Shattered Expectations about Premium Plus

[Teresa Firelight]

My initial reaction to premium plus was that I excitedly looked forward to it -- until I heard the price... and then I felt like I had been slapped in the face.

I thought about it overnight, and realized why the price upset me. It is because previous communication from the Lindens (including Reed Linden in the video recording of the April Web User Group) had led us to expect the cost to be roughly twice the cost of a premium. An annual Premium costs $99 USD, so I expected Annual Premium Plus to cost maybe 2x99 or $198.. or possibly $199 USD. Certainly not over $200.

When it was announced at $249 (50 dollars above expected) .. it seemed like WAY TOO MUCH! I felt upset because that price shattered my expectations.

I wonder: if I came with no price expectation, would the price have upset me? The answer was NO. I might not have bought it ... I honestly don't know if I would be willing to pay that much for it or not. But I would not have been upset.

I guess the Lindens considered 200 dollar price back in April, then decided on $249. They shouldn't have allowed that price to slip.  But since it did slip and was widely publicized... the April Web User Group video was shared all over SL ... since it slipped, the higher price feels like a bait-and-switch from a used car salesman. I think I was more upset at having been lead to expect a lower price than I was at the actual price itself.

I am afraid this experience has put a bit of a dent in my good will towards LL. (I am sure it will recover over time, but for the moment I am feeling unhappy with them.)

I doubt they will do this, but I can think of one way to repair that good will. They could offer the annual premium plus at the price we were led to expect (maybe $199) for the first 30 days. E.g, if you buy it before July 22, then you pay $199. If you buy or renew after that date, it is at the regular price of $249.

If they really want to make me fall in love with them again, they could offer the option to buy the first year (prorated) and an offer the option for an additional 1 or 2 years for the $199 price.. providing you pay for it all up front.

 

 

 

[Lucia Nightfire]

Why was a new thread started on this topic when there already is this one:

Was it to ensure that your dissatisfaction would been seen/heard and not be lost among the sea of other dissatisfied users? 😉

[Prokofy Neva]

I guess if you are going to fork over $200 for virtuality, instead of paying a medical bill like me, another $50 isn't going to make that much a difference. So you would save some by annualizing it, but it's a lot to fork over and I wouldn't likely get more than a month at a time to see if it were worth it.

The crushing disappointment over $50 is what I'm not getting. $249 is about 25% more than double, but the doubled features like groups and tier also have the cost-free uploads which makes it way more than doubled in value.

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 hours ago, Teresa Firelight said:

I guess the Lindens considered 200 dollar price back in April, then decided on $249. They shouldn't have allowed that price to slip.  But since it did slip and was widely publicized... the April Web User Group video was shared all over SL ... since it slipped, the higher price feels like a bait-and-switch from a used car salesman. I think I was more upset at having been lead to expect a lower price than I was at the actual price itself.

^^ This. 

I went back and listened to the meeting video again -- the April Web User's Group meeting.  Someone asked if cost would be 'close to double Premium' and Reed said it 'might be close to double the cost'.  When I hear a phrase like that, to me it implies the cost will be "not quite" double the cost.  Apparently, to LL "might be close to double the cost" means 2.5 times more.

Edited June 22, 2022 by LittleMe Jewell

[Rowan Amore]

1 minute ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

^^ This. 

I went back and listened to the meeting video again -- the April Web User's Group meeting.  Someone asked if cost would be 'close to double Premium' and Reed said it 'might be close to double the cost'.  When I hear a phrase like that, to me it implies the cost will be "not quite" double the cost.  Apparently, to LL "close to double the cost" means 2.5 times more.

It won't be double the price when they increase regular premium.  They probably left.that part out at the meeting.  🤔

[Mollymews]

2 hours ago, Teresa Firelight said:

If they really want to make me fall in love with them again, they could offer the option to buy the first year (prorated) and an offer the option for an additional 1 or 2 years for the $199 price.. providing you pay for it all up front.

i like this. I be tempted to pay a 4 year subscription in one go if there was a way to do this. Just so I don't have to think about it again for a long time (Linden might go bust in that time but would be oh! well for me if that happened)

[Ceka Cianci]

28 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

It won't be double the price when they increase regular premium.  They probably left.that part out at the meeting.  🤔

I'll be dropping all three of my premiums then, if they do that..

