My (Unfortunate) Experience With WP Grid Builder

In this post, I’m going to talk about WP Grid Builder. This isn’t going to be an official review. It is not going to be a “how to” and I’m not going give you a little tour of what it does like everybody else.

I simply want to talk about my experience attempting to use it. And my experience dealing with support.

I really wanted to like WP Grid Builder.

I’ve used other custom grid setups in the past. I’ve used Elementor. I’ve used the Advanced Query Loop with Kadence. I’ve used FacetWP.

There are a lot of different tools out there to build these kinds of grids using custom posts and custom fields. But, every tool has it’s own pros and cons.

WP Grid Builder seemed like one of the more powerful options. And perhaps it is. Unfortunately, my experience trying to use it and get help from the developer was not good at all.

Trying To Use Grid Builder

My goal was to build a video library here at the Blog Marketing Academy. One where I unify everything together with public videos as well as members-only. The idea is pretty simple:

• Conditionally label members-only content so people can visually tell the difference between public and private videos
• Show a customized “card” with custom field data on it (so I can show, for instance, the video duration right in the listing)
• Use sorting and search options (called “facets”) so people can filter by video series, category, etc.

Not exactly rocket science. And Grid Builder looked ideal to build it due to it’s flexibility and user interface.

FacetWP doesn’t have the same kind of interface. More fine-tuned control of the look and feel requires delving into the code. My goal here was to be able to build the entire thing in the user interface and not have to do any coding.

Now, Grid Builder might have worked for me if I were using a more traditional page builder such as Elementor or Bricks. They have add-ons to ensure compatibility with those builders. But, I am using Kadence and my pages are built with Gutenberg.

Grid Builder has blocks, too. So, no problem, right?

First off, I will say that the actual experience building with Grid Builder is far less intuitive than it looks at first glance. The interface is clunky and it takes some time to figure out what exactly is going on and where things are. The documentation, too, is just too basic.

Where the problem really lied for me was building the page and getting facets to work as intended. I had some facets that wouldn’t even show up. I had page numbers that don’t seem to properly reflect the data. I just couldn’t get the thing to work the way I intended.

If I wanted to use the grid on the archives of my custom post type, I would need to code up a custom template in my child theme. I use Kadence and don’t want to do that. My purpose was not to have to code anything.

In summary, I couldn’t figure out how to make the plugin work. I felt like I was missing something fairly simple. I had already decided this plugin was clunky and way nerdier than it looked, but I thought I could figure it out if I could get some help from the developer.

Well, that made it worse.

Trying To Get Help From Support

My goal was that the developer would take a look at my setup and perhaps help me find something I’m missing. Unfortunately, not only did I not receive any help, but the entire experience really left a sour taste in my mouth.

The developer of the plugin is Loic Blascos. He is also the guy you’ll deal with when you seek support.

One thing I will definitely say is that his speed of email reply is pretty stellar. I would often have a response back from him within 20-30 minutes. That’s impressive, I will say.

Unfortunately, the caliber of his assistance left something to be desired.

The bullet point version of our exchange was this:

• He’d repeat basic stuff and then link to his documentation. But, his documentation isn’t all that helpful to me. It is basic “how to”, but doesn’t cover different scenarios.
• It didn’t seem as if he was understanding my setup, so I recorded a quick Loom video for him. He wouldn’t watch it. Basically told me to stick to writing and screenshots. Odd because almost everybody I deal with appreciates easier communication via Loom. Perhaps a language barrier?
• He told me my video isn’t helpful and that there may be settings on the facet at issue. But, I SHOWED him those settings in the video.
• So, I tried to re-describe what is going on, this time only in writing and screenshots. Per his request.
• More back and forth, getting nowhere. So, I decided to just grant him a temporary admin access to the site to take a look at all of the facet settings on his own. The very ones he said he couldn’t see in my screenshots.
• He tells me to deactivate every single plugin except for Grid Builder and ACF. This is a live site, so no can do.

In the end, I was getting nowhere with Loic. Each time, it was as if he wasn’t actually looking or trying. It felt as if the onus was on me to pre-digest every little thing and present it to him on a silver platter rather than him actually looking.

