Viewing Not happy with being forced to pay for staying up to date.

Not happy with being forced to pay for staying up to date.



User: Theo K. 8 years ago
This morning I got a message that an update was available, version 1.9.5.
After updating I wanted to publish the website to a local folder and I got a message that this is impossible because my upgrades & support has expired.

I have a lifetime license - (bought in 2013), which does not mean much because apparantly you need to pay and extra $49.95 USD A YEAR to stay up to date.

To confuse even more, it is mentioned that the EverWeb Renewal is $49.95 USD One Time. But on the same page it states that it is an Upgrade and Support plan for one year

What also bugs me is that pricing is listed in US $.
Rage Software is a Canadian Company based it Ontario and I am a Canadian Customer. When I convert the price I am suddenly charged $70 Cdn a year for software with a license that never expires.

I not the only only one that is disappointed.

To quote someone else here:

Quote:
Hello, I downloaded the release 1.9.5. Build 1495 opened a site I'm working on and wanted to publish it to a folder - and got the information that I have a active EverWeb account - ? I do have a lifetime license - that's what you sold me back in 2013 why does it say I have to Upgrade? - I wet to manage account and there I see that my account is valid. So tell me, why do I have - with my LIFETIME standalone licence to upgrade anyting if I never got the chance to use BLOG option what was one of the features you offered Me and other users back in 2013?? so if i do NOT upgrade now i will be stuck in the 1.9.5 Build 1489 version?


This is the short answer the person received:

Quote:
Lifetime license plus one year of free upgrades and support. Your license never expires.
Optional $49.95 USD for an additional year of upgrades & support.


Last edit 8 years ago
User: James G. 8 years ago
Why not have to pay to stay up to date?
You buy the software at the state it is, and get upgrades for a year. After that you can use the software at the last version paid for forever. You can redownload it from your homepage here.
User: Paul-RAGESW 8 years ago
Hi Theo,

You're not forced to pay. When you use the check for update feature in EverWeb it will tell you that the update doesn't fall within your update plan. You have to actually confirm that you want to update.

Either way you can login to your client area account and download the latest version you purchased.

We are very clear about the upgrade policy and support policy in our store.

Yes we charge in US dollars because the majority of our customers are in the U.S. And our expenses are in U.S dollars.

It is unfortunate that the Canadian dollar is currently very weak against the US dollar but 2 years ago it was stronger. We can't control currency prices in a global market.

I'm sorry if your disspointed but we are very clear and opened with our policies. In addition we deliver extremely consist and feature rich updates. Far more than any of our competitors. We believe we deliver great value for your purchase. If you disagree you do not need to update and I understand that.

Sorry again for any confusion. But we will continue to work very hard to offer the best updates and the best support.

There is no sustainable company that offers lifetime free updates (without having another revenue source). We offer lifetime access to the purchased versions of our software.

Last edit 8 years ago

-------------------------------
Paul
EverWeb Developer
User: Theo K. 8 years ago
No offence, but I understand that if you upGrade to a new version (2.0 or whatever) the customer has to pay. I would then expect that the software is dramatically new in every way.
But what I don't understand is that if UpDate from version 1.9 to version 1.95, (which basically is a update 'onder the hood'). It is in essence still the same (but improved) software. I did not see a message saying that the update was not within my update plan but that's me I am sure.

Don't get me wrong. I am a big fan Everweb and an early adapter. I contributed with feature suggestions and communications has been excellent. And the software itself is great and I am a happy user.
What does not agree with me is your revenue model. It is time limited and not version limited. I would expect that if you buy software, it is serviced and Updated until it is being abandoned by the developer or is replaced by a totally new version.

Regarding the US vs Cdn $. The remark coincides with a discussion I had with a colleague who is working on a project with Shopify.
He was confronted with the same thing. As you know, Shopify is a Canadian company based in Ottawa, but they list everything in US $. They gave him the same explanation as you did. US customers, global economy etc.. And it bugged him too. Offering him a '$29 a month special deal' only to find out that the developer is advertising in a foreign currency and they leave it to the customer to convert the US$ to Canadian.
User: Paul-RAGESW 8 years ago
Quote:
No offence, but I understand that if you upGrade to a new version (2.0 or whatever) the customer has to pay. I would then expect that the software is dramatically new in every way.


