Corporate Greed At Its Finest

[Brad Hodges 0]

I just read about your pricing changes and limitation to just two devices and all I can say is this the best example of petty, greedy, ridiculous corporate gouging I have seen in a long time. I mean really? Cutting use from an early adopter from three devices to two in the interest of bleeding more money from your users is beyond comprehension. What difference does it really make to you if a user has your product on three devices instead of two? The fact that you are not even grandfathering in early users to retain what they already have is unprecedented! Most companies would make a change like that effective for new users and not punish a loyal customer by removing a feature. I've had EverNote on my iPhone, iPad and MacBook for a long time now and suddenly I'm being forced to choose which one to cut? Very, very disappointed in your organization. 

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

On 6/29/2016 at 11:52 AM, Brad Hodges said:

I've had EverNote on my iPhone, iPad and MacBook for a long time now

So you have enjoyed the service for free for a long time now.  If you value and use the service, why aren't you willing to pay for it?

[CalS 5,280]

You haven't lost any data and I believe you will be able to log out of one device to log in to another.  Not sure though.  Or pay a few bucks to continue using what you had been using for free.

[adamm 1]

Completely agree -- it is a classic bait and switch. I figure the company must be in trouble financially or they would never make such a mistake. I have used Evernote from day one and currently use (correction..."used") it on 5 devices. The limitation to two devices is a deal killer for me. Yesterday I successfully imported all of my (1826) notes from Evernote into OneNote. OneNote is actually quite good, much less buggy on Android and much faster too.

You had good run Evernote. Hopefully your layoffs aren't too bad.

[jbenson2 2,147]

Paradoxical post about Corporate Greed for a free product.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

44 minutes ago, jbenson2 said:

Paradoxical post about Corporate Greed for a free product.

Yes.  What is confusing to me is that people are angry at no longer getting a free product/service, or at least not the same exact service they received previously.  Instead of being grateful for receiving this free benefit for years, they choose to become angry with their benefactor.

Where are people taught that once you receive something for free, you are then entitled to it free for life?

[Brad Hodges 0]

Those slamming my statement certainly miss my point. Evernote was offered "free" from the beginning, no strings (allegedly) attached "as is" with no device limitations. What they offer as an organization in sum total is really not worth paying what they are asking for. There are certainly equally (or better) good products out there for free. The entire industry has begun to let greed rule. So many are going to this monthly payment plan. I don't begrudge anyone in a Capitalist society making money but you really need to offer a superior product to justify that and Evernote in my opinion does not do that. The free offering is sufficient but taking away the device limitation, as I said in the beginning is very petty. Whatever...in reality it does not make a difference except being annoying and again petty. I'm not such a devoted user that it's going to motivate me to pay, for sure. 

[Brad Hodges 0]

11 hours ago, JMichaelTX said:

Yes.  What is confusing to me is that people are angry at no longer getting a free product/service, or at least not the same exact service they received previously.  Instead of being grateful for receiving this free benefit for years, they choose to become angry with their benefactor.

Where are people taught that once you receive something for free, you are then entitled to it free for life?

Out of curiousity Mr. Michael, do you pay for this product and if so what truly justifies that outlay compared to what is out there in the market, free or not? No one said I'm ungrateful. I do appreciate the product as originally offered to early adopters. There should be some reward whether the product is free or not for those who have been loyal to the organization, and that is not taking away features. 

[Shalon 0]

Brad Hodges I agree with you completely.  I too, was an early adopter and I feel that over the years I have seen many of the features of this product slowly be removed. I have recommended Evernote to many, many people, something I do not think I will be doing anymore. Evernote I am EXTREMELY disappointed! 

[jbenson2 2,147]

34 minutes ago, Brad Hodges said:

There are certainly equally (or better) good products out there for free.

If there really are free equal or better products, I doubt the pricing change would have caused even a ripple in the forum discussion, because the vast majority of current complainers (free users) would have already left..

Care to list a few of the free ones?

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

3 hours ago, Brad Hodges said:

Out of curiousity Mr. Michael, do you pay for this product and if so what truly justifies that outlay compared to what is out there in the market, free or not?

Yes, I do pay.  I've been a Premium account owner after using the free account for less than one month, back in 2010.

I immediately recognized the tremendous value of a PIM (Personal Information Manager) where I could store everything, have a great search, and have it sync across all my devices.  I had been looking for, and testing, such an app/system for many years.  

Curiously enough, I had a couple of my colleagues who suggested Microsoft OneNote to me.  Back then it was a paid app, but it came with my Office Pro suite.  So I gave ON a try.  I didn't like it.  I just didn't get the organizational scheme that it presented.  And then I discovered Evernote.  The rest, as they say, is history.

About a 18 months ago, I became disillusioned with Evernote because of the direction the former CEO, Phil Liben, was taking the company and the product.  And there were issues with scalability.  So I (and a number of other long-time users) begin looking in earnest for an alternative to Evernote.  I seriously tested OneNote (again) as well as a number of other apps.  But none could match Evernote in features (regardless of their price).  So, I stuck with Evernote, and I'm glad I did.

I have long thought that Evernote is under-priced.  IMO, Evernote has been the opposite of corporate greed, they have been giving away the bulk of the product for free, for at least 8 years now.  OTOH, I think the way the rolled out this change was very poor.  But then I'm not privy to all of the internal discussions and considerations within the Evernote corp.

[rextilleon 10]

We live in the era of FREE.  A lot has to do with this bizarre concept that somehow everything on the Internet should be free ie. it doesn't cost anything to develop and maintain applications.  Oh, woe be me, I can only use Evernote on two platforms--life has ended as I know it .

[DTLow 5,736]

On July 4, 2016 at 9:40 AM, Brad Hodges said:

Out of curiousity Mr. Michael, do you pay for this product 

I also pay for the service

I started with a test, and found the product useful, then signed up for a paid account

Its a question of honour and integrity.
I've been paying my own way for a long time.

I do have sympathy for those in financial trouble and are forced to live on handouts
Somewhat less sympathy when they tell me about all the devices they have

Have you given a thought about how the pricing discussion illustrates welfare recipient greed