Disappointing experience with premium renewal

[jbshanker 4]

I'm a huge Evernote fan having used it myself for years and referred dozens of my clients to it. I bought a Premium account to support development. Last week I saw my renewal was coming up and was amazed that I could find no way to proactively renew the subscription. Since I knew the credit card I used had changed I also knew the planned automatic renewal would fail. But try as I might I could find no way to renew a few days ahead of time or even to update the payment method.

I figured that must mean that when automatic renewal failed I'd get a friendly request to update my records, along with a few days extension (again, I'm not looking for a favor, but the site doesn't give me the option of paying proactively). Instead, yesterday while I was out of town and relying heavily on Evernote on my mobile device for travel info, I received a pretty unfriendly email:

Please be aware of the following changes to your account:

• 1GB monthly upload allowance has been set to 60MB
  
• Offline access to notebooks on the Android and iOS is no longer available
  
• You can no longer allow other users to edit your shared notebooks
  
• Maximum single note size decreased from 50MB to 25MB
  
• You can no longer access older versions of your existing notes via the "Note History" feature
  
• Priority image recognition is disabled
  
• Daily email limit has been decreased from 250 to 50
  
• Premium support has been disabled
  

So I was on the road, with all my travel information stored in an offline notebook on my Android Tablet and I have no idea whether my tablet is going to lock me out of my travel details. Again, I'd already tried to purchase it before I left specifically so as to avoid any troubles. If you can't figure out a way to allow renewal purchases in advance, then at least spring for the 4 or 5 cents it would cost to serve a paying customer for a few days while someone logs in to update their details. Instead I'm left with the knowledge that Evernote is not something I can count on completely. And while I'll continue using it myself, I'm a bit less inclined to extol its virtues to others. It is my very first Evernote disappointment.

[JMichaelTX 4,108]

Yep, I ran into the same issue in Apr 2012, and reported it then:

Problems with Update Billing Page in Evernote Account

Although it has been acknowledged by Evernote with promises to fix this page, it appears it is still broke.

Hard to understand. The one page you would want to make sure works well is the page where people pay you money.

[jbshanker 4]

Yep, I ran into the same issue in Apr 2012, and reported it then:

Problems with Update Billing Page in Evernote Account

Wow! Under the topic of "not especially encouraging" they seem to have "solved" the problem by removing all links to the page you referenced. I clicked on the link in your post and was surprised that I hadn't come across the page during my own desperate quest to spend my money :-) then I realized it's because the Update Billing Page (https://www.evernote.com/UpdateBilling.action) is no longer in the menu system. The page technically still exists, but you can't click anywhere to get to it (at least anywhere I can see).

I'm considerably more disappointed to know that the problem has been known for 2 months and is currently being managed by hiding the evidence of it. All the more reason to introduce a less insulting grace period policy than the "You've been downgraded" email. :-(

[jefito 5,586]

@jbshanker: Sorry to hear about your experience. That's very strange. I just used the linked page to update my own credit card information, which has also changed. My next charge isn't due until the end of July. Seemed simple enough, at least from my experience just now. Web browser is Chrome 19, under Windows 7. You should be able to locate the page by logging into the web client, going to Settings, and clicking on the Update BIllings link there. Maybe you tried to access it via the main evernote.com site, without being logged in?

[jbshanker 4]

@jbshanker: Sorry to hear about your experience. That's very strange. I just used the linked page to update my own credit card information, which has also changed.

No, I'm logged in to my account (as evidenced by the "Premium" in the shot below, but I don't see any "Update Billings" link . . . am I looking in the wrong place?

[jefito 5,586]

Yah, you're in the right place. I see "Update Billing" right under "Purchase History". I'd file a tech request if I were you; see the link in my signature.

[nova47 60]

My available settings look like @jbshanker's screenshot, but my payment is through PayPal so I guess it makes sense.

[pannct 0]

Uhhh....glad I saw your posts. I was just getting ready to buy Premium. But decided maybe not.

What's current status of your dilemma?

[Nancy M 160]

Hi jbshanker, I'm sorry you had a poor experience with your Premium expiration. The credit card failure should indeed have triggered an email. Thank you for reporting this bug.

You should be able to do update your credit card information from the Update Billing page. However the display changes based on the state of your account; that particular page only shows up if you are still Premium, and paying with a credit card. (As nova47 mentioned, PayPal subscribers don't see that page either). Since your Premium is already expired, you won't be able to see the Update Billing page any more, even if you try to go there directly from the link.

