Komplete 13 grace period (for Komplete 14)

dre

I contacted Nanni on chat on Friday 23rd and was told there was a grace period depending on the day of purchase. Today I am told that NI want me to pay 50% towards my upgrade to 14 Collectors Edition on the 13 Collectors Edition upgrade (from 12) that I purchased last week. I've been an NI customer for MORE THAN A DECADE, I have spent thousands on their products (hardware and software). I've raised a formal complaint and will pursue the matter if they don't honour their grace period. 😡

23-09-2022 grace period Screenshot 2022-09-23 145230.jpg

There are some shady business practices going on here, not like iZotope which are clear and transparent with their grace period. There are no variables as stated oin this thread, a grace period is just that, a date drawn in the sand where purchases of the previous version are updated free of charge to the new version. Statements to the contrary (that contradict statements made using the very same chat they say you should use above) are seemingly worthless as I have experienced, I am told one thing then when I ask for the upgrade to be applied to my account after supplying proof of purchase, I am told I need to pay another £225!!

Jeremy_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/33674#Comment_33674

Yes indeed, someone should get back to you today.

Jeremy_NI

@dre There are no shady business practices here, there is a grace period, dependent on different factors, where you bought the product, when you bought the product, if it was with a discount or without. These factors determine what you get in this grace period. You bought the KU13CE at a big discount already so you get 50% off the update to K14CE. If it makes you unhappy it doesn't make it illegal or shady.

Fun_Guy

I took the advice of the mods here and reached out to support.

I started a support ticket: no response. I waited a few more days, then started another one, going to a different department: no response.

If there isn't a grace period for Komplete registrations in September, then I have to live with it. But since there isn't a clear policy, a response would be nice :)

Jeremy_NI

@Fun_Guy I pinged my colleagues and escalated your request, hopefully you'll get an answer soon.

Fun_Guy

Thanks for your help, Jeremy - I just received an email from NI Support, asking for my purchase invoice (to determine what, if any, grace period/deal can be offered).

Fun_Guy

Last update: I received a fair offer from NI. I gladly accepted it. There was a small issue with an error message during checkout, but it was cleared up immediately by NI support.

Thanks again Jeremy (and Raphael)!

richm

It's disappointing NI didn't just upgrade everyone who bought after the announcement of Komplete 14 to the latest version. This is pretty standard practice. Nevertheless, I used the link you suggested to contact support. No response in 11 days

Jeremy_NI

@richm My colleagues replied on April 18th, please check your spam folder in your inbox.

richm

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/68354#Comment_68354

I checked, nothing received, please resend

richm

After opening another ticket to chase up, I received the following reply:

"…we don't offer any free updates from Komplete 13 to Komplete 14 at all, unfortunately. These are always paid, especially since Komplete 13 is be available at a huge discount if it's still sold in retail."

This is very disappointing. Your thread here suggests otherwise, that there is a grace period depending on when it was bought and for how much. It's also standard practice within the industry - something NI themselves have done in the past - to automatically upgrade any purchases of the previous version to the latest one (ie. Komplete 14) if they are purchased after it’s been announced. 

You say there’s nothing shady going on but as a longstanding NI customer, I see this as a lack of goodwill and appalling customer service. I will be actively looking to move away from using NI software from now on. Your standards are slipping and there is no loyalty

richm

You've literally gone the opposite of normal industry practice, follow up reply says: "Komplete 14 was announced in early September, so later purchases do not qualify, unfortunately"

Jeremy_NI

@richm the thread was from September 2022, right after the announcement and release of Komplete 14. Grace period made sense then but not after 9 months. There are plenty of sales specials throughout the year for existing customers.