Your logic fails at this point. When a customer has previously purchased software with the promise of being able to upgrade it at no charge by re-downloading it from Handango, and when they (Handango) then refuse to allow you to do that, especially when the software developer has given Handango a huge cut of their sale price to provide that service, that is in fact the very definition of unethical.

I am sure that this is a straight business decision on Handango's part to make more money. I am also certain that they anticipated negative reaction from those customers who would pick up on this. But, I am also sure that they weighed the cost of the negative reaction, to the profit of doing this, as well as the eventuality that customers, particularly future customers, would forget and/or never know the difference, and decided that their decision was the best from a corporate profit point of view.

Your post proves that Handango will probably be just fine in doing this, because there will be many, just like you, who have no problem with paying a "fee" of between 25% to 50% of the original purchase price. If you are ok with that, then fine - its your money.

But, my money will go to a business that doesn't make those decisions.

The reason for my original post in this thread has been proven by those who have replied - to warn others of Handango's practices, as it is all too easy to be in the process of purchasing a $19 piece of software, click all the proceed buttons, and then find that you were charged $25, because they automatically add their "purchase protection" onto your order, pre-checked. And that, by the way, is also unethical.

Just my $.02... and no protection fees attached to that.

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Pastor Tim Satryan
Communicating the Good News!
Visit my website - WILMINGTON first assembly of God

I concur with you on this. I too had this experience with Handango and didn't feel like like writing up here due to me being a kind of person that just moves on............now that I do read a lot of posts from members here who have had this same "bitter" taste I am glad you had the "guts" to write up. Thanks tsatryan. I have been dealing with our own supplier at this forum and might as well support convergent here than spending the money some place else.
my.00000000002 worth.

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Funny it worked.....the last time!!Now I am not sure what was working before they put a hole in my head!!!!

My point of contention and I think that of, tsatryan, the original poster is that they changed the rules on many people midstream. And they seem to have grandfathered everybody else (unwillingly) into the new upgrade agreement. I really hate it when companies sell a product or service with a certain agreement and then they change it to fit thier bottom line (remember Kragen's lifetime parts (brake shoes for me), etc same deal!). I would be more understanding if the policy applied to all purchases from this date on.. I'm sure they ran it through thier legal department and left themselves the appropriate loophole to change the agreement after the fact. That leaves the consumer to protest with thier pocket book...
Mark

edit: tsatryan, Yeah!.. you beat me to the reply. . .

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Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.

Wow! Look how many "power users" have chimed in. Unofficially, that likely amounts to thousands of people who agree but haven't posted.

If you search, you'll find I have had a post or two about Handango as well. I have been very frustrated with their lack of CS. I haven't purchased anything from them recently, so I haven't seen their change in policy. But I am not surprised. I estimate I have spent a thousand dollars in software over the years, and they have lost my business a while back. I have always gone to Pocket Gear, but will also try Mobihand to support the site.

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Jeremiah 29:11

I want to post the follow-up correspondance that I just received from Handango -
So, according to their reply, anything that you have purchased prior to February 2006, you can still re-download. That's better than nothing.

This is CRITICALLY important - this individual says that they are reviewing their policy, and that feedback is important. If they are truly re-considering their position, then it would be in the best interests of anyone and everyone who has ever purchased software through Handango to log in to your account, and navigate to where you can send feedback.

The more people that do this, the better the chances of them dropping the "download protection service" scam.

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Pastor Tim Satryan
Communicating the Good News!
Visit my website - WILMINGTON first assembly of God

After ready your initial post, I sent a bulk email to all the contacts at Handango, a link to your thread telling them, they need to reconsider their policies, at present you are losing hundreds of customer's.

I'm another buyer who doesn't use Handango anymore. I read some time ago (I think on Brighthand) that Handango takes a larger percentage from developers too, so that's another reason to not use them. I also hate the way they have the previously downloaded apps set up - at PocketGear you can always tell exactly when an app was upgraded - but on Handango they only show the date on the software at the time you downloaded it.

I now always either buy directly from the developer or from PocketGear - but now I'll also try MobiHand to help support this site. - sheureka

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Do good. Be kind. Have fun.

Thats not true, I do have software that I bought way back in 2003 and since then I have also changed Credit Cards that I used and they FLAT REFUSED to allow me to re-download as I donot have those cards anymore. Their answer was "without the credit card numbers they will NOT allow me to re-download". So, I hope all of you here who at one time or the other used a credit card to purchase from Handango and since that time IF you have changed cards or the numbers on your new cards have changed you will be in for a surprise.

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Funny it worked.....the last time!!Now I am not sure what was working before they put a hole in my head!!!!

EskimoPie -

First off, I've always been curious about your moniker, having been one of the bankers for the Eskimo Pie company, but . . .

I tend to agree with your statement that what they have done is not un-ethical - to me it's not, particularly given tsatryan's addition to their position.

My point was that it's just plain stupid, at least with the information I have at hand. But if a pure distributor, with no intrinsic value added by their business, wants to kid themselves into thinking that they are so important to the industry that they can wantonly raise prices like this, fine! I'll look forward to reading their bankruptcy petition soon. Look at the history of the distribution industry. It doesn't matter whether it's software, medical supplies, construction equipment, or whatever, it's a tough as nuts business - raise prices and you're broke. That's where they're headed if they don't repent.

