Reason 10 early adopter voucher

[joeyluck]

Er... No, the voucher was still eligible to all early adopters! And, ironically, it was stated as such in the email, but those who chose not to receive that email... didn't! You can't blame PH for not informing some people if those people have declined to receive information from them! And (in Europe at least), it's their (the users) right to decline!

It's one of those "if I had know beforehand"-type situations, hence my call to all non-subscribers: you've just learned at your expense that this little tick box in your account is the key to good offers from PH, now go check it to benefit from it next time. I agree it's a sad situation, but I don't agree it's bad form on PH's side.

If some radio calls you on the phone to tell you that you won the $10.000 prize and you hang up... Well, you lost $10.000 and it's not the radio's fault, is it? I understand you'd be pissed, but you can't blame the radio...

What if the radio calls you and says you won $10k but it is only valid if you provided prior consent by liking their facebook page and they refuse to payout because you have not liked there page but entered the competition anyway. That is what it amounts to. Just opinion Wongo it could have been done a lot better.

Holding offers at ransom by making it the policy to only give the option to get the voucher if you are signed up to receive offers is shady AF. It was a charitable offer yes but it only servers to promote the sign up of offers by locking it to the subscription of an email. Easily could have officially announced it either here, on the blog, facebook, twitter or any other portal that the offer will be easily seen 'only If you are signed up to receive offers.' Obviously a simple thread here would have done the trick. Clearly stating this is an insider offer only on the email would have been enough to trigger somebodies intuition to create a thread here. In hindsight if at launch they said early adopter gift when advertising the price on the website they would have gotten a lot more buy's imo.

whats going on. Fuck it I don't care.....

Well this thread has been here since the 21st

And this response was made in this thread 6 days ago:
viewtopic.php?p=365466#p365466

Click this button:


Check this box in your account:


I think you're also presented with this option at checkout.

You can look at the offer as a nice gesture if you want, but it is what it is: an offer. It wasn't owed. And see some of the responses at the beginning of this thread by folks who felt Propellerhead was only trying to lure them into spending more money. It's unfortunate some people felt that by, but there it is... And if you see WongoTheSane's comments, you'll understand why this policy is in place.

[AttenuationHz]

What if the radio calls you and says you won $10k but it is only valid if you provided prior consent by liking their facebook page and they refuse to payout because you have not liked there page but entered the competition anyway. That is what it amounts to. Just opinion Wongo it could have been done a lot better.

Holding offers at ransom by making it the policy to only give the option to get the voucher if you are signed up to receive offers is shady AF. It was a charitable offer yes but it only servers to promote the sign up of offers by locking it to the subscription of an email. Easily could have officially announced it either here, on the blog, facebook, twitter or any other portal that the offer will be easily seen 'only If you are signed up to receive offers.' Obviously a simple thread here would have done the trick. Clearly stating this is an insider offer only on the email would have been enough to trigger somebodies intuition to create a thread here. In hindsight if at launch they said early adopter gift when advertising the price on the website they would have gotten a lot more buy's imo.

whats going on. Fuck it I don't care.....

Well this thread has been here since the 21st

And this response was made in this thread 6 days ago:
viewtopic.php?p=365466#p365466

Click this button:


Check this box in your account:


I think you're also presented with this option at checkout.

You can look at the offer as a nice gesture if you want, but it is what it is: an offer. It wasn't owed. And see some of the responses at the beginning of this thread by folks who felt Propellerhead was only trying to lure them into spending more money. It's unfortunate some people felt that by, but there it is... And if you see WongoTheSane's comments, you'll understand why this policy is in place.

My argument is officially announced it, not announcing were it can get lost in a thread. I already said I was dropping it I thought, no need to keep it going is there?

[ravisoni]

Opt-in laws, they have no choice. Sending a bill is legal, sending commercial solicitation (even in the form of a voucher) is illegal in Europe if the user has opposed it.
...
EU Opt-In Directive 2002/58/EC & 2003/58/EC (summary): Direct marketing email messages may be sent only to recipients who have given their prior consent. Prior permission is required for business-to-consumer (B2C) communication covering all "natural persons". A business relationship in which contact information was obtained constitutes prior consent as long as a means to opt out was provided at the same time and continues to be provided with each such message and each message is about similar products or services by the same company.

That's a fair point, but sometimes laws ought to be interpreted as guidelines, and understanding the context becomes extremely relevant in such situations. I'm certain that most, if not all, people opt-out so that it cuts down on spammy emails. Almost nobody would opt out if they knew their money was coming back to be used towards another product, even if the product line was limited.

So, coming to my other point, if they are offering something back in return, shouldn't they make an effort to call it anything but an "offer" or "promotional item" or "giveaway" so that they can skirt around the rules, and email and reward all the early adopters? For the recipient of the voucher, if you take the best-use case, you end up getting something completely free. So my question is what steps did they take to communicate this offer to all those who potentially wouldn't be getting an email? Did they announce it on fb or twitter for this specifically? Did they make a separate thread here before their mass email job? Did they give people sufficient time to a) contact them (PH) if they didn't receive any voucher, or b) honor the time frame from the moment the voucher arrived in their email, if it arrived at a later time? In other words, is it really a genuinely offered reward they had in mind for their early adopters?

