Nightmare Buying SKT Themes Premium WordPress Theme!

This theme looks pretty impressive when viewing their demo.

Having worked with one page themes in the past, this one showed as offering the ability to include a blog using the same WordPress installation, which is how this theme captured my attention. That made choosing this theme VERY easy… so I thought.

The list of options available from within this theme appeared to be very remarkable… however this theme harbours what I deem to be a nightmare, which was NOT made apparent until AFTER purchasing.

In fairness to WordPress theme developers everywhere, before this I had NEVER encountered a theme developer that did NOT stand behind their work.

However, this developer does NOT and that SHOULD have presented me with a BIG red flag straight away.

But for some reason, I trusted that what I was purchasing would be the best theme ever, and I would never have thought what happened to me would ever be possible.

My review here will show you otherwise…

What SKT Themes’ Claims as the SPA WordPress Theme Features

• A WooCommerce booking plugin
  
  
• Ability to accept payments online
  
  
• Editable colours to suit your business colours
  
  
• Promise made that screen resolutions for multiple devices were checked
  
  
• HTML5 compliant with CSS3 animations
  
  
• Easy for novice users
  
  
• Tutorial documentation available
  
  
• Compatible with popular page builders such as: Divi, Visual composer, Elementor, Live Composer and other (NOTE: compatibility was stated but not “relies on”. Many themes today are compatible with page builders but they do not require installation of a page builder when Activating them.)
  
  
• Responsive and mobile-friendly test passed
  
  
• Default slider provided for easy changes, offering easy to make changes to slider image, HTML, form and other options
  
  
• Lesser number of scripts used in order to keep this theme loading fast
  
  
• Theme checked codex standards maintained
  
  
• 1 year support

How SKT Spa Theme Actually Worked

Once you have paid for the theme, uploaded, and activated it, you are informed that you need to install their page builder plugin.

In trying to get the page builder to work, I encountered a major issue and could not install the page builder.

So naturally, I contacted the support staff of the website hosting provider of the website that I was trying to install this theme on.

Their response to me is that page builders will not work on their server as they are resource hogs, and as such cannot be used under any circumstances on their server.

So, I then sent an email message to SKT Themes support email address explaining my predicament, and asking for a full refund.

Having no idea when I might hear back from the vendor of this theme, and because I was doing this job for a client whom I was anxious to please, I installed and activated another theme, and got to working on their website.

This new theme I chose, their developer offered a free installation to see if users like their theme and as a means of proving their theme does NOT rely on a page builder to function as their demo.

Even though the SKT Themes do clearly state NO REFUNDS, I was certain that when they realized that I could not use their theme on this web hosting server that they would in fact refund me, as it was not as though I had decided that I simply did not like their theme; I truly wanted their theme to do the job required.

The following screen print is of the email I received back from SKT Themes Support, signed by Shri.

The owner of the web hosting service insisted that the version used on their server was safe and fully supported, and as such I did not wish to get into any sort of argument with Shri over this issue so I responded to that effect.

Then I received the following email…

And I responded with…

All of this back and forth was going on during my working on getting my client’s website put together and live.

Then on the 19^th, I received an email (screen print below this) suggesting I could use their theme without the page builder.

HUH, REALLY????

Then WHY when I activated their theme did I receive a prompt that CLEARLY states; “This theme requires the following plugin: SKR Page Builder”?

AND… if this is true, then why didn’t Shri suggest this on DAY 1?

That would have been great to know of, and I might have even been able to use their theme and been happy with it had I been informed of this at the get-to.

However, it was now too late as the site was already well developed using another developer’s theme.

So, that is when I emailed Shri back explaining my issue…

And my email remained unanswered.

The link in Shri’s email where it is clearly stated as: “We do not process refunds: https://www.sktthemes.net/terms-conditions” is shown in the screen print linked here, with the relevant statement outlined and pointed to in red.

And, Shri is correct, it was clearly stated at the time of purchase that this theme was NON REFUNDABLE.

Though, I truly did not anticipate having the issues I did with the web server I was working on.

Plus, when I explained my issue, why didn’t Shri tell me at the get-go that I COULD use their theme WITHOUT the page builder, instead of telling me what to tell the web hosting owner in how to change their server.

So… I waited to hear back from Shri… and after the third day of silence, I sent another email of which the screen print below is of.

After no response once again, I followed through with my promise to seek out the help of PayPal to resolve this.

Suffice it to say that even after much back and forth with evidence provide to PayPal in my dispute, from my understanding of what PayPal stated is that because the vendor clearly stated NO REFUND, they were resolving this case in favour of the theme developer as there was no issue with my dispute of their product not being as described.

Over the years I have been creating websites for local business owners, manufacturers, politicians, etc., I have never come across a developer who states on their theme that NO REFUND will ever be honoured.

Not only that but I honestly would never have believed that PayPal would side with a developer in this incident when they did not fully disclose that their theme depended on a page builder, which clearly displays a prompt to that effect at the time of installation.

Especially given the fact that I had no cPanel access to the web host’s server in order to improve the version of PHP their server is using, rendering this theme totally unusable.

Even though I feel a lot of embarrassment for having been duped like I feel I was in this case, especially given that I am a far cry from being a newbie (excuse me, novice), I do feel it important enough of an issue to share my experience with what happened to me with you in this post in hopes of sparing you or anyone else who might be considering buying one of their themes, as to why I do NOT recommend SKT Themes.

What WordPress Themes to Trust

There are LOTS of great WordPress theme developers who DO stand behind their themes, and if you were ever to run into any issue with THEIR theme, would NEVER handle their support service as I was treated by SKT Themes.

They would never make you wait two full days to even offer you a potential resolution, especially considering the issue I was being forced to deal with.

From now on, these will be my…

Questions to Ask Theme Developers:

1.) Do you have a money back guarantee? If not, this is a deal breaker right at the get-go.

2.) Does your theme require a page builder to look like your demo?

Please, do not get deceived into wasting your money as I did?

I have decided to chalk this entire nightmare experience up as part of my education in what to look out for from WordPress developers going forward… and how a vendor’s not disclosing information BEFORE a purchase is made is NOT important enough of an issue for resolving a dispute in a buyer’s favour.

Woohoot! I’ve found a superior website theme developer and I would LOVE for you to read all about them here: Best of WordPress Themes are Those that Need NO Page Builder!

Feel free to leave me a comment below and, yes you can share this with your friends so they too can be forewarned.

My rating for this theme:

Conclusion: You may also want to consider one or both of the following: