Making new users pay for Parallels 3.0: NOT FAIR!

I purchased Parallels Desktop for the Mac on 3/8/07 for $79 and less than three months later I'm being asked to pay another $40 to upgrade. I check for updates weekly--- why aren't those updates sufficient? If they are not, why should recent new users be expected to pay to upgrade software (bought from The Apple Store) three months later?

I'm not interested in versatile game capability. I'm interested in Parallel's strictly for business purposes in a one man office.

Does anyone else have a problem with this marketing and pricing decision?

What can be done to get the company to reconsider their upgrade pricing decision?

Davos

 

That's almost 4 months ago...(when it finally hits final code).. when you buy a car and 4 months later a new model comes out.. do you ask for a "free upgrade"?

If you use Parallels Desktop for office software, i would just stick with the current build (3188) and just do the free updates (security and so forth). I don't think you need 3D support and snapshots... those might be the most significant changes to the new version.

 

The title of your post is not really fair... nobody is making you do anything.

You don't have to upgrade anymore than you have to buy a new car when the maker of your current one comes out with next year's model.

If your current installation of Parallels works for you then why change it?

 

Kool-Aid Drinkers Unite!

Davos has a valid point. This is a horrible business decision. The responses to his post are 'kool-aid drinkers' showing blind loyalty at it's worst.

I contacted Parallels prior to purchasing and asked if I would get free upgrades and was told 'Yes'. Now, Parallels releases an upgrade (different from an update) and they want money. This is not the proper way to treat people who purchase their product.

Lucky for me, Parallels was bundled with my Mac as a sales promotion so the $40 I just shelled out is not too bad. But Davos should not have to pay and neither should I since the company told me upgrades were free.

Love the product but I'm not going to be quiet when they do wrong by their customers. If they treat you bad and get away with it then they'll keep on doing it. Reminds me of Microsoft.....

(BTW, what's with the car comparisions??? That has nothing to do with software!! They don't offer upgrades on cars.)

 

I think that you're missing the point but your experience with this may be different than mine.

How exactly did Parallels make you spend the $40.00 for the upgrade? Did your existing version stop working unless you upgraded or was upgrading just something that you chose to do?

You'll have to pay again when Apple makes you go to Leopard.

 

lol. ok. So YOU got the software 4 months ago... so Parallel should wait another year at least before letting loose the "upgrade" out to the rest of the world? But i've been using Parallels Desktop since the day they released it... yes even when it was still almost alpha software. Paid when they released beta "keys" that would be valid with the "final" build. I want the upgrade ASAP and i will pay for it.

Here's another one. Parallels should stop selling ANY version for at least 4 months prior to getting a new version. That way you can't buy, so you can't get "screwed" out of you hard earned cash. lol

Ok.. let me ditch the car analogy. Autodesk.. maker of AutoCAD and all that good stuff. Last time I checked, they release a version EVERY YEAR. AutoCAD 2005, AutoCAD 2006, AutoCAD 2007.. hell AutoCAD 2008 is even out now. Oh and behold.. they charge for every single upgrade.. Oh the humanity!!! Think of the children!! Gee wiz man... you don't need to freakin upgrade every single time!

Dude... stfu and buy the damn upgrade if you NEED it. No one is forcing you to buy it. Your version won't stop working the day the new one comes out. If it's got features that you NEED .. pay for it. And btw, those features take months if not years to implement properly. I think Parallels deserves to be paid for it.

 

.
V3.0 is not an upgrade to anything.

V3.0 is a new version.
.

 

Dude, it sounds like you don't need the new features in 3.0, so why are you complaining? We all have the choice to stay with 3188 if it's working for us. Major software upgrades almost always carry an upgrade fee. I guess I can kinda understand your frustration given that you bought 2.5 in March, but vendors have to draw the line somewhere. By all accounts, 3.0 will represent a significant development and testing effort. Like any company, Parallels needs to get paid or risk going under, and I don't want to see the latter happen.

 

Apple doesn't have an "upgrade" path. All you can buy is the OS itself.

Parallels doesn't "force" you to buy it. They do force you to spend that money if you want to upgrade.

 

So let me get this right. If I go to Mac OS X 10.5 from 10. 4 that's OK. If I go from Parallels 2.5 to 3.0 that's not OK.

Thanks for the clarification... I'll have to refer Apple to you so that you can help them get their upgrade strategy straightened out.

Wait a minute... maybe the problem is that Parallels is offering an upgrade. Should they just do it the same as Apple? You want 3.0?... fine... its $79.95.

 

I'm no sure you have got it straight. When you upgrade from MacOS X Panther to Tiger you pay. It's considered a major release not a minor update so they consider it chargeable. Parallels 2.5 to 3.0 is the same.

 

This whole issue is a total waste of time. If you want version 3.0 then pay $50.00 or else pay nothing and stay at the version you're currently on.

 

I think the issue is that most software companies give you free upgrades for a specific period of time, e.g. at work we bought Adobe CS2 two months before CS3 was released and they gave us a free upgrade.

