GrootMade Themes & Plugins Reviews 218

I bought a lifetime subscription and the number of plugins and themes available is fantastic. They are updated on a regular basis and it's been the foundation of my business allowing me to offer my clients cost effective websites. Never had an issue with any of the plugins or themes I've downloaded. Martin has always been very helpful to support any problems. The plugin is very useful to install and update plugins but I prefer to use the website. Keep up the good work guys!

I was a subscriber to Festinger Vault, which has rebranded as GrootMade (Groot Made B.V., Rotterdam). I discovered charges on my credit card statements under the merchant name "Riding Solo" — a name with zero disclosed connection to this service. Because I didn't recognize it, I missed the window to dispute through my card issuer.
What makes this worse: one of the cards charged had its number replaced due to unrelated fraud, yet this company still managed to bill it. That requires use of card network account updater services — which are only supposed to be used for active, authorized subscriptions.
I have since contacted them directly and am filing complaints with:

ACM (Dutch Consumer Authority) and FTC in the US.

I am not the only one. Read the other reviews here carefully — the pattern of unrecognized charges, cancelled subscriptions being reinstated, and forum posts being deleted is well documented.

And yes, I have sent ALL 18 invoices to your team TWICE now with no response.

If this group has done NOTHING wrong, why is the name on my credit card invoice RIDING SOLO? A bike sharing company in the Netherlands?

Been with them for over 4 years now. awesome items! I found my all in one spot for anything plugins and themes.

GrootMade thinks like a technical partner, not just a web agency. They cleaned up a messy WordPress setup, improved performance hard, and made the whole stack way easier to maintain. Communication was fast, direct, and actually useful.

Same issues as other reviews. Festinger changed to grootmade. I received multiple invoices and my lifetime license is gone. I tried getting in contact but no answers on email and my forum posts keep getting deleted. This had became a scam site.

UPDATE 06/04/2026: i also reported this company to the Netherlands fraud department.

Dev team loves this for bulk updates. Moving our stack to GrootMade Connect saved us hours of billable time. Pushing updates to a dozen sites at once from one dashboard is indredible. Library is massive (25k+ seems legit). Some high-end themes sync slow, but the whitelabel tools make up for it. Recommended for anyone tired of the dev tax.

FRAUD

Owner of this service, previously known as FestingerVault is fraud.

After getting sued by Automattic (Wordpress.com), their old service (Festinger Vault) has never been the same.

Couple of months ago they rebranded from "FestingerVault" to "GrootMade".

Martin, the Owner of FestingerVault and GrootMade is still trying to charge old customers with fake invoices via Stripe payment processor.

Do not use Grootmade.

FestingerVault = GrootMade = SCAM

I had a mixed experience...
I was originally a lifetime user on the old Festinger Vault platform. When we lifetime users were grandfathered onto the new platform, I appreciated the gesture. However, that decision was later reversed, which felt unfair, as it impacted users regardless of individual behavior.
There were also plenty of technical challenges during the transition. At times, the platform stability made it difficult to rely on consistently.
That said, my access has since been restored, and I do appreciate that effort to make things right.

I do understand that building and scaling a platform, especially with a smaller team, can come with challenges. At the same time, consistency, clear communication, and follow-through still matter.

Overall, my experience has included both appreciation for the product and frustration with how some decisions were handled. I hope to see more consistency, clear communication, and stability moving forward.

UPDATE (4/15/2026):

Martin personally requested that I write the above review. I was redirected to Trustpilot using a link he provided after reinstating my account following a private support ticket. That ticket was regarding my concern about all lifetime users being affected rather than addressing specific abusive behavior individually.

I left a 3-star review that I believed was honest, fair, and respectful.

Shortly after, my account was banned from Grootmade and Festinger's Vault.

I am also currently unable to submit support request via email, and when I asked for clarification in the Discord support channel, I was placed on a 7-day timeout. At the time, I was genuinely trying to understand whether the ban was intentional or an error.

