Am I being unreasonable here?

[Pete Paxton]

A little over a month ago I purchased some upgrade software from Handango for $11.99. Since then my hard drive has gone kaput and now I have a new laptop. I went to download the software to my new computer from Handango and was told that because I purchased it over a month ago, I have to pay an additional $6.99 to download it again. Olive Tree, Laridian, and Revolution Software don't charge me anything to re-download software. If it's my account, why can't I just download it when I want? Am I missing something here?

[encece]

did you log in to handango and look at your Purchase History? It should list all of your purchased software and allow you to download it again from there directly.

[Pete Paxton]

That's exactly what I did. It gives me my entire history as well as registration codes. When I selected to download the software, it states that it has been more than 30 days since I purchased and I will need to purchase "purchase protection" for $6.99 if I want to download it again. It seems that my original purchase is $11.99 and after 30 days they want almost another $7.00 to download it again. Seems ridiculous to me.

[Kris Kumar]

I think it is a rip off too. :twisted:

So I presume that the trial version cannot be downloaded and unlocked for full functionality.

[Pete Paxton]

Not for this particular software. Luckily I was able to get it from my other HD. I just think the whole protection thing is a rip off. If I need to do a hard reset it is usually 30 days after my purchase. Maybe if enough people complain, they will change their policy.

[zeke009]

That is pretty stupid, it's crap like that that makes me burn downloaded apps to to disc or copy them to my backup drive.

[Pete Paxton]

Get this. I wrote to them complaining about all of this. I told them that if they charge me $7.00 for trying to download software I legally own, I would contact my Amex and try to dispute it. They replied that if I try that, they will cancel my account and I will not be allowed to purchase anything through them or anyone they are affiliated with (whatever companies they are). I have all of this in writing by the way. Wow!

[Kris Kumar]

8O

[bshpmark]

The whole software download protection gimmick is a scam. It is just one more way to make money. The easy thing to do is get a flash drive and keep it for all your downloaded apps as well as on your hard drive. Yeah, you are spending a few bucks on it but it beats spending money for each download protection.

[Jason Dunn]

This is totally ridiculous and grossly unfair - anywhere during the process does Handango warn you that this is a one-time download, or that after 30 days you won't be able to download it again?

Can you get a copy from the developer perhaps?

[Jerry Raia]

This is totally disgusting.

[Tony Rylow]

I have to disagree here. It is your responsibility to backup whatever software you purchase.

You could have spent an extra couple dollars at purchase that would allow you to re-download the software for a year. When you check out and you are viewing the cart there is the option to add the protection plan.

I think it is fortunate that they would allow you to purchase the protection for only 7 dollars, rather than have you pay the full price again.

[Jerry Raia]

What if it is an upgrade?

[Jason Dunn]

Wow. Do you work for Handango? You sound like a Handango shill.

I have to disagree here. It is your responsibility to backup whatever software you purchase.

That's the analog way of thinking - digital software should have the advantage of being downloaded again and again.

You could have spent an extra couple dollars at purchase that would allow you to re-download the software for a year.

Couple? Couple means two. They wanted $7, which is more than 50% of the TOTAL PRICE of the software. That's outrageous! At most it should be 10% of the product price, meaning $1 in this case. I think $1 is reasonable for the service (though I disagree with the concept), $7 is insane.

[Tony Rylow]

No, I do not work for them. He posted asking peoples opinion, you got mine.

Not their fault that he didnt purchase the protection plan. So we know that it is $7 after the 30 days. I purchased a $20 peice of software a few days ago from them and it was only $3 for the protection plan at the time of purchase. I didnt get it because I know I will have the software burned to a cd and backed up.

Why should they just give him this for free, completely ignoring a service that they offer for this exact situation? I'm sure its not just one person asking for the extra software, it must be quite a few people for them to come out with a whole service because of this. Are you going to pay for the additional bandwith that everyone would take to re-download their software again and again? I think not. They offer the protection service to take care of the costs.

While I think it would be great if they offered this for free, I'm just trying to look at it from a different persepctive than "I bought this software already and didnt back it up, and didnt purchase your protection service that was offered at checkout, but I want to download it again and again anyway."

[Jerry Raia]

Yes I do expect it for free. That used to be called customer service. Some of us still expect it. Others it seem want to pay for it and get ripped off in the process.

[Mark Kenepp]

When I first learned that I could download software again from Handango, I was amazed! "Wow! that is a really great service," I said to myself. "They are freely giving their resources to me so that I don't have to worry about backing up the stuff that I purchased from them!"

I wonder what peoples opinion of this "paid software protection plan" would be if there was never the ability to download software multiple times before?

