And sometimes even they ask for a faster horse.
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The art of Customer Service = making your customer “feel” as if they are always right.
A slight change in verbage can go a long way.
After 4 months annual member I decided lifetime member. For me Roon worth every $.
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Love this.
We are all now so privileged that we expect to always be right and the world to bend itself around us.
My eldest son ran out into a car the other day in a car park, a split second earlier and he would have been under the front wheel. I didn’t react well and started swearing profusely, not at the driver in the car, more at myself for not watching him closely enough. A man who observed it started to have a go at me saying “it was his fault, he ran out”, the driver said “I thought you had him”.
Not one of them was interested if he was alright. Luckily he was just shaken up.
The speed limit in the car park is 15km, she wasn’t doing that and everyday I see people doing 30km and over in the same car park. I tried to speak to her about her speed, she didn’t want to know.
No one wants to take responsibility for anything anymore, it is always someone else’s fault.
I haven’t upgraded to lifetime, I want to, and I know it will not last forever.
Should I blame Roon?
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Yes of course…I should have known.
The customer is not always right. Neither are the businesses. Businesses make decisions in the specific company’s best interests. The customer has every right to vote with their feet. That’s what customers’ rights are.
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I think it is simple - if you like what Roon brings, which is a music architecture that seamlessly integrates files and streaming services, curated and with metadata, and distributes it in the highest quality in multiple ways across a network to virtually any HiFi device, then you will recognize that Roon is the equivalent of a high end audio component that is worth every penny of the $699. If I hadn’t snapped it up at $499, I would do so now at $699, knowing that that option will go away before too long. (And this is coming from someone who wishes that the enduring problems with classical metadata and search functionality would be addressed.)
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Having been in the role of advising companies on pricing decisions, I am not surprised at the spirited debate created by the explanation for the increase. Most companies would rather not have to justify their decisions. That is why I give Danny so much credit in offering an explanation.
The fact is some segment of the customer base will always disagree. Also a fact is that a few customers will make loyalty decisions based more on emotion than reason. Both paths are legitimate ways to make decisions.
However, reason-based customers stay loyal longer so long as a product maintains its value to them. Longevity is, after all, the lifeblood of any business that doesn’t just want to milk profits.
I value Roon and want to see it succeed long-term. No path to success is without downsides. Danny chose what he deemed to be the path with the least downside and most upside. Time will tell.
Reasonable people can disagree, but I for one will be loyal so long as the product continues to evolve to meet my needs. Keep up the good work, Danny and company.
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Yes. I was eyeing off a Naim Uniti Atom a couple of years ago when prices were suddenly raised significantly on the Uniti series. I crossed it off the list.
No sin to vote with your wallet and let the business know your thoughts.
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I can see Roon’s rationale , its now into income as a steady flow. I fought shy of Lifetime a couple of times not really on a financial basis
I pay monthly/annual subs for Netflix, Tidal, My Gym, My house rates etc etc . Whats the difference
My only gripe is that you are only renting your metadata stop paying no data …
Life doesn’t alter that nothing will change that.
Only plea is to keep Annual Affordable
Dear Roon.
I get it. This is a financial decision. A couple of points tho:
-
A notice before the price increase would have been nice. I have a lifetime subscription, bought it about a year ago. I bought a nucleus+ about 4 months ago. I was considering buying another lifetime subscription (an xmas gift to a close relative) but $699 is simply too high,would have jumped on it though, had I known about the increase.
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I’m sure you’re aware of the market. You are the Tivo (in a good way) of digital audio organization, doing it better than anybody else - but there is competition. Tidal’s interface sucks, but it’s getting better, and so are the others. All of the music services are working to catch up. Then there’s Audirvana, Media Center and a lot of little ones all trying to figure it out, they are improving too. Also there’s Bluesound, the price point is competitive and its integrated with WAY MORE music services - Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, Amazon Music HD, Deezer and others. Ya gotta get there. You have to figure out how to integrate with the other services. Please. I like Roon. I’ve found the support to be good, but you have to communicate more - a roadmap, future plans, solicit feedback from the user community regarding new features etc.
With the price increase you’ll have more predictable revenue, great. What are you going to do with it?
all the best,
- j
Yes, but they don’t want to sell more lifetime licenses. That’s why they did not give any warning. That’s probably why they won’t give a warning when they kill off the lifetime license altogether,
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Timing sucks though, they could have done it (lifetime price increase) in the new year to get the Christmas sales - but perhaps that was exactly the plan too.
I was shocked when this arrived in my inbox. I live in New Zealand with the sub increase being from $780 >> $1,100 NZ dollars. That’s one big Ouch.
My unfortunate response to this is When will Roon now increase the annual?
I mean they have us between a rock and a hard place don’ they? As @danny says - “when Netflix increases its subscription price, you are being notified, but you have no choice in the matter” - what’s to stop this happening with Roon?
I think the one of the differences with Netflix is their price raise is universal and comprehensive. It applies to all customers in the exact same way. The Roon lifetime license increase allowed a few loopholes depending on circumstance which left many on the outside looking in. It may have been better to do away with the lifetime entirely, or to have its price increase apply to everyone in the same way.
Danny and Roon are doing their best. I’m sure they’ve learned a lot from this experience.
Have you read why Roon increased the price of the lifetime subscription? It’s because they wanted to sell less of them. Somehow I don’t think they want to sell less annual subscriptions…
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I think the word you should use is concessions. Roon listened and made a gesture for those either in the trial period of their first month of a subscription.
Blokes that get “damed” (against their own will) are damned…
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I think a lot of these complaints is about the feeling of missing out or “losing” money. But even the previous pricing for lifetime wasn’t an obvious saving in the long run.
If you had your money saved in a low to mid risk stock portfolio the past 5 years the extra dollars would now give you two or three additional years “for free”. There is always an alternative cost.
For me the lifetime model was something for the crowd used to buying vinyls and CDs. But it never made sense from a modern software perspective where the software is a service that can only flourish if the business is sustainable.
Took me two weeks to make a decision about lifetime.
I saw real value, huge potential and a way to help this get off the ground. Same reasoning as with the original kickstarter campaigns. Lifetime was sort of funding an idea.
Having said that USD 699 is still cheap compared to any highend audio component I know. If you buy hardware you loose money as soon as you write the check.
With roon you gain, because it gets better with every release.
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