IncrediMail Upgrade Tactics Incredibly Bad
Dear Fred, I thought I should write to you so that you can warn any unsuspecting people of an unscrupulous scam being perpetrated by the nasty people at Incredimail. I received a newsletter from them on 12th/08/05 saying that they listen and respect their subscribers and they have a great surprise for us. When you click to the link, you are re-directed to a web page that downloads ( you assume) an upgraded version of Incredimail. When it is installed, I found, where Junk & Unapproved folder had been, was a new folder, Advanced Junk filter is turned off, click here. When the link is clicked you are taken to a site offering Advanced Junk filter for $29.99. Since Incredimail is a paid for service whose on-board filter works perfectly well, I declined and went back to what I was doing. The following day, when I opened my e-mail, I found in my inbox (which had previously been configured to only accept mail from addresses in my Address book) 6 of the usual rubbish junk mails that are sent out daily. When I went to Tools to check junk mail filter, it had been grayed out, thus preventing me from adjusting anything. I have since used System Restore to get previous installation back, but what I would like to know is : Is it illegal for Incredimail to take off my system, a service that I have paid for ,in order to force me to buy a programme that I don't need. You can guess who has been put into my junk mail folder after this episode. Yours Angrily, Phil Bevan
Like many software companies, IncrediMail gains
mindshare by giving away a free but feature-limited version of their product,
called IncrediMail Xe, then leveraging that mindshare (and your e-mail address)
to promote for-pay upgrades, add-ons and additional software. Nothing wrong with
that.
Some users have complained, however, that the company occasionally decides to
move features from older products to newer ones (making them available in the
for-pay products, but unavailable in free or older products).
Part of the problem is one of perception. IncrediMail views its software as
"products," but its content and (apparently) junk mail filtering as "services."
They wanted you to pay not a one-time charge for JunkFilter Plus, but an annual
subscription payment. From IncrediMail's point of view, their actions are
analogous to a restaurant--- they're removing coleslaw from the Family Meal Pack
and making it available only with the Ultra Supersized Family Meal Pack. But to
customers, it feels like they're coming into your house and taking coleslaw out of your
refrigerator.
You have complained, as have others, however, that the JunkFilter Plus was
presented as a simple upgrade that disabled existing junk filtering after you
declined their offer to pay for JunkFilter Plus. That's not a great way to win
customer loyalty. It sounds like they've lost a customer.
Here's another reason to avoid IncrediMail:
http://langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-10-10.htm#6
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