Imo, their intent with the $30 back was to contain and counter any backlash as a result if putting their product on sale so soon after a regular price release, and that it wasn't necessarily a heartfelt gesture to all their early adopters. If they really wanted to give money back they'd have gone the extra mile. And that's what I think is what most people didn't find done properly, and thus the "learning lesson for them."

Full disclaimer, I did not purchase Reason 10 and most likely will skip to 11, but I had to pitch in because it makes me concerned as a long time user of their products. I do not enjoy the marketing and sales decisions they've been making lately.

[pquenin]

I decided not to purchase the Reason 10 upgrade when it was 129€.
Now the 99€ offer has changed my mind, and I have purchased it. It's all psychological.
I hope all this affair is annoucing a change in the pricing of Reason.
The upgrades at 129€ are pricey.
If they were cheaper, it would not have such discontent each time an upgrade is released.

[Puniho]

Email them so!

customercare@propellerheads.se

By the sounds of it a good few people did not get their vouchers.

"Hello

I'm afraid that the voucher was sent via our newsletter and was only valid until the end of the 24th November CET and as much as I would like to help we can't extend the offer. I'm sorry about this.

Best Regards,
Carl Carlsson
Product Support
Propellerhead Software"

Oddly enough, i found that i had recieved the same email, AFTER i had successfully used my code! So, try your luck. Strange are the ways of the Propellerheads..!

[BananaSkins]

Yippee! It took 3 days but Finally I got my Best Before Its Sell Date Reply!!

'Since the voucher promotion has expired and likewise the sale campaign we can't issue further discount coupons in this instance I'm afraid.'

This Early Bird - Got A Late Reply

[123repeater]

Real answer: They didnt want us to have the discount. Existing users are useless to them. New users and new money is what compels them. Dual pricing like a 3rd world country is their priority, except unlike in a 3rd world country... they are ripping off the locals not the tourists.

[Puniho]

Yes. I think it's a conspiracy.

[joeyluck]

Opt-in laws, they have no choice. Sending a bill is legal, sending commercial solicitation (even in the form of a voucher) is illegal in Europe if the user has opposed it.
...
EU Opt-In Directive 2002/58/EC & 2003/58/EC (summary): Direct marketing email messages may be sent only to recipients who have given their prior consent. Prior permission is required for business-to-consumer (B2C) communication covering all "natural persons". A business relationship in which contact information was obtained constitutes prior consent as long as a means to opt out was provided at the same time and continues to be provided with each such message and each message is about similar products or services by the same company.

That's a fair point, but sometimes laws ought to be interpreted as guidelines, and understanding the context becomes extremely relevant in such situations. I'm certain that most, if not all, people opt-out so that it cuts down on spammy emails. Almost nobody would opt out if they knew their money was coming back to be used towards another product, even if the product line was limited.

Did you catch the posts by users at the beginning of this thread who were displeased having received the voucher; feeling like Propellerhead was only offering it to them in attempts to get more of their money? I think that's the wrong way to look at, but that's an example why.

[craven]

giving a voucher for us users that bought the update early was a good and important gesture. The way it was handled could have been better, I hope Props learn from these things.

[ravisoni]

That's a fair point, but sometimes laws ought to be interpreted as guidelines, and understanding the context becomes extremely relevant in such situations. I'm certain that most, if not all, people opt-out so that it cuts down on spammy emails. Almost nobody would opt out if they knew their money was coming back to be used towards another product, even if the product line was limited.

Did you catch the posts by users at the beginning of this thread who were displeased having received the voucher; feeling like Propellerhead was only offering it to them in attempts to get more of their money? I think that's the wrong way to look at, but that's an example why.

With all due respect, you have quoted only a portion of my reply, which puts it out of context of the remainder of my post. My argument was, and still is, that if this was a genuine, heartfelt gesture, they would have considered a better implementation/roll-out of what is now a tiny mess on their hands. Them missing some obvious considerations raised flags and has users questioning Props' motives, and rightly so in my eyes. Different customers have expressed their discontent in their own ways. Craven's reply above me succinctly summarizes what quite a few have felt.

[calebbrennan]

I think a great many of you are making a mountain out of a molehill over $30 and I'm with Propheads on this.
Yes they should have been clearer upfront that it was only for newsletter subscribers but come on "you've never made mistake?
They are a great company and offer an incrdible value and a lot of the complaining sound to my ears like thankless entitlement. The culturization of getting music for free seems at work here

They've designed a kickass program and though they have been slow in rolling out upgrades requested over the years I think it was wise to take the time to get it right. One of the great things about propheads is the program has always been extremely "stable". In my talks with software developers rushing content leads to serious problems, but I digress

I was an early adopter so I paid the full $139 and was hoping to get in on the offer. I don't even remember opting in or out of the newletter but who cares. Reason 10 rocks!

I did email support about the issue and got a response today. They have given me 2 months free "standard subscription".which is well worth the differance. And even if they didn't I'm still grateful for propellerheads.

It made me look at the subscribstion models fine print and I can totally see how this is viable for certain users.
It's month to month and can cancel anytime each month so if I'm mixing a project over a couple of months I can have access to RE's without buying all 8 of them. 8 RE's of my choice for $18 dollars. It's a brilliant idea.