Maintenance fees in the first year

[cjkoontz]

How common is it for software vendors to charge maintenance fees in the first year of software usage?

(Pardon if this is the wrong forum.)

 

[sleipnir214]

Unless there's an ethical question here somewhere, it's in the wrong forum.

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TANSTAAFL!

 

[Provogeek]

You could always change the question to; "Is it ethical for software vendor to charge maintenance fees in the first year of software usage?

It is becomming very common, there are only a select few that will still provide free support for the install period of the software. Everyone else wants your money to support their software for you.

I tend to agree with the charge for support out side of the install period because profit margins for software sales tends to be small. I do not like the vendor that charge you just to help with install problems, but the only recourse is to not purchase the software.

For on going support after the install period, you either RTFM and learn the software, or pay someone who has RTFM.

Another annoyance is some companies are starting to charge you just to use their Online knowledge base.

Brent Schmidt CNE,Network +

 

[KornGeek]

We offer 3 months of free support. That should more than cover the install period. Also, we tend not to charge even after that point because customer servcie tends to be more important than the small fees we could collect. We just prefer not to advertise the extended support. That way, we eliminate many of the minor calls.

 

[zemp]

We do something similar. We have support costs advertised but don't normally enforce them. They are there for the odd user who is constantly calling for support on the same issues and tying up our resources. Then we can say, 'You haven't paid for the support so we can't help you until you pay it' or something more politically correct.

Thanks and Good Luck!

zemp

 

[dgillz]

It is very common.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Exact Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.trianglepartners.com

dgilsdorf@trianglepartners.com

 

[flapeyre]

Pretty common for the IBM iSeries (AS/400). Something on the order of 15% of the purchase price after 90 days is the annual maintenance fee.


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