[pannct 0]

Thanks nfu for your comments to jbshanker regarding that account. I am glad Evernote is monitoring here. That's good for Evernote and good for us.

I couldn't tell from your comments, however, whether a premium member could update their credit card detail on your site by logging onto their account. In your second paragraph, YOUR OPENING SENTENCE informed jbshanker he "...should be able to update your credit card information from the Update Billing page."

Whereas, YOUR FINAL SENTENCE of that paragraph, appears to say just the opposite: "...you won't be able to see the Update Billing page any more..."

You said that jbshanker should have gotten an email and that was a "bug." You thanked him for his comment, but made no citation as to when or if Evernote will address that "bug." So.........this reader is left with the original question: How does jbshanker or any premium member update a credit card after deadline?

I suggest to you and to EVERNOTE that greater customer care for premium members can be affected by doing two things:

1) Institute a Grace Period during which a customer's critical data is held unaccessible by the customer (instead of preemptively deleting it) for say 30-days, during which time updated Credit card detail can be made.

2) Make sure the Evernote servers automatically send notifying email every 10 days until the account is restored.

Or did I miss something?

[jbshanker 4]

Hi jbshanker, I'm sorry you had a poor experience with your Premium expiration. The credit card failure should indeed have triggered an email. Thank you for reporting this bug.

You should be able to do update your credit card information from the Update Billing page. However the display changes based on the state of your account; that particular page only shows up if you are still Premium, and paying with a credit card. (As nova47 mentioned, PayPal subscribers don't see that page either). Since your Premium is already expired, you won't be able to see the Update Billing page any more, even if you try to go there directly from the link.

nfu, I appreciate your taking the time to reply but unfortunately there are a number of inaccuracies.

First off, as you can see in the screenshot it's still a Premium account. I renewed it once I got back home and had access to the site.

Second, as I mentioned in a follow-up post, I am able to get to the Update Billing page by clicking the direct link in JMichael's thread. I just don't have a LINK to the Update Billing page on any of my pages. And while I do use PayPal, there's really no reason that a Premium customer can't access the page. I might have used PayPal last time but want to use a credit card the next time for example. In fact, one of the annoyances of the process was that I was also not able to enter a one time PayPal payment. Instead it seemed to only allow for a recurring annual payment which I find presumptuous on Evernote's part. So I unless Evernote fixes the problem in the next year I assume I'll face the same annoyance next year when you find that the recurring payment has been canceled and I still don't have access to a credit card billing page.

I don't have any sense from you whether or when any of this will be fixed and why Evernote would immediately cut off a service that costs you nearly nothing to deliver. By that I mean that your basic service has a lot of costs associated with it, but the premium service most likely adds pennies a month for all but the most aggressive users. Allowing me to store my offline notebooks, for example, costs you nothing. Personally I believe that when a small fraction of your customers pay for the product, you should err on the side of trating them nicely, especially when it costs you nothing to do so.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,316]

Hi pannct. I'll let nfu clarify her comments, but about the first of the two questions at the end of your post, I'd like to clarify that your data should not be affected in any way by a service change. Once your data is put into Evernote's servers (synced) it stays there and is entirely accessible whether you are free or premium. Any OCR'd documents remain OCR'd. Everything remains just as it was, but some things like the upload allowance and ability to use offline notebooks will be altered.

At least, that is how I understand the service. I think it would be a good idea if Evernote sent out those emails you mentioned in #2 with a statement explaining what a service change does and does not mean. The Evernote model is a little different than the one used by other cloud service providers, and it is potentially confusing.

[jbshanker 4]

I suggest to you and to EVERNOTE that greater customer care for premium members can be affected by doing two things:

1) Institute a Grace Period during which a customer's critical data is held unaccessible by the customer (instead of preemptively deleting it) for say 30-days, during which time updated Credit card detail can be made.

2) Make sure the Evernote servers automatically send notifying email every 10 days until the account is restored.

For what it's worth, I'm not in favor of the first option. That's actually worse for the user than the hamfisted approach Evernote currently takes since even FREE users run no risk of their data being held inaccessible.

