On this page it says "When renewing after expiration, you'll need to pay for the time you missed¨.
However, this information is not displayed when you renew a subscription in Self-Service Support. The information about paying for missed time should be added in all places where you can purchase an üpgrade plan", otherwise, it's misleading and even scammy.
People should know they pay double the price when they buy a year of updates after pausing for a year.
Making it show a breakdown of the price would be better, I agree.
But it tells you the price before you pay, and the way it works has never been hidden. There's nothing misleading going on.
It shows the price but doesn't disclose that you'll also pay for previous updates you've never used. People may be more hesitant to upgrade because of this, which may be why you left this information out.
I only learned about the plan when I received a message regarding an expired license in version 13.21.1. My license expired 12 days prior, and today is the 16th, if I’m counting correctly. The cost of the upgrade plan increases daily. Had I not noticed that page, I wouldn’t have understood why this was happening or why some users are paying less for their upgrades. While the differences in pricing are small right now, they will become significant in six months.
Even if I had updated immediately, I would still have been penalized for the 12 days of missed use. This policy is not very customer-friendly. Other users have confirmed my concerns in their posts. It would have been better for this subscription model to undergo proper beta testing before being introduced. As it stands, users are literally paying the price for these oversight issues.
You're always able to use what you've paid for, the software itself.
The fact that you may pay for an access to updates is totally up to you.
If you do not plan to use any update, you'll probably never even bother to look out for new features ... and I don't see how this is penalizing you, since you can perfectly use what you've bought.
Regarding the fact that if you stop paying for upgrades, you need to cover up for the time elapsed since your last maintenance period expired, this is very common and has been discussed to long extent here.
You're paying to get the latest update that you're going to use and the subsequent release until the end of your update access period.
The way you're seeing this is really biased, but if you really want to go down that road, then you're a really lucky guy: when you bought version 13, you made a huge bargain, because you got a lifetime license to use a software developed for more than 30 years (20 in the Windows world), just for the price of 1 version without having to pay for each version bringing every feature in the one you bought!
EDIT: I see you're registered on this forum since 2010, so you can be considered a long time user. I can't understand how you're discovering all this considering to what extent this has been discussed when version 13 was introduced.
Who says I don't want new features? My hesitation to proceed with the purchase is solely due to the lack of communication and transparency about the upgrade plan (as mentioned in the initial post).
Not even a clear email has been sent to customers announcing these changes. You can't expect everyone to come here on the forum.
It's clear that the system isn't functioning smoothly, and not all information is being provided as expected.
Money isn't the main issue here. It's the whole system around the upgrade plan. This platform is meant for submitting bugs and requesting improvements. That doesn't mean it only relates to the program itself. Hence my initial post.
I use software with an upgrade plan that allows me to pause and pay for a new plan later, such as after two years, once I believe enough new features have been added to meet my needs. Usually, when a program switches to a subscription model, updates and new features tend to cease. It's unfortunately a common situation. For those programs, there’s no penalty for not upgrading for a few years. Choosing not to pay for updates means I miss out on new features, which is effectively a penalty for not paying. So, in case of DO, paying retroactively for features I didn't use during that time feels like a double penalty. I don't think I should have to pay for something I couldn't use.
You claim it's common, but I haven't encountered this anywhere before. If it truly were common, it wouldn't be discussed at length here.
Imagine paying for Netflix when you paused your subscription, only to still have to pay for the missing years because they produced some great shows you can now watch.
As a Frenchman, you should know that here in the EU, consumers have the right to information. Online sellers must provide clear information about the product or service, including its price, shipping costs, and delivery time. I guess it's not different in many other places.
You can defend the entire upgrade subscription however you like, but you can't ignore that information is missing in several places. That's why I posted this. I believe it will be okay in the end, but it just needs to be addressed before then.
The last few years, I was simply not very active on the forum for various reasons. But I visited a few times last year and never saw any mention of introducing a subscription plan. Probably because it was buried with all the other topics. Based on recent posts from other surprised users, I am not the only one who missed it and who is not clear on things.
I see it's being discussed in a few short topics, but I can't find the long main thread. If this significant change had been communicated clearly via email, I would have participated in the discussion or at least been aware of the plans.
I empathize with you. To my knowledge, no email was sent to existing users regarding the change.
While the change was announced and debated extensively in these forums, to your point, unless you were on the forum regularly, the news never reached you.
Coupled with the lack of subscription-end notifications, this is a significant and avoidable customer service miss on GP Software's part.
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To add some perspective, the amount we're talking about (for the 12 days) is about €0.49.
Thanks for that added info.
Something only you know, which is exactly why I started this topic.
The amount is completely irrelevant when it comes to not providing good information.
The renewal page should also indicate the date the new license ends.
Also not clear:
If you pause for a year or longer and then decide to renew for three years, do you pay one-third of (the currently) $98 extra, or must you pay $42 for a one-year subscription extra?
It would also be helpful to link to the subscription FAQs page in the Renew Upgrade Subscription section.
I'm still trying to understand what it is you think is "misleading" and "scammy" ?
You're acting like the extra €0.49 just appeared on your credit card with no warning, but that's simply not true.
You were shown the actual price before you were charged. What is misleading about that?