Why no support for long term customers?

Lionzinio
Lionzinio Member Posts: 123 Advisor
in Native Access

Hi

I'm a long term customer of both NI and Izotope. I currently have the Komplete Collectors Edition 14 and Izotope music production bundle 6.5 along with a lot of NI hardware.

I'm puzzled why the offers and upgrade prices for me are so atrocious.

£400+ to upgrade to Komplete Collectors, £300 to upgrade to Izotope music production bundle 7 (which contains just one new to me product which retails at less than £100).

New hardware pricing that provides zero benefit to me - I have all the software already. No trade in programmes that encourage me to update my hardware.

I want offers that reward me for being a long term customer, not ones that penalise me or make updating so utterly uneconomic that they're not even worth considering.

Or does NI not feel its existing customers are worth encouraging?

Comments

  • Vocalpoint
    Vocalpoint Member Posts: 2,320 Expert
    edited November 26

    "I want offers that reward me for being a long term customer, not ones that penalise me or make updating so utterly uneconomic that they're not even worth considering"

    How is offering you ALL of these - utterly uneconomic?:

    (new "products" to you in K15 CE):

    Action Woodwinds

    Alicia's Electric Keys

    Conflux

    Electric Keys: Diamond

    Electric Keys: Phoenix

    Guitar Rig 7 Pro

    Kontakt 8

    Schema: Dark

    Schema: Light

    Session Bassist - Icon Bass

    Session Bassist - Upright Bass

    Session Guitarist - Acoustic Sunburst Deluxe

    Session Percussionist

    Session Ukulele

    Spotlight Collection: Ireland

    Vocal Colors

    (new "Play Series" to you in K15 CE):

    Bazzazian Tapes

    Bouquet

    Duets

    Feel it

    Glaze 2

    Homage

    Karriem Riggins Drums

    Nacht

    Rudiments

    Saffron

    Sway

    Utopia

    (new "Expansions" to you in K15 CE):

    Bazzazian

    Borough Chops

    Drift Theory

    Drum State

    Echo Versions

    Hazy Days

    Higher Place

    Rare Vibrations

    Rolling Tides

    Velvet Bloom

    Void Eclipse

    80s New Wave

    Acoustic Drums

    Afrobeats

    Drum Breaks

    Disco & Funk

    Latin Trap

    Lo-Fi Vibes

    Platinum Pop

    Progessive Trance

    R&B Licks

    Soul Gold

    Hot Vocals

    Not worth your consideration at £400?

    If none of these appeal to you - I get it. But do not even try to infer that this is not a killer price.

    You could buy each one of these at full retail and then come back and tell everyone how "uneconomic" that felt.

    VP

  • DiosGnosis
    DiosGnosis Member Posts: 196 Helper

    I have also noticed that my pricing options for upgrades on bundles are pretty steep, considering I've been a generous supporter since the MK1 days of Maschine and that most updates/upgrades/crossgrades only provide one or two new products.

    Several plugin companies offer rates based on my current library of their lineups, taking into consideration the ones I own, applying current specials and discounts to the ones I don't have, and offering me a reasonable rate for them.

    I'm not looking for handouts either. Just some consideration, logic and reason applied to the prices I'm offered, especially during sales and markdowns.

  • Lionzinio
    Lionzinio Member Posts: 123 Advisor
    edited November 27
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/193608#Comment_193608

    £400 is a lot for a ton of stuff I probably won’t use. I’ve still got elements from the 14 collectors edition that I haven’t really even looked at. It came with Guitar Rig Pro 7 and Massive X.

    And it’s the same price being offered for people upgrading from earlier editions. There’s nothing there that says, You must update now, to me. Especially as Komplete 8 won’t work on my NI hardware.

    So overall it feels like an awful deal for someone who has a lot of existing NI stuff and has been a customer for years.

    I want to feel as if NI rewards their existing customers, not tries to fleece them continually.

  • Vocalpoint
    Vocalpoint Member Posts: 2,320 Expert
    edited November 27
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/193910#Comment_193910

    That you cannot "use" it - is your issue to work out.

