From their FB page:

"Dear Clients,

Regarding the upgrade to v4.

In hindsight it is clear that charging our valued third party vendor customers $5 to upgrade was a mistake; a mistake we would like to rectify as soon as possible. We are therefore arranging to refund your $5 and offer all existing owners the upgrade gratis from now on.

We unreservedly apologise for the inconvenience.

Best wishes - Milviz"

 

 

Very commendable and very sensible. Anyone who runs a business knows that sometimes you have to absorb costs rather than upsetting customers.

It's the right move and says a lot about Milviz that they have the humility to admit when a mistake has been made. Others take note...

I find it amazing how simmers expect developers to work for free - $5 - honestly ....

1 minute ago, DavidP said:

I find it amazing how simmers expect developers to work for free - $5 - honestly ....

I don't remember seeing a public uproar about the five bucks charge. I think this decision was strictly their own. 

Wow...I was OK with the $5 however that is a great change in policy. This will go miles for them in the long run.

13 minutes ago, DavidP said:

I find it amazing how simmers expect developers to work for free - $5 - honestly ....

Milviz was not charging simmers who bought directly from them.  They were charging customers who bought Milviz products from third parties (i.e. Just Flight).  That was the issue for some and Milviz rightly rectified the situation.

The idea of charging a fee to customers who bought through resellers was not a good business decision, as it unnecessarily generated noise. They simply have to mature. The way they respond on some support forums also reveals they (or someone at MilViz) have to grow-up. Still a lot to learn in the business, but the best part is that hey have very good products!.

Cheers, Ed

Just now, edpatino said:

The idea of charging a fee to customers who bought through resellers was not a good business decision, as it unnecessarily generated noise. They simply have to mature. The way they respond on some support forums also reveals they (or someone at MilViz) have to grow-up. Still a lot to learn in the business, but the best part is that hey have very good products!.

Cheers, Ed

Really?

I remember not too long ago someone argued with me that for example PMDG reallt did not give you a "free" upgrade to P3D v4 because it was already included in the cost of the product.

 

With that same logic, one could argue that Milviz also included the cost in the price of the product. When they sell through a reseller they don't get the same profit and don't cover it, so an extra fee is not that far fetched...

51 minutes ago, DavidP said:

I find it amazing how simmers expect developers to work for free - $5 - honestly ....

That simply isn't the case, as far as I'm concerned. As I said in another related thread a couple of days ago, it's all about what one is buying when one purchases a software license and that is apparently often very different, according to which developer one is referring to. At the end of the day developers can't stay in business without converting to 64 bit and you also have to factor in that, with OOM's becoming a thing of the past, they'll also have lower support costs.  So you could argue that one consequent saving will cancel out the transfer cost to some extent at least. Then, as a business, you have to weigh up the issues that might arise by irritating customers who've already paid handsomely for their licenses.

Wow, a $5 covering charge to do their work and update due to another company releasing a major update to 64bit code... that sounds ultra-reasonable to me and very fair.. though i can only assume that they changed their minds due to a backlash from those with some kind of a major entitlement problem.

1 minute ago, stripealipe said:

Wow, a $5 covering charge to do their work and update due to another company releasing a major update to 64bit code... that sounds ultra-reasonable to me and very fair.. though i can only assume that they changed their minds due to a backlash from those with some kind of a major entitlement problem.

The point being discussed here is the business practice to charge only the customers who bought through re-sellers and not from the original developer. The $5 charge itself is not the matter of the discussion.

Cheers, Ed

Ah, thanks Ed, and i apologise that i completely missed that very important point...

Good PR - whatever the reason

47 minutes ago, ErichB said:

Good PR - whatever the reason

Good PR? That's not the KrazyColin we all know and love!

A developer who looks after customers.