VC forces you to make this choice: work with WordPress (and abandon VC) or work with VC. You have chosen the latter option. That’s nothing to do with s2Member.
However, i don’t see VC being the problem. I have deactivated and deleted VC with cleared cache and the plugin still is not working, so I don’t think VC is the problem. The staff member who sent me the above email even said that VC is not an issue.
My issue with this plugin is that it is not very user friendly and there is no support to help you use it.
I have this problem and several more and instead of doing their job and helping me, they invite people like yourself to share the knowledge. You are not getting paid to answer my queries, you don’t have the training etc
I have emailed WPsharks several times to help with the issues I’m having with the plugin that I still cannot use, even though I have bought it and no persons of the staff will assist.
Which staff member said that? Because, unfortunately, it isn’t true. You can search these forums and Google to your heart’s content to find out that it is. Indeed, if you’re thorough, you’ll even find the VC developers acknowledging that their method of storing data causes these problems. So either you talked to someone inexperienced or else you misunderstood what they said.
As I said before, once you get rid of VC, you will need to start from scratch with s2Member to be sure that it works properly. Then you need to just follow the instructions. And, yes, they are detailed, and yes, it takes some time to set everything up. This is not a plugin with a 5-minute setup-and-play. And, no, there is no promise of developer support to help you out. But there’s a ton of user experience on this forum that’s worth a lot more than a short period of training.
In any event, that’s why there’s a free version. You get to use most of the functionality for as long as you like without any payment, so there’s no reason to buy the Pro version unless and until you’re sure it will do what you want.
If you are planning to continue to use s2Member, I’d start like this: go to General Options -> Plugin Deletion Safeguards and set them to No. Then save all changes (with the button at the bottom). Then deactivate and uninstall s2Member.
That will get rid of everything that’s happened so far so you can start again from scratch. Then just install the free version, and check that General Options -> Plugin Deletion Safeguards is set to Yes. Then work through each stage step by step in the order in which the sections appear in the s2Member back-end.
If you run into a problem along the way, open a new thread on this forum for that issue and explain the steps that cause the problem. Someone here will usually be able to help resolve them.
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Thank you for trying to help but I have deleted and reinstalled s2member, I have had it without VC for some time, cleared browsers etc. I have deactivated all of my plugins and changed to default theme and I still have the same problems. I do not believe the plugin works correctly, there are many bugs. Now I simply must wait until s2member staff either offer a refund so I can purchase a plugin that works or they should look at this case and assist with some advice to fix it.
I have tested the plugin in a clean environment and it doesn’t work at all.
Thanks again
Sorry, but that’s never going to persuade anyone. For a start, a clean environment means not only running no other plugins but also changing to a default theme. You haven’t done that.
I personally run s2Member on numerous sites, and it works just fine on all of them.
So where does the current problem lie? Maybe you’ve missed a setting in s2Member. But you haven’t provided any details of what you’ve done.
Or the problem could be with your theme. If it came bundled with Visual Composer, maybe it’s doing other strange things too, instead of working with WordPress. (Sometimes I think the only reason theme developers on Themeforest sell WordPress themes is market share; so many of them seem to code their themes so as to fight against everything that WordPress does.)
Here’s one example. If you turn off javascript on your site, you lose the menu completely. That’s not normal at all. Even themes that use some javascript on their menus should still provide a working fallback in case the user turns javascript off. So where is your theme storing the menus? And how is s2Member supposed to know that? And, if it can’t know that, how can it regulate what users see?
So you probably should be talking to the theme developers. But, equally, they probably won’t be able to do anything without your foregoing the appearance of the theme that is what presumably persuaded you to buy it.
This has nothing to do with s2Member.
Yes I did try it with a default theme and no plugins as well. I kept it like that for some time, cleared the browser cookies etc I been trying to fix this issue for over a month. If it’s a setting on setting up the plugin I have missed, its going to be hard to know where to start as the interface and instructions are not very user-friendly and are probably the most complicated I have ever seen.