And frankly, I'm sorry, because I've enjoyed buying from them over the years.

Better cash in my frequent buyers points soon!

Chris.

Consider me in as well! They wanted me to pay five bucks to redownload a skin suite that I had purchased 2 months before but lost during a hard reset. I sent and email and basically was told you can purchase downloiad protection for the skinsuite and redownload it again. No thanks, time to find another software dealer or just buy it from the developers.

Yet Handango's competition (Pocketgear) manages to provide all these services for the same price (or less) without gouging their contributing developers as much. Sounds like pure greed on Handango's part to me, but it could just be gross inefficiency or utter incompetence.

Verizon and Handango have a tight partner relationship. It should surprise you of their greedy sales methods.

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VZW, It's 2009! Time to embrace technology, not suppress it. - oops too late I've moved on over to the iPhone w/ AT$T!

What is unethical is the way the “download protection” is placed in your cart. Whether intentional or unintentional, the current check out process will lead to accidental purchases of the “download protection.” Yes it is the buyer’s responsibility to take a thorough look at the shopping cart, but there is such a thing as corporate reasonability and trust. If you want to charge me for a service, you used to give away for free, that is fine; it is your business model to change how you want. I will look at the value and decide if it is worth my patronage. But slipping this fee, by default, into the shopping cart violates my sense of corporate trust.

FWIW, what Handango has done is parroted a bunch of other vendors who do the same thing. For instance, when you go Symantec's store with the goal of renewing your AV subscription, not only is the upgrade to the latest version automagically checked, but it's an upgrade to their full "Internet Security" product. If you're not careful, you buy that along with the "extended download" feature.

And many other vendors automagically place the extended download feature in your cart when you check out. I don't want to mention any names for fear of being mistaken, but I am pretty sure all of the larger order faciliation places do this.

I can't say it angers me so much that I'll stop buying from Handango, though. Unfortunately, I am way past the anger. I felt that back when it started happening to my customers a couple of years ago with products from Symantec. But I think it's good practice in general to try to buy WM software direct from authors since they almost certainly get a bigger slice of the profit when you buy direct.

Just some thoughts...

Mike...

First of all if you are silly enough to go buying things online without actually LOOKING at the screen to see what is actually in your cart then you deserve what you get... I mean COME ON! It's right on the screen in front of you that they're adding the 'download protection' item... you get to see it at least twice before you finalize your order... If you hit 'sumbit' while it was still in your cart then you get absolutely no sympathy from me... Take responsibility for your actions.

On ther other issue, I just checked my account history and I have several pages of orders going back several years and I can still download EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. And believe me, I never paid for any silly 'download protection'.

EskimoPie, I agree with your comments and my Handango account history is much the same as yours. (Where is John Galt when you need him?)

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MemMaid,MovieGuide,MRailingTools,OneNote,PdaNet,PIEPlus,PocketWeather,RealOnePlayer,RescoExplorer,Skype, SpaceReclaimer,SplashID,SpriteBkup,TCPMP,TotalCommander,ViewCommander,VirtualEarth,vncViewer,WebCopier,XstreamXM

Not to be repetitious, but some observations from this trhead...
- seems like those who have been around a while are quite in agreement that Handango is no longer worthy of our support.
- I, too, have a number of years of purchases from Handango - seven, I think. And, most (not all) software purchased before February 2006 can be re-downloaded, provided you still know the original credit card used to make the purchase. If you don't know it, you are out of luck. And, any software purchased after February of this year, if you didn't purchase their "download protection service" then you are out of luck.
- once again, the point of this thread was to warn forum users of the current practice of Handango. If you are ok with paying for their "dps" then go for it. Its your money. But, many new users are not aware that this was not the case ever before, and it is still not the case with Handango's competitors. So, feel free to pay MORE at Handango for what you could pay LESS for at Pocket Gear, for example. And, further, if we purchase through pdaphonehome.com, who uses Mobihand, then we support this site.

And lastly - and probably most important - do NOT turn this thread into a flame war. We are here to help each other.

As also already mentioned - Handango indicated to me that they are currently re-evaluating their "download protection service". And, anyone that has been a customer of Handango, would be encouraged to write to them expressing their thoughts on the subject.

I am quite certain that Handango will do and will charge whatever the market will bear. They are in business for one reason only - to make money. If they start to lose money to their competitors, they will change or go out of business. That's the way things work.

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Pastor Tim Satryan
Communicating the Good News!
Visit my website - WILMINGTON first assembly of God

tsatryan I believe you have made a very good closing statement one that is worthy of being the last for this thread. As you have said this should not be a flame war nor should it turn into opinions that might just get hurtful. I am closing this thread as it has reached that point.
IF anyone here hears anything different that Handango has decided to change policies please PM me BEFORE starting another thread and I will reopen this.Thanks for the understanding.

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Funny it worked.....the last time!!Now I am not sure what was working before they put a hole in my head!!!!