Frankly, he seemed arrogant. He seemed annoyed by the fact I was asking him to look.

I’ve been at this a long time. I work with a lot of clients. I know what it is like to give a crap. I log into people’s sites all the time and figure out what’s going on. I don’t have to turn off all the damn plugins to do it. It starts with looking and caring.

Loic wasn’t looking very hard at all, but was putting all the load on me. And on top of that, he certainly didn’t seem to care.

I bought this license for the support. I wasn’t getting it and my time is too valuable to spend hand-holding Loic through things. So, I figured I’d just cut my losses and move on.

So, I asked for a refund. After he asked me to disable all the plugins on my site, I said…

No, thank you. This is a live site. Not only that, but I feel as if most of your responses are being made without actually looking at anything. If I wanted to work this hard, I could code my own darn query. 🙂 I bought Grid Builder to make things simpler and get the support, but that’s not been the experience here.
If you could, can you please issue a refund for me? License is: [license here]
Please confirm.

And here’s what he came back with…

It is essential to conduct testing without any plugins in order to ensure there are no conflicts with the system. This practice is crucial for thorough and accurate testing.
Refunds are only granted during the first 14 days after the initial purchase (excluding renewal payments) of the plugin: https://wpgridbuilder.com/terms/#refund-policy
Therefore, we cannot give you a refund in accordance with our refund policy.
Thank you for your understanding.

Can’t say that I expected that response. I owed him one more try….

Loic, all you needed to do was take a damn interest. 
For instance, all this time, you’ve been telling me to show you all the facet settings. After numerous attempts with screenshots and a short video you wouldn’t even watch, I figure I’d give you a login so you can look at all of the settings for yourself. You didn’t even look. You just told me to take a live site and turn off all of the plugins. I debug stuff all the time on client sites without having to turn their whole site off like that.
Not to mention, I’ve been in this business quite a long time. I’m not exactly a newb at this stuff. I looked at all of the obvious stuff here. I can even see in the database that the facets are indexing. I’ve tried all the facet settings. So, I wanted a second set of eyes from the developer to see what I might be missing. And you’re not even looking, Loic. You repeat the same stuff to me.
I used FacetWP before and it worked fine. Grid Builder seems more powerful, to be sure. A better UI. And my thinking was that I must be missing something simple. I may still be. But, damn, if you won’t even look at it, what am I supposed to do?
And now you won’t issue a refund? Ridiculous. The reason I bought it was for the support, and you’re not providing it.
Whatever. I can write off a couple hundred bucks. But, pretty short-sighted to ask me to.

And then one final reply….

To perform precise testing, it is imperative to disable all plugins. Otherwise, side effects may occur, making it difficult, if not impossible, to accurately identify configuration issues.
We are here to assist you, but it is essential to proceed correctly to effectively resolve any problems.
Thank you for your understanding.

No, Loic. It starts with simply looking. And talking to me like a person who also knows what I’m doing. But, thanks for thanking me for accepting the fact that you won’t issue a refund.

So, I spent a couple hundred dollars to learn that WP Grid Builder is not a plugin I want to work with. I have better things to do than to go to battle with Loic over $200. It is what it is.

His refund policy was clear on the site before I purchased. It is 14 days. A rather short refund window and I didn’t expect to even need to care. I rarely ask for refunds. I bought Grid Builder on July 17th. Asked for a refund on August 7th. So, I guess I was 5 or so days past his refund period.

Whatever.

My Final Thoughts About WP Grid Builder

I really wanted to like WP Grid Builder. I’ve seen and heard good things. And I can see the power of it. But, in the end…

• It is harder to use than it looks. It is nerdier than it looks and the documentation isn’t particularly helpful.
• I couldn’t get it to work predictably, for some reason.
• When I tried to get help from the developer, I didn’t get it. Loic seems hard to deal with.

Looks like I might not be alone, either.

I even had a person on X tell me he had the same exact experience trying to send them a video. He, too, was told he won’t watch it and had to resubmit in writing.

Oh well. In the end, I felt like Loic was trying to get rid of me, not help me out. And, other than writing this post for the records, we’re done here.