The product you are buying contains a course you are already taking

[proteanstar]

This needs to be fixed IMMEDIATELY, as IT IS COSTING ME MONEY AND SALES RIGHT NOW.

I need to be able to sell the same course to the same student. They are allowed to take courses more than once for their Continuing Education requirements as Health Care Professionals. This is a serious problem. I have had students purchase the same course more than once before with no issues.

I need to fix this NOW. I am losing business because of it!

Please help me.

I have submitted a ticket and I have had no response except the automated one.

"Howdy Steve,

We have received your support request! We will respond as quickly as possible.

If anything changes, please respond to this e-mail to keep us updated. For your reference, a copy of your request is below.

Thank you for using Sensei."

I may have found the offending line here. https://github.com/Automattic/sensei/blob/master/includes/class-sensei-wc.php if ( Sensei_Utils::user_started_course( $course_id, $user_id ) ) { throw new Exception( __( 'The product you are buying contains a course you are already taking', 'woothemes-sensei' ) );

Steps to Reproduce

1. 2. 3.

What I Expected

What Happened Instead

PHP / WordPress / Sensei version

Browser / OS version

Screenshot / Video

Context / Source

[proteanstar]

[ElementLMS]

Hello, We have solved this problem for a client of ours and plan to create a plugin to support/fix this exact issue. The ability to retain class status, grade, certificate of completion, but yet allow the student to re-purchase and register for the same course. Currently you are forced to duplicate your course to allow for this functionality. Go to http://www.elementlms.com/contact-us/, make your request and we will fix you up.

[proteanstar]

Thank you for your reply.

If you have the plug-in available, has it been tested? When will it be published on WordPress.org? The name of the plug-in? Why is this problem happening now, when it was not an issue before?

[proteanstar]

Is there a work-around where an existing customer who has completed a course can purchase it again with a different user name (this is generated automatically by Woocommerce at the time of the order from the first part of the customer email address) and leave all other details the same? Will the system try and merge the two accounts later (that may lead to the customer losing their transcript and Certificate of Completion - a very bad problem), or will this work to keep them separated?

[proteanstar]

I think the way it was before the update caused this issue is that a warning was given that the course had been purchased before, but the customer can ignore that warning and go ahead and purchase it again.

The warning language in red is wrong also. It says

The product you are buying contains a course you are already taking

That is not correct. I had this come up for a course that I had already COMPLETED.

It is not an ACTIVE course. It is a COMPLETED course.

Whoever put that language in did not think it out. This is a bug, and it is a big problem that needs to be fixed immediately.

[ElementLMS]

This is not a bug. It has always been this way. A user in the system is associated to the WP_POST course and all related history will be associated to the user (ie Lesosn/Quiz info, etc) from now until eternity until they are reset or removed from the class. Our fix stores all pertinent data (ie course ID, Quiz(s) grades values (not answer responses), and certificate of completion and them deletes them from the Sensei Course....allowing them to re-register for the same exact course (or in your case re-purchase).

[proteanstar]

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it!

I know that my customers were able to purchase the same course more than once before, as recently as October. Not anymore.

What is your fix? If you have the plug-in available, has it been tested? When will it be published on WordPress.org? The name of the plug-in? Why is this problem happening now, when it was not an issue before?

[proteanstar]

Here is the issue that Automattic needs to understand.

Health Care Professionals need to update their licenses at intervals, depending on their profession, licensing board rules for each jurisdiction/location. It can vary between one year to three years.

One example: If they let their professional license lapse in my State, they have to take double the Continuing Education Hours to restore their license. Also, in disciplinary actions by the licensing board, they can require more CE Hours.

The licensees are allowed to take the same course over again, and get credit for it twice, or as many times as they need to.

Every licensing period requires more Continuing Education Hours. Health Care Professionals often take the same courses again every licensing period.

It is absurd that Sensei is designed to prevent this, if that is the case.

I am looking into my records to see what happens when a person takes the course again.

If I find that their Certificate of Completion and Transcript have been overwritten, then that is a definite problem, because licensees are required to keep these records for a period of years.

[lkraav]

I'm not Automattic, but https://github.com/Automattic/sensei/issues/1823 from 1 year ago seems to be where this conditional check was implemented (git blame).

Did you update Sensei recently?

I'm pretty sure they weren't aware of your business requirements at the time of this patch.

This needs to be fixed IMMEDIATELY, as IT IS COSTING ME MONEY AND SALES RIGHT NOW.

Not sure if you're aware, but it hasn't worked this way, ever. You'd probably have to pay a significant monthly maintenance fee to somebody to stay on call, and to get these kinds of hotfixes at your suggested timeline.

[proteanstar]

Ikraav, Thanks for your comment. I update everything immediately. I have done everything myself the entire time. I am used to no support from this company. I do see that they made the mistake, and I also see that I am not the only one affected by their error.

Best regards

[lkraav]

I'm just curious how come you didn't already run into this since last year? Or didn't notice or customers didn't say anything until now?

[proteanstar]

I have had customers purchasing the same course more than once, and from the same customer account.

One thing that I know from being in business for nearly 40 years is this: Customers do not always tell you when there is a problem.

I hope that Automattic takes note of the fact that someone is having to write a plug-in to address their error. Automattic should address this issue.

What I recommend is a notice at the time of checkout to the customer stating that they are purchasing a course that they have already purchased before, and let the customer decide whether or not to continue with checkout.

When they take the course the second time, or more, they must have their transcript (grading records, progress through each Lesson of the Course) and Certificate of Completion preserved for each time that they have completed it. This is a requirement for their license renewal and certification renewal.

The Licensing Boards and Certification Boards allow the same CE Courses to be taken again.

Now, I am going to have to find a work-around. As I said above, if the prior Coursework is being written over, then there is a serious problem. I am fixing this on my own immediately, and I am not waiting for anyone to help. I learned that many years ago.

[lkraav]

I am fixing this on my own immediately, and I am not waiting for anyone to help.

It's exactly the right move, regardless off what happens here now that this particular use case is more clearly defined. Knowing the resources available here, it might take a while to get integrated.

If you share your sourced solution with the team here, they might be able to integrate it faster, and you can get the maintenance burdain eventually off your back. That's how I operate across a list of open projects like this.

[jenhooks]

Hi @proteanstar -- we've been in touch about this via email. Closing this issue now.

[rwkyyy]

I know it's old, but I bumped in this on a project I took recently and was forced to fix this somehow and after some digging found the hook and removed it via init. Added the code here: https://gist.github.com/rwkyyy/11c69d5d0791f15ce7c8c6c13d9083a4 (it should go in child theme functions).