License Renewal System - Attention

Hello,

Today I did a renewal for my licence and after check the status in the software I realize a “remaining days of updates” shorter than the 1 year expected!

After some search, saw a couple of topics about the topic and realize how the system works.
Since they are already closed, I open this one to share my thoughts.

This behavior is somehow new to me. Everything I renewed until now, is from the moment I do the purchase, not from 6 months ago!

If it’s true that if, for any reason, only after 6 months of licence expire I was able to pay the renewal and I get the same updates as other customer who bough it right the day after, it’s also true that during these 6 months I was not able to enjoy the features/corrections and he did it.

If I’m only able to renew my licence one year after it expires, then I have to pay 2x30$=60$, when a new licence costs 40$!!

This is more a subscription system than a renewal system.

I’m a non-profissional and had chosen the Lightburn because of being a good piece of software for a reasonable price and I could renew the licence when I could afford it. Now I see that I have do a yearly subscription, even if I don’t use it.

Hope you can rethink about the fairness of the actual renewal system.

Finally I would like to ask how to revoke the license renew, and go back to my previous version.

Thank you.

Thank you for providing your feedback, but I think you may not fully understand our license. You can continue to use LightBurn for - ever. You are not required to update to any new release. Purchase once and go.

If you want new features, anything we add to the product after you first activate your license, we provide those Updates to you for free for the first 365 Days of an activated license. If you want to have access to new features and additions to LightBurn after that, we ask you to pay for our work.

This is not a subscription as you have purchased a license that will allow you to run LightBurn forever without any further purchase required to benefit from your $40.00 investment.

Hello Rick,

Thank you for your reply.

I understand and is more than reasonable to pay for your work. That is not the question.

What I’m saying is that the renewal system is not fair.

ExampleA:
Two customers bough a full licence at 01-01-2019.
Customer1: Renews the licence at 31-12-2019:

  • Enjoys all the new features and corrections for 365 days and beyond.

Customer2: Renews the licence at 31-12-2020:

  • Enjoys all the new features and corrections for 1 day and beyond

Conclusion: Customer2 had to pay as if was using the new features and corrections like the Customer1, even if he was not using the software for one year.


ExampleB:
CustomerA bough a full licence at 01-01-2018.
Two years after, at 02-01-2020, decides to renew the licence. He has to pay additional 60$. Total investment: 40 + 30 + 30 = 100$.

CustomerB, a new customer, buy a new licence at 02-01-2020. Pays 40$ and get all the new features and corrections up to date, and additional updates for one year.

Conclusion: The customerA, who already invest his money in the software in the past, supporting the software, has to pay more 20$ to have the same privileges as a new customer.

Hope I could clarify my point of view.
This way of working, in my opinion, is not fair and the other posts related in the forum took other customers in surprise as I was.

Meanwhile, assuming this renewal process will stay as it is, please provide instructions how to rollback my renewal and get refunded.

Thank you and stay safe.

The issue I have with your logic is this:

Imagine you and I both purchased our license a year ago, and it expires:

I renew right away (at 0 months in the above image), but you decide to wait. 6 months later, LightBurn adds the Halftone feature, and you think that’s cool enough to renew for. I get Halftone because I renewed right away, and I’m still in my license period, and you get it too.

8 months after that, LightBurn releases the exciting new Nesting feature. I’m not eligible for it without renewing again, because my license has passed another year, but since you waited 6 months, you get it, along with all the features I got in my year, because you waited.

How is that fair? Why do you deserve more features than me, when I renewed immediately and you didn’t?

When you renew, you get access to all the new features that were added during the period you were waiting through, as well as any released in the remaining time before the next expiry. You are paying for additional features, and you’ll be able to use them long after your key expires. If you waited, and got nesting in the example above, you got more than the user who renewed immediately, and I don’t think that should be rewarded.

Hello Oz,

Thank you for your reply.

Allow me to follow your example.

ForumLighBurn

Pink are the new features launched.
In red, the customers in actual system.

  • Customer A paid 30$, got 12 updates for 12 months and used them as soon as they were released.
  • Customer B, paid the same 30$, and got the same total 12 updates, but the first 6 months didn’t enjoy the first 6 updates.
    . Customer C (my view), paid 30$, got 18 updates, but could not enjoy the first 6 months, compared to A.

Conclusion. Yes, the Customer C got more updates with the same amount of money, BUT was not able to use the first features for 6 months. It’s a fair traid off used in almost everything we buy.

The new Iphone 11 was launched.
You like to be on the edge of the gadgets, and you bought it right in the first day at 11 Nov 2016.
Your warranty expired at 11 Nov 2018.
Since I had a limited budget, I only was able to buy it 6 months later. At that time, I got the same updates as you got until then, and additional 6 months warranty compared to you! Nevertheless, for the first six months, you were enjoying your new phone, while I was with my old brick! fair traid off.

If my car insurance expired 6 months ago, and only today I did the renewal, the renewal starts from today, not from 6 months ago…and so on…

Finally, this is my view and it seems is not aligned with yours. But this is your software, and your rules, and I have to respect them.
Since I bought the renewal today with the wrong assumptions, and it is not for sure the best option for me right now, would appreciate your support to recall it.

Sorry for the long posts.
Thank you for your views and explanations in previous posts.
Stay safe.

Ultimately if you’re unhappy, yes I’ll refund you. Having said that, it’s amazing to me that any of this surprises anyone - we’re extremely transparent about how this works:

Note the 2nd paragraph here on the renewal page, where you purchased the renewal:
image

Is that unclear in some way? Or do people just not read?

I know the answer to this, I’m just constantly surprised by it - people try to renew trial ID’s all the time, so I actually had to write custom code in the web site to disallow it because it costs me money every time I have to refund something. PayPal and other payment processors keep their cut when I refund, so you cost me both money and time by not doing your homework.

It’s incredibly disheartening to hear that you don’t think our continuous effort and support are worth what comes out to $2.50 a month.

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Oooh! ooh! (hand goes up) Pick me, pick me! I KNOW the answer to this one!

Take heart and consider how many satisfied customers you have vs unsatisfied. And remember you can’t make everybody happy all the time…

You know you’ve got the best value in town. The software is well worth the price of admission on its own and the amazing customer support just pushes it way over the top. My renewal comes up in about a month and I’ve seen how many cool new features get added with every new release so I’m in for sure. :slight_smile:
And I think the renewal policy is very fair.

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Hello,

I’m more than happy with the software, and for sure I’m in the “satisfied” side. Only this situation got me unprepared.
Hope that at least this thread avoid any future confusions to other users like me.

Nevertheless, everything is clarified and solved.

To close the subject, allow me a couple of suggestions:

  • The red text capture your attention and makes your eyes lowering the attention to the remaining text. Put all the paragraph in red, not only the last phrase, and add an example would help.

Maybe more technically challenge:

  • As I realize today, the renewal option does not make sense after 3 months of the licence expiring. Allow renewals only up to 1 month after license or renew expiration. After that, only new licences can be issued if we want new updates for next 12 months. This way, no more mistakes like this one happen, and the customers who like to be on the edge of the latest updates are rewarded for it.

Thanks Rick and Oz for your time and support.

Most important these days: STAY SAFE!

br,

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It only makes sense to do this now, at the current price. Prices are going to be increasing, because the software contains much more functionality than it did a year ago, and it will make gaming the system less attractive.

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