Problem with sale pricing not being taken into account with bundles

[littlewierdo]

After purchasing an item that was / is on sale, the full price is not being taken into account when purchasing a larger bundle containing said item that was purchased on sale.

Let me explain.

I had purchased the Special Edition 2 Core Strings (105 Euros) and Woodwinds (95 Euros) awhile back and just purchased the guitars and keyboards from Special Edition 2 for 38 Euros instead of 50, leaving me with Special Edition 2 Core Brass (95 Euros) to complete the bundle.

When I go to look at the price to buy the entire Special Edition 2 Core package, it is actually more expensive than it would be to just buy the Special Edition Core 2 Brass.

In order to figure out what was happening, I had to do a bit of math... Im going to use SE2C to stand for Special Edition 2 Core.

SE2C Strings - 105

SE2C Woodwinds - 95

SE2C Brass - 95

SE2C Guitars & Keyboards - 50

SE2C Bundle - 335 (10 Euro savings)

I had purchased Strings and Woodwinds prior for 200 and I just bought the guitars & keyboards for 38, but I should be credited 50 for it, shouldnt I? My credit should be 250, making the purchase price to complete the bundle 85 (335 minus 250), which is a 10 Euro savings.

What it actually did was only credit me 38 for the guitars and keyboards, add 200 Euros for the previously purchased Strings and Woodwings (238), now the entire bundle minus what Im being credited with (335 minus 238) which is 97 Euros to complete the bundle when I go to buy SE2C in its entirety.

This creates 2 bizarre issues. At this point, rather than purchasing the SE2C package (which is currently showing 97 Euros in price), it would be cheaper to just buy the brass package which is 95 Euros.

Second, I actually will not save any money by upgrading to the SE2C bundle, its going to actually end up costing me the same (actually, technically, a couple Euros more) as if I had just purchased everything separately and never upgraded to take advantage of the bundle discount normally provided retroactively.

In this particular case, Im not too troubled because its a few Euros. But, here is why Im concerned. I was thinking about buying the Special Edition 4 Core package that is currently on sale with the intention of, in a couple weeks, purchasing the Special Edition Core bundle. Do the math and you find that a HUGE amount of the savings is lost.

Actually, what you are actually doing is not benefitting from the sale at all, in fact, you are just getting the discount earlier and getting less savings later when you purchase the bundle to complete a package.

I hope this makes sense, I tried to explain it as clearly as possible, Im not sure what I should do because I expected that when I purchased a package on sale, it would be considered at normal purchase price when purchasing a larger bundle that same package was contained in. Otherwise, it isnt much of a savings if you plan on purchasing larger packages later down the road.

Am I missing something here?

[Martin]

Well, with our vast number of customers, it always depends on the number and mixture of your previously registered products if you can take more or less advantage of a promotion.

Some people are happy they can save now on Keyboards & Guitars, and they’re not intending to complete their SE Vol. 2 in the near future. There might be others, like you in this specific case, who don’t save more in the long run, but they also don’t lose anything (except for €2 rounding error). As you say, you get your savings earlier (I don’t see why this is a bad thing ;-), but in no way is there any huge amount of savings lost. In your specific situation, you don’t lose anything.

In our promotions, we offer all kinds of discounts and advantages, for a diverse group of customers. Everyone is free to take advantage of an offer, or pass, and many are very happy about our promotions. It always depends on your registered products, current needs and plans for the future, and that’s a very individual thing.

Cheers, Martin

[littlewierdo]

Well, I wonder, as bizarre as this will sound, if there is a way I can purchase this at its full price then.

Bizarre and disappointing. I was really hoping to get a head start of completing the SE Core bundles and for someone on a tight budget, at least for me, I need to purchase in small increments.

I am budgetting around (and part of the reason I chose Vienna in the first place), is the package completion discounts as that gives me an opportunity to be able to afford packages I normally would not be able to afford. Take the SE Appasionata strings for example, nearly 400 Euros is alot of money for a student on a tight budget that doesnt make a penny from this stuff (its a hobby for me). The only way the SE Appasionata strings are affordable is because the core bundle offer, ie. buy SE 1, 2, and 4 and suddenly, I can get the Apassionata strings for 100 Euros.

Its like saying, if you buy 8 coffees, you'll get your 9th free, but because you bought coffee #6 on sale at 25% off, well, that only count for 75% of a coffee...