A mild grumble+warning about IK Multimedia & Amplitube 5 Max

[SwirlyMaple]

@IK Multimedia I also fell for the same promo a few months ago just to find out I didn't get the MESA 2 and others that at that time was NOT clearly stated they where not included, even when in the past MAX meant everything.

Today I find out you guys now have Amplitube MAX V2, that included all those things but at an upgrade upcharge of $149.99....

I don't feel like giving my money to you guys right now for that, we previos "v1" max owners should have a better upgrade deal.

I did exactly the same. I see no upgrade path to get the Mesa stuff now without paying at least $99 extra for it. Nope.

Yeah 49.99 for 5 processors that run as much as 149.99 each or thereabouts is terrible...

You know... right before I came here I was about to take it up the butt and just pay that for the Joe C vocal strip and Stone Room plugs that didn't come with the bundle I bought a couple months ago. It's already in my cart on IK's website. But now... nope. Never mind. Taking those dollars elsewhere. There were some valid criticisms in this thread which could've been met with good-faith understanding toward your customers, but this is the reply we get? IK really needs to take a lesson from companies like Line 6 and Fractal, who I don't feel dirty about giving my money to.

 

[IK Multimedia]

This. Literally THE face of the company. Can’t take the heat? STFU and go get a job at Disney World.

Seems like I took the heat just fine. I put it in factual, mathematical terms. If that is still not a value that suits you, I hope something else might float your boat but nobody is forcing anybody to buy anything.

 

[IK Multimedia]

I just wish upgrade paths, deals, sales, marketing and definitely support were a little better with IK. Things aren’t abundantly clear and you need to go digging for answers.

Fair point, we added the "upgrade for all" policy and wanted to use a familiar term (upgrade) yet it bears some explaining beyond the "for all" so that's definitely been run up the flagpole with regard to your specific point about clarity. As one example. For another, I also ran some ideas about the current T-RackS promo along the same lines, though that's somewhat less relevant to this forum it still is another example where offering the smaller bundles for those that just need a few in a clear way could use some tweaking.

 

[SwirlyMaple]

Fair point, we added the "upgrade for all" policy and wanted to use a familiar term (upgrade) yet it bears some explaining beyond the "for all" so that's definitely been run up the flagpole with regard to your specific point about clarity. As one example. For another, I also ran some ideas about the current T-RackS promo along the same lines, though that's somewhat less relevant to this forum it still is another example where offering the smaller bundles for those that just need a few in a clear way could use some tweaking.

If you want to prevent your customers from feeling schemed, consider this:

- A customer buys Total Studio Max 3.5 on sale for $199 (a good deal, it seems…)
- One month later, Total Studio Max 4.0 is released. The upgrade-for-all price is $299.

If I had not bought the 3.5 version, I could get the latest version with everything for $299. But if I bought 3.5 during the sale (with IK cutting the price because they knew a new version was coming), now I will have paid $500 total to get the latest, and gained nothing by buying v3.5.

This is the problem. Your sales and pricing policies are actively disincentivizing customers from buying during your sales, and also making us suspicious of your tactics. And in my case (and I’m sure others too), you are losing more sales by not offering a grace period for these version upgrades instead of making people pay twice.

Also, I’m aware there is a $50 discount until the end of May for Total Studio Max 4.0 for those who bought 3.5. But that isn’t good enough. That just means in my case I’m still paying $450 for what I could’ve had for $299 if I’d never bought v3.5 at all.

 

[norminal]

Seems like I took the heat just fine. I put it in factual, mathematical terms. If that is still not a value that suits you, I hope something else might float your boat but nobody is forcing anybody to buy anything.

It was your delivery. Being a c*nt is not a good look for any company. The whole “nobody is forcing you” thing is just a ridiculous and overused idiom. Pretty poor response to someone who is willing to sever business with a company that lets their head of social media speak to current and prospective customers that way.

 

[IK Multimedia]

Thank you for your input, noted. If you have anything specific you'd like to discuss with me, my PMs are open. Have a great day.

 

[IK Multimedia]

If you want to prevent your customers from feeling schemed, consider this:

- A customer buys Total Studio Max 3.5 on sale for $199 (a good deal, it seems…)
- One month later, Total Studio Max 4.0 is released. The upgrade-for-all price is $299.

If I had not bought the 3.5 version, I could get the latest version with everything for $299. But if I bought 3.5 during the sale (with IK cutting the price because they knew a new version was coming), now I will have paid $500 total to get the latest, and gained nothing by buying v3.5.

This is the problem. Your sales and pricing policies are actively disincentivizing customers from buying during your sales, and also making us suspicious of your tactics. And in my case (and I’m sure others too), you are losing more sales by not offering a grace period for these version upgrades instead of making people pay twice.

Also, I’m aware there is a $50 discount until the end of May for Total Studio Max 4.0 for those who bought 3.5. But that isn’t good enough. That just means in my case I’m still paying $450 for what I could’ve had for $299 if I’d never bought v3.5 at all.

Upgrade for all is 499.99. MAXgrade is 299.99 (from MAX products, not for all). MAXgrade for TS 3.5 during the promotion was 99.99 so those who qualify for MAXgrade pricing would have been in for 99.99 and could get TS4 MAX for 299.99 additional which is a deal.

 

[Gearzilla]

 

[duzie]

 

[SwirlyMaple]

Upgrade for all is 499.99. MAXgrade is 299.99 (from MAX products, not for all). MAXgrade for TS 3.5 during the promotion was 99.99 so those who qualify for MAXgrade pricing would have been in for 99.99 and could get TS4 MAX for 299.99 additional which is a deal.