Personally, when I saw an announcement about the beta on a website somewhere (think it was Infoweek) it said that they were giving it free to anyone who had an open maintenance plan, which I figured we had given we bought our copy in February. If I'd know that we weren't elligible for a free upgrade I would have immediately put in a purchase order to get the $39 special deal.

:-\

 

I have to pitch in my two cents here.

The upgrade price is unreasonable, period. Parallels 2 can be had at Amazon for $70. Now, they want $50 to upgrade to version 3? Let's compare some other applications (some of these not competitors to Parallels obviously):

VMware Workstation 5: $198
Upgrade to VMware 6: $99

Macromedia Studio 8: roughly $600 street
Upgrade to Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium: $500 (without upgrade, $1600!!)

What's wrong with this picture? Not to mention that Parallels 2 has some SERIOUS issues, like for instance, everyone suffering from the "no CD-ROM drive detected" bug when trying to load up certain Linux OSs (Ubuntu and its derivatives, Zenwalk, others). That is simply unacceptable. So, what? I have to pay $50 and HOPE that Parallels 3 fixes these bugs?

This is a bad deal, period. Yet, sadly, I will probably upgrade because I'm sick of not being able to run Linux OSs in Parallels. If I do upgrade, and the Linux stuff is still broken, I will be livid.

 

I'll second that this STINKS.

I purchased parallels 2.5 less than one month ago. If I waited 3 weeks I would have version 3 for the same money. And the discounted upgrade price of USD29.99 seems like it was available only until 7 June.

With reference to Apple systems: If you bought a new mac just before a major software update, you'd get that software upgrade for free. I work in pro audio. If Digidesign release a new major software release, then all the people who bought their hardware in the last 3 months (i think) get a free upgrade.

Most vendors offer good discounts to people who purchased right before a new product came out. Having to pay USD49.99 for an upgrade when I bought v2.5 less than 1 month before the release of 3 is EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING.

I would have been much happier to wait three weeks and pay USD79.99 instead of USD79.99 + USD49.99.

I think Parallels is a great product, but this is money hungry behaviour that does not build customer loyalty.

I'll be calling customer service about this for sure, and I hope that my initial reaction to the situation changes.

 

I agree!

I also want to say that charging 70% for an upgrade is wrong! When they said that all updates are free, I thought that meant all updates are free, not just minor ones. And what's worse is that from the program's update menu, I downloaded and installed the program, only to find out that if I couldn't undo what I did within 15 days, I'd be out of the program. That was really wrong. I got very upset when I realized that they were trying to get $50 extra from me when I just bought the program (I also got it in March).

Luckily, I found one download mirror that still had build 3188, so there are no major problems from this (I did back up windows before the upgrade).

I understand that upgrades for programs are often not free while updates are, however saying "all updates are free" without mention for a difference with major updates is very misleading, esp when the program itself downloads and prompts for its install. When I updated to version 2.5 for free, I was happy with the company, but unless Parallels changes this fee for upgrades, there are really doing something BAD, mainly because:

Old Parallels programs are on store shelves. If you buy this, you will have to pay another 70%.

You can't use the argument that Parallels needs the money from upgrades, because (a) new people are buying Parallels all the time, and (b) if we pay for upgrades, we should get quick customer support and answers from every question we send them. They put money into programming the program all right, but customer support is thin.

I WANT TO SEE SOMEONE FROM PARALLELS RESPOND TO THIS THREAD AND DO WHAT'S RIGHT!

P.S. When trying the new version, I tried many things but couldn't get 3D graphics to work.

 

I still want to see a bugfix for 2.x that fixes the Linux OSs not seeing the SuperDrive. Bad, bad, bad.

 

Why can't they just make it free after you buy it once? Then what good is the first purchase? It just turns the first purchase, effectively, into an extended "trial" (for $50!). For now, unless they change something, I am pretty disappointed and will be more cautious it recommending them than I have in the past. And don't get me wrong: I've recommended it many times--at pretty much any opportunity I've gotten, and much of the reason for this is that I was very happy that (I thought) you can get the program now and be able to use a better version later. Now, unless it really seems that a person needs this, I don't think I will recommend it, and if I recommend it, I'll probably mention that upgrades are not free (and not the contrary).

 

Actually, I see that if you buy an old version now, you can get the upgrade for free. And I also see that it is 62% (not 70%) price of the upgrade verses the $80.

But still: If you charge for upgrades, don't make the program install it when checking for updates. And don't get me wrong: someone who bought Parallels before May will be paying 1.62 times in order to get the same thing, and $50 for a (fairly important) upgrade on a $80 program is very expensive. I don't think that anything above $30 for an upgrade is acceptable.

 

In Parallels' Sales FAQ:

http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/faq/8/#8-8

What is your official upgrade policy?
Updates usually contain minor bug fixes and improvements (for example, Parallels Desktop for Mac 2.5 is an update to Parallels Desktop for Mac 2.2). You can get updates of your Parallels product free of charge.
Upgrades introduce substantial changes and add brand new features (for example, Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 is an upgrade to Parallels Desktop for Mac 2.5). Upgrades cost 60% of the full product price.​