They must think SL isn't as old as dirt or something.. hehehe

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by Ceka Cianci

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 hours ago, Teresa Firelight said:

I doubt they will do this, but I can think of one way to repair that good will. They could offer the annual premium plus at the price we were led to expect (maybe $199) for the first 30 days. E.g, if you buy it before July 22, then you pay $199. If you buy or renew after that date, it is at the regular price of $249.

If they really want to make me fall in love with them again, they could offer the option to buy the first year (prorated) and an offer the option for an additional 1 or 2 years for the $199 price.. providing you pay for it all up front.

 

41 minutes ago, Mollymews said:

i like this. I be tempted to pay a 4 year subscription in one go if there was a way to do this. Just so I don't have to think about it again for a long time (Linden might go bust in that time but would be oh! well for me if that happened)

 

If they did offer an initial cheaper price, with the option of paying 1-2 yrs ahead (like they did when they were getting ready to increase Premium), I might be tempted to take that deal.  They might get a lot of money out of us right up front.   It probably only matter to them if they were in a position of needing a cash influx, like they were a few years back when they gave those other offers.

[Teresa Firelight]

34 minutes ago, Prokofy Neva said:

The crushing disappointment over $50 is what I'm not getting. $249 is about 25% more than double, but the doubled features like groups and tier also have the cost-free uploads which makes it way more than doubled in value.

the increase (or delta) from premium to premium plus was excepted to be about 100 USD, the actual increase is 150 USD. at is 1.5 times the amount we were led to anticipate.  From where I set that is 50% more than I expected it to be.

As I said, it I had not been led to expect a certain price, then the actual price probably would not have upset me.

[Della Starlight]

I believe we were also told there would be an initial discounted buy-in period, which doesn't seem to be on offer now. 

[Coffee Pancake]

1 hour ago, Della Starlight said:

I believe we were also told there would be an initial discounted buy-in period, which doesn't seem to be on offer now. 

There is but it's only when paying monthly, it appears price for the first month will be reduced to what the pro-rata monthly rate for paying annually would be.

[Crim Mip]

I don't quite understand why the extra $50 and then giving an extra $74 back in L$ in stipend over the year. Like they could have made it $199, kept the stipend the same, and made more actual profit while probably having more people seriously considering it. The free uploads would then be the real value added feature.

[Ceka Cianci]

I just figured it out! 

That extra 49.00

 That's where the Plus in Premium Plus comes in.

hehehehe

[Alwin Alcott]

4 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

It won't be double the price when they increase regular premium.  They probably left.that part out at the meeting.  🤔

if they dare to raise the premium with more than 10% at once i'm affraid it will get the usual "shoot your own foot" syndrome again.
20% or  25% will be, for me, last drop and totallyy unacceptable.

[Alwin Alcott]

1 hour ago, Crim Mip said:

I don't quite understand why the extra $50 and then giving an extra $74 back in L$ in stipend over the year. Like they could have made it $199, kept the stipend the same, and made more actual profit while probably having more people seriously considering it. The free uploads would then be the real value added feature.

but... but... they don't give money back in the form of a stipend. It has only a emotional value for the user, it costs LL nothing to produce and debit it.
Sell/buy and processing fees are all paid by the residents.
When people massively pick the P+ only one of their L$ sinks gets smaller, the upload fees. It's not a source of income, but a sink, a regulation for the lindex, it eats lindens, lilghtly keeping the lindex in a steady balance between 245/251.
Nearly everything you can pay LL with L$ are sinks, it's not without reason they want $$ for the real revenue generating parts.

[Ceka Cianci]

21 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

if they dare to raise the premium with more than 10% at once i'm affraid it will get the usual "shoot your own foot" syndrome again.
20% or  25% will be, for me, last drop and totallyy unacceptable.

They better not touch it at all.. The last time they jacked it up it was a 37.5% increase back in June of 2019.  Those perks they are giving out for premium aren't worth what we are paying now..

The second I catch wind of something like that, the next moment is gonna be me clicking downgrade and thinking real hard about dumping all my accounts..