Ok, I didn’t realize that there is a separate “upgrade for all” and “MAXgrade” price. I was wrong, so I apologize for my prior rants. Sounds like you’re still saving at least $50 even with the jump from 3.5 to 4.0.

I do wish there was more clarity in terms of what *isn’t* included in bundles though, as well as pricing structures. When you click on upgrade/crossgrade in your user account now, it shows “upgrade for all” as applying to everyone and nothing else. It’s not clear that there are still other pricing structures like “MAXgrade.”

I apologize for my rants. I hope there is still more clarity going forward for IK’s pricing and bundles though because it is quite confusing.

 

[Gearzilla]

I did notice there is no longer the 90 day period or $30.00 licensee transfer fee for the Tonex pedal(hope that’s correct). So there is movement into simplifying things for a win win in some areas.

 

[fretworn]

Like for free.

Isn’t that what FAS does regularly- even cool sh!t like DynaCab?

 

[SwirlyMaple]

Isn’t that what FAS does regularly- even cool sh!t like DynaCab?

Line 6 too. I’m not even saying people deserve things for free… Fractal and Line 6 are very generous in that regard. But we shouldn’t need to open 10 browser tabs and spend 30 minutes going over every detail with a fine-tooth comb trying to figure out what *isn’t* included.

 

[Orvillain]

 

[fretworn]

A hand shandy?

 

[DrewJD82]

It was your delivery. Being a c**t is not a good look for any company. The whole “nobody is forcing you” thing is just a ridiculous and overused idiom. Pretty poor response to someone who is willing to sever business with a company that lets their head of social media speak to current and prospective customers that way.

This is a bit much, dude.

If ya’ll are going to take potshots at IK/Pete, don’t get all offended when a G-rated snarky reply comes back. If you want a problem fixed, I suggest treating it like you actually want it fixed and write it out clearly and concisely without snark or insults. You will most surely get the same communication manner back in response.

If you want to keep pickin’ at the person while expressing an issue, don’t get all bent out of shape when they clap back. If the intention is to get a rise out of someone in a service-based position intentionally (not saying it is) just to use it to further back your position….that’s psychopath behavior. Seriously, I used to deal with guests in the restaurant all the time that would just hurl insults and act like trash then flip the f*ck out if they were given any sh*t back, you may have heard of these types of people, they call ‘em Karens now.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

This is a bit much, dude.

If ya’ll are going to take potshots at IK/Pete, don’t get all offended when a G-rated snarky reply comes back. If you want a problem fixed, I suggest treating it like you actually want it fixed and write it out clearly and concisely without snark or insults. You will most surely get the same communication manner back in response.

If you want to keep pickin’ at the person while expressing an issue, don’t get all bent out of shape when they clap back. If the intention is to get a rise out of someone in a service-based position intentionally (not saying it is) just to use it to further back your position….that’s psychopath behavior. Seriously, I used to deal with guests in the restaurant all the time that would just hurl insults and act like trash then flip the f*ck out if they were given any sh*t back, you may have heard of these types of people, they call ‘em Karens now.

I work in customer support. While I'd love to give it to some users (one in particular; FUCK that bitch!), I resist the urge because I got to keep it professional, even if they are pushy as hell and should respect "need to know." Hint hint.

 

[paisleywookiee]

I think it’s important to note that while I do agree IK’s stuff is convoluted, it’s not like @IK Multimedia Pete is the dude deciding how it goes. He’s kind of in an unenviable position here.

 

[Orvillain]

I mean, all I said was I wasn't spending any money on the T-Racks deals, because of my poor experience with the Amplitube 4>5>Max upgrades.

Again, spelling it out in black and white - back in December/January I upgraded from AT4 to AT5. Then in March I upgraded to ATMax, thinking I was actually getting "Max" when in reality I wasn't. A month later they come out with ATMax v2.0, which has all the stuff I thought I was getting originally in it.

If I go for any upgrade on ATMax now, I'm in the position of having spent ±$340 over the course of 5 months or so, whereas if an AT4 customer upgraded now, they'd only be spending ±$199.

All conversations about snark aside... I'm not really being inspired here to remain a customer. And it sucks, because Amplitube and T-Racks are some of my favourite bits of software.

Ordinarily I would've jumped on the T-Racks bundles. I'm 15 effects away from having a Max'd out T-Racks. There's literally NO other way for me to max it out without spending over a hundred dollars outside of this deal.

But I'm just not going to do it. Been burned too many times at this point.

 

[DrewJD82]

I work in customer support. While I'd love to give it to some users (one in particular; f**k that b*tch!), I resist the urge because I got to keep it professional, even if they are pushy as hell and should respect "need to know." Hint hint.

I took a sales course when I was fresh out of high school and one of the things they taught us was to match your customers speaking mannerisms the best you can without coming off like you’re impersonating them; if they say darn it, you say darn it, if they curse, say the same curse, if they’re chill you be chill, etc. I carried this over to the restaurant business and it’s absolutely astounding how many people would sit there with their mouth hanging open when you match their level of bullsh*t. I’d get sh*t from managers for it from time to time, but ultimately knew it worked in my favor far more than it worked against me.

When I started managing restaurants I’d tell the staff the same thing. I think I took heat from it from regional management once but it’s ultimately the quickest way to deescalate an sh*tty guest who is thinking they can make a scene and get their meal for free.