Looking for Karthic Iyer

[bootednancy]

I am looking to hear from Karthic Iyer (MSTSFAN) about my purchase of his route SRv3.

I went through all the instructions, sending him payment for the route, sending him an e-mail with copy of the Pay Pal receipt .....AND NOTHING

I have not heard from him with any kind of link or information how to obtain the route after payment?????

All I come up with on his (via Train Sim.com) website is all the mumbo jumbo about the route, and allegecd "links" for the route activities. I have tried the activity links, and they, LIKE ALL INDIAN WEBSITES in this hobby are a fraud...........you get directed over the globe to all kinds of websites, half of which trigger my anti-virus program AS BEING INFECTED AND DANGEROUS.
You get redirected to Loan2Host, then try to download you get Home Lifestyle Daily if not some other infected website that HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WITH SRv3, or having it want to "add" Google extension to your browser which I don't want

I am sick of these Indian websites that are a farce and don't have direct links or reasonable paths to downloads with out getting contaminated files

Please, somebody get this person off his duff and produce the program for the routes he offers, OR REMOVE HIS DAMNED POST FROM THE FILE LIBRARY. THE FILE LIBRARY SHOULD NOT ALLOW POSTERS TO HAVE LINKS TO THEIR STUFF THAT IS OFF IN OBLIVION OR NOT THERE TO BEGIN WITH. UPLOAD IT INTO THE LIBRARY FILES OR NOT AT ALL;

[seagoon]

Have you emailed him?

Email ID : irtslover@gmail.com

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/irts_fan/

Facebook Group : https://www.facebook.com/groups/IRTS.SRv2

[eric]

You can also PM here as Karthik90

And you can do us all a favor and tone down your rhetoric a few degrees.

I'm not one to go in and edit out stuff from people's posts, but I'm half tempted to do so with yours if you don't do it yourself.

[ngc427]

I'll be entirely 100% honest, I was thinking of purchasing it, but was very not comfortable with his method of payment personally. I feel like its a valid concern from a "western" perspective, but I also feel like its just a common way of doing things in other countries, a system very much mostly run by trust.

[bootednancy]

Yes, thanks "seagoon"...........I have already tried e-mails a couple of times. NO REPLY..........other links I can't deal with on my computer, don't have cell phone.

To eric: MY RHETORIC is from experience of these Indian websites that lead you "down the black hole", into a path of things unrelated to the original site or to some file that is a corrupted mal-ware....I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE of getting stung twice with destructive viruses by them to my computer.

To ngc427.......yes many Indian Rail sites are "booby traps"......and this site / method you may fear is justified. A normal reputable pay site (Streamlines, 3D Trains, and best of all BLW/Zosa Trains) ALL GIVE YOU A LINK and password as soon as you pay to "claim" the download of what you bought. This chasing your tail for 2 days and NOT hearing from this individual is UNACCEPTABLE

[eric]

It'll get worked out. Karthik has been part of this site for eight years, and usually responds to emails within a couple days.

PMs also work, but he's only on this site once or twice a week at most.

[seagoon]

......This chasing your tail for 2 days and NOT hearing from this individual is UNACCEPTABLE

Two days.....is that all? That's bugger-all when it comes to on-line corresponding.
He may be unwell; possibly away from home; in hospital; in jail; kidnapped.....there are umpteen non-suspicious reasons why you may haven't yet heard from him.

[bootednancy]

Reason I say 2 days is UNACCEPTABLE is that you are selling a "product", and people expect within a REASONABLE time after payment they will receive acknowledgement or the proceedure for getting that product.Direct e-mail (from HIS INSTRUCTIONS) was complied with upon purchase....so I am awaiting his "couple of days"

If you are not going to be around for a week or more (LAST response of his was 10/22/2023) then 1) set up another method of selling your merchandise. 2) don't advertise if you don't have it

And "ngc427" I agree with your advice/fears...........I'd be wary of this guy also in future or ANY dealings after this

[joe_star]

Despite being a follower of the Indian rail sim scene, I have never taken the leap to purchase any Indian payware to date, but seems like other users have successfully purchased and used these routes, at least their Youtube videos seem to indicate so.

One thing I've began to note is that some of these "payware" routes actually contain scenery items & textures which are borrowed from other freeware routes. While I do not bat an eyelid when this is done in freeware routes with acknowledgement, I do feel its a little unethical to do so for a payware deliverable.

BTW definitely not ALL Indian railsim sites are frauds. In the past there was an excellent site that had a searchable list of any indian rolling stock necessary by specifying the wag or consist definition. There have been other content sites as well that have been pretty legitimate.

[bootednancy]

Good point "JOE_STAR"...........there was one Indian site which I believe went defunct like all websites in this hobby.....where you put in the WAG or ENG file and it would find the "zip" download for you. It was a valuable tool since MANY Indian cars and engines are "nested" in other files under different names. There has to be several hundred under the "ASM IR" file label which drives anyone batty.
However, it is now 5 days after the fact of payment for this route and I STILL HAVE NOT HEARD from Karthik Iyer as to when and how I will get this download.........I am beginning to mistrust this individual since he offers a product and "takes the money (true it's only about $3.25 in US funds) and runs".I am with ngc427 and his sentiments about this proceedure.

[eric]

We do have a Wag/Eng search here.... go to Advanced Search, and you can search in either Consists or Zips for a specific wag or eng file. It also works for shapefiles.

[bootednancy]

Well today is EIGHT DAYS since I purchased Karthik Iyer's SRv3 route, and so far HE HAS NOT RESPONDED TO MY ORDER OR PRIOVIDED INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO GET IT.

For somebody offering merchandise, this is UNACCEPABLE not to respond (in this day of W-Fi or Lap-tops) or ignore somebody's order.

Fed up and distrusting of ever ordering something from THIS individual again

[IndianRailways1601]

Surprising that Karthik Iyer hasn't responded yet. He last reached out to me on WhatsApp a few months ago to discuss how to batch-convert terrtex files from ACE to DDS, which helped reduce the size of the SRv2 route and, subsequently, SRv3. I haven't purchased SRv3 yet, so I can't comment on the buying experience.

His YouTube channel last published a video 3 weeks ago: (43) IRTS FAN - YouTube

Plus, he's usually active in the trainsim forums, and I'm sure he'll respond soon.

Yes, many Indian content creators use link shorteners to earn some money from those platforms while still keeping the files free to download. That's why most of them also recommend you use an ad-blocker extension before visiting those websites, like uBlock Origin, so you don't have to encounter any pop-ups at all. Note that nobody forces the user to add the extension. Loan2Host will still work, but it'll display (sometimes intrusive) ads that can be closed. If you click on an ad, though, you're bound to get redirected to not-so-trustworthy websites. Hence the ad-blocker precaution.

It's easy to miss those warnings and group all Indian websites under the umbrella of being "scammy", but that's almost an entirely misguided view. Link shorteners like Loan2Host are completely legal. Sure, they may appear jarring for people who have no idea how they work, but that doesn't make them unethical, especially if the user has been warned about them beforehand. And I know the SRv3 website includes a warning about link shorteners.

To add to Eric's point, let's tone down the rhetoric a bit here. Knowing Mr. Iyer, he's not wilfully ignoring you. It's most likely an unforeseen commitment that's keeping him from replying, because if not, he would've taken down the option to buy SRv3 in his absence. He should get back to you as soon as he sees your email. 8 days is a bit of a stretch, but this is the most probable reason for the delay.

Edit: Also, very few people use PayPal here. India's UPI is free, and relatively easier and safer to use, not to mention less clunky. So that could explain the long payment process using PayPal.