This isn't the only escape in town.

If these guys want to ride out the coming problems with this economy storm coming, they best be remembering how they did things back in the last economic storm when the banking crises hit, where this was a place you could affordably come to and escape all that for awhile..

They may want to realize we're only on the edge of that storm and the eye is on it's way and gonna hit real hard too..

Start jacking up prices and acting like this is some AAA and they won't be too big to fail.

 

[Drayke Newall]

3 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I just figured it out! 

That extra 49.00

 That's where the Plus in Premium Plus comes in.

hehehehe

The other thread hinted that a free name change might be included in the future. At $40 for a name change, maybe the extra $49 might be future proofing for this in an effort to claim it is free when it isn't.

[Marianne Little]

5 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

There is but it's only when paying monthly, it appears price for the first month will be reduced to what the pro-rata monthly rate for paying annually would be.

Is not 249 divided on 12 = 20.75?

And their introduction month with a reduced fee is 24.99. Over 4 dollars more than one month when paying annually.

That is not a very good price, I say.

The first year to a reduced price would make sense if they really want many people buy annually now.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Marianne Little

[Marianne Little]

19 minutes ago, Drayke Newall said:

The other thread hinted that a free name change might be included in the future. At $40 for a name change, maybe the extra $49 might be future proofing for this in an effort to claim it is free when it isn't.

Another future promise. I already have a real name, but I can see it is good for those who typed in some random letters when joining. They did not know these random letters would show up over their head all the time.

But seriously, too much "soon". Soon a big Linden Home, soon lower prices for mesh uploads, maybe free? Soon perhaps maybe (insert crystal ball and gypsy headdress here) free name change?

This is too much money to pay before I have all the benefits ready to use the moment I pay.

[Ceka Cianci]

45 minutes ago, Drayke Newall said:

The other thread hinted that a free name change might be included in the future. At $40 for a name change, maybe the extra $49 might be future proofing for this in an effort to claim it is free when it isn't.

Well that would suck for someone never wanting to change their name if that's what it was for.. hehehe

 

[Love Zhaoying]

The "Second Life No-Fault Teleport Home Insurance" company could consider a "Shattered Expectations" rider on the "Whiplash Derail" policies. I'm not sure they'd include a "Boo-Hoo" clause, though. 

[Jules Catlyn]

It always baffles me (in real life as well) how people can put a price on fixing an "emotional dent". 

"I am disappointed but if you give me "'x" amount, i will be all happy again"

[Drayke Newall]

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

Another future promise. I already have a real name, but I can see it is good for those who typed in some random letters when joining. They did not know these random letters would show up over their head all the time.

But seriously, too much "soon". Soon a big Linden Home, soon lower prices for mesh uploads, maybe free? Soon perhaps maybe (insert crystal ball and gypsy headdress here) free name change?

This is too much money to pay before I have all the benefits ready to use the moment I pay.

The fact that they haven't introduced these 'soon' things as part of the current announcement in all likelihood means they will never be added. Just the same as grid wise experiences were soon, additional EEP settings were soon, BoM materials were soon, etc. If Linden Lab's track record is anything to go by, once something is announced and released, that is where it stays for the foreseeable future or if ever.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Drayke Newall

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

I'm pretty sure the experts at LL did something in the line of this (but with more variables):

And who is to say them nay? My guess, only better experts.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Arduenn Schwartzman

[Marianne Little]

1 hour ago, Drayke Newall said:

The fact that they haven't introduced these 'soon' things as part of the current announcement in all likelihood means they will never be added. Just the same as grid wise experiences were soon, additional EEP settings were soon, BoM materials were soon, etc. If Linden Lab's track record is anything to go by, once something is announced and released, that is where it stays for the foreseeable future or if ever.

Will they really break promises like the new homes and mesh uploads? That name change is nothing to trust now. But the other two should they give us.

1 hour ago, Jules Catlyn said:

It always baffles me (in real life as well) how people can put a price on fixing an "emotional dent". 

"I am disappointed but if you give me "'x" amount, i will be all happy again"

I can not say it is wrong to be disappointed. And discussing it. I know we have nothing to say, LL decides it no matter what. But it is a discussion forum.