Herb, thank you for this extra grace period.

The VIP is more valuble to those of us who buy less frequently:  The outlay is so much more serious for someone like me--I have to budget FAR in advance (more than 6 months).

Which is to say, I am still hoping that you will stretch it further...please consider, as you will retain more of your customer base.  I for one will continue to buy when I can afford it, but if I lose my status, my next purchase will have to be smaller and much later than sooner.

Hell, I'd be willing to put down a small deposit (like a layaway item) to reserve a product at the VIP price.  I could complain about lifetime investment, etc., but really I'm so desperate right now I'm actually losing sleep over this.  Show me a hoop to jump through, just point the way!

Clark

 I must say that this thread and the plaints of so many make me sad. Here we are far from the spirit of creative collaboration that has, over the years, made these forums a uniquely happy enterprise. Promises made and then breached always have this effect. To the folks at VSL I say, listen....

@Pingu said:

You're not the only intelligent person here;

@dsstudio said:

Just want to voice out my disapprove about the decision to drop upgrade plan for 1st/Pro edition. I for one was very close to buy a performance set for EXS24 [clearance price for 1600] Along with the EXS24 problem, now the new upgrade plan, I feel like that was a GREAT ESCAPE! I have lost confidence when buying VSL library, I will hold up ALL plan and wait until a better time, let's see what July 15 will bring Regards Sonny

@PaulR said:

I'm sorry, but call me old-fashioned - I don't understand how some of the people on this thread know how to walk and breath at the same time - I mean - HOW do some of you ACTUALLY live? Huh? How do you manage to pay your bills. Beats me.

There you go again with that incredible arrogance, when actually the problem is not anyone else's lack of intelligence, but the fact that you keep completely missing the point of the thread. I'm sure there are probably good reasons that VSL have had to go back on their promises, and no they're not by any means aggressively avaricious, judging by previous behaviour. The point is that they won't explain their reasons. No matter how you keep excusing it there has been a breach of promise, and we would like to believe that the team we've come to know would at least explain.

Even you should be able to tell that endlessly reiterating the mantra, 'They're not as bad as some firms,' doesn't actually answer the question of why they've done this. All you're doing is suggesting that we should learn to expect VSL to become as bad as any other firm.

 I've been speaking out about this, and they're my first posts in months.  Here - and in other forums - those of us scratching our heads and asking for answers are being portrayed as helpless whiners.  Well, helpless I'm not.  I head a fairly thriving little music production company, which my wife and I have nurtured and built over the years.  We're active in our local business community, and we work with a committed, talented group of composers, sound designers and the like.  When it comes to certain costs (capital expenditures, as my accountant calls them), we have to balance MANY needs.  We also provide health insurance to our team (paying 100%).  Costs are skyrocketing, and their health and well-being is more important than owning the latest and greatest sample library.

So, would I have LOVED to have been able to upgrade to VI already?  Yes!   But other priorites have interceded.  To set those priorities, we used information we trusted.  Had we known that VSL would rescind the very offer that played a part in my decision to invest in their product; had we known that at some future date the upgrade price would effectively double, we might have placed the upgrade higher on the priority list.  I remember my wife saying specifically, "The health insurance is going up again and we had some unexpected repair costs.  What can we cut from our spending plan?"  I answered, "Well, as much as it pains me - the VSL upgrade is over $5,000.00, so we can wait a while longer.  The upgrade price will still be there."

See where I'm going with this?  If I offered my best clients a free session for spending a certain amount of money with us, never mentioning a deadline, then arbitrarily told them that they only have 3 months to use it - or they'll lose it - I would EXPECT them to be upset!  If they ask why I'm suddenly putting a cutoff on the offer, they have every right to EXPECT a good answer, and I'd feel a responsibility to give them one.

That's the thing about the free enterprise system - there's no law that says you can't make a bad decision.  Heaven knows I've made MY share.  And that's all I'm saying.  My opinion as a customer, and as a businessperson, is that VSL has made a bad decision here.

So, am I whining?  Call it what you will.  VSL doesn't owe me anything.  And I don't have the time or inclination to pursue the matter further.  I'll either be able to afford the upgrade during the (now) 6 month period or I won't.  With the enormous expense of building a new studio looming, the timing's pretty lousy - but that's not VSL's problem, or their fault.  I'll deal with it.  

I just hate to see a company I admire so much make such a misstep.  It's left a bad taste in my mouth, and - for the first time - has me listening to demos from the other guys.  

