Avoid like the plague… it works… sometimes, and their “support” is a joke

I purchased “WP Ultimate CSV Importer Pro” with the Custom Field Import option two years ago. Initially I had no major issues, the plugin worked well once I established the correct mapping. (Note: their documentation is bare-bones basic and there’s little guidance on correct formatting of csv data to ensure the import works correctly.)

Last year before Black Friday, I needed to bulk import over 100 new CPT entries to go with a new product. I had already established a working import mapping – but suddenly, it was no longer working! And their error logs were nowhere to be found; I had to enable WP debug to find out what was going wrong where it was clearly a Fatal PHP Error in the mapping. When I contacted their support, I provided this data asking for help. After a few days, they finally replied – and downplayed the issue stating they couldn’t replicate it on their end. Finally gave them temp access, still didn’t work. Finally agreed to an Anydesk remote session – which they were HOURS late for. In the end, it was exactly as I stated from the start: an issue with mapping. Specifically, a conflict between ACF field settings, the format of the csv input data, and their mapping. I wasted 8 days going back and forth with days in between their replies – and lost out on sales over the Black Friday Weekend because I couldn’t launch the new product without the imports. Would’ve dropped their plugin after all that – but I had already paid for it, and the other import mappings I’d set up worked without issue.

Since then, I’ve used the plugin sporadically to import hundreds of new CPT posts. No issues.

Skip ahead to last week. Updated the plugin. Then like last year, all of a sudden the import mapping which had worked fine as recent as May stopped working. Again, their error log “couldn’t be found”. WP Debug noted PHP Failure, again with mapping – this time with one of my ACF fields. Sent a detailed report of the issue, with the error log included & noting had already updated the plugin, current WP, and all the usual debug steps done on my end. Took them two days to even reply – as I expected. And just like last time, their reply downplayed the issue, told me to update the plugin (had already stated that had been done), and had the audacity to push me to pay MORE money for the Premium version!

Flat out refused to pay anything more to them, citing the major debacle last year. As they asked, I provided temp access again along with breakdown of my ACF field group, and a sample CSV file. After another day’s wait, I was looking at my site and saw that I actually had new draft posts.

Then I got their email: they stated it was an issue with one of my date fields and a conflict between how it was formatted in the csv file vs the format in the ACF field group. A setting that I hadn’t touched since I: 1) set up that ACF field group, and 2) set up the first mapping when I bought their plugin two years ago. A format that had worked for more than a dozen times over the last two years. Suddenly it was the problem?

But what SHOCKED me was their solution. They went into my ACF field group settings – and changed THAT setting. A setting in a plugin that 1) was not their plugin and 2) something I did not authorise them to change! Their “fix” actually broke how that field was displayed on the front end across my entire site. And it now no longer matched any of the date settings across my site.

As many reviewers on here noted, it was them placing the blame back on the end user instead of actually admitting something changed in their most recent update. But worse, they didn’t bother to try and fix the actual mapping in their plugin or code. Heck, they didn’t even try changing the format of the csv sample file data to match what suddenly no longer matched.

Even their email reply with the “solution” tried to gaslight me, by saying “As previously stated…” and “As we said before…” – Except it was the FIRST email reply from them since I provided them access! There were no other emails to even reference. Again, their agents trying to deflect responsibility and blame the end user when something went wrong.

I was FURIOUS – and immediately returned all that they changed back to my original settings. My email reply was not friendly, and contested their conclusion that a field which had worked without issue for two years suddenly was at fault – and that it was MY fault because the formatting was not correct. I called them out for changing something they had no authority to change, and that there were other solutions to have tried in THEIR plugin or the csv data first. And noted that now that I had an idea of what is this year’s problem, I’ll probably find a solution before they even reply to my email.

As I expected, after playing around with the formatting in the csv data, I found a working solution – still no reply from them. And when I emailed back noting that I found a solution without their help, their reply was literally just:

“Hi. Thanks for letting us know.”

I’d give this a 0 rating, if it were possible.

Seriously do NOT waste your time with this plugin. It’s not worth paying even $1 for – and their “support” is a joke. There are other bulk import plugins out there with similar (or better) price points that actually provide support when something goes wrong.