Seeing similar experiences reflected in other reviews has only added to my concern. This is disappointing. I had supported this platform since 2019 and remained hopeful for its future. Based on this experience, I can no longer recommend Grootmade.

I believe it's important for potential customers to be aware of how situations like this are handled, especially when it involves responses to honest feedback.

Due to this experience, I have updated my rating to 1-star.

They use historic cancelled subscriptions and charge your card, hoping you won't notice. Check your statements and contact your banks.

Purchased a lifetime license from them and after like a month they totally disappared, making many excuses for months that they have been sued and that they are building new platform. Then the new platform is out and gone and then come back and gone and then finally they had to rebrand to grootmade.com. The owner appologized in a post and said they will finally make things right. But here we go again, The new drama starts again. Now they are sayng lifetime members can have their lifetime license in Old website which is no longer updated and is redirecting to the grootmade forum. What a shame Scammers! Refund all lifetime license owners. I am just writing this review, in case someone will do a research about this scam before purchasing. Oh and they try many times to charge again and again! Please do not buy and do not get scammed. New company name same scammers!

Update:

What a shame, They come and lie here under every review that they dont recognize the experience. At least you cant silence us here like you did on your forum meta.grootmade.com. Anyone that asked why their lifetime license was cancelled got banned and lifetime account suspended. At the same time they keep trying to charge again. This is Sick! Stay away! Dont get scammed!

Shameful and deceitful practices.
After their lawsuit that got them in hot water they decided to rebrand and fork their previous project while completely abandoning their original promises.
At one moment you are a lifetime license buyer and then you are banned for no reason from their new platform.
Furthermore, as a lifetime purchaser i had to reclaim my license 3 times and let's not talk about all the downtime that it was faced as the site went through multiple versions each worse than the one before and then going back to the previous design.
Do not trust this company. Do not trust Martin. And definitely do not trust whatever scheme they are planning next.

--- Update 04/04/2026:

Given that I cannot reply to your reply below. Your response is further proof of your deceitful practices. If you had actually taken the time and looked at your inbox you would have clearly seen that I have tried communicating with you and you have yet to respond. What competitive business? I don't even know who your competition is! I have been a loyal fan to FV and Martin throughout the hardship he has gone through.

You banned me for absolutely no reason yesterday. I contacted hello@grootmade and i have no response. Instead of casting doubt on the legitimacy of my experience maybe take the time and check your inbox before providing a generic response to me and everyone else who had a similar experience. And if you are asking for further proof here is the url i get when i try to login:

grootmade/?error=banned&error_description=You+have+been+banned+from+this+application.+Please+contact+support+if+you+believe+this+is+an+error.

and if you want more then respond by email

Update Apr 11 2026:
DO NOT TRUST THE POSITIVE REVIEWS!!
Still no response from their support team however they are basically holding lifetime members hostage unless they provide positive reviews and they check them before they reinstate your lifetime membership.
Here is the message received from one of their crew members:

Dear lifetime member,

After internal discussion, we’ve decided to restore your lifetime license here on GrootMade as a gesture of goodwill.

We would like you to leave a review on our TrustPilot page:

trustpilot /evaluate/grootmade.com

Please let me know when it’s done, and I’ll ask our admin team to restore your license.

With kind regards,
T0mmy

Participants: T0mmy

I have tried numerous times to contact grootmade about my account. I simply don't get a reply.

I purchased a lifetime membership with festinger and since changing to grootmade, my account has not been reinstated. It's also impossible to actually contact someone.

I was a lifetime member of Festinger Vault. Recently, they migrated to their new "GrootMade" platform and upgraded former Festinger customers to lifetime access there. However, they suddenly announced a "big update" which was actually just them revoking everyone's lifetime access overnight. They used the excuse that a few users were disrespectful to their staff, deciding to collectively punish all their customers instead of dealing with specific individuals.

I went to their forum to express my disappointment. Their response? They instantly banned me to silence the criticism.