We don't want to do things this way. When we have to make major upgrades like that we would wait to add features so they can be included in a "major" update. This leads to features being delayed and more bugs because more things need to be tested in one large release.

Instead we release a lot of new updates with MANY new features and fixes consistently.

I encourage you to compare our releases with any other product that does things the old way with major releases.

No one else provides the same number of upgrades as we do. No one else provides 24/7/365 customer support like we do.

Quote:
I did not see a message saying that the update was not within my update plan but that's me I am sure.


If you download 1.9 again and check for an update, let me know if you see that message or not.

Quote:
What does not agree with me is your revenue model. It is time limited and not version limited. I would expect that if you buy software, it is serviced and Updated until it is being abandoned by the developer or is replaced by a totally new version.


This is a very old and inefficient way of providing software. See my notes above. Wouldn't you rather have new features consistently rather than one large update that you would have to wait for all these large features?

We outlined the purchase terms on our store before your purchase. You aren't forced to upgrade and we are, I believe, providing more value in your one year than any other similar product.

Quote:
Offering him a '$29 a month special deal' only to find out that the developer is advertising in a foreign currency and they leave it to the customer to convert the US$ to Canadian.


I understand it is not ideal. And it is unfortunate for many people. But you can purchase in Canadian dollars from our store however that won't change the price.

We're both on the same page here. It's unfortunate but the price can't be equal when the currency isn't worth the same.



Again, please keep in mind if you like EverWeb and think it provides value you can upgrade. If not, you don't have to and you can continue using your purchased version forever.

-------------------------------
Paul
EverWeb Developer
User: Theo K. 8 years ago
Okay, it is what it is. Thank you for explaining, I understand your reasoning.
I will see if it is worth for me to pay for the one year update period.

I downgraded my software to 1.9 again and let it check for the update. I get the message seen the attached picture but there is no mention if the update falls within my update plan.



Last edit 8 years ago
✔ Best Answer  
User: Paul-RAGESW 8 years ago
Click the Instal Update plan and you will see a dialog that warns you that the update is not free.

-------------------------------
Paul
EverWeb Developer
User: Theo K. 8 years ago
Not when I update. If I click on the "Install Update" I immediately get this screen:



And it ends with this screen:

User: Christopher 8 years ago
Same here.

-------------------------------
rMBP 15", 2.6 Ghz, 16 GB RAM, OS X 10.11.6, with 27" Thunderbolt Cinema Display

www.cleetche.com
User: Ismael C. 8 years ago
Trickery at it's finest. Nice.

And the payment process, even if you chose to fall into this trickery, is convoluted. I got 3 invoices for failed attempts to pay by credit card and my credit card payment could not get through.

Last edit 8 years ago
User: Paul-RAGESW 8 years ago
Our intentions weren't to trick anyone. Clearly there is a bug as some users did not see the notice that the update may be a paid update. For that I truly apologize for the inconvenience.

We have already made this much more clear in the next version.

You can just download the older version from our downloads page. There is no need to buy anything

Again, I am sorry if you felt tricked but that wasn't our intention. You should see a message when you try to upgrade that says it may not be a paid upgrade. If you do upgrade and try to publish the message that comes up tells you that you can login to your account and download the previous version of EverWeb.

Nowhere does it say you have to pay to continue using EverWeb.

The message you get when you purchase EverWeb tells you that you get one year of updates. I understand that some users downloaded the latest update without a proper warning and I do apologize for the inconvenience. The fix is to just go to our downloads page or your client area and download the previous version.

-------------------------------
Paul
EverWeb Developer
User: Ismael C. 8 years ago
Thanks for your reply. However, after trashing the new "not functional unless you pay $49.95" version and downloading what I had before that was working just fine (version1.9.0), it still tells me I do not have an Everweb account and cannot publish. Please fix this. Thanks.
User: Ismael C. 8 years ago
Thanks for your reply. However, after trashing the new "not functional unless you pay $49.95" version and downloading what I had before that was working just fine (version1.9.0), it still tells me I do not have an Everweb account and cannot publish. Please fix this. Thanks.


Post Reply
You must login or signup to post.