Less Shameful Business Practices

[neurongrower 0]

Evernote is now unusable on the second OS of my PC as I've supposedly reached my maximum number of unsyncs. This is obviously an error as I was able to happily unsync my devices regularly to stay within the two device limit. I can't see why this would something intentional, it's not like this company is slowly sinking and desperate for money so reaching for yet even more unsavoury methods of squeezing money out of their loyal customers??? Either way, this means I can no longer use Evernote after so many years so will be switching to OneNote. I suggest someone look into this clearly defective functionality if future users would like to be retained.

[neurongrower 0]

We REALLY need this feature, so many loyal users have been desperately hanging on to a slowly fading company despite lacking this feature. The most recent manifestation of this missing feature is a maximum number of device unsyncs per month in a desperate attempt to force users to pay for basic functionality. This is just ludicrous! I understand that this company has been its own worst enemy for years, but it's not too late to correct that! Would be great if you finally institute less shameful business practices, would make Evernote great.

[DTLow 5,745]

I don't know about shameful; it's an odd business practice to give you the product/service at no charge

I've merged your posts, and moved them to the General Discussion forum

>>It's odd to force users to pay for basic functionality

The Basic account functionality is provided free of charge; subject to specified limits

>>that costs the company no extra to provide

That's simply not true; there are costs for providing this product/service

>>The whole program is completely unusable once exceeded.

Then don't exceed the account limits; ... either that or upgrade your account level      
The "whole program" is completely useable for millions of users

>>It is blatant, shameful money-grabbing. 

It's called capitalism; products/services provided at a profit

[neurongrower 0]

4 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I don't know about shameful; it's an odd business practice to give you the product/service at no charge

I disagree. It's odd to force users to pay for basic functionality that costs the company no extra to provide. I'm not talking about quota, just the number of devices you can access your notes from. The whole program is completely unusable once exceeded. It is blatant, shameful money-grabbing. 

[PinkElephant 8,838]

Up to now nobody grabbed your money, you are just repeating your personal opinion. So better check your alternatives, and take a decision:

1. Stay on without paying, accepting that there are restrictions applied to that usage. Restrictions means exactly that - not using the service unrestricted. And they are meant to only keep people comfortable that use a limited part of ENs functionality.
2. Upgarde to get rid of the restrictions, by contributing to the operational cost. People that run the service you use need to get something into their fridges as well.
3. Grab your stuff and move on.

The option you would like to get „gimme everything without me doing anything“ is not on the menu.

And no, this is no official statement, just another user.

[jefito 5,598]

6 hours ago, neurongrower said:

This is obviously an error as I was able to happily unsync my devices regularly to stay within the two device limit. I can't see why this would something intentional, it's not like this company is slowly sinking and desperate for money so reaching for yet even more unsavoury methods of squeezing money out of their loyal customers???

As best we know, it was an intentional change.

"Loyal customer?" Really? Here's a definition of "customer" for you (from Merriam Webster)  "one that purchases a commodity or service". Perhaps you meant "user" (choose your favorite definition)?

It's worth it for me to pay for a service like Evernote that has value to me. There are viable options out there, some free, some not. Good luck with OneNote, or whatever.

[CalS 5,310]

11 hours ago, neurongrower said:

It's odd to force users to pay for basic functionality that costs the company no extra to provide

So Hardware and Staff are free these days?

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

@neurongrower, sorry for piling on, but attempts like these to read Evernote's motivations out of their practices, and of course conclude that they are desperate and doomed, get posted in these forums on a regular basis, and have for years. I hope OneNote works well for you. Please check back in 6 months or a year and find out if Evernote has really gone belly up. If not ... well, lesson learned on the prognostication front.

[PinkElephant 8,838]

All prophecies are difficult, especially those that concern themselves with the future.

