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How much are loyal customers worth to ALK? Answer inside

 
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SumTingWong
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Joined: Mar 01, 2005
Posts: 38
Location: Orange County, CA

PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:18 am    Post subject: How much are loyal customers worth to ALK? Answer inside Reply with quote

Apparently, loyal customers of ALK like I am are worth FIVE US DOLLARS EACH!!!

And NO! I'm not using hyperbole to make any point! According to the upgrade price to CoPilot Live v8 from a previous version, each of us loyal customer is now worth US $5 to them ($34.99 full price - $29.99 upgrade price = $5). It's just simple math!

We're used to be worth twice as much as new customers. We're used to have to pay only half the price to get a new version. Now we have to pay more for less.

With most important features now categorized as *premium optional*, this pile of crap called v8 is really worth $9.99 upgrade price. Don't think I'm trying to take advantage of them. Please! They'll have plenty of chances to charge me an arm and a leg for the *premium optional* TTS feature or the *premium optional* traffic feature; all used to come standard with CoPilot.

Something is really wrong with America nowadays. In both business and government, all we see is more money for less product, more taxes for less service. They all offer nothing but gimmicks, lies and cheats!
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MaFt
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Joined: Aug 31, 2005
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Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire

PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

yeah, i noticed their less-than-generous upgrade prices on the UK site too..!

MaFt
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TheBrit
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Joined: Jul 18, 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

With all that said, it's still a better deal than TomTom.
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scarymonkey
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Joined: May 09, 2007
Posts: 454
Location: Worcestershire

PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guess the majority of the costs now are down to the licencing of the map data and the UK full price has dropped from around £70 to £26. The licence costs would be the same regardless of how much is charged for the end product so the ability to reduce costs for upgrades is much less too.
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SumTingWong
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Joined: Mar 01, 2005
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Location: Orange County, CA

PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The way TTS was made as a premium feature that would cost extra is the most infuriating thing of them all! I mean, whatever if they prefer to treat loyal customers like crap. But taking TTS out into a separate package and then charge for it on top of the barebone software is nothing but a deceptive and devious business practice. I can live without traffic service as I can get it for free somewhere else, but TTS has to be from ALK in order for it to work with ALK software. And TTS is a must have. Without TTS, CoPilot is near useless in places where you need it the most.

Have you guys ever try making turns in a dense residential area, where one street is separated from another by just a few yards? "Turn left head" doesn't cut it in this type of area. Depending on how you set the announcement, how fast your device is & how sensitive your GPS unit is, sometimes, the street right ahead of you is not the one you want to make a turn into but the one right after that. So for example, if the street right ahead of you is "Switch & Bait St" and CoPilot+TTS tells you to turn left on "Cost-Plus Pricing Fraud St" you know not to make a left turn too soon. Without TTS, "Turn left ahead" will trick you into making a left turn onto "Switch & Bait St". That's why TTS must be an integrated feature because it is essential in dense residential areas people bought CoPilot to help them out in.

ALK knows TTS is a must-have. So they take it out to make the barebone price looks cheap and stick it to all of their customers, old & new alike. The real cost of the new software is atleast the barebone ($34.99) + TTS (???)
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alix776
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Joined: 03/05/2003 14:45:49
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

right heres my take ive not looked at the upgrade prices yet i might do later so here goes

why do people think they have right to a massive discount on an upgrade the price has allready substancially been reduced

ALK is a comercial company there to make money yes customer loyalty does play a part but that isnt going to make money

if cp8 is that bad why are some members so upset send it back and get a refund

quote tts is a must have oh please no it isnt yes you can live without it. many dont even know it exists. yes i have tried tts on various devices and ive yet to be impressed. if ALK decide to make it a permium service thats there dission if theres no uptake then they will know theyve made a mistake and maybe reevaluate in the next version.

as ive already said if you think its that bad then look for another solution provider
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scarymonkey
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Joined: May 09, 2007
Posts: 454
Location: Worcestershire

PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 3:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alix776 wrote:
why do people think they have right to a massive discount on an upgrade the price has allready substancially been reduced

ALK is a comercial company there to make money yes customer loyalty does play a part but that isnt going to make money

Exactly the point I was trying to make. CPL8 is significantly cheaper for everyone compared to CPL7 (less than 50% of the price). ALK have decided to price agressively so the margin to give existing customer discounts is reduced.

If you look at the prices most companies charge for maps alone then the software is very cheap even at full retail.
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SumTingWong
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Joined: Mar 01, 2005
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Location: Orange County, CA

PostPosted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:

as ive already said if you think its that bad then look for another solution provider

Now I know where ALK got its new business ethics from. Well, sticking it to its own loyal customers might work in 3rd World Europe! But here in America, as well as in the rest of the world, ALK is digging its own grave adopting this kind of garbage business practice.
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SumTingWong
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Joined: Mar 01, 2005
Posts: 38
Location: Orange County, CA

PostPosted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

scarymonkey wrote:
alix776 wrote:
why do people think they have right to a massive discount on an upgrade the price has allready substancially been reduced

ALK is a comercial company there to make money yes customer loyalty does play a part but that isnt going to make money

Exactly the point I was trying to make. CPL8 is significantly cheaper for everyone compared to CPL7 (less than 50% of the price). ALK have decided to price agressively so the margin to give existing customer discounts is reduced.


Have you factored in the prices of all of the *premium optional* features that were once standard yet? Or are we seeing another case of Hook, Line & Sinker!
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