Thanks for indulging my lengthy post.

Fred Story 

@Fred Story said:

We also provide health insurance to our team (paying 100%).  I remember my wife saying specifically, "The health insurance is going up again and we had some unexpected repair costs.  What can we cut from our spending plan?" Fred Story 

@Errikos said:

Come on people! We do not need to explain ourselves, we have done nothing wrong, and we are not asking for discounts! We are asking what we are due; and if there is anyone that has to explain himself, that is not us.

Perfectly summarised!

@PaulR said:

None of you will get any sympathy from me - I happen to disagree with most people and if that rocks your boats - then tough sh!t.

Noone asked for your sympathy - but noone asked for your opinion either. You seem to be a very irritable, immature little whiner, who just can't help picking fights for the sake of it, doesn't think things through, and can't see different angles to a problem. Most of us are here to ask VSL some questions - since you're not them nobody actually has any interest in your views.

Bottom line is their actions are quite simply wrong, and we'd like to know why. No amount of jumping up and down and saying that other people do it is going to make their actions right.

@Fred Story said:

No, Paul. I haven't complained to my health insurance company. But then, they didn't tell me my premiums wouldn't go up - then raise them anyway...in which case I would have raised hell. (But we did switch to another provider who offered premiums we could better afford.) My point (poorly made apparently) was about keeping your word. Nothing else. I didn't ask for, nor do I want, your sympathy.

@PaulR said:

None of you will get any sympathy from me - I happen to disagree with most people and if that rocks your boats - then tough sh!t.

Noone asked for your sympathy - but noone asked for your opinion either. You seem to be a very irritable, immature little whiner, who just can't help picking fights for the sake of it, doesn't think things through, and can't see different angles to a problem. Most of us are here to ask VSL some questions - since you're not them nobody actually has any interest in your views.

Bottom line is their actions are quite simply wrong, and we'd like to know why. No amount of jumping up and down and saying that other people do it is going to make their actions right.

@Pingu said:

Bottom line is their actions are quite simply wrong, and we'd like to know why. No amount of jumping up and down and saying that other people do it is going to make their actions right.

@PaulR said:

I'm sorry, but call me old-fashioned - I don't understand how some of the people on this thread know how to walk and breath at the same time - I mean - HOW do some of you ACTUALLY live? Huh? How do you manage to pay your bills. Beats me. . . . .

Have you complained to the health insurance company about their rising prices? Have you gone onto their forum website and told them it's left a bad taste in your mouth? If not - why not?

None of you will get any sympathy from me - I happen to disagree with most people and if that rocks your boats - then tough sh!t.

Paul:

It appears that, from your point of view, making promises and then breaking them without explanation is a good business model. I'd guess that most in the bvusiness world would strongly disagree.  There was no fine print in VSL's advertising of the VIP program stating that it could be withdrawn at any time, rather what was emphasized that you were making a "lifetime investment" because purchase included the VIP program.

In every form of relationship, whether business or personal, making and then breaking promises without an adequate explanation

elicits distrust and anger - - and lawsuits. Moreover, one might construe VSL's original advertising to have the force of an implied contract. I might also say that your implication that those who hold views contrary to yours on this subject are out of touch with the way things are done in the real world is, among other things, inapt. Indeed, in the real world, were a similar situation to occur between two large corporations - - where one perceived the other as breaching an implied contract - - there might already be armies of attorneys beginning litigation over the issue.

Your comparison of the current situation with VSL and rising health insurance costs is an apples to oranges comparison. The general question of the cost of health insurance can only be addressed - - and it will be - - politically since it affects every member of society in countless ways. However, even in this instance, there is a question of contractual obligation between the insurer and insured. In a recent case, for example, an insurance company, Healthnet, cut off payments for the chemotherapy of a woman being treated for cancer. Contrary to the insurance company's expectations, the woman survived - - because her doctors refused to stop the treatments. She won a nine million dollar settlement from the insurance company. 

I have the greatest respect for the folks at VSL, their products and their commitment to excellence - - but that does not mean that I (or anyone else) should stay silent when I (or they) think VSL is doing something likely to be self-defeating in the long run.  Again, VSL's policy change does not affect me personally, so I really have no need of your sympathy. 

@DG said:

Pingu, when you post on a public forum, you make the discussion public. You have no right only to solicit opinions that agree with your own.

Absolutely, which is why I'm entitled to respond to you in the same abbrasive manner that you employ in all of your posts. Dismissing your opinion seems to have rattled you rather quickly.