$49.99 special offer costs $70.63??

E

EvelineF

Junior Member
clicking on the special upgrade offer transfers me to a page offering the upgrade to me at $70.63.

are we talking about false advertising, false linking or something else? Coupon? Nope, no coupon code on the ad. Add to that that I received this info per annoying popup and never received the info by mail despite being registered in the announcement list and I am not a happy camper.

In any case, I won't buy until the sales price is as offered by the ad.
 
EvelineF said:
clicking on the special upgrade offer transfers me to a page offering the upgrade to me at $70.63.

are we talking about false advertising, false linking or something else? Coupon? Nope, no coupon code on the ad. Add to that that I received this info per annoying popup and never received the info by mail despite being registered in the announcement list and I am not a happy camper.

In any case, I won't buy until the sales price is as offered by the ad.
Click to expand...

Perhaps this?

"For Illinois, Ohio and California state residents, applicable sales tax will be applied."
 
International customer from overseas here :)

I have been a Parallels user/customer since version 2 but rarely post because almost every time in the last few years I had an issue I came to the forums and saw many other people post and complain about the same issue already. And I must say I have rarely seen Parallels being really helpful. I see announcements of new features without mention of (sometimes really big) bugs being solved and new version often being worse than old ones. Losing people from the announcement list (or have them entered several times as has happened to me as well) and displaying these annoying popup boxes despite me having selected many times to not display them again are just 2 niggles but annoying ones.

So...it shouldn't really surprise me that something like this happens but it does annoy me.
 
So...now I get the normal upgrade offer from Parallels for the normal upgrade price...so they didn't lose my mail they just didn't feel like sending the special upgrade offer...
 
feels like talking to myself :)

Anyway, for the sake of other people who may run unto the same problem, here is the last info from Parallels support. Because I am a international customer the special upgrade price does not apply. I guess transporting the electrons across the globe raises their price from $50 to $70...
 
dma550 said:
Perhaps this?

"For Illinois, Ohio and California state residents, applicable sales tax will be applied."
Click to expand...

Sales tax in California ranges from about 7.5% to 10% depending on the city and county, so that would explain a total of $54.99.

My guess is that they're adding in a "backup CD" for your digital order and charging around $15.00 for it. This is annoying as heck that they turn it on by default, but it is something you SHOULD be able to turn off.
 
I wish it was because that would at least be a plausible explanation. But the quote from support:
Prices varies from country to country, the price on the Shopping Cart is adapting to what the upgrade price being offered on the country you are in.
Click to expand...
is quite clear :(

edited to add: I don't remember ever being charged a differing price by Parallels before so this must be a recent change. As it is not, at the time of this mail, shown anywhere on the upgrade offer this amounts to false advertising. These exchange rates, where $50 (price shown on the upgrade offer) = CHF 67 (price shown in Swiss Francs) = $70 (price shown in US$) also give them a hefty profit because officially the US$ and the Swiss Franc are just about 1:1, CHF just a little a bit higher than US$.
 
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Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice the international customer bit at first.

I do have a comment on that, however. I have experience in the software business, including working with local companies to publish my company's software in their country. The price difference doesn't really have anything to do with the exchange rate. The price is set by the local distribution company, although the primary developer may have some degree of approval over that price.

The local company may have set a higher price to offset localized marketing and advertising costs, or for any number of other reasons. It varies from country to country and according to the terms of the deal. Bottom line is, that's why the prices are different. Even though you're buying direct through the website, they are adjusting the price to match the terms of whatever agreement they have for that country.
 
Based on what you wrote which is quite plausible, I checked the local prices and the dealers and the prices go from CHF 49 (~US$ 51) up to ~CHF 86 (~US$ 89) and none of the dealers who normally go for such agreements is listed. Now, I am guessing but seeing such a variation sort of points to the absence of such an agreement.

But I thank you because you pointed me towards the background and the reason of the price difference. Parallels did a 1:1 conversion from $ to Euro (so the $ 49.99 was "converted" to € 49.99). In reality, US$ 1 = ~€ 0.75 (as of Today) so with each sale to Europe Parallels makes 25% more money than with an eqv. sale in the US. Switzerland has its own currency and is not part of the EU but we get the € to CHF conversion and not the US$ to CHF one. Last I looked Parallels was still a US company so this conversion table looks more than a little suspect to me as it lists $1 = € 1 = CHF 1.23 which is MUCH better than $ 1 = CHF 0.92 (Todays rate).

The trend these days in my experience at least, is towards having unified prices and not making such a mess out of it. In my company, we are selling software services to international customers too and we either charge in CHF or the local currency at the date the invoice was written but we prefer CHF.
 
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