I have never had an issue with it myself. I don't recall ever needing to re-download software or if I have, I think that it was software where a trial version was available and I only needed to enter my reg key.

I see this no differently than software companies requiring you pay annual subscription fees if you ever want to get support. I do think it is all a scam. They can charge for it so they do charge for it.

It seems that it is not about providing a service to customers anymore, it is about providing a profitable service.

[Islanti]

The thing is that bandwidth for downloads is ostensibly part of the reason Handango charges developers so much to host the files. I'm sure they claim "marketing" too, although I can't think of a single application or game I heard about FIRST from Handango's site.

This also creates a headache for developers who don't use registration codes. After every update, customers will be coming to them asking for copies of the software because they can't get it from Handango.

I expect this will die soon, as none of Handango's competition does it. That gives them an edge.

[Jon Westfall]

Wow. Do you work for Handango? You sound like a Handango shill.

If Tony is, than he's kept it quite well hidden from a friend of 5 years, me. :mrgreen:

I agree that these tactics by handango to squeeze a bit more from the consumer are pretty disgusting after years of offering re-downloading for free, but as others have done this for quite some time, I suppose the best policy is buyer-beware. Would be nice if they'd drop this little policy though as to win back people who I'm sure have been turned off to buying through them.

[sosha]

Hey, they have a right to charge us to reload software after 30 days.

And, in turn, we have the right to not purchase software from them.

Glad I read this thread. I'll never buy from them again.

[gai-jin]

I bought software the other day and noticed they tried to charge me an extra 4 or 5 $ per app for protection. It was selected automatically, added to your cart without warning, and if you aren't watchful, it could be easy to buy without realizing it.

I understand bandwidth costs them something. However, the cost of software is primarily paying for the 'intellectual property' right?

If I buy an app on cd, the cost of the cd and packaging is generally minimal. Many companies will replace a lost cd for a small charge if you can prove you bougtht the app.

This, however, is not a small charge, nor a charge designed to offset their bandwidth costs. Charging 10%, or $.50/MB or such would be a bandwidth charge. This 'insurance' is a scam.

[encece]

Scam indeed. If software is offered on PocketGear....I think I'll just start buying it there.

[Mike Temporale]

Scam indeed. If software is offered on PocketGear....I think I'll just start buying it there.

<cough/> Smartphone.net ( Affiliate (http://www.smartphone.net/smartphonethoughts) )<cough/><cough/> ;)

[Jerry Raia]

Scam indeed. If software is offered on PocketGear....I think I'll just start buying it there.

<cough/> Smartphone.net ( Affiliate (http://www.smartphone.net/smartphonethoughts) )<cough/><cough/> ;)

Fortunately there are decent alternatives for us.

[encece]

Scam indeed. If software is offered on PocketGear....I think I'll just start buying it there.

<cough/> Smartphone.net ( Affiliate (http://www.smartphone.net/smartphonethoughts) )<cough/><cough/> ;)

same thing right?

[Mike Temporale]

same thing right?

Yes, Smartphone.net and Pocketgear.com are the same company. But you should always use our affiliate site when shopping with for your applications. ;) :wink:

[LHBALESJR]

I could kind of understand that fee if they had to mail out a CD but I bet that most of these files are less than 5 MB. The bandwidth cost is probably only a fraction of a cent. Goodwill and a reputation for good customer service is worth much more than that. This is ripoff. I will not purchase from them as long as this policy stands.

[Pete Paxton]

Has anyone heard any more about this ridiculous policy? I posted three different forum links to my correspondence with Handango. I'm interested to see how they will respond to our frustration. I'll post what they respond with.

[Rocco Augusto]

this is why i always deal directly with the person that made the software. once you start dealing with middle men things ALWAYS tend to get frustrating. (except for smartphone.net (http://www.smartphone.net) of course ;))

my personal opinion, they do this because people let them get away with this and shell out the cash. best thing you could do is not purchase from them and alert your friends not to purchase from them either. sur ethey wont miss a few customers but you'll save youself and your friends the headache of "insurance".

also last time i checked you had to have a licence to sell insurance, you should ask them to fax you over a copy of their licence, if they cant do that then they cant sell it, by law, and you can make a complaint to the BBB, consumers affairs, DOJ, etc.

also for everyone that is on their side because people should back up their software, well what happens if you lose that backup in a fire/flood/theft/natural disaster or the backup somehow gets corrupt? then what? these things happen. they should offer the redownload as a nice way of saying thank you to the customer.

[Mike Temporale]

(except for smartphone.net (http://www.smartphone.net) of course ;))

Umm, that's http://www.smartphone.net/SmartphoneThoughts ;)