(while I was writing the above I saw that the delightfully named GrumpyMonkey had beat me to it :-) I agree with him)

The notification emails are a good idea, especially in advance of the renewal date inviting customers to log in and verify their credit card or payment information or even to go ahead and purchase. That's the strangest part to me -- if I want to buy ahead a couple of years, why on earth wouldn't Evernote take my money? They get the time value of the money, I'm locked in to the service and they can reduce their transaction costs. I in turn know that I won't have to deal with headaches like this annually. As an analogue, there are magazines which I've read for years that I know I'll be reading for many years. Rather than deal with their renewal letters all the time, I buy in advance. My wired subscription proudly bears an expiration date in 2018. :-)

[GrumpyMonkey 4,316]

Delightfully named. Hahaha. Thanks a lot for reporting this bug in the system. Your use-case and situation definitely makes a compelling case for a quick solution to the bug. Hopefully, one of the staff can jump into this thread later to update us when the bug gets fixed.

[Nancy M 160]

@pannct, thanks for your comments. A couple things about my previous post were unclear - let me clarify.

Only folks with a current Premium subscription via credit card will be able to use the Update Billing page.

Premium subscribers using PayPal don't currently see the Update Billing page on Evernote since all billing information is handled through PayPal. (@jbshanker - sorry I didn't look closely enough at your screenshot. I thought you weren't seeing the link because your Premium expired, but it is actually because you have a PayPal subscription.)

We don't currently have a good way to switch subscriptions between PayPal and direct credit card but we are working on improving subscription management in general. I can't guarantee any release dates but I can respond to this thread when the issue gets updated.

The fact that no email was sent when the card charge failed is definitely a bug, and we will fix this very soon.

Also, as GrumpyMonkey mentioned, your data is always accessible to you regardless of whether you pay for the Premium upgrade or not.

[pannct 0]

Well....accolades on many points. Not in the Premium camp at the moment, I appreciate GrumpyMonkey, your clarification on the storage for free/premium and the distinction you made. As a new user, I made an assumption, so thanks for correcting me. No data is lost---only how the data is used and the volume of its transmission. Good to know.

Jbshanker, thanks for your comments on my suggestion #1. Since I did not understand what GrumpyMonkey has now made clear, I agree that #1 is un-desirable.

So....seems that the best courses remain:

A) The Evernote servers email notices every 10 days for some period of time alerting expired accounts.

That Evernote figure a graceful way for premiums to switch between payment sources as user needs may dictate (Jbshanker's idea and a good one). I assumed "of course" (ha ha) it existed in Evernote, so am astonished and grateful you pointed out otherwise.

Think I will refrain from premium membership for the time being.

I feel, however, that Evernote has good intentions. They've already done so much that is fantastic, it's not in their interest to stop short of implementation that expands their business. I am confident they will shortly follow through implementing the suggestions. Hope I am right.

PS: I read your post Christopher, about Evernote Organization Without Organizing, and found it helpful and interesting; the alternative approach you came up with. Thanks!

[GrumpyMonkey 4,316]

Well....accolades on many points. Not in the Premium camp at the moment, I appreciate GrumpyMonkey, your clarification on the storage for free/premium and the distinction you made. As a new user, I made an assumption, so thanks for correcting me. No data is lost---only how the data is used and the volume of its transmission. Good to know.

Jbshanker, thanks for your comments on my suggestion #1. Since I did not understand what GrumpyMonkey has now made clear, I agree that #1 is un-desirable.

So....seems that the best courses remain:

A) The Evernote servers email notices every 10 days for some period of time alerting expired accounts.

That Evernote figure a graceful way for premiums to switch between payment sources as user needs may dictate (Jbshanker's idea and a good one). I assumed "of course" (ha ha) it existed in Evernote, so am astonished and grateful you pointed out otherwise.

Think I will refrain from premium membership for the time being.

I feel, however, that Evernote has good intentions. They've already done so much that is fantastic, it's not in their interest to stop short of implementation that expands their business. I am confident they will shortly follow through implementing the suggestions. Hope I am right.

PS: I read your post Christopher, about Evernote Organization Without Organizing, and found it helpful and interesting; the alternative approach you came up with. Thanks!

Glad I could help. Thanks for the kind words

[SAULD 0]

I just found out my premium subscription was cancelled and I cannot find out why?

[JMichaelTX 4,108]

@SAULD:  You may want to Submit an EN Support Ticket, and select the "Payment or Billing Issue" category.

[sssteeve 3]

So it sounds like nothing is lost after account goes from premium to free and back to premium- is that correct?

[JMichaelTX 4,108]

So it sounds like nothing is lost after account goes from premium to free and back to premium- is that correct?

 

That is pretty much correct, although I'm not sure about Note History.  Maybe someone from Evernote could clarify this.