I have gone through uninstalling and reinstalling (with not keeping the settings) about 7 times. It’s not only the checkout options that are a problem, it’s the entire registration form - the billing method button doesn’t work and the tax form keeps showing up, despite me entering 0% to clear it. The entire form (which is the main part) just does not work.
I hear what you’re saying about the menu… I had another membership plugin on before this and I had no issues, nothing with the menu, nothing with the plugins, nothing with the themes. I am sure if I put another one on I will not have this level of issues again. I can’t and don’t want to change my theme or plugins, even if I could my test shows it doesn’t work. I simply want to forget about this plugin and find one that works.
It is also very disapointing that s2 member will not get envolved and recognise that I have an issue with their plugin not working and it’s been about a month now, despite the emails I am sending. Whatever the reason is, it is disapointing all over.
And whilst I’m grateful that you’re taking the time to try and help, it’s very frastrating the amount of time this is taking away and the lack of acknowledgement and support from the company. After taking a further look at the wordpress plugin reviews I noted that I’m not the only one that feels that way and many others have mentioned that the plugin just does not work and they receive no support from staff to make it work.
So maybe your provider is the problem? We saw that before…
So why did you stop using that other plugin? The only rational explanation is that it didn’t do what you wanted, so that’s hardly a strong argument.
It would undoubtedly be better if the s2Member devs got more involved in general. But why didn’t you try the free plugin first? That’s what it’s there for.
In any event, even if the devs were to get involved in your case, I can tell you that they’d be telling you to do exactly what I have been saying. In fact, you already know this. You need to create a clean installation (no other plugins and a default theme) and, if you then still experience a problem, tell us in a new thread what you’ve done and what the problem is, and then let us visit the site for ourselves.
(I’m also pretty sure that’s why the devs stopped providing support for every issue. They just got fed up with users who refused to create a clean installation for them to check. They felt they were just wasting their time.)
Just telling people you’ve tried it and it doesn’t work gives no-one anything to go on. It doesn’t matter whether it’s me, @krumch (who, by the way, has built several add-ons for s2Member, so certainly knows his way around the code), or one of the s2Member devs: broad assertions tell no-one anything useful.
So the question you need to decide at this point is whether you want to troubleshoot s2Member on the basis I’ve just given (which might identify the cause of the problem as something simple, or which might identify the problem as something you don’t want to change), or whether you want to move on to something else. Those are really your only meaningful choices.
Hi Krumch,
I have tested this plugin with two different service providers as I had changed my service provider recently. I have also made contact with my current service provider and they have taken a look and referred me back to the support of this plugin.
I stopped using the previous membership plugin as it didn’t work with the affiliate program I wanted. However, the plugin worked, as this is what im using now whilst s2 member doesn’t work.
I did try the free plugin first. The free plugin doesn’t come with proforms, which seems to be the problem.
As mentioned, I have created a clean installtion - no other plugins and a default theme. I have done with twice, which deleting and reinstalling the plugin. I have also emailed the sales support telling them that I have tested the plugin in a clean environment and it doesn’t work for me.
No point me opening a new thread as the same problem is persistant. If there is more information I need to provide, I’m not sure what it is. I can screenshot every setting that I have set up in s2member, I’m happy to do this if you think it would help.
I would love to troubleshoot the problem but it seems to be going nowhere as I have tested this plugin in a clean environment. My other option of moving onto something else isn’t a great one as I have paid for this plugin and the sales support will not get back to me in order to refund me for this plugin so I can move onto one that works on my website.
If there are other details I can provide to help the trouble shooting, im happy to do it. I just dont know what is needed.
OK, let’s give it a go so as to test the Pro form. Please switch to the 2017 theme, turn off all other plugins, and set up a Pro shortcode. Then, if you don’t experience what you want to happen, tell me why here and post the shortcode that you are using.
Then give me a chance to take a look at your site in that configuration.