    There are thousands of users who see this (and every other) upgrade opportunity very differently.

    I will assume for many - they do some basic math and quickly realize that getting ALL that new content that I listed for £400 instead of say - £3000 (if purchased separately) IS very much a "reward" for being a long time customer and they jump all over it.

    But each to their own - if you are not happy with the content (or the price) - that's cool - don't buy it.

    Most importantly - no one is trying to "fleece" you either. You don't have to buy anything again - ever - if you so choose.

    Just a gentle suggestion to forget playing the "entitlement card" - as if the world owes you something. It does not.

    VP

  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Customer Care Posts: 12,539 mod
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/39089/why-no-support-for-long-term-customers

    There are several sales speials throughout the year, it's not always the same offers. Sometimes it is directed to new customers, sometimes it's aimed at customers who already own some products or bundles. If nothing is interesting for you now, maybe it will be more interesting for the next sales special. There's usually 2 big ones in a year, one around Black Friday/Thanksgiving/Xmas and another one in the summer time.

  • PoorFellow
    PoorFellow Moderator Posts: 4,492 mod
    edited November 27
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/39089/why-no-support-for-long-term-customers

    £400+ to upgrade to Komplete Collectors

    Or does NI not feel its existing customers are worth encouraging?

    I think that you tend to completely overlook the fact that the price you see are set so that it can also be discounted %50 (?) when the bundle goes on sale. Yes there is a sale going on at the moment but the bundle is too new to be discounted other than if you buy K15 in a bundle with a S-Series keyboard (and the only reason for that offer is to boost keyboard sales).

    So when the bundle goes on sale then you will see the nice price that you expect and that will probably be next summer. This is simply how things work , if you have plenty of money and it doesn't matter if you spend £400 then you buy immediately and if your spending is an issue then you wait for a sale. The price you see when the bundle is actually on sale by itself is also aimed at same customers (e.g. you).

  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 4,463 Expert
    edited November 27

    Just a gentle suggestion to forget playing the “NI lawyer card” - as if you owe them something. You do not.

    Why concentrating just on the mistake he did bringing Komplete (a good offer) as an example?

    He also mentioned other things that surely can raise the question.

    Why if I want to buy a Maschine and being a loyal customer I already have the software (3, 4 copies of it…) I must pay the same price as a new user? Because I’m a loyal customer, I’m receiving less (or paying more).


    Are NI offers good offers? Yes, many of them are.

    Are them rewarding loyal customers or more focused towards obtaining new ones? The answer is easy.

    Is asking why loyal customers should get “less” definable “entitlement”? It seems for some it is…

    It always puzzles me why some love to attack other users so much…

  • PoorFellow
    PoorFellow Moderator Posts: 4,492 mod
    edited November 27

    £300 to upgrade to Izotope music production bundle 7 (which contains just one new to me product which retails at less than £100)

    This is the nature of bundles , if the deal looks sweet to you then you take it , if not then you don't.

    But of course then I think that I understand you here. You most likely would like to get the bundle so that you can use that for future bundle updates like you can with the Komplete bundles. And you may have a point. Because if you have all the other products then there ought to be some way of converting your ownership of all the other products into an ownership of the bundles without having to buy a whole new set of licenses which is your real problem here. If you have all the licenses for the iZotope software at iZotope then maybe part of the problem is that N.I. and iZotope accounts have not been fully merged and once that companies and accounts are fully merged then N.I. would maybe start marketing targeting N.I. customers with izotope apps in the sense that people could then receive some a lot better offers when it made more sense technically after the fusion of companies has been completed.

  • Vocalpoint
    Vocalpoint Member Posts: 2,320 Expert
    edited November 27

    "It always puzzles me why some love to attack other users so much"

    Just as it puzzles me why people simply cannot either use/enjoy what they already have instead of complaining about what they do not have.

    Or - don't get - in this case - due to some overbaked expectation bias.

    VP

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