can't get link to work

If you have a folder named "products" in the root of your website, then url routing will fail because the folder has the same name as your Products controller.
Please try to rename this folder to "product_catalog".

The products folder is not in the root. I have renamed it anyway to productscat and updated the .htaccess and the products.php file in the VIEWs folder. Still getting the Access Forbidden! Error 403. The link on the products page at http://localhost/thegamingplace is showing as http://localhost/thegamingplace/?products/details/1"> above the photos. When I change the link in products.php in the Views folder back to the original
     

PHP Code:

<a href="<?php echo base_url(); ?>products/details/<?php echo $product->id; ?>">
 <img src="<?php echo base_url(); ?>assets/images/productscat/<?php echo $product->image; ?>" /></a> 


then when I click on the link it shows the correct url http://localhost/thegamingplace/products/details/1 and doesn't give me the ERROR 403 BUT doesn't show the details page it just stays at the products page. When I use the f12 inspect element in the browser it shows the correct link for each product. It's just not loading the details page in place of the products page.