[Tyler Arbogast 1]

On 1/29/2020 at 12:45 AM, neurongrower said:

I disagree. It's odd to force users to pay for basic functionality that costs the company no extra to provide. I'm not talking about quota, just the number of devices you can access your notes from. The whole program is completely unusable once exceeded. It is blatant, shameful money-grabbing. 

I strongly disagree. First of all, it's not true that it doesn't cost the company any extra to provide. But even if it did, this is commerce, you're not forced to use their product, you want to use it. If you want to use something that someone else is offering, you can accept their price or not, but trying to claim that disagreeing with their price is "money grabbing" is just incorrect. What Evernote does is no different than what tons of other companies do. Take newspapers (Washington Post, NY Times, LA Times, just to name a few) - they offer some limited amount of service for free (e.g., 5 free articles a month) - and charge you if you want more. Even if it didn't "cost" them anything extra to provide you more articles, charging you for them is far from money grabbing - it's just running a business. Some could say you're just trying to "service-grab" by demanding something to which you are not entitled. 

[SUVVV 1]

I ll agree with op here. Evernote reduced features of the basic plan and completely eliminated the middle ground plus plan. 10 dollars every month just to sync multiple devices is wayy too much. I absolutely do not understand why you guys are shilling evernote here, but what evernote did is straight up sell out. Similar to the ***** jotterpad pulled off.

[DTLow 5,745]

14 minutes ago, SUVVV said:

10 dollars every month just to sync multiple devices is wayy too much

Then don't use the Evernote service   
There are alternatives for syncing multiple devices

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

16 minutes ago, SUVVV said:

I ll agree with op here. Evernote reduced features of the basic plan and completely eliminated the middle ground plus plan. 10 dollars every month just to sync multiple devices is wayy too much. I absolutely do not understand why you guys are shilling evernote here, but what evernote did is straight up sell out. Similar to the ***** jotterpad pulled off.

1. Sell out? You mean they had made some commitment not to make a profit, or even have enough income to keep operating? They started in a garage and should have stayed there? Seriously, what is the behavior you'd expect from a company with integrity that wants to stay in business?
2. Take a moment to think what else you spend $10/month on. Coffee to get free WiFi? Streaming movies? If Evernote serves a significant business or household purpose for you, why not pay the relatively small subscription?
3. Oh, and by the way, do you mean 10 US dollars per month? According to https://evernote.com/premium, it's actually US$8/month if billed on a monthly basis. My annual subscription is US$70, which is less than $6/month. Where do you get $10?
4. I will continue to shill for reality. A lousy job, but somebody's got to do it.

[PinkElephant 8,838]

@SUVVV Maybe you should send your resumee to EN, Dptmt. HR. Can do a lot, willing to work long hours, don’t need a compensation ...

Because this is what you expect from EN by bashing their business model. You take the ride out of your own decision, without paying a nickel for it, and complain that the seat cushions in the first class look better. OK, get a ticket, be welcome. Or be happy when you are taken from A to B on a shoestring.

For me your comment show that EN is doing it right: The Basic Plan should NOT be good to use, if you need functions, volume or comfort. If you need one of those, it’s up or out or stay, accepting life is miserable sometimes.

[CalS 5,310]

Companies can give away or charge for their services as they see fit,  their option.  Get it wrong and they are out of business.  Have a terrible - bug ridden - stagnant - deprecating product and consumers will leave, again out of business.  Have free but less functionally free, well whatever. 

We all have different tipping points in the cost/value relationship with EN.  Personally I would like to see an improvement in QA, standardization, feature retention, and the like.  But I am not at my tipping point.  Way too much value for me and my use case at this point in time.  IAC, I am definitely not going to get snarky towards folks at EN I don't even know.  That's chicken**** to me.

[PinkElephant 8,838]

No reason to ....

But maybe you decide to engage in postings that are more oriented to share insight and how-to with other users, instead of discussing business models. The restrictions of the Basic account are there for a reason, and those using them with a focussed approach rarely complain. Those who complain usually want all the beef, but don't even pay for the bread.