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Before I get into this. Yes. Our software is freaking expensive. It's very specialized and we provide good service. The price covers our costs. Nobody's getting rich here and nobody's getting shafted.
Here's a summary based on the notes in our database:
8/18/2005 Eugene gave a quote to an agency who have a 20-user license and wanted to add 5 users. Their license was four years out of date (meaning it was four years since they had paid for anything) and would require that they purchase an update (for $5000) before they could purchase a 5-user pack for $1995. Quote total $6995.
7/13/2006 Mark was asked for quote. This time they wanted to know the price to add five users and the price to add ten users. He repeated the quote Eugene gave for adding 5 users and told them adding ten would be an additional $1995. Quote total $6995 or $8990, depending on what they wanted.
7/20/2006 I was asked for a quote by phone. I repeated Mark's quote. "No," the guy said, "we don't want to add users. We just want to buy the update."
"Oh," I said, "You received the latest version as a free update, so you have it already. You CAN pay for another update now if you like. That will restart your free update period and you will get the NEXT version, which is coming out in a month or two, for free. Otherwise, you will have to pay for the next version, and I can't guarantee what the price will be."
"So," he replied, "I wouldn't GET anything new if I paid for an update now."
"Well, not now. But you WILL get something when our new version comes out. It's completely your decision. Some agencies find it more convenient to buy things when they have the money in the budget rather than wait. Others prefer to wait. It's your call."
"Uh, huh. So what if I want to add five users?"
"That would be $6995."
"Can you break that down for me?"
He grilled me for about 10 minutes trying to trick me into quoting him $1995 to add five users without paying to bring the first twenty users up to date. [We can't do that because the result would be a single license where 20 users are stuck at the current version and 5 users qualify for the next version for free. It's not happening.]
Finally he stopped and accepted that the quote was $5000 for an update or $6995 if he wanted to add five users.
7/26/2006 So he emailed us. I got the email. This time he wanted to find out how much it would cost to add five users and buy a Software Maintenance Agreement.
Sigh.
I wrote back and basically told him that it would cost $5000 for the update, $1995 to add five users and $2600 to add a one year agreement.
No. The agreement could not be purchased unless the update was purchased. [See how I anticipated his next question, there?
]
Haven't heard back from him. Maybe he'll go dormant until our next version comes out. Then his objections will be moot.
Here's a summary based on the notes in our database:
8/18/2005 Eugene gave a quote to an agency who have a 20-user license and wanted to add 5 users. Their license was four years out of date (meaning it was four years since they had paid for anything) and would require that they purchase an update (for $5000) before they could purchase a 5-user pack for $1995. Quote total $6995.
7/13/2006 Mark was asked for quote. This time they wanted to know the price to add five users and the price to add ten users. He repeated the quote Eugene gave for adding 5 users and told them adding ten would be an additional $1995. Quote total $6995 or $8990, depending on what they wanted.
7/20/2006 I was asked for a quote by phone. I repeated Mark's quote. "No," the guy said, "we don't want to add users. We just want to buy the update."
"Oh," I said, "You received the latest version as a free update, so you have it already. You CAN pay for another update now if you like. That will restart your free update period and you will get the NEXT version, which is coming out in a month or two, for free. Otherwise, you will have to pay for the next version, and I can't guarantee what the price will be."
"So," he replied, "I wouldn't GET anything new if I paid for an update now."
"Well, not now. But you WILL get something when our new version comes out. It's completely your decision. Some agencies find it more convenient to buy things when they have the money in the budget rather than wait. Others prefer to wait. It's your call."
"Uh, huh. So what if I want to add five users?"
"That would be $6995."
"Can you break that down for me?"
He grilled me for about 10 minutes trying to trick me into quoting him $1995 to add five users without paying to bring the first twenty users up to date. [We can't do that because the result would be a single license where 20 users are stuck at the current version and 5 users qualify for the next version for free. It's not happening.]
Finally he stopped and accepted that the quote was $5000 for an update or $6995 if he wanted to add five users.
7/26/2006 So he emailed us. I got the email. This time he wanted to find out how much it would cost to add five users and buy a Software Maintenance Agreement.
Sigh.
I wrote back and basically told him that it would cost $5000 for the update, $1995 to add five users and $2600 to add a one year agreement.
No. The agreement could not be purchased unless the update was purchased. [See how I anticipated his next question, there?
]Haven't heard back from him. Maybe he'll go dormant until our next version comes out. Then his objections will be moot.
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