Here is the EXACT message I posted that got me banned. Judge for yourself if this warrants a ban instead of a proper answer:

--- MY FORUM POST ---
Honestly, I'm really confused by these announcements. Is this an April Fools' joke? The timing of your posts really points in that direction: announcing a 'big update' yesterday (April 1st) for today, which ultimately turns out to be the removal of lifetime access. It's very confusing.

If this is true and not a joke, your 'big update' is just taking back the goodwill gesture you made to former Festinger customers? Thanks for the big update then... I don't understand the logic at all.

You're using the excuse of protecting your staff, but why are you treating former customers like 'haters'? At what point is it a good decision to collectively punish everyone by revoking access just because of a few isolated individuals?

We all know very well that in the GPL world, trust is the most important thing for customers. Things were actually moving in the right direction, and I was even starting to think I would recommend you again to my clients and to other communities. And now, in one single 'big update', you've managed to destroy that trust all over again.

It almost feels like you're doing this on purpose; I don't see how it's possible otherwise. How can anyone trust you, recommend you, or even defend you when people say things about you online, if you're capable of revoking lifetime licenses overnight?

I really hope this is just a bad April Fools' joke. Otherwise, I completely fail to see how revoking users like this is a good marketing strategy. You are only going to create new haters or reinforce the ones you already had."

If you are considering buying a "lifetime" deal or any subscription from GrootMade / Festinger Vault, be warned. They will revoke your paid access on a whim, break their promises, and ban you if you dare to question their decisions or express legitimate concerns. Save your money and find a GPL provider that actually respects its customers and honors its deals.

Disclaimer: This review was directly requested by the founder. Despite the tag, this review is not "unprompted".

My "lifetime" account from Grootmade has been revoked or made inactive three times so far, the latest time, today, the revocation came with invoices totaling $57 for the month of April, three times the standard Pro monthly rate.

Every time there's an access issue, it takes a week or more to solve it. DMs to the owner go unanswered and support tickets are regularly purged without response.

For the record I have already sent the owner a DM, opened a ticket, and sent an email.

The only response I received to any of these was a DM from Martin asking me to leave a Trustpilot review, so here I am...

Update 4/2/2026:
Access to Grootmade was never implied to be "temporary", and the community post today explicitly says that the decision was "reversed", there is no indication that it was ever meant to be temporary access.

Furthermore, as a result of sending a PRIVATE DM and opening a PRIVATE ticket, my account has now been suspended on grounds of: "No constructive purpose to their actions other than creating dissent within the community".

Given that the old domain mentioned by the company redirects to grootmade, I am effectively banned from both platforms despite my "lifetime" account purchase.

This review has now been challenged by the company as fraudulent, which I dispute.

Update: 4/4/2026:

"If you would like the matter reviewed properly, please continue through direct support."

Unfortunately this is not possible, my account has been banned from both platforms. When attempting to log in, I receive the message:

"Account suspended: No constructive purpose to their actions other than creating dissent within the community."

Regarding the statement that this review is linked to a "third-party competitor network", If there is any evidence, I welcome Trustpilot’s review of it. I am simply sharing my own verified experience as a customer, based on the account, invoices, and communications I personally received.

For transparency, I have already submitted my invoice numbers and supporting documentation to Trustpilot for review. I have also completed Trustpilot’s identity verification.

And as per your email sent March 14 2026:
"GrootMade is officially live, and every Festinger Vault license key has been transported to the new platform, so your access comes with you."

These people are the same scammers from festingervault. They ignored all of my emails that were an honest attempt at correcting unauthorized charges for already cancelled subscriptions. They continue to charge my card twice a month. They are hiding in the netherlands comfortably outside of the jurisdiction of the US where they can get away with this. I also made posts on reddit, and they repeatedly removed them. People who are honest and want to make things right do not do this.

Update 4/3/2026

Ill set the record straight. I tried multiple times to reach out when they identified as festingervault. This is their first response to me in all of those attempts. Strange how when it's out in the open, suddenly they are able to respond. I am not hiding any context, I have the emails, I have all of my outreach attempts, and nothing is being misrepresented. Get that fact right before trying to represent my comments as a deliberate attack on your company(s), I'm just telling things as they happened.

If you really do reject how I've represented things, make things right. Check your festingervault emails, and check your stripe. The money is there, and you're gladly taking it from me. I'll correct the record if you do attempt to address those attempts to reach out. You could have done that months ago and it didn't have to become a post like this but you allowed that to happen by saying nothing. I search for your company in my emails, 0 replies, 2 sent from me. That is a fact. This is "proper channels", is it not?

The issue is being handled by my bank right now because of the lack of response on the matter, and I've given them everything they need to know. I'll gladly call them and say that the vendor is actively trying to correct their mistake, but only if there is some attempt to rectify things. If you would have responded in those mentioned efforts, I wouldn't have had to call the bank to let them them know what is going on. There's money coming out of my account that shouldn't be and attempts have already been made to settle it amicably. It's really that simple.

Update 4/3/2026 (Amendment)

They notified trust pilot that I reviewed the wrong domain in an effort to hide my post. They are the same company, just a different name now. Hence the title. They did this because of their drama with automattic. See their GitHub page for the FestingerVault plugin if there is any doubt that they are the same entity, though I wouldn't put it past them to try and make the repo private as they are getting similar complaints to this one.

I'll give another chance. If you lost those emails, I will forward them to prove that I already attempted to do this. Give me the email for your new company and I will forward them, let's see if you respond and try to make it right. If you do, I'll do my part.

Update 4/4/2026

A competitor network? Did you just make that up? You "identified" evidence? How is that possible when that isn't true? I'm just a guy who bought your product way back in the day because of my work creating wordpress websites. Mind you, I used to love your product, until you started engaging in this behavior. I used the festingervault plugin on many websites until I cancelled in 2023. I will keep setting the record straight because you're just proving my point. You want to hide this review because you don't like what I have to say. If trust pilot reaches out to validate your claim, I think your claim that I am part of a competitor network will fall apart quickly.

The fact is my emails and the charges are there and you are being deliberately dishonest. I already offered to re-forward my outreach attempts in the event that you lost them after closing festingervault. What have you offered? You made false claims against a genuine complaint with intent on silencing me. We both know you didn't "identify" anything.

I contacted trust pilot and let them know that I am happy to work with them so they know what you are saying is false (with concrete documentation of charges and outreach attempts). I am a web developer with plenty of motive to be disappointed by the conduct of people that I used to trust to provide a service that benefited my dev work. We could have figured something out and I would have retracted this review.

But, you are clearly intent on denying everything. I am still willing to work with you on this, all you have to do is make an honest effort. If you had, you would have found my name and the money that you happily accepted.

Potential customers of grootmade, how does this look to you? At this point, I don't care about recovering funds, I just don't want people getting ripped off like I did.

4/19/26:
More fraud charges were made after I sent more emails. Their login says I'm banned (the browser console reveals this with no ui messaging). They claimed my "customer record" didn't exist! Weird huh?

They finally came back. Many saas abandons life timer when investors or management change. Not grootmade formerly festingervault.

Thanks for coming back.

At first the site was getting down a lot however over the past weeks everything is working nice an smooth. The only problem right now is that the plugins are outdated however i exprect this will be resolved next weeks.

Been using them since 2023, there are hiccups along the way but the owner always pulls through and when he could've just left everyone in the lurch, he chose to continue maintenance. Highly recommend.

Unfortunately, Festigervault (now Grootmade) has become highly unreliable. While their service was functional in the past, the quality plummeted during their recent legal issues.

My biggest concern is their billing: despite repeatedly cancelling my subscription, they have randomly restarted charges months later without my consent. They have recently switched from Paddle to Stripe, but the predatory billing persists. Management often replies to negative reviews by claiming customers are "confused" about their terms—I can assure you I am not. I cancelled correctly, yet the charges continue. Save yourself the headache and avoid this company.

They renamed the company, it seems their old domain is already listed as spam/scam everywhere, so they had to. It's not possible to unsubscribe from their mailing lists, even if you never subscribed in the first place